It's the midnight hour at Lambeau

In varying degrees of pain both mental and physical, the Bears showered in Lambeau Field's dimly light visiting locker room, stuffed themselves back into their suits and climbed onto the buses to make the short plane ride home.

To be certain, the 21-15 season-opening loss to Green Bay was long on disappointments. Jay Cutler's career-high 4 interceptions...the offense's inability to punch in the ball on second-and-goal from the 3-yard line in the fourth quarter...the defense's inability to force a turnover as the Bears entered the night with the league's longest takeaway streak at 25 games in a row.

As the Bears move ahead and prepare for Sunday's home opener against Pittsburgh, it will be interesting to see how things move forward with rookie wide receiver Johnny Knox as he had an outsized role in this game (both good and bad) for a third receiver.

He played just one snap in the first quarter, then caught Cutler's 68-yard bomb on his second snap. The Bears had fullback Jason McKie in the game for just the second time on that play. Since the Bears ran power with Matt Forte on McKie's first rep, the Packers were probably counting on something similar again. Instead, Knox flew past potential Hall of Famer Charles Woodson like he wasn't there.

But Knox also figured heavily on Cutler's final two interceptions. On Cutler's third pick, the one that was returned 67 yards to the Bears' 1-yard line, Knox ran a route over the middle and appeared to be open when he cut between the numbers. But as Cutler prepared to throw, Knox veered and started flying down the field toward the post. He was well behind the defense (so much so that the camera angle of the interception didn't even include him in the picture), but that probably wasn't the smartest move to make because Cutler was on the move and could only get so much on the throw. Clearly they read two different things, which can happen with a rookie receiver who hasn't worked a ton with the new QB in town.

Then, on the Bears' final play, Knox was running a quick slant that veteran CB Al Harris jumped like he knew what was coming. Maybe Harris just had a hunch...maybe Knox gave it away unknowingly with his body language.

Regardless of who's responsible, it's clear Knox brings something to the offense that's necessary going forward. It's just a matter of how quickly he can learn tricks of the trade.

One cool stat contained within NFL game summaries are the number of times a receiver is targeted.

Cutler threw to Knox four times. He caught 2 passes for 82 yards and the other two were intercepted. Devin Hester caught all 4 of the passes thrown his way for 90 yards. Former Vanderbilt teammate Earl Bennett had 13 PASSES thrown his way and he grabbed 7 for 66 yards.

Meanwhile, Greg Olsen had a whopping 6 passes thrown his way, but he didn't make his lone reception until the fourth quarter.

OK, enough of all this stuff. I talked with Bennett a little bit about making his first 7 career receptions, but I was more curious about how pro athletes handle a loss like this -- one that could've been a win and played out on national TV and came against an archrival.

We agreed players will drop it sooner than fans.

"You have to flush it out real fast," Bennett said. "I would say a couple hours. You've got to get ready. You've got to get mentally prepared for the next week. By the time you touch down (at the airport), you've got to put it behind you."

Seems crazy after all the buildup for this one, but that's how it works. For good and for bad.

LW