Bears made bad call on short yardage

The 1-minute-3-second brain cramp the Bears experienced Sunday was not even close to the longest in recorded human history.

[M Torre]

Was Kyle even looking where he was throwing on that 3rd down? The corner has to be about 15 yards off the line for that type of pass to work.

[LMJN]

I thought the play call to McKie was OK because Forte did get stuffed a couple times during the game when the blocking was poor. I think Bear fans remember Payton taking those kind of shots because he would throw himself into the air and leap over the pileups.I am not sure anyone is looking for Forte to do that (most mortals could not do that continuously the way Payton did). I think the smart money is going to be on the fullback in those situations and the fullback has to be better than the halfback for that kind of play. If not, you don't need the fullback. I think the criticism about spreading things out and at least showing a possible pass to get a few of the extra defensive bodies out of the front makes sense. But again we saw a play just before where there was almost an interception. Coaches do respond to those kind of things - we can look at them in a vacuum from the living room. Ultimately, I think we need to get past the "play not to lose mentality," which runs contrary to how athletes are motivated to perform at higher and higher levels. I'd personally rather see the Bears improve and become an excellent offensive power even if it takes longer rather than limp into the playoffs and be outclassed by a good offense. The Bears defense may be in a class by itself at times, but we are wasting their best years if we can't balance things.