First off let me say I was truly embarrassed as a Bears fan last night.  To be poked fun of by the national media was humiliating. I was born with blue and orange in my veins. I was always taught what it means to be a Bears fan and how sacred it is to say “BearDown.” The sad thing about last night was it seemed like I was watching a team of individuals that gave up before the opening kickoff.

“I was truly embarrassed as a Bears fan last night.”

If it isn’t the fans saying it to me, it’s the national stories coming out about the Bears locker room problems…Well I’m starting to be believe it. It may be the only thing that can bring some clarity to the product we are seeing on the field right now. The Bears gave up a franchise-record 42 points in the 1st half against the Packers. Last night overshadowed the 38 points given up in the 1st half against the Patriots 2 weeks ago.  It was clear the defense was going to struggle this season, but one would have thought the offense would pick up the slack and carry this ball club.

The Offense was so successful last year and with all the key skilled components back the Bears offense should be excelling right now, but they have been downright atrocious. Last season I gave the Bears offense the nickname “#TheAirAndWaterShow”, this years they are more like #PaperAirPlanes&PaddleBoats. (watching the old guys by my house flying the remote control airplanes). Wow! What a difference a year can make. It just goes to show you can have a great offense on paper, but paper doesn’t win games or championships.

“Eyes start to focus on Phil and they should be.”

A couple weeks ago I said Coach Marc Trestman and Mel Tucker were on the hot seat and I am not backing off of that, I’m just adding another seat, GM Phil Emery. If you look at how the team is put together, he constructed it. These are his draft picks and free agents playing. When the product is not playing up to par, eyes start to focus on Phil and they should be. For years fans wanted a better offense that could stack up with the long tradition of good a defense. I understand because I was one of those people but I also understand that if you don’t have a strong defense you won’t ever sniff the Lombardi trophy.

Phil did beef up the O-Line and made some additions with the skilled players, but in some ways he neglected the defensive side of the ball. Jared Allen, Lamarr Houston and Willie Young are not working out as planned. Emery also brought in Danny McCray, Ryan Mundy and a slew of other safeties that didn’t work out.  I will go on record and say that as long as Jay Cutler is the QB of this team they will not win a championship. I know Cutler is not the only problem but he is part of the problem and the Bears are married to him for a few years.

Phil thought that bringing in Trestman as head coach would be means to fix all of Cutlers problems, but nothing has changed. Jay is what we see and he will always be that guy that turns over the ball and trusts his arm more then he trusts what the defense is giving him. You can call him the coach killer or say that his coaches have never been a good fit, I prefer the former, but which ever you pick Cutler has some serious trust issues. He is similar to a person that has been through some bad breakups in his life. How many more coaches and systems can he go through before people will stop saying “he’s the best QB the Bears have ever had.”

“The Bears need to have an open competition for every position.”

Last night I tweeted out that “things need to change”.  Of course that begged the question from many, asking me, what needs to change?  Moving forward the Bears need to have an open competition for every position. Throw out what a person makes and where they were drafted and let the best players play. Let’s see how much their jobs really mean to every man in that locker room. It comes down to if you think Marc Trestman can save the locker room?

From what we all watched on SNF it looks like that might not even be a possibility.  I was one of many that thought they were watching a team that just gave up. It’s games like this where you have to lean on your leaders.  It might be time to stop with the carousel of captains, name the players you want to lead and hold them responsible.  This isn’t grade school sports, not everyone needs a chance, being a captain is earned and respected by others in the locker room.  I’m not even sure who the “captains” were last night.

I still bleed Orange and Blue with all of you, but right now we are just hemorrhaging. #BearDown