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© Oak Park Journal photo

Dan Peters Sports Editor
Oak Park Journal 
 
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back... Bear's Offense Struggles again
 by Dan Peters
 
Going into tonight's game, the Chicago Bears offense was far from being at full strength. "I feel like we haven't been able to get things going, and a large part of it has to do with me. I just need to go out there and do my job" said Rex Grossman earlier this week.
 
Grossman had some early success early in the game, but penalties
& mistakes again cost the first team offense problems.
 
Grossman completed 13 of 21 passes for 117 yards with one interception, one sack and a 57.0 quarterback rating in two and a half quarters
 
The Bears offense failed to get into the end zone again until the fourth quarter Friday night against the Arizona Cardinals.
 
"We didn't get it done. We didn't play well. We need to improve a lot before we're ready to play Green Bay (in the regular season opener)."

"We moved the ball pretty well; we've just got to finish," Grossman said. "We've got to play a lot better. We've got to play a lot smarter."

Injuries also plagued the Bears this evening as defensive end Alex Brown dislocated his right shoulder on the second play from scrimmage. Cardinals offensive tackle Fred Wakefield drove him into the ground.

"Losing Alex was a really tough break," Smith said. "We don't
know how bad it is, but we'll need him back as soon as possible."

Brown's replacement, Israel Idonije, also exited with an ankle injury. But he returned to the game later in the first half after being accompanied to the locker room by team doctors.

Thomas Jones made his preseason debut after missing the first two games with a hamstring injury. Working with the starting unit, he rushed for three yards on four carries and caught two passes for three yards.

The Bears hurt themselves all night long ... drawing 13 penalties
for 90 yards. Robbie Gould scored all of Bear's points with field goals of 49 and 39 yards until quarterback Brian Griese threw a 2-yard TD pass to fullback J.D. Runnels with 7:19 left in the game ... again the only touchdown in the game. Could there be a quarterback controversy in Chicago?

"We had far too many penalties on both sides of the football,"
Smith said. "We moved the ball better, but the name of the game is scoring and we've got to get in the end zone."

The Bears defense also looked flat Friday & had no takeaways
for the second time in three preseason games and yielded pass completion's of 23 yards on third-and-22 and 26 yards on third-and-16.

"We lost containment a couple times on third downs," Smith said. "We have to get off the field on third downs. Takeaways and third downs are killing us. We've got to do a better job on that."

The Bears scored on their first possession of the game, taking a 3-0 lead on Gould's 49-yard field goal with 7:01 left in the first quarter. The kick came after Chicago's No. 1 offense had failed to put any points on the board on 10 possessions in the first two preseason contests.

Grossman completed 5 of 7 passes for 42 yards, sustaining the drive by connecting with Muhsin Muhammad for 14 yards on third-and-four and 22 yards on third-and-10.

The Cardinals took a 7-3 lead on quarterback Kurt Warner's 4-yard TD pass to rookie tight end Leonard Pope with 10:22 remaining in the second quarter. The TD capped a methodical 13-play, 67-yard drive and was the first given up by Chicago's No. 1 defense this preseason.

The Bears cut the deficit to 7-6 on Gould's 39-yard field goal with 5:21 left in the first half. The kick capped a strange 9-play, 54-yard drive that included seven penalties-four on the Bears and three on the Cardinals-and a key replay reversal.

A 29-yard pass interference penalty against Arizona cornerback Antrel Rolle gave the Bears a first down at the Cardinals' 23. After back-to-back false start penalties on Desmond Clark and Ruben Brown, Grossman's pass intended for Bernard Berrian was
deflected at the line by defensive tackle Darnell Dockett and intercepted by linebacker Orlando Huff.

The Bears challenged the play and referee Gene Steratore reversed the call, ruling that the pass had touched the ground before Huff
was able to secure it.

The Bears opted to go for a first down instead of a field goal on fourth-and-two at the Arizona 14 late in the first half. But Adrian Peterson was dropped for a loss of one on a pitch to the left.

The Cardinals increased their lead to 10-6 as first-round draft pick Matt Leinart completed six straight passes for 54 yards to set up Neil Rackers' 49-yard field goal on the final play of the half.
The Bears starters played into the third quarter for the first time in the preseason. On their first possession of the third quarter,  the Bears turned the ball over as Grossman's pass intended for Berrian along the sideline was intercepted by Rolle, who returned it four yards to the Chicago 42.

Chicago Sports fans have never been known to hold back their emotions and it showed Friday Night. Early  in the third quarter, fans booed when Grossman came in the game in the third quarter. 

Arizona took advantage of the turnover as Leinart tossed a 4-yard touchdown pass to receiver Bryant Johnson, widening the margin to 17-6 with 9:46 remaining in the third quarter.

Both of Arizona's quarterbacks looked impressive this evening, possibly setting up a quarterback situation as for Dennis Green.

The Bears had seemingly forced the Cardinals to punt, but
defensive tackle Tommie Harris was penalized 15 yards for taunting after flipping the ball at Arizona offensive tackle Jeremy Bridges. Given new life, the Cardinals made it 20-6 on Nick Novak's 51-
yard field goal.

Griese greeted by cheers from the Soldier Field crowd .... Griese.... Griese.. When he replaced Grossman with 4:59 left in the third quarter. And he sparked the offense again as he did the past 2
pre season games.

After Novak's 19-yard field goal put Arizona on top 23-6, Griese capped a 7-play, 73-yard drive by hitting Runnels in the right corner of the end zone on a well-executed play-action pass, closing the
gap to 23-13.

Griese guided the Bears into scoring position again, but he failed to connect with Mark Bradley on third-and-goal. Gould followed with
a 27-yard field goal, cutting the margin to 23-16 with 2:05 to play. The Cardinals, however, recovered the ensuing onside kick.

Griese completed 10 of 14 passes for 131 yards with 1 touchdown and a 124.4 quarterback rating. He has now thrown four TD passes on seven possessions in three preseason games. Impressive even against the second string team.

49,486 Fans were in attendance this evening with 11,342 no shows.

The Bears will face Arizona in the regular season later this year,
so maybe they did not show all of their cards this evening. The
only Bears Monday night appearance will be at the Cardinal's new "State of The Art" stadium in Glendale, AZ a suburb of Phoenix. The new stadium cost an impressive 455 million dollars to construct and features the first natural grass rolling field, contained in a single tray weighing 18.9 million pounds (234 feet wide, 403 feet long) This is the first retractable playing field in the United States. The stadium also features  a retractable roof, thus helping the Cardinals cope with the high temperatures in Arizona.

Next up for the Bears...The Cleveland Browns August 31