Bears’ defends gets little pressure on Rodgers
The Bears didn’t get their one and only sack Sunday night at Green Bay until the outcome had long since been decided and Aaron Rodgers had given way to Matt Flynn.
And it was cornerback Charles Tillman who got to the Packers’ backup quarterback.
It was the eighth game this season in which the Bears had 1 or zero sacks, and they were 27th in sack percentage entering the game.
“Rodgers was getting the ball out quick sometimes, but when you go through an entire game you have to be able to get pressure,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said.
“We have good players up front, (but) we didn’t get him out of his rhythm enough to help the coverage. Again, it was a combination of both, the rush and the coverage.”
Rodgers hung 5 touchdown passes and a 142.7 passer rating on the Bears, the first QB to top 100 against the Bears since Detroit’s Matthew Stafford in Week 5.
“Whenever you give up 5 touchdown passes, it’s not a good effort,” Smith said. “I know the coverage will get blamed for a lot of that, but it was all of us, talking about the rush (too).
“We didn’t knock (Rodgers) down a lot; he had a lot of time. We (didn’t) have many flash plays defensively: no tackles for losses, no sacks and, of course, no take-aways.”
Depth-chart shuffling:Josh McCown may have shown enough in one start to move past Caleb Hanie as the Bears#146; No. 2 quarterback after Jay Cutler returns.#147;Everything you do, you have to look at the performance, and the performance Josh put in (Sunday) night was impressive,#148; coach Lovie Smith said.#147;That#146;s why we can get so much done this week. We want to see him have an opportunity to come back and play again this coming week. You normally can find a spot for a player that played the way he played (Sunday) night.#148;McCown#146;s solid performance begs the question of whether he could have played similarly a week or two earlier when the Bears were foundering at quarterback in losses to Seattle and Denver.#147;We felt like the time for Josh to play was (Sunday) night, (after) giving him an opportunity to catch up a little bit,#148; Smith said. #147;He#146;d been out of football (last season and most of this season).#147;When a guy plays the way he played (Sunday) night you can always say that. But, to me, we followed the proper course to get him out there on the football field.#148;Wait #146;til next year:The Nathan Enderle question was asked again, and it got the same response.#147;It#146;s not a tryout period for us,#148; coach Lovie Smith said. #147;We#146;re going to go with the quarterback that gives us the best opportunity to win, period, and that#146;s Josh. Nathan will have his time. He#146;s a good quarterback for the future, but that future isn#146;t now.#148;Enderle, the fifth-round pick from Idaho, was inactive Sunday night and has been active for just four games without taking a snap.Smith went on to explain his philosophy on the allotment of playing time, even after the team is out of the playoff picture.#147;We#146;re trying to win the football game, period,#148; he said. #147;Others may do it differently. But for us it would be pretty hard to tell the rest of the guys, #145;Hey, we#146;ve got a tryout period going here. We don#146;t really care if we win, we just want to see this guy play.#146;#147;We won#146;t do it that way. Every time we go out, we go out with the same purpose, and that#146;s trying to win the football game, and that#146;s the approach we#146;ll take this week.#148;Pins and needles:Coach Lovie Smith confirmed an NBC report that quarterback Jay Cutler will have the surgical pins removed from his fractured right wrist Tuesday.#147;He#146;s on schedule to get his pins removed, yes,#148; Smith said.That doesn#146;t mean Cutler will play Sunday. He won#146;t, and it#146;s doubtful he will do much more than he has in the previous five weeks.#147;I can#146;t really go any further than that,#148; Smith said of a timetable. #147;That (removal of the pins) was a part of the original plan, and he#146;s right on schedule.#148;