CHICAGO – It’s his job to find holes, so no one needs to remind Matt Forte that the Chicago Bears are in a big one five games into the season.

The defending NFC North champions are off to their worst start since 2007 at 2-3 after a 24-13 loss at Detroit on Monday night. They are already three games behind the Lions and Green Bay, the last two unbeaten teams in the NFL, and the way they are playing, it’s not easy to envision a breather this weekend against the Vikings.

Chicago continues to have trouble blocking, and a defense that was expected to be its strength is coming off another rough outing. After a game that the Bears were viewing as a defining moment, they look like the definition of mediocrity.

“There is never a time for panic, but we need to have a sense of urgency,” Forte said. “If you panic, you get out of your regular rhythm.”

The Bears have struggled to find the right balance on offense, with quarterback Jay Cutler again absorbing regular beatings and the run game getting ignored at times. One week the pass protection is there, but Forte has no room to run. The next, there are enough holes but Cutler is running for dear life.

A defense led by Pro Bowl players Julius Peppers, Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs isn’t holding up its end, either, and that’s maybe the biggest head-scratcher with the Bears.

Yes, Cutler was on the run again Monday even though he got sacked only three times. The line got rattled into nine false starts – six in

the first half alone. Chicago wound up wasting a solid effort by Forte, who rushed for 116 yards, and a big part of the blame goes to the defense.

Peppers has been mostly quiet after delivering in a big way in his first year with the Bears, but the problems go beyond the pressure up front. There are issues in the secondary, too.

“I don’t think anyone (foresaw this); I don’t even know what we’re ranked, 31, 32, somewhere up there,” cornerback Charles Tillman said. “I don’t think anyone could foresee us being ranked that high. It’s time to do some soul searching and see what each of us is really made of. We can either tuck our tails between our legs and go run away or man up and fight and get this thing turned around.”

Only three teams are allowing more yards per game than the Bears. They are 27th against the pass and 28th against the run and already have given up as many combined runs and passes for 40 or more yards (six) as they did all last season.

They had trouble containing Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers in losses to New Orleans and Green Bay, then got shredded by Cam Newton while allowing 543 yards in a win over Carolina. It was more of the same against the Lions.

They gave up 395 yards on 47 plays – 8.4 on average. That included a 73-yard touchdown catch by Calvin Johnson in which Tillman failed to jam Johnson and Chris Harris got beaten, and they watched as Jahvid Best went 88 yards untouched to the end zone on a run that might have left Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson champing at the bit. After all, Peterson ran for 224 yards against Chicago in 2007 – the most ever by a Bears opponent – and he is coming off a 122-yard performance against Arizona that included three statement-making touchdowns in the first quarter.

“Defensively, we stink,” Urlacher said. “We can’t stop the run, we can’t stop the pass; we can’t stop the pass, we can’t stop the run. We’re all over the place.”

Tillman said the players are to blame.

“I feel like our scheme is not difficult,” he said. “We are doing the same thing we did last year. It’s the same defense, same players. I respect coach (Lovie) Smith and (defensive coordinator Rod) Marinelli. They will be men and blame themselves, but it really falls on the players. They’re doing everything in their power, and I think we, as players, we can definitely man up and make the plays.”

- The Bears waived safety Winston Venable and elevated safety Anthony Walters from the practice squad.

CHICAGO — Soldier Field officials say they’re working with the Chicago Bears to make sure a new field is installed in time for the team’s Sept. 11 home opener against the Atlanta Falcons.

The Bears canceled a practice earlier this month because the field’s turf was deemed unsafe for players. Officials with Soldier Field said today that they’re working with a vendor preferred by the team and an agronomist to install a new natural grass field.

The field will be installed over Labor Day weekend. Officials say it “will best suit the team and will ensure the players’ comfort.”

Soldier Field officials also asked the NFL’s Super Bowl groundskeeper to lend his expertise.

The field is owned and maintained by the Chicago Park District. The Bears have a lease to play there.

BOURBONNAIS — Last year, the Bears defense played a large role in getting the team to the brink of the Super Bowl.

Whether the offense steps it up this year or not, the players on the defensive side of the ball in Chicago believe they can do it again.

“It’s still the same for us: Our goal every week is to shut teams out, no matter what our offense does,” fourth-year defensive tackle Matt Toeaina said. “That’s how we can prove to ourselves that we are the defense we think we are; that we are as good or better than we were last year. We believe we can do it every week.”

Nine times last year they held their opponents to 17 points or less, lifting the Bears to an 11-5 regular-season mark, and an NFC North division title. And though they lost defensive back Danieal Manning, linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa and lineman Tommie Harris, they return with the most important pieces like linebacker leaders Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs, end Julius Peppers and corner Charles Tillman.

Little known linebacker Nick Roach will step into a bigger role, replacing Tinoisamoa, and Briggs thinks that will help keep this linebacking corps under the radar. For a little while at least.

“We’re very excited. Nick’s familiar with us, and it’s OK that we’re not getting a lot of attention right now,” said Briggs, who had 89 tackles and two sacks last year. “We’re going to get a lot of attention when we get out there on that field.”

In the 2010 regular season, the Bears were fourth in points allowed (17.9 per game) and ninth in total defense (314.3 yards per game allowed). Conversely, the Jay Cutler-run offense in Chicago was 21st in scoring (20.9 points per game) and 30th out of 32 teams with an average of 289.4 yards per game.

“Our defense carried us a lot,” Cutler recently admitted. “We hope they don’t have to do that again.”

The D allowed a total of 44 points in two playoff games, giving their team a shot at getting all the way to the Super Bowl. A 21-14 loss to Green Bay in the NFC championship game put a halt to their season, However, the players on the defensive side of the ball in Chicago feel they did their part then, and they can do it again.

“We’ve had a lot of guys who have been in this system, and we know this system works,” D-lineman Anthony Adams said.

“This being our third year into it with Coach (Rod) Marinelli, we can’t do anything but get better. And we finished off pretty good.”

The Bears have steadied their reputation of having a stingy defense by finishing in the top 10 in total defense in three of the past five seasons.

That reputation has helped bring in a couple of players, like former first-rounders Vhernon Gholston and Amobi Okoye, who are hoping to fit in and help them dominate.

“When I was let go by the Texans, I looked around the league, and I definitely wanted to come here; definitely,” Okoye said.

“This is a defense I want to play for. This defense has a rep, and I think we’ll continue it this year.”

They will get their first chance at live action Saturday when the Bears host the Bills at 7 p.m. in both teams’ preseason opener.

They will then return to Bourbonnais for one more week of training camp before getting into the routine back at their home complex in Lake Forest.

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

 

Monday, we discussed the tight timetable the Chicago Bears are on in order to safely participate in their Aug. 7 preseason opener. In an appearance Tuesday on ESPN’s “First Take,” Bears tailback Matt Forte acknowledged there “is a little bit of concern” about whether players will be ready for that game if the NFL lockout delays the start of training camp. The Bears’ first practice is scheduled for a week from Saturday.

“You don’t want to go into a game not prepared and not having been able to get into pads enough or things like that,” Forte said. “… Sometimes you can have too many preseason games. A lot of guys can get injured in the preseason, and you don’t want to start off the season injured.”