Pompei: Bears Stuck In 'Tailspin'
(WSCR) The old expression that when it rains, it pours, rings especially true for the 2011 Chicago Bears.
After the Bears topped the chargers for their fifth-straight win, improving to 7-3, life was good in Bear land. That is, until the news broke that Jay Cutler had broken his thumb and would be out for the foreseeable future. Next, running back Matt Forte went down with an MCL sprain.
The Bears now own a three-game losing streak, and the playoffs are slowly inching further and further out of reach.
"I think you've got kind of a snowball effect going on right now where a couple things go wrong and they lead to other things that go wrong," Dan Pompei of the National Football Post and Chicago Tribune told The Mully and Hanley Show. "Pretty soon, you've got confidence issues. Games are so close every week in the NFL, opponents are so evenly-matched, that you can't afford the little things to go wrong like they've gone wrong with the Bears. They are in a tailspin. There's no question about it. It'll be interesting to see if they can come out of that tailspin this week against another team that, on paper, they should be better than."
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Before Cutler, the Bears relied heavily on their run game and defense to win games. While the defense hasn't played poorly over the last three games, Pompei said they continue to miss out on making the big play when it counts most.
"The interesting thing about the Bears defense lately is that they've been very good at forcing three-and-outs, getting the opponent off the field and not giving up touchdowns," Pompei said. "The thing they really haven't done very consistently is come up with the big play at the opportune time. That's what this team needs that defense to do to win games."
