Hard as they tried, Bears couldn't give this one away

Only the Bears could make something so simple look so complicated.

Through their overwhelming arrogance, Lovie Smith and Mike Martz took the simplest of victories and made it difficult Sunday.

Their stubborn decisions allowed a winless Panthers team to hang around for an entire game, when someone interested only in victories, and not their own egos, would have simply run the football and allowed their special teams and defense to win the game.

That is, after all, how the Bears piled up a very easy 17-3 lead, and it was nearly 24-3 when Chester Taylor was tackled inside the 1-yard line late in the first quarter.

On second-and-1, Taylor was stopped for no gain, but there was certainly no reason to do anything stupid.

True, your goal-line offense stinks, but it didn't matter on this particular Sunday. All the Bears had to do was run it again on third down and if they gained nothing, run it again on fourth.

What was the worst thing that could happen? They're stopped inside the 1 and Jimmy Clausen gets the football again?

Let's add it up. Rookie quarterback with no clue, no receivers and no chance to make a play, stuck under his own goal post and terrified of a Bears defense that's playing great football.

That math too simple for the Bears?

Of course, so the dinosaur Todd Collins dropped back and with plenty of time to throw tossed it right into the arms of defensive tackle Ed Johnson.

If it wasn't so painful you'd laugh at the idiocy of it, which might explain why Brian Urlacher was seen shaking his head and mouthing the words, “What the (bleep) are we doing?'

Good question.

Your quarterback stinks. You're running it down their throat. Your defense is playing great. And their offense is on par with some of the worst high school teams in the greater Charlotte area.

But the Bears throw it, it's picked off, and instead of a blowout it's a football game.

Martz was spotted screaming at his offensive line after that series, but you wonder why Smith wasn't screaming at Martz for throwing the football.

That sequence summed up the entire game for the Bears and should have told them all they needed to know.

And, yet, the Bears kept throwing it and the Panthers kept picking it off, when all the Bears had to do was put the game in the hands of their punter and defense.

Maybe it's more than arrogance. Maybe it's just dumb. Maybe it's that simple.

The second quarter was nonsensical, with bad throws, odd plays, wildcat formations and foolishness that any child could have told you was unnecessary.

Seriously, the Bears were giving the ball to Devin Hester in the backfield?

Crazy.

Someone apparently figured that out when the Bears got the ball back on their own 10 with 2:46 left in the first half. Wisely, they rushed the ball five straight times and basically ran the clock out.

And why wouldn't you?

Why do anything but let the Panthers self-destruct?

Why put the game anywhere but in Clausen's hands?

Why not just take an easy victory and hope for Jay Cutler's return next week?

We'll never get answers to questions like that because Smith and Martz are just too smart for the rest of us. We can't possibly understand the complexity of the situation.

The Bears never did figure it out and continued to throw until Collins ran out of interceptions and Caleb Hanie ran out of possessions.

In spite of themselves, the Bears finally put the game away with 3:23 to play and won an ugly game in Carolina.

Julius Peppers was brilliant, special teams were great, and Matt Forte had some very nice runs.

The Packers fell to 3-2, the Bears are 4-1, and no one would dare suggest to Lovie Smith that the Bears aren't among the best teams in NFL history.

But instead of winning 49-3 and feeling like you could win any game with your defense and special teams, the Bears leave you feeling like you've taken a bath in mud.

The good news is the Bears' next opponent, Seattle, had a bye Sunday, and instead of watching the entire Panthers contest and getting a read on the Bears, the Seahawks probably turned it off very early in the game.

After all, who would subject themselves to that if they didn't have to?

brozner@dailyherald.com