Closure....Not So Much

Welp, the final Bears preseason game is just about over and it looks like we are about to get our first win, but much like the prior three losses, it means nothing.  Going into the game we knew that the starters were only going to play for a drive or two and just about everything after that means little to the regular season.  But how exactly did those starters do?  The defense came out on the first drive in much the same fashion as last week, looking slow, over-matched, and unprepared.  The same problems that plagued them all last year were still very evident this evening.  While the coaching staff insisted they went back to basics in the off-season, missed assignments and tackels were prevalent.  Now who is to blame for this?  The coaches?  The players?  I am not the sort of person you would ask this question to and expect a valuable answer.   But I would like to say that one player in-particular did stand out tonight, and not in a good way, Kevin Payne.  Not only did he miss routine tackles at the line of scrimmage that ended up going for quite a few big gains, but he completely biffed a fourth and goal stop by taking a premature step towards the middle of the field when there was absolutely no movement out of the backfield in that direction.   Are we destined to have another year of Archuleta type play in the secondary?  I sure hope not, I can't stand another year of that! Still, I believe there is hope.  Much like what Tillman said during a sideline interview during the game, the defense was running a very basic, watered down version of what we will all see against the Colts on the 7th.  So what is the truth here, is our defense really struggling as much as it seems?  Or are we just looking too far forward to the Colts to focus on the preseason game which are meaningless?  All we can do is hope for the latter for now.  As for the offense, the offensive line is still the biggest question.  At times they look ok and were giving Orton enough time to go through his reads and find the open receiver, but at other times Orton had people in his face before he even finished his drop-back.  For those of you who didn't see the game, Orton did throw an interception, under-throwing Brandon Lloyd by about 10 yards.  Although it wasn't completely Orton's fault, as he got hit while throwing, it's certainly something you never want to see.  On a more positive note, Matt Forte looked good on a few runs and had a nice 17 yard gain on a third down screen pass to move the chains.  Other than that you really can't read too much more into the performance of the offense, there simply wasn't enough playing time.  I guess we'll have to wait until the regular season opener to make any more judgments, until then...cheers!