Adding wide receiver Brandon Marshall to what was a .500 team has made the Chicago Bears popular.

That is evident as they totaled the maximum number of prime-time games – five — when the NFL released the 2012 schedule Tuesday evening. Their first night game will be at Green Bay in Week 2 on Thursday, Sept. 13, as the league has expanded to Thursday games throughout nearly theentire season starting this year.

The Bears open the preseason with Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos on Thursday, Aug. 9, and then start the regular season with his former team. They will host the Indianapolis Colts on Sept. 9 at Soldier Field, setting them up for a likely matchup with Andrew Luck, the Stanford quarterbackexpected to be the No. 1 pick in next week’s draft.

Since 1984, the Bears are  16-3 when they open the season at home.

“We started our offseason program yesterday and received our schedule today, so our 2012 season is officially underway,” coach Lovie Smith said in a statement released by the team. “I love starting the season at home in front of our fans. I don’t think there is a better place to kick off the season than playing at Soldier Field on the lakefront. Playing five of our first 10 games in prime time also stands out. Each week brings its own challenge and we are excited to begin our pursuit of a world championship.”

The Colts are the first opponent in a stretch that could help the Bears to a fast start. While it will be difficult facing the defending NFC North champion Packers on a short week in Green Bay, they then return home to host the Rams at noon on Sept. 23 and then go to Dallas on Monday night, Oct. 1, in Week 4 for the second-prime time game. The other three prime-time games are vs. Detroit at home on Monday, Oct. 22; vs. Houston at home on Sunday, Nov. 11; and at San Francisco on Monday, Nov. 19.

In Week 5, the Bears play at Jacksonville at 3:05 p.m., the third opponent of the first five starting with a new coaching staff. The Bears will be off the week of Oct. 14. After hosting the Lions, they will host
Cam Newton and Carolina on Oct. 28. Next up are two games against the AFC South: at Tennessee on Nov. 4 and home vs. Houston.

After visiting San Francisco, the Bears will host Minnesota on Nov. 25 and Seattle on Dec. 2. Then come two games against division rivals: at Minnesota on Dec. 9 and home vs. the Packers on Dec. 16,their final regular-season home game.

The Bears close the season on the road at Arizona on Dec. 23 and Detroit on Dec. 30. While they have three of their final four games on the road, the Vikings and Cardinals both struggled last season.

The Bears have opened at Soldier Field in each of the previous two seasons after starting on the road for five consecutive years. Game times for the final six games are subject to change because of flexscheduling.

Based on the Aug. 9 date for the first preseason game, the Bears will be able to hold their first practice of training camp at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais on July 26. The club has not released
the training camp schedule yet. 

Other Bears schedule notes:

*Last year, the Bears had four prime-time games, appearing twice in NBC’s Sunday night slot and twice on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.” The team is 1-6 in its last seven appearances on Sunday night. Overall, the Bears are 8-8 in the time slot under Lovie Smith. The team has done well on Mondays in recent history, winning seven of the last nine dating back to the wild 24-23 victory at Arizona during the 2006 Super Bowl season.

*The Bears will play at Jacksonville and Tennessee for the first time since 2004. It marks quarterback Jay Cutler’s first trip to Nashville in the regular season as a member of the Bears. It will only be the second regular-season game the Bears have played in the city.

*The week off falls in Week 6. The Bears have been fortunate to have their week off near the middle of the season in the recent past. In three of the last four seasons, the Bears’ bye came in Week 8 and in2007 it was in Week 9.

*The Bears will play the Seahawks for the fourth consecutive year and the eighth time total since 2006, counting playoff games in 2006 and 2010. All but two of the games have been played at Soldier Field. The Seahawks are not the only NFC West foe frequently on the docket. The trip to San Francisco marks the fifth time the teams have met under Smith and the sixth time since 2003.
 
*In five of the previous eight seasons, the Bears’ final regular-season game was vs. Green Bay or Minnesota. The league has placed a premium on having division games played late in the season in an effort to ensure as many games as possible have significance in the closing weeks. In the final three weeks over the previous eight years, the Bears played 15 NFC North games (out of a possible total of 24).

*It used to be the Bears tangled with the Lions regularly on Thanksgiving. But Detroit hosts Houston this season in its annual holiday appearance. The Lions and Cowboys rotate between hosting an AFC team and an NFC team for television purposes with the Fox and CBS contracts. The Bears have not played at Detroit on Thanksgiving since 1999. That’s a 13-year stretch. From 1977 to 1999, the Bears had seven meetings with the Lions on Thanksgiving at the old Pontiac Silverdome. The previous longest stretch without a Thanksgiving meeting between the clubs was from 1965 to 1976. It used to be the Bears and Chicago Cardinals did battle in Thanksgiving annually. They played annually from 1922 to 1933.

*Counting preseason, the schedule adds up to 14,256 air miles for the Bears. That is less than the 20,118 they logged last season thanks to the London game against the Buccaneers. It’s the fifth-most for the franchise since 1998.

bmbiggs@tribune.com

Twitter @BradBiggs

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens have supposedly also followed the Chicago Bears’ blueprint for trying to build an NFL champion during Lovie Smith’s tenure as Chicago’s coach. An examination of drive stats shows that’s not true, and just how much less support the Bears offense provides their defense than any other NFL team.

Before we go any further, this is not meant as a Fire Lovie Smith screed. Despite a seemingly misguided philosophy, Smith has won 55.5 percent of his games with good, but not overwhelming talent. In short, it’s hard to argue that Lovie Smith is a bad coach. He may not be a good one, but he’s been at least average. At least. No, this blog post is Part II of an earlier post that is about what Chicago needs to do in the future, namely make offense far and away the No. 1 offseason priority, hopefully starting with signing TWO receivers capable of topping 1,000 yards such as Vincent Jackson or Marques Colston and Mario Manningham.

The good folks at footballoutsiders.com provided the drive stats that are the basis of this analysis. I took their numbers and compared the Bears to the Ravens and Steelers in each of Lovie Smith’s eight years as head coach.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chicago Bears quarterback Josh McCown (15) rolls out in the second half of an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks in Chicago on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011. Starter Caleb Hanie struggled again filling in for the injured Jay Cutler in the team’s loss to Seattle.

This is where we see how misleading all the talk was about how close the Bears were on offense because they averaged 32 points in the five-game stretch right before Jay Cutler was injured this year, or how the Bears tied for second in the NFL in scoring in 2006.

If you break it down by how the Bears did for all the chances they got, they may have been No. 2 in points in 2006, but they were No. 17 in drive success (a combination of yards per drive, points per drive, fewest punts per drive and fewest turnovers per drive). This year, they were 27th.

Because the Bears pass so poorly (or so unwillingly), they put their defense on the field more than any team in football.

Over the last eight years:

Pittsburgh’s defense has been on the field for 1,397 total drives, an average of 10.9 per game.

Baltimore’s defense has been on the field for 1,490 drives, an average of 11.6 per game.

Chicago’s defense has been on the field for 1,593 yards, an average of 12.44 per game.

With an average of 25 more drives per year, Chicago’s defense has basically played 2 1/2 games more than Pittsburgh’s defense has played. Every year for eight years in a row. No wonder Chicago’s defense seems to wear down in the fourth quarter. With Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman and Julius Peppers all going to be at least 10-year veterans next year, the Bears need to give them more rest. The best way to do that would be by holding the ball more on offense, the way Peyton Manning protected the Colts’ defense for over a decade.

Here are the Bears compared to the Ravens and Steelers in terms of their year-by-year NFL rankings in Yards gained per drive, points scored per drive, total offensive drive rating and total defensive drive rating:

CHICAGO BEARS                            Baltimore Ravens                Pittsburgh Steelers

Year     Yds   Pts.  Off.  Def.             Yds   Pts. Off.  Def.             Yds    Pts.   Off.   Def.

2004      32   32    32     9                 26       26    28    3              12      9       10     5

2005      31    31    31    1                 27       28     26    7              8        6        8      11

2006      16    10    17    2                19       15     20    1               3       11       6       9

2007      31     25    30   4                23       27      24   2              12       6        7       5

2008      27     24    27   9                24       19     20    1              23     18      18      2

2009      23     19    24   22              12       10     12    4               7      12       10     8

2010      30      22   28    5               14       13     13    3               5       14        6      8   

To sum up, the Bears are almost nothing like Pittsburgh. The Steelers have actually been well-balanced on offense (with an average ranking of 9.9) and defense (average of 6.8). The Steelers have an average score of 10.3 in yards gained, with a high of No. 3 and three seasons in the top seven, and an average of 10.8 in points scored. In short, the Steelers have had close to a top-10 offense by almost every measure every year. They had only one season in eight when they weren’t in the top 10 in either yards gained or points scored per drive.

The Bears, on the other hand, were in the top 10 only once in either yards gained or points scored per drive, and then barely so, finishing 10th in points in 2006. The Bears have never been in the top 15 in yards gained per drive, and ranked in the top 22 only once. Their average offensive rankings per drive are 27.4 in yards, 23.4 in points and 27 in drive-success rate. The points are artificially propped up by Chicago’s great special teams play and a defense that often gives them a short field by taking the ball away. Chicago’s defense, with no help from its offense, works out to an average rating of 7.1. Seven times in Lovie Smith’s eight years, Chicago has had a top-10 defense per drive, including five times in the top five.

The Ravens are the only team that has played better defense than Chicago, ranking in the top 10 all eight years and in the top four six times. But their offense has been at least closer to middle-of-the-road than Chicago’s. The Ravens have an average ranking of 19.9 in yards gained, 19 in points scored per drive and 19.5 in overall offensive drive success compared to 3.8 on defense.

The Steelers defense has had more fourth-quarter failures than any other great defense in memory. And people get mad when the Bears can’t hold late against Denver.

When the Bears have failed late, it’s usually been in games that would have been already over for Pittsburgh.

The Ravens play somewhat like the Bears, but are clearly better on both offense and defense. And haven’t really won any more in the playoffs than the Bears have.

Chicago doesn’t need to improve it’s defense. The Bears just need to give that defense less of a load. Shorten the game by two drives by per game and Urlacher, Peppers, Briggs, Tillman and Co. won’t need any more help.

And the way to shorten the game is with more first downs on offense. And the way to do that is with a better offensive line and far, far better receivers for Jay Cutler to throw to.

Six NFL teams won more than 10 games last year. The Packers (178 drives defended), Saints (177), 49ers (190), Patriots (175), Ravens (184) and Steelers (166) averaged 178.3 times they put their defense on the field. The Bears did so 201 times. That’s twice more per game.

Fix that and you go a long, long way toward fixing the Bears.

When the Chicago Bears faced the Green Packers on December 25 ^th, the only question on my mind was whether or not the Bears would be able to keep the game close. With four of their offensive players out with injuries, one could hardly blame me for my pessimistic perspective. While the Bears failed to eliminate the Packers from playoff contention a year ago, the Packers were not in a charitable mood as they defeated Chicago 35-21 to clinch their 14 ^th victory on the season and the top seed in the NFC. Here is my spin on how the Bears played on both sides of the ball.

Offense:

It’s rather sad to say this, but the 21 point output against Green Bay was the most the Bears have scored since their last win five weeks ago. Considering that he had not started in an NFL game in four years, Josh McCown played decently, going 19-for-28 for 242 yards with 1 touchdown and two interceptions. He was definitely an upgrade from Caleb Hanie, but unfortunately for the Bears, it took them losing four games before they made the switch.

The offensive line also did a good job of protecting McCown and the Bears actually had more total yards (441) than the Packers (363), including 199 yards on the ground. However, Chicago was simply unable to generate scoring drives consistently, which is a recipe for disaster against a team like the Packers.

Defense:

The Bears’ defensive philosophy is to bend, but not break. In other words, the number of yards allowed doesn’t matter as long as they don’t give up a ton of points. Well against the Packers, the Bears’ defense was broken several times over. Starting on their opening drive, the Packers marched 80 yards on nine plays to take an early 7-0 lead., which pretty much set the tone for the game.

After the Bears trimmed the lead to 14-10 early in the third quarter, Aaron Rodgers (21-of-29, 283 yards), responded with a 55-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Jordy Nelson, which essentially put the game out of reach. Aaron Rodgers threw for a career-high five touchdowns and Jordy Nelson torched the Bears’ secondary with 115 reception yards on six catches.

Following their fifth consecutive loss, the Bears are now eliminated from playoff contention. Regardless of whether or not they beat the Minnesota Vikings next week, there are a number of issues the Bears will need to address both on the field as well as the front office.

James Tillman is a resident of the Chicago-land area who has been an NFL fan for over 20 years. James is also a fan blogger on Yahoo Sports and NJFFL Dynasty. For interesting topics on the NFL, NBA and MLB, follow him on Twitter @jtillman9693.

Sources:

NBC Channel 5

“Early score sets the tone”, Sean Jensen, Chicago Sun-Times

“Mr. Rodgers not a friend of Bears”, Rick Morrissey, Chicago Sun-Times

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

LAKE FOREST — If Bears defenders have grown frustrated with the offense’s inability to score, they’re doing a good job of hiding it.

“Sometimes it gets tough, but as a defense you’re out there to continue to compete and get the ball out and do our job,” strong safety Craig Steltz said. “And a lot of times we just continue to stay focused, not look up at the scoreboard, not worry about what’s happening on offense and just worry about what’s happening on defense and do our part.”

That got harder last week when an offensive that managed four touchdowns in four weeks under quarterback Caleb Hanie had five turnovers in a 38-14 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

“We’ve been on the field more than we would like to the last four, five weeks,” linebacker Brian Urlacher admitted.

That doesn’t bode well heading in Sunday’s game against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.

Rather than point fingers at their offense, though, defensive players think they could be doing more to create turnovers. In the last four games, Chicago’s defense produced a turnover a contest. In the previous four, they forced 17.

“Football is still fun but it has been hard to make plays for us for some reason,” Urlacher said. “We’re playing small ball with these teams. We haven’t given up a lot of points until the last week. We just fell apart in the second half. We have been playing decent for the most part. We just need to make some more plays.”

As Steltz said, just because the Bears’ offense turns the ball over, it doesn’t mean the defense can’t get it right back.

“When the game’s over, if we create takeaways, get the ball back to our offense as many times as we can, that’ll put us in a position to win the ballgame.”

The Bears’ defense now faces a challenge similar to the one that dragged down the offense — injuries. Starting free safety Chris Conte went on injured reserve with a foot injury this week and he’ll likely be replaced by Major Wright. With Wright and Steltz starting, it will be the eighth different starting safety combination used by the team.

The defense made a turnaround of sorts when Conte became a starter and Brandon Meriweather went to the bench earlier this year. They improved from 29th to 17th in total defense, 17th to 11th in points allowed, and 24th to 15th in interception percentage during Conte’s nine starts.

“He’s made a lot of good tackles in the open field,” Urlacher said. “So has Steltz when Steltz has been in there as well.”
Rodgers is certain to test a Bears secondary that gave up four completions of 21 yards or longer last week.

“He’s got a hand cannon,” cornerback Charles Tillman said of the Packers’ quarterback.

The defense seemed to wear down at the end of the last two games, raising questions about whether a group with five starters in their 30s could be showing its age.

“I don’t think age has really mattered,” said Urlacher, who is 33. “Judge me by how I play, not how old I am. I think the rest of the guys would tell you the same thing. Our older guys have played decent this year, I think.”

They haven’t played well enough to offset the struggling offense, and it showed up most in the loss to Seattle after Hanie threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown in the third quarter. The Bears’ defense allowed 17 second-half points, something it hadn’t done since a 24-13 loss at Detroit on Oct. 10.

“I don’t think there was necessarily a letdown (physically),” linebacker Lance Briggs said. “I think there’s more of a letdown in our discipline, in things that we normally would be able to handle.”

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Quarterback Josh McCown will start an NFL game for the first time in four years when he lines up behind centre for the Bears at Lambeau Field against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night.

The Bears said Wednesday that McCown will replace the struggling Caleb Hanie. McCown hasn’t started a game since Dec. 23, 2007, for Oakland against Jacksonville. He was completely out of the NFL last season.

“Other than just the excitement and the joy of being between the stripes with the lights on again, I think that first snap obviously will be exciting,” McCown said.

The excitement for McCown, who threw two passes last week in a late relief role and eight passes total since his last start, will be tempered by the fact that the Bears’ playoff hopes will end if they lose.

“So I don’t want to get too excited and too amped up because for me, absolutely it’s a cool story and cool moment, but at the same time, I’m a competitor,” he said. “I want to win the game. I want to do right by the coaches and by the other 52 guys in the locker room.”

About five weeks ago, McCown was more concerned with coaching high school football than starting an NFL game.

Then quarterback Jay Cutler broke his thumb against San Diego on Nov. 20, when the Bears owned a 7-3 record. Hanie started four straight games and lost all of them, throwing nine interceptions as the Bears’ offence got into the end zone only four times.

“We just felt like we needed a boost,” coach Lovie Smith said. “Caleb had played four games. I felt like that was enough to prove who you are and if you could help our team win. No more than that.

“Josh has been around, knows our offence, has been working against our defence for a long period of time. He’s a veteran. And again we’re just trying to give ourselves the best chance to win the game and we feel that’s the direction we need to go.”

McCown played for some struggling teams, and had a 12-19 record as a starter in Arizona in 2003-05 and in 2007 at Oakland. He has a career passing rating of 70.9, with 35 touchdown passes and 41 interceptions while completing 57.6 per cent of his passes (611 of 1,060 for 6,596 yards).

Smith admitted he was basing the decision more on what Hanie hadn’t done than what McCown could do.

“I haven’t seen a lot from Josh,” he said. “Sometimes if you don’t like what you have, you have to look at your other options. We just have to have faith that we can play better, that we can do some things to help (McCown) out a little bit more, people around him can play a little bit better.”

In 2006, McCown played backup quarterback for Detroit under current Bears offensive co-ordinator Mike Martz, which was a key reason the Bears brought him in after Cutler’s injury rather than sign a free agent like Donovan McNabb.

“He’s a better passer right now than when I had him,” Martz said of McCown. “He’s mechanically a lot more consistent. He always had a terrific arm. He’s always been able to do some things with his legs, too. He’s a terrific athlete. In fact he played wide receiver for us one year.”

McCown, who is six-foot-four, got on the field as a situational receiver on occasion for Detroit in 2006.

Martz said the preseason played a major role in the Bears going to McCown rather than starting rookie fifth-round pick Nathan Enderle.

“The problem with Nate is, Caleb didn’t have preseason a year ago, he got injured and we spent all our time with Caleb in the pre-season,” Martz said. “So Nate didn’t get a whole lot of work. It’s just too much of an unknown right now. We’re trying to win so, he’ll have his time, I’m sure. But right now this is our best opportunity to win.”

McCown will be wary Sunday of a Packers defence that thrives on turnovers, especially defensive back Charles Woodson, who is tied for the league lead with seven interceptions.

“So we’ll know where he’s at,” McCown said. “He’s been a very good player for a long time and he’s one of the smartest players you’re going to play against.”

McCown said he probably didn’t appreciate his opportunity to start enough earlier in his career.

“But for me this time around it is definitely about business and just about going and competing and helping your team win and enjoying every opportunity you can to go out there and play,” he said. “If you’ve learned anything I think it’s that you appreciate the value of having a job and of going to work and getting to go spend time at work and be around the guys.”

Chicago Bears quarterback Josh McCown will make his first National Football League start in
four years when the team plays the division-rival Green Bay
Packers on Dec. 25.

McCown, 32, will replace Caleb Hanie, the loser of all four
of his starts in place of Jay Cutler, who fractured his thumb in
a game last month, the team said today. McCown has thrown two
passes with one completion and one interception this season, and
hasn’t started since Week 16 of the 2007 season when he was with
the Oakland Raiders.

The Bears (7-7) play the Packers (13-1) on Christmas at
8:20 p.m. New York time.

“It’s a cool story and a cool moment, but at the same time
I’m a competitor,” McCown told reporters in a televised
interview. “I want to win the game — I want to do right by the
coaches and by the other 52 guys in the locker room.”

McCown signed with the Bears on Nov. 23, three days after
Cutler’s injury. He started nine games for the Raiders in 2007,
going 2-7 with 10 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He has thrown
eight passes in four games since.

The Bears were 7-3, in line for a playoff spot, when Hanie
took over for Cutler. The 26-year-old quarterback threw three
touchdowns and nine interceptions in his four starts before
being benched.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Eben Novy-Williams in New York at
enovywilliam@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at
msillup@bloomberg.net

The Chicago Bears choice of who to start at quarterback would have been a much bigger deal a few weeks ago. As it stands, the Bears are all but out of the playoff race. Despite a number of teams still being in the race, victories by the Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions have turned everyone else into long shots. Since Caleb Hanie has taken over for the Bears, nothing has gone according to plan. The Bears have lost all four games and have fallen out of the superb position they once found themselves. Reports are circulating that the Bears —depending on the quality of practice—will give Josh McCown a chance to start against the rival Green Bay Packers.

Eh, OK. Why not?

Hanie just hasn’t produced. When Jay Cutler went down, I sincerely believed the Bears would survive with Hanie at the helm. I clearly missed the mark on that one. I suppose at this point the Bears may as well give McCown a shot. Though, since hopes of the playoffs have mostly gone by the wayside, I wouldn’t mind letting Nathan Enderle take the start. However, since the Bears aren’t mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, I understand why Lovie Smith is leaning towards the veteran quarterback, even if he’s not all that good of one.

McCown hasn’t played for an extended period of time since 2007, when he started nine games for the Oakland Raiders. During that time, he threw for 1,151 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. The numbers aren’t impressive, but his attitude is pretty strong saying he’s “the last guy who sits there and says, ‘I hope this guy struggles so I can play.’ We all have Bears uniforms on. We’re all part of this team together, and you want your team to do well.” Classy response to be sure, but I’m thinking he’s pretty happy to have a shot at starting.

What is strange about the upcoming Bears game against the Packers is that it’s a game that has been circled on everyone’s calendar since the beginning of the season and now looks to be mostly meaningless. The Bears have fallen out of major contention, the Packers have clinched the division, and the Packers are no longer chasing perfection thanks to the Kansas City Chiefs. Suddenly, a game between the Bears and the Packers on Week 16 that was setting up to be an enormous game means very little. Who would have thought just four weeks ago that this would be the case?

All things considered, we might see McCown start for the Bears against their rivals on Sunday, or McCown might have an awful week of practice and it’ll be Hanie again. Either way, the Bears have their work cut out for them.

Brian is a lifelong Chicago Bears fan, having lived in Illinois his entire life and having followed the NFL throughout. If you enjoy his writing, despite it being little more than an opinion, follow him on Twitter @bdavis_sports

Sources

Bears May Start McCown

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LAKE FOREST — The list of Tim Tebow believers has slowly grown for several weeks now, and some of them will suit up against him Sunday in Denver.

“He’s a big man, very physical, and boy he doesn’t shy away from contact. We respect that,” Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli said. “He’s nimble and he’s a fighter; how can you not respect that?”

Respect for Tebow is widespread among Chicago players and coaches. The second-year former Heisman winner from Florida supplanted former Bear Kyle Orton as the Broncos’ starting quarterback in their mid-October bye week, and he’s led Denver to a 6-1 record and a five-game winning streak that has the Broncos tied for first in the AFC West.

“It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been a fun ride for us,” Tebow said in a teleconference. “You have something special when you have a team that, when adversity hits and obstacles hit in a game, we grow closer together.”

The Broncos have transformed their offense with Tebow under center, and they’ve morphed from one of the league’s worst all-around offenses into the league’s top rushing attack. Tebow is leading the only true option-offense in the NFL in decades.

“With the naysayers, I just want to prove them wrong and it fires me up a little. And the people that support me, I want to prove them right,” Tebow said. “I’m not going to lie and say that doesn’t fire me up, people saying I’m not an NFL quarterback.”

There have been plenty of those, and he gave them fuel for the fire after completing just 30 passes in Denver’s last four games. The Broncos won all four, however, including a 17-10 win over the Chiefs on Oct. 13 during which Tebow was 2-for-8 for 69 yards.

He has thrown for a modest average of 139 yards in his seven starts, but has 10 touchdowns and just one interception. He has also rushed for 5.7 yards per carry and made stirring comebacks look routine.

Denver scored 15 points in the last three minutes and then won in overtime to beat Miami to start Tebow’s 6-1 streak. The last three weeks, Denver has, in order, scored the winning points with 58 seconds left, in overtime and on the last play of the game.

“It’s hard not to hear about what Tebow’s doing over there because he gets a lot of publicity. It seems like everywhere you turn around, for awhile there, everybody was evaluating him and figuring out if he is good enough to do it,” Bears quarterback Caleb Hanie said. “They’ve won five games with him in a row, so they’re doing it their way.”

Lately he’s shown that if you focus too much on Tebow’s running ability, and the rest of the Broncos rushing attack, that’s when he’ll hurt you with his arm. He has completed just 47.5 percent of his passes this year, but passed for 220 yards and two touchdowns in a 35-32 win over Minnesota last week. He was 10-for-15 and finished with a career-high 149.3 passer rating.

“If they run the ball so many times in a row, you have to be alert that there is play-action coming off that run,” said safety Craig Steltz, who had 11 tackles last week. “You have to continue to read keys because that’s where big plays happen, guys misread their keys or eyes are in the backfield and someone’s running free down the field.”

The Bears have already beaten two teams led by running quarterbacks, but even Philadelphia’s Michael Vick and Carolina’s Cam Newton are nothing like what the Bears are expecting to see at Mile High Stadium.

“We just have to dust off some rules, clean some things up and go play our defense,” Marinelli said. “The biggest thing is that they run the ball with power too; it’s not just option.”

Bears linebacker Lance Briggs thinks he knows the key.

“Just get him down,” Briggs added. “It’s important to just get that guy down.”
Easy to say for Briggs, but we’ll see how easy it will be for the seven-time Pro Bowler and the Bears defense.

Reach staff reporter Jay Taft at 815-987-1384 or jtaft@rrstar.com.

The Kansas City Chiefs only scored 10 points against the Chicago Bears, seven of them in the first half. It was that they needed in a hard-fought 10-3 victory over the Chicago Bears Dec. 4.

The key play was a miracle Hail Mary pass as time expired in the first half when Dexter McCluster(notes) caught a ball deflected by the Bears’ defense. The Chiefs’ defense held on after that, including getting an interception in the end zone as Chicago was looking to tie the game in the fourth quarter.

Quarterback Tyler Palko(notes) had his first good outing as he didn’t throw an interception. He only had 157 yards passing and was 17-for-30, but the Chiefs didn’t cough up the football like they normally do. The only time Kansas City made a huge mistake was touching the ball on a punt that gave the ball back to the Bears.

Chicago’s mistakes also helped Kansas City throughout the game. Chad Hanie, who was starting in place for the injured Jay Cutler(notes), was sacked seven times. The special teams missed a 41-yard field goal late in the third quarter after they got to the Kansas City seven yard line before giving up two sacks.

The Bears’ red zone offense only scored three points. The interception in the end zone occurred after the ball wasn’t caught by the Bears and deflected several times before coming down to Jon McGraw(notes).

The only touchdown of the game also could have been prevented. The defending Bears deflected the ball to McCluster who grabbed it before it touched the ground. McCluster had 61 yards rushing on nine carries, including a 32-yard run in the second half.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Chiefs got a much-needed victory. In all honesty, the win could have saved the season for Kansas City. The news wasn’t all good. The Denver Broncos got another miracle comeback when they defeated the Minnesota Vikings on the final play of the game thanks to an interception deep in Vikings territory.

Backup quarterback Kyle Orton(notes) was in the game against the Bears for one play and hurt his finger after he was thrown to the turf following an incomplete pass. Orton didn’t return and his status for any future games has yet to be determined.

Kansas City improved to 5-7 on the year, just two games behind the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders in the AFC West standings with four games left on the year. A division title is still within reach. Kansas City would need to win while needing two teams to lose at least twice between now and early January.

William Browning is a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs after latching on to the team during the lean years of St. Louis football. Born in the gateway city, he is also a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

The Kansas City Star reports Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley has decided Tyler Palko(notes) will be his starter Dec. 4 against the Chicago Bears. Yet he also told the publication that he will do whatever it takes to win the crucial game.

Haley also said that newly acquired Kyle Orton(notes) took about half of the snaps in practice this week in preparation for the next game. Despite his assertions, it appears Haley is having trouble deciding on which quarterback will be in the game against the Bears.

He may have a case of the Oakland Raiders on his hands. When Oakland lost Jason Campbell(notes) for the season due to a broken collarbone, the quarterback tandem of Carson Palmer(notes) and Kyle Boller(notes) managed six interceptions between them at home against the Chiefs. Palmer has since settled into the Raiders lineup after coming out of a self-imposed exile with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Palko will start for the third straight game. But Haley’s message is clear. Don’t be surprised if fans see Orton under center sometime against the Bears. It will be a matter of necessity and pragmatism for the Chiefs. If Orton can save the Chiefs’ season, so be it.

A loss means they may be out of an AFC West division title. With five games to go, Kansas City is behind Oakland by three games. Another loss, coupled with a win by the Raiders, will put them in a precarious position of being four games behind with four remaining on the schedule. Plus Kansas City also has the San Diego Chargers ahead of them in the standings. Overcoming a deficit to not one but two teams at this stage is going to take a turnaround of epic proportions.

The Haley plan for the the preseason failed in the first game. Then there was optimism when Kansas City won four games in a row. Then they returned to their losing ways with four straight defeats. A division title is not out of reach, but clearly more setbacks will make it more difficult.

How the Chiefs respond against the Bears, after coming so close to defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers a week earlier, will basically make or break the season. If Kansas City makes a game of it, at least fans can say the Chiefs improved on the year and did the best they could with so many injuries. If the Bears blowout KC, look for an interesting offseason full of changes.

William Browning is a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs after latching on to the team during the lean years of St. Louis football. Born in the gateway city, he is also a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

The Chicago Bears hope backup quarterback Caleb Hanie can do the job when he fills in for injured Jay Cutler Sunday in Oakland, but they’re not going to rely on Hanie to carry the load.

Instead, they are looking for big contributions from their defense and special teams as Hanie tries to get acclimated to the offense.

“Caleb knows the offense, he’s been around here for three years now behind Jay,” linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “And we know what we can do, that’s for sure. We’ve seen what we can do on special teams and defense, just get takeaways and score touchdowns if we have to.”

The defense’s job today is pretty focused, as the Raiders come in as one of the best running teams in the league. Plus they could be without their top three wide receivers, including Darrius Heyward-Bey, who is questionable with a neck injury. With Carson Palmer still relatively new at quarterback for Oakland, the Raiders may be even more inclined to emphasize the run.

“This is a really outstanding running football team. The backs, the big offensive line … We’re expecting a lot of that,” Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli said. “You’ve got to hang your hat on one thing, and we have to get the run stopped. And they’re good at it.”

The Raiders are guided by Palmer, but are charged by their running backs. Darren McFadden was leading the league in rushing much of the first half of the season before missing the past three weeks with a foot injury. The Raiders have not missed a step, however, as Michael Bush has stepped in and kept the offense moving.

“He’s so clutch,” Marinelli said about Bush. “He’s a downhill player, he’s physical. It’s what they want. He’s a big back, a physical back, and the offense is geared around him.

“All the powers, and all the counters. It’s a downhill offense, and it starts with him.”

McFadden had 614 yards rushing and 154 receiving before giving way to Bush, who has now rushed for over 96 yards in each of the past four games. Still, the Bears’ defense held the Chargers’ Ryan Mathews to 37 yards; ground the Lions’ entire rushing attack to 80 yards on Nov. 13; and held Philly’s LeSean McCoy to 71 yards one week after stuffing the Bucs for just 30 yards on Oct. 26.

They have been good; today they may need to be better.

“I think we’ve all got to step it up. It’s November, and everybody is pushing for the playoffs,” defensive tackle Anthony Adams said. “We’re in a tight, tight race right now, so regardless of our situation, we all have to step it up anyways.”

Bears reporter Jay Taft can be reached at 815-987-1384 or jtaft@rrstar.com.

OAKLAND, Calif. – If there’s any team that knows what the Chicago Bears are going through after losing starting quarterback Jay Cutler to a broken thumb, it might be the Oakland Raiders.

It was just last month that Oakland’s promising season hit a speed bump when starter Jason Campbell broke his collarbone. The Raiders lost back-to-back games as they adjusted to new quarterback Carson Palmer before responding with wins the past two weeks as Palmer found his rhythm.

The Bears (7-3) are now in a similar predicament heading into Sunday’s game in Oakland against the Raiders (6-4), with backup Caleb Hanie set to get his first career start one week after Cutler broke his thumb trying to make a tackle on an interception return.

The emotions in Chicago are quite familiar to the Raiders. The initial shock followed by the understanding that the team must rally behind the new quarterback or otherwise the entire season would go to waste.

“The QB is the leader,” Raiders defensive tackle Tommy Kelly said. “He’s the face of the team. When you lose a good one, and everything’s going like the Bears have had, winning five in a row, it’s a shock wave. But the dude they’ve got backing up played last year in the NFC championship game. He didn’t play all year last year and he came right in and picked it up. You can’t go in thinking there’s going to be a big drop-off. You just have to take care of business.”

While Hanie’s last start was for Colorado State against Wyoming four years ago and he has not even thrown a pass all season, his performance in last season’s NFC title game against Green Bay opened eyes in Oakland, and among his own teammates.

After Cutler went down with a knee injury and Todd Collins was ineffective in two series, Hanie came into the game with the Bears trailing the Packers 14-0 late in the third quarter. He led the Bears to a touchdown on his first drive, threw an interception that was returned for a score later in the fourth quarter and then threw a TD pass to cut the deficit to 21-14.

Hanie then drove Chicago into Green Bay territory before throwing an interception in the final minute to send the Packers to the Super Bowl. He finished that game 13 for 20 for 153 yards with one TD and two interceptions on a huge stage with no preparation.

The Bears hope that makes this week’s task a little bit easier.

“That helped him a lot. This week he knew he was the guy right away. He’s able to take all the reps in practice to really get himself ready to play the best possible game he can,” coach Lovie Smith said. “He’s not a rookie around here. Caleb’s been around here for a while. Our players all know him, they have confidence in him. Outside it’s a big story, but on the inside we’re just carrying on. It’s always next guy up.”

When the Raiders lost Campbell on Oct. 16 in a win against Cleveland, the next man up was Kyle Boller. But they quickly decided they needed an upgrade and immediately traded a 2012 first-round pick and conditional 2013 second-rounder to Cincinnati for Palmer.

The risk did not pay off immediately. Boller and Palmer combined to throw six interceptions as Oakland lost its first game without Palmer to Kansas City. Palmer threw three more interceptions the following game in a loss to Denver.

But he has bounced back the past two games, going 31 for 43 for 463 yards with three touchdowns and one interception for a passer rating of 120.6 as the Raiders have won two straight to take over first place in the AFC West.

“That’s why I went and got the guy,” coach Hue Jackson said. “He’s a tremendous football player. He’s growing each and every day. The sky’s the limit. What he has to do is just keep working. It’s a testament to him. All of a sudden you’ve played four games now and your body, you go from the couch to playing, and at some point in time you’re looking for him to slow down and hit a wall, but not this guy. He keeps working and pushes right through it and on he goes.”

The Bears are putting their hopes in Hanie’s hands until Cutler returns, possibly before the end of the regular season. They reportedly made a waiver claim on Kyle Orton, who was claimed by Kansas City, and signed Josh McCown as a backup.

But if they are going to make it back to the post-season, Hanie will be the quarterback to get them there. He has plenty of help with running back Matt Forte, who leads the league with 1,391 yards from scrimmage, big-play returner Devin Hester and a defence that is tied for second in takeaways with 23.

“We lost our leader for a few weeks here so we’ve got to pick it up a little bit and everyone’s got to try and do more if that’s even possible,” linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “It’s hard to do that in the NFL and we’ve just got to try and find a way to make some more plays.”

OAKLAND, Calif. – If there’s any team that knows what the Chicago Bears are going through after losing starting quarterback Jay Cutler to a broken thumb, it might be the Oakland Raiders.

It was just last month that Oakland’s promising season hit a speed bump when starter Jason Campbell broke his collarbone. The Raiders lost back-to-back games as they adjusted to new quarterback Carson Palmer before responding with wins the past two weeks as Palmer found his rhythm.

The Bears (7-3) are now in a similar predicament heading into Sunday’s game in Oakland against the Raiders (6-4), with backup Caleb Hanie set to get his first career start one week after Cutler broke his thumb trying to make a tackle on an interception return.

The emotions in Chicago are quite familiar to the Raiders. The initial shock followed by the understanding that the team must rally behind the new quarterback or otherwise the entire season would go to waste.

“The QB is the leader,” Raiders defensive tackle Tommy Kelly said. “He’s the face of the team. When you lose a good one, and everything’s going like the Bears have had, winning five in a row, it’s a shock wave. But the dude they’ve got backing up played last year in the NFC championship game. He didn’t play all year last year and he came right in and picked it up. You can’t go in thinking there’s going to be a big drop-off. You just have to take care of business.”

While Hanie’s last start was for Colorado State against Wyoming four years ago and he has not even thrown a pass all season, his performance in last season’s NFC title game against Green Bay opened eyes in Oakland, and among his own teammates.

After Cutler went down with a knee injury and Todd Collins was ineffective in two series, Hanie came into the game with the Bears trailing the Packers 14-0 late in the third quarter. He led the Bears to a touchdown on his first drive, threw an interception that was returned for a score later in the fourth quarter and then threw a TD pass to cut the deficit to 21-14.

Hanie then drove Chicago into Green Bay territory before throwing an interception in the final minute to send the Packers to the Super Bowl. He finished that game 13 for 20 for 153 yards with one TD and two interceptions on a huge stage with no preparation.

The Bears hope that makes this week’s task a little bit easier.

“That helped him a lot. This week he knew he was the guy right away. He’s able to take all the reps in practice to really get himself ready to play the best possible game he can,” coach Lovie Smith said. “He’s not a rookie around here. Caleb’s been around here for a while. Our players all know him, they have confidence in him. Outside it’s a big story, but on the inside we’re just carrying on. It’s always next guy up.”

When the Raiders lost Campbell on Oct. 16 in a win against Cleveland, the next man up was Kyle Boller. But they quickly decided they needed an upgrade and immediately traded a 2012 first-round pick and conditional 2013 second-rounder to Cincinnati for Palmer.

The risk did not pay off immediately. Boller and Palmer combined to throw six interceptions as Oakland lost its first game without Palmer to Kansas City. Palmer threw three more interceptions the following game in a loss to Denver.

But he has bounced back the past two games, going 31 for 43 for 463 yards with three touchdowns and one interception for a passer rating of 120.6 as the Raiders have won two straight to take over first place in the AFC West.

“That’s why I went and got the guy,” coach Hue Jackson said. “He’s a tremendous football player. He’s growing each and every day. The sky’s the limit. What he has to do is just keep working. It’s a testament to him. All of a sudden you’ve played four games now and your body, you go from the couch to playing, and at some point in time you’re looking for him to slow down and hit a wall, but not this guy. He keeps working and pushes right through it and on he goes.”

The Bears are putting their hopes in Hanie’s hands until Cutler returns, possibly before the end of the regular season. They reportedly made a waiver claim on Kyle Orton, who was claimed by Kansas City, and signed Josh McCown as a backup.

But if they are going to make it back to the post-season, Hanie will be the quarterback to get them there. He has plenty of help with running back Matt Forte, who leads the league with 1,391 yards from scrimmage, big-play returner Devin Hester and a defence that is tied for second in takeaways with 23.

“We lost our leader for a few weeks here so we’ve got to pick it up a little bit and everyone’s got to try and do more if that’s even possible,” linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “It’s hard to do that in the NFL and we’ve just got to try and find a way to make some more plays.”