Pivotal play of no help at all to Hanie

Lovie Smith had an odd answer to Sunday’s most pressing question.

“We’re trying to win games,” the Bears’ head coach said.

Could have fooled me.

At least you could have on what turned out to be a pivotal moment in the Bears’ 25-20 loss at Oakland.

Presumably this morning, fans are debating Mike Martz’s play call in the final minute of the first half with the Bears at the Raiders’ 6-yard line.

To be fair to Martz, this issue is debatable and, this might surprise you, he knows more about football than I do, which is why I rarely comment on subjects like this.

But what the heck was he thinking there?

Caleb Hanie was asked to move to his right, pump fake in that direction, whirl toward his left and throw a screen pass to tight end Kellen Davis.

“It’s really safe,” Hanie said.

Maybe for Peyton Manning or Tom Brady it is. More relevantly, it is sort of safe for Bears starting quarterback Jay Cutler.

Ah, but Cutler is sidelined for six to eight weeks with a broken thumb, so Hanie made his first NFL start in his fourth NFL season.

The pregame debate revolved around whether the Bears should run the same offense as with Cutler or be a bit more cautious with Hanie.

The answer is … yes.

The Bears didn’t have to smother Hanie, but that play, that one freaking play, that was a call that sure did seem to be uncalled for.

Hanie likely ran the screen hundreds of times in practice. But that’s a little different from running it at game speed against the Raiders.

If Hanie — and Martz — were lucky he would have been sacked. Or his pass would have fallen harmlessly incomplete. Or the Oakland defense would have fallen harmlessly to the ground.

Instead, Hanie got the pass off, it was deflected, and Raiders linebacker Kamerion Wimbley returned it 75 yards to set up a field goal.

The result was at least a 6-point swing in what became a 5-point loss.

In a game that the Bears had to do just about everything right to win without Cutler, that fateful play turned out to be very wrong.

So now the Bears’ record is 7-4 and they’re in survival mode trying to make the playoffs without Cutler.

The general question that has to be asked is how long does it take for a quarterback to become an NFL quarterback?

The answer is different for every player who ever played the position: Sometimes no time at all, sometimes a couple of weeks, sometimes a couple of years and sometimes it never happens.

The Bears would have a better idea if the player in this case was Caleb Marino or Caleb Elway, but Caleb Hanie was an undrafted free agent in 2008 and is destined to be a career reserve.

Hanie played against Oakland the way inexperienced quarterbacks play. He completed a few great passes, threw 3 interceptions, scrambled for nice gains and made some bad decisions.

The only clear message that came out of Hanie’s first start is that he needs help from his offensive line, from his receivers, from his running backs, from his defense, from his special teams …

Yes, and from his offensive coordinator, who Sunday put Hanie in a precarious position at a precarious time.

The best thing Hanie has going for him is the Bears’ schedule appears to ease up the next three weeks.

However, it won’t matter if the Bears keep trying to win games the way they lost one Sunday.