Bears cover all bases (of badness) in 45-10 loss

CINCINNATI - It was hard to say if the Bears were more embarrassed or disgusted by their most lopsided defeat in more than six years, but there was plenty of both in the aftermath of Sunday's 45-10 loss to the Bengals.

"It's pretty embarrassing," defensive end Alex Brown said. "We can't have that happening. We're a better team than that. But today Cincy kind of showed us maybe we aren't."

On this particular day, there was clearly a world of difference between the 5-2 Bengals and the 3-3 Bears, who hadn't experienced such a world of hurt since a 49-7 loss to the 49ers in San Francisco on Sept. 7, 2003.

"The Chicago Bears should never lose a football game like that," coach Lovie Smith said. "A tough day at the office for us. Nothing went right."

If anything, the game was more lopsided than the final score would indicate.

The Bears were outgained 448-279, turned the ball over four times while failing to get a single takeaway, and were outrushed 215-35.

The Bears had not allowed an opponent to rush for more than 105 yards all season. But Cedric Benson, their first-round pick (fourth overall) in 2005 who was banished in June 2008 after two alcohol-related arrests, shoved it in their faces and down their throats 37 times for 189 yards.

"I'd love to say (the slate) was wiped clean beforehand, but the truth is that it wasn't," Benson said.

"There was some business out there that I wanted to take care of. It is definitely clean now. We're past it. We're over it. What a game."

Benson may be over it, but it might take awhile for the Bears to recover from Sunday's demolition. The game was a blowout from the beginning.

The Bengals drove through the Bears' defense with little resistance to score on all five of their first-half possessions, including touchdowns on their first four, for a 31-3 halftime lead.

The 31 points allowed by the Bears in the first half tied for the third most in franchise history.

The Bengals mixed passes to wide-open Chad Ochocinco and runs through gaping holes by Benson with equal success. Ochocinco, whom the Bears tried unsuccessfully to cover with Charles Tillman, caught 10 passes for 118 yards and 2 touchdowns.

"I take the blame for my part of what I did today," said Tillman, who had done exemplary work in the previous two games against Detroit's Calvin Johnson and Atlanta's Roddy White.

"I don't blame coach Smith for us losing. I don't blame any coaches. They're not out there playing; we are.

"At the end of the day you've got to look at yourself in the mirror. I'm not pointing fingers at anybody; if anybody, I blame myself. I'm not throwing anybody under the bus. There are some things I could have done better."

And, while the Bears' defense was being trampled, the offense couldn't muster enough firepower to keep the game even close. There was plenty of blame to go around.

"We can't put our defense in that situation," said Cutler, who was intercepted three times. "We've got to answer back, and that's on me and the rest of the offense."

Cutler completed 26 of 37 passes for 251 yards and 1 TD, but the 3 picks dragged his passer rating down to 64.1. That was his worst of the season since the opener, when he tossed 4 interceptions at Green Bay. He has 11 TD passes and 10 interceptions for the season.

"I'm embarrassed," Cutler said. "I think everyone in that locker room, coaches and players, are embarrassed to get down 21-0, 28-0. I mean, 3 picks, that's going to hurt us."

Things started poorly for the Bears. The Bengals' offensive fireworks began with a 19-yard catch by Ochocinco on the first play from scrimmage. Benson gashed his old team with runs of 7, 23 and 3 yards before Chris Henry caught a 9-yard TD pass from Palmer just four minutes in for a 7-0 lead.

The Bears shot themselves in the foot for the first of many times when right tackle Chris Williams was flagged for a false start on their first offensive play.

"We really worked hard on that all week and said we can't hurt ourselves," offensive coordinator Ron Turner said.

"We talked about giving ourselves a chance on every play, and then we start the very first play of the game with a false start, and it didn't get a whole lot better from there."

The last TD in the Bengals' string of four straight to open the game came with 2:49 left in the half, giving them a 28-0 lead on an 8-yard pass from Carson Palmer to Laveranues Coles.

Palmer completed 20 of 24 passes for 233 yards and 5 touchdowns and a career-high passer rating of 146.7.

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