Just no way to figure out this Bears loss
Life is confusing enough from Monday through Saturday without the Bears mucking it up further on Sundays.
Walk down the street and a body can fall on your head from a third-floor balcony. It might even be a Cubs or a White Sox player falling toward the basement.
Then a game like the Vikings’ 23-20 victory in overtime at Minneapolis comes along, sort of like the Bears’ own bodies falling on themselves with a thud.
You go try to figure this one out.
When the Bears should have zigged they zagged. When the Vikings should have rocked they rolled. When the outcome should have yinned it yanged.
“It was a weird game,” said Bears offensive tackle Jermon Bushrod. “A lot of highs, a lot of lows. A couple times I thought we’d win it and a couple times I thought we’d lose it.”
Eventually — poof! — the Bears’ season went up in the thin air of the Metrodome.
Look, football by its very nature is unpredictable. Just ask Alabama after Saturday’s screwy loss at Auburn.
But everything the Bears thought was, well, wasn’t even close to being against the Vikings.
“I haven’t been a part of a game like this,” defensive end Julius Peppers said. “Every game has its own personality.”
This one’s personality was as frenetic as, say, Robin Williams.
The Bears were primed to go to Minnesota, take advantage of the last-place Vikings and remain in a virtual tie with Detroit for first place in the NFC North.
Instead, with four games remaining the Bears essentially are 2 games behind the Lions thanks to a 6-6 record and playoff tiebreaker rules.
The Bears’ injury-decimated defense was about the only element of this game that went according to form.
It stunk.
Otherwise we’re talking a football bizarro world.
Bears kicker Robbie Gould was about to become the most accurate kicker in NFL history? He missed a 47-yard field goal that would have won the game.
Josh McCown can’t make big plays? He threw touchdown passes of 80 and 46 yards to Alshon Jeffery, who ran and jumped and made his quarterback look like an all-pro.
The Bears’ backup quarterback doesn’t make mistakes? McCown tried to flick a pass with defenders hanging on him, and it landed in the hands of offensive guard Kyle Long, who fumbled it away.
“It wasn’t a smart play,” McCown said of his alleged pass.
Julius Peppers is too old to dominate anymore? The Bears’ 33-year-old defensive end recorded 2½ sacks, made 8 tackles and looked 23 again.
The Vikings yield the most points per game in the NFL? The Bears had 6 at halftime and finished with 20 in nearly five quarters of play.
On and on we could go about the strange happenings, but you get the idea by now.
This was the last time the Bears will play in the Metrodome, which will be blown up and replaced after the season. Maybe it was fitting, then, that this also appeared to be the last time the Bears will be playoff contenders this season.
Blow them up and build anew for future playoff bids.
The Bears likely will have to win out to make this January’s postseason. Judging by the past two months they don’t belong in the playoffs anyway.
Their running game can’t pick up a yard when needed. Their defense can’t stop the run. Their head coach can’t make the correct decision even when his decision is correct.
Barring something implausible — that seems to be the theme here — the season is down to getting injured Jay Cutler back on the field to determine whether he’s the quarterback of the future.
That’s just another confusing issue surrounding the Bears.
mimrem@dailyherald.com