By JERRY RILES
Losing ugly.
Better yet, it was an old fashion butt kicking.
The Arizona Cardinals kicked the Bears all over their home field beating the so-called Monsters of the Midway 41-21, dropping them to 4-4 on the season.
Defensive end Alex Brown, in his post game comments, said it's not easy for him to put a loss like this behind him.
Believe me it's not easy for the Bear fans either.
Brown stepped up by admitting that he needed to play a better game defensively. He collected 2-sacks and a forced fumble in the Bears fourth loss.
Unfortunately, Brown and the Bears could not stop Kurt Warner and that Cards offense. Arizona moved the ball successfully producing an impressive 18 first downs against the home team in the first half.
They were so good, the squad from out West converted all five of their third downs against the Bears defense. Warner threw five TDs on the day. It all started going downhill very early.
Thanks to 3-time pro-bowler defensive tackle Tommy Harris. At the 13:42 mark in the first quarter, on just the fourth play of the game, Harris' frustration level exceeded its limit.
The defenseman punched Card's right guard Deuce Lutui in the face as he lay on the turf of Soldier Field. The refs saw it and tossed him out of the game for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The Bears were also hit with a 15-yard penalty. Talk about a lack of discipline. Talk about a stupid penalty. Does this come down to coaching? The game just started. How could a player in the eighth game of the season lose control on just the fourth play?
Is Head Coach Lovie Smith to blame? Fans are calling for his firing. Should he be fired? Have the players given up on the coaching staff?
It appears there's no imagination on either side of the ball. Harris gets ejected. Charles Tillman is escorted off the field and into the tunnel after injuring his shoulder.
He would be done for the day, and linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer gets rattled as well. This Bears team appears to be going in the wrong direction. DOWN!
Smith believes the Bears can fix the problems they have. That's nice to know, but unfortunately, they won't have much time to work on getting things righted.
It's a short week. Very short.
They take on the 49ers in San Francisco on Thursday night. It'll be a quick turn around for them for sure. The Bears have talked about executing a lot. Good luck.
They couldn't even do it against visiting Arizona at Soldier Field. And, the Cards did it without star receiver Anquan Boldin who is nursing an injury.
Tight end Gregg Olsen feels the Bears can bounce back from the terrible defeat. The only problem is they'll be taking on Mike Singletary's Niners, and he won't be feeling too sorry.
Olsen would have three touchdowns on the day in a losing effort. QB Jay Cutler who found his tight end would finish the day 29 of 47 for 369 yards including the three strikes and an interception.
Samauri Mike is very aware of this Bears team demeanor. Can Lovie's team get back on track Thursday night? In Singletary's words "Can't do it."
They are riddled with injuries, have very limited talent, and lack depth at the safety position. It sure would be nice to have Mike Brown back there playing center field. And the scary thing is, the schedule only gets tougher.
So if you thought the Bengals, Browns, and Cardinals games were ugly, just wait, there's more to come.
A .500 record might not be too bad by the end of December. Ugly, yes!
(Jerry Riles is a weekly 5on5 contributor featured every Tuesday in the RedEye)
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