Bear Essentials

It’s not as if Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers hasn’t played well against the Bears in the past. He has. It’s just that he hasn’t been as spectacular against the Bears as he has been against the rest of the league. Rodgers’ passer rating this season is 120.1, which would be the best in NFL history if he maintains it for the rest of the season. He was over 100 in each of the two previous seasons and at 93.8 in his first season as a starter in 2008. But, in eight games against the Bears, Rodgers has had a passer rating over 92.5 just twice. Rodgers has thrown 40 TD passes this year and just 6 interceptions, but his career numbers against the Bears are 10 TDs and 7 interceptions.

Bears G.M. Jerry Angelo effectively quashed the silly notion that the team might consider signing Brett Favre as an emergency quarterback for the remainder of the season. This morning, on the team's website, Angelo said: "I'm not even factoring Brett Favre into the equation because he hasn't played or even practiced from the preseason on. We're all assuming he's in great shape and frothing to come back and play football, which we all know is not true. So the Favre thing is just a fantasy." Angelo also explained the decision not to pursue Donovan McNabb.

Holding the Chiefs to just 245 total yards and allowing only 10 points isn't good enough for the Bears' defenders - at least not when the offense is without Jay Cutler and Matt Forte. And they agree. "We don't feel like we did enough to win because we didn't win the game," cornerback Corey Graham said. "On defense, we feel like we have to get the ball out. We weren't able to do that. We pride ourselves on stopping the run and creating turnovers, we weren't able to do that. "We didn't create turnovers, so nine times out of 10 when you don't do that, you're not going to win the game. We've got to do better. We've got to find a way to make it happen, and (Sunday) we weren't able to do that."

Five years ago Donovan McNabb and the Bears would have been a good fit; maybe even two years ago, but not now. The obvious reason it wouldn’t make sense to bring in the 35-year-old McNabb now, is that 100 percent of the coaching staff’s time and effort must be devoted to getting Caleb Hanie ready to lead the offense. That would leave little time to get McNabb up to speed, and there’s not much evidence that he could pick up Mike Martz’s offense on his own overnight. Best-case scenario is that the former Mount Carmel High School star might possibly be ready to serve as the emergency quarterback for the final two weeks, but he’d be at least two weeks behind current veteran backup Josh McCown.

Some leftover observations from Sunday’s butt-kicking of the Lions and a couple predictions: Concerns about the age of the Bears’ defense are unfounded. It may have taken a few games to get revved up, but the defense, and especially its 30-something core players, are running smoothly now. The Lions aren’t very dangerous without Jahvid Best running the football, and no one knows when he’ll be able to come back from the concussion that has sidelined him recently. Although both teams are 6-3, the Bears appear to have a clear path to the playoffs, while the Lions look like a .500 team; 9-7 at best.

Peter King includes RB Matt Forte and PR Devin Hester on his mid-season All-Pro team in Sports Illustrated this week. King also names Forte his offensive player of the year, while choosing Packers QB Aaron Rodgers as the MVP. As impressive as Forte has been running the ball for 672 yards and a 5.4-yard average, he might be even more valuable to the Bears as a receiver. He leads the team by a huge margin with 38 catches, and he also has a team-best 419 receiving yards. In fact, Forte could actually be considered Jay Cutler’s go-to guy, given the absence of a No. 1 wide receiver on the team. I really can’t remember the last time Forte dropped a pass, and he’s averaging 11.0 yards per catch, more than a lot of wide receivers in the league.

One of the most ridiculous ideas I’ve heard this season – and I’ve heard it several times now – is that the Bears should make Devin Hester strictly a kick returner. Why would any coach in his right mind waste one of the most dangerous players in the history of the NFL by limiting his number of touches? It makes no sense. Hester was phenomenal in the return game vs. the Vikings, scoring on a 98-yard kickoff return to blow the game open. The next time he touched the ball, Hester picked up 27 yards on a punt return that set up a Robbie Gould field goal.

Are the Lions overrated? Well, they’re probably not as good as their 4-0 record. They’ve picked up their wins against the winless Vikings; the 1-3 Chiefs, who have defeated only the Vikings and lost their three other games by a combined 109-27; and the 2-2 Cowboys. But give credit to the Lions for wining three of those four games on the road, which is rarely an easy task in the NFL. Monday night should be a good test for the Lions, not because the Bears present such a formidable opponent because, at this point, they don’t. But the Bears have owned the Lions lately, winning the last six games in the series.

If Roy Williams is supposed to be Jay Cutler’s go-to receiver, as offensive coordinator Mike Martz implied when Williams was signed on July 29, the early returns are disappointing. At best. Williams has 4 catches for 55 yards and no touchdowns, although he could have had one last week against the Packers if he didn’t drop a pass at the goalline. In that game, Cutler and Williams demonstrated absolutely zero compatibility. They were never on the same page and they rarely appeared to be on the same playbook. To say they looked out of sync would be a major understatement, since two of Cutler’s passes that were intended for Williams were horribly overthrown, and both resulted in interceptions.

As brilliant as Dave Toub’s trick play punt return against the Packers was, I can’t help thinking that it might have been wasted. Not just because Johnny Knox’s 89-yard sprint down the east sideline was nullified by Corey Graham’s phantom holding call. But because even if the flag wasn’t thrown on Graham – and it shouldn’t have been – the Bears still were an extreme long shot to win the game, and now they’ve burned one of the most clever plays ever devised since the “fumble-rooskie.”