Taking a pass on run key factor in Bears' loss
Why would a team that claims it "gets off the bus running the football," run it just three times in the fourth quarter while trying to protect a 9-point lead, a lead that eventually turned into a 5-point loss?
"Normally with a lead like that in the fourth quarter we'll be able to hold them off," Bears coach Lovie Smith said.
Normally a team with a 9-point lead in the fourth quarter would run 16 times and throw three, not the other way around.
It seems part of the reason was the Bears' inability to produce on the ground (68 yards on 23 carries for a 3.0-yard average), a chronic problem. Another part was the New York Giants' defense dictating the play selection.
"I think it's a combination of both," Smith said. "Of course they dictated a lot with what they were doing, blitzing and things like that.
"A lot of times you have to take what you're being given. That dictates it as much as anything."
On the final play of the third quarter Sunday, Rex Grossman's 44-yard completion to tight end Desmond Clark put the Bears at the Giants' 36, just on the outer cusp of Robbie Gould's field-goal range.
From there, the Bears threw 3 straight passes, completing a pair for a total of 1 yard. Next they lost 5 yards on a false start by Clark and then punted.
On their next possession, the Bears got 2 yards on an Adrian Peterson run. That was followed by a pair of Grossman incompletions sandwiched around a false start by right tackle John St. Clair, which led to another punt.
They were even worse on their next possession. After the Giants scored to cut their deficit to 16-14, kicker Lawrence Tynes booted the ball out of bounds rather than challenge Devin Hester.
An 8-yard pass to Peterson left the Bears 2 yards short of midfield, but Peterson lost a yard on a run and Grossman was sacked for a loss of 9 yards. Another punt left the Bears with a total, to that point, of 1 yard on 9 plays for the fourth quarter.
The offense also lost 10 yards on penalties, and another 5 on the final drive when left tackle John Tait false started.
"The penalties really hurt us, on both sides of the football," Smith said. "I think we had 10 (they did, for 71 yards). It seemed like every one was a big play that really set us back."
The defense did its part, too, allowing the 2 fourth-quarter touchdowns. The first was aided by an offside call on linebacker Lance Briggs that nullified a sack of Eli Manning for minus-8 yards by Darwin Walker that would have resulted in third-and-14 for the Giants.
Six plays later, safety Brandon McGowan's pass-interference penalty against Jeremy Shockey gave the Giants a 16-yard gain to the Bears' 7. Even after that the Bears had the ball and a 2-point lead with 6:54 remaining but no way to kill the clock.
The Bears' 3 fourth-quarter runs produced 9 yards, the same average they had for the game and just a small fraction less than their season average (3.2), which is dead last in the league.
Regardless of whether it's Cedric Benson or Peterson carrying the ball, the Bears' offensive line hasn't provided much running room.
"Running game-wise, it was OK," Smith said of the most recent performance, but he then revised his assessment. "About like it's been all year. Not really good enough."
That, more than anything, explains the Bears' reluctance to run with the game on the line.