A Soldier Field sayonara

It's not quite an hour since the Bears kissed their remaining playoff hopes goodbye with a 24-20 loss to Philadelphia.

The stands are empty, the grounds crew is replacing divots in the grass and the Chicago skyline is as hard to make out as the Bears' future. Nobody -- NOBODY -- in football is worse over the last six games than the Bears' 1-5 mark.

Coach Lovie Smith summed it up nicely, albeit with inadvertent humor: "This wasn't part of the master plan."

Defensive end Alex Brown tried to provide a short-term direction: "We need to go to Minnesota and win a ballgame."

That doesn't seem likely. Not with the Vikings on a 9-1 spree and Brett Favre eagerly awaiting the chance to be the next quarterback to put up a 100.0 or better passer rating on the Bears.

While the Bears defense kept Philly within striking range (Charles Tillman forced 3 fumbles; 2 of which were recovered by the Bears), the offense looked way out of whack.

Throw out Kahlil Bell's 72-yard run on his first carry as a Bear...and the offense's best play was a 23-yard Jay Cutler pass to Earl Bennett. Throw out Bell's 72-yard run...and the Bears put up 54 rushing yards in 19 carries. A grim-looking Matt Forte looked just as quick bolting out of the locker room as he did trying to buck the Eagles' front seven.

Overall, though, this game was about Jay Cutler. His wildness reminded of Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano, who coincidentally spent the game in a suite and wore a thick Bears parka as he rode the elevator after the game. Cutler overthrew several receivers (I believe I heard a stat that Cutler went 0 for 4 on passes that flew 20 yards or more) and any one of those could have changed the game.

He missed Greg Olsen and Devin Hester on back-to-back passes in the southwest corner of the stadium...both of which would have gone for scores since there weren't any Eagles near them. Rookie Johnny Knox got a step on the corner in the fourth quarter, but Cutler's bomb was 4 yards too far. I'm no expert, but it looked to me like he preferred to err on the side of incompletion rather than interception.

Cutler went 24 of 43 for 171 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception -- the one that ended the game. He now owns a passer rating of 74.5, which ranks 24th in the NFL. He's snuggled between Miami's Chad Henne and Buffalo's Trent Edwards on the efficiency list...and not too far above Cleveland's Brady Quinn.

People have poked fun at San Francisco's quarterbacks for years, but both Shaun Hill and Alex Smith own passer ratings better than Cutler's.

It makes you wonder what Donovan McNabb whispered into Cutler's ear as they clung to each other on the field during the postgame handshakes. I'm not positive, but the Gettysburg Address might have been shorter.

"That's between us," Cutler said. "He's a first-class guy. He is someone I have admired from afar. I think he's one of the best quarterbacks in the league."

Since Cutler won't say, let's just agree that everyone felt a lot better about the Bears four score and 7 days ago.

To be sure, everyone felt a lot better about the Bears four score and 7 days ago. For the calendar-impaired, that would be Aug. 28...six days after Cutler dissected the New York Giants and two days before he shredded Denver to lead the Bears to a pair of easy exhibition wins.

Those were the days, my friend.

LW