The offensive play calling and game planning on the Chicago Bears offense may be the worst in the NFL.  The Bears' offense has been a huge problem, it's predictable and simple to attack.  There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the offense, the Bears do nothing on offense to set up something else.  

This has been a problem all season in one form or another, whether it's a lack of short passing routes to start the season or a lack of play action pass.  Against the Green Bay Packers however the Bears probably ran the most predictable game plan I've seen in quite some time. 

This week we talked about the current state of the Chicago Bears.  Had an intense talk about Lovie Smith and about whether he should be  a part of the future of the franchise.  We also talked about Brandon Marshall's cal out of the Green Bay Packer, Lance Briggs responding to Jermichael Finley.  Also Bill Huber of Packer Report joined us for an in-depth look on the Packers. 

Much like their early season success on the football field in number of games won, the Bears successfully avoided a lot of injuries.  That is no longer the case with this team facing a rash of injuries with three games left to play in the regular season.  

In total the Bears have 14 players listed on the injury report for the game against the Packers.  11 of those player did not participate in practice today, a walk-through practice because the Bears couldn't hold a full practice.  

Quarterback Jay Cutler suffered whip lash in the game against the Vikings and will be battling a sore neck all week.  Cutler stated he's likely to play against the Packers, but he'll likely be in pain.  

Running back Michael Bush injured his ribs in the game against the Seahawks missed a lot of practice leading up to the Vikings game, took one carry against the Vikings, aggravated the injury and didn't play the rest of the game.  

Defensive Tackles Stephen Paea and Henry Melton are both battling injuries, Paea a foot and shoulder injury and Melton with a chest injury problem.  As insurance the Bears went out and signed Amobi Okoye to a one year deal for his third stint with the team.  

Elsewhere both starting cornerbacks are battling injuries, Charles Tillman was a full participant in practice with a shoulder injury so he should play.  Tim Jennings on the other hand is still in doubt battling back from a dislocated shoulder.  

Linebackers Lance Briggs and Geno Hayes were also held out of practice today, with Briggs battling hip and knee problems.  Hayes who just took over at the strong side linebacker spot with Brian Urlacher out with a hamstring appears on the report with a knee problem.  

Chris Spencer and Jonathan Scott are both battling injuries along the offensive line though Spencer practiced and Scott did not today.  

I'm sure most of these players will be ready to go in time for the Packers game, but it goes to show just how lucky the Bears were at the start of the season and just how tested their depth will be now.  

The Packers as well are dealing with a bunch of injuries with 10 players on the injury report.  Charles Woodson was already ruled out for the game while linebacker Clay Matthews is expected to return.   Also in doubt for the game is wide receiver Jordy Nelson.

The idea behind this post has nothing to do with the loss to the  Minnesota Vikings on Sunday and everything we've seen from this team.  Honestly, this has more to do with tenure than this year's team, this opinion is simply a reflection that the Bears should end the madness.  

While ultimately the decision to fire Lovie Smith will be made based on wins and losses and the Bears likely getting into the playoffs we should look much deeper.  

When you look deeper into Lovie Smith's tenure, each and every season has been marred by chaos in one form or another.

All season long there has been a consistent theme developing on the Chicago Bears offense, a bit of a rallying cry, the Bears need to spread the ball around.  Brandon Marshall has been the focal point of the offense this season, earning the third most targets of any receiver in the NFL this season. The idea is the Bears could do better to spread the ball around to other receivers to take the focus off of Marshall.  

During the Bears loss to the Vikings, they finally followed up on that strategy.  Kellen Davis and Devin Hester were targeted eight times each, and finished with eight receptions between them.  Hester had at least two drops by my count, and Davis also contributed to the failure in this game.  In a case of be careful what you wish for, the Bears got just that from two players who should not be on the field next week, much less on the roster next season.  

Alshon Jeffery was targeted six times and came up with three receptions in this game.  He caught a couple of nice passes, but also dropped a touchdown pass.  Two touchdown drops in this game by both Jeffery and Hester hurt this team's chances in the game.  

Moving forward two things are certain, Dane Sanzenbacher deserves a chance in this offense.  The Bears should deactivate Devin Hester and the ball should never be thrown Kellen Davis' way again.  

Dropped passes are killing the Bears and there needs to be a focus on getting Jay Cutler some weapons during the offseason.  Earl Bennett, if he is to remain on the roster should take a major pay cut, and the Bears need to find a pass catching TE.  

Both Hester and Davis lack fundamental concentration when they are the targets on offense.  Hester has consistently dropped passes or ran backwards with the football when he does make a catch.  His lack of true receiver instincts is beyond frustrating. 

Davis struggles to get open and also suffers from inconsistency in catching passes.  Davis' abilities are limited to seam routes down the middle of the field and not much else. 

Lastly I don't understand what role Evan Rodriguez has within this offense.  Tyler  Clutts was a decent fullback, and as such Rodriguez should not have been drafted to be just a fullback.  That's a wasted draft pick that should have been used to address either a true TE, or another position all together.  

There will be a need to add weapons around Cutler one way or the other and Emery should not hesitate to address this.  The problem is the Bears have a lot of other positions on both sides of the ball they need to address in order to compete for a Super Bowl title.

Perhaps this loss to the Minnesota Vikings is endemic of Lovie Smith's career as a Chicago Bears head coach.  The defense played well, but gave up just enough to lose the game.  The offense showed promise, but never put up enough points to win the football game.  

In this loss the full ugliness of Smith's tenure was on display with the defense giving up over 100 yards in the first quarter to Adrian Peterson.  The defense eventually  played better, but the offense was not good enough to score points in key situations.  The offensive line at times protected Jay Cutler, but ultimately failed in helping the Bears run the football.  

Before you could blink it was 14-0 Minnesota after a Jay Cutler interception was returned inside Bears territory where Peterson punched it in for his second touchdown of the quarter.  The lethargic effort in the first quarter put the Bears in a hole they could not pull themselves out of based on dropped passes and poor play calling.  

Questions have to be answered after this game, and after this season.  Why in so many third and one situations have the Bears put Cutler in the shot gun and telegraphed that they were throwing the football?  Earlier in the season the Bears faced a third and one and didn't run the football to pick up the first down.  The exact same scenario faced the Bears in this game against the Vikings, in a critical juncture of the game.  Third and one the Bears need a first down, Cutler is in the shot gun and overthrows his receiver.  Bears come up empty and have to punt it away.  

That type of play calling lost the Bears two games if not more this season.  Momentum is everything in the NFL and the Bears gave momentum back to the Vikings.  There was absolutely no reason the Bears should not have put up over 30 points in this game.  Instead they struggled to put up 14 points.  

Why was the defense so unmotivated on the first drive of the game?  First carry Adrian Peters runs for 51 yards, Vikings march 80 yards for a touchdown.  Bears are overwhelmed from the start and down 7-0.  

From there the offense was fighting an uphill battle, but not an unwinnable fight, for normal offenses.  For the Chicago Bears offense it was too much to ask for this team to overcome a quick 14-point deficit.  

What has become clear is that Devin Hester should no longer play for the Bears after this season.  Same goes for Kellen Davis, he should no longer play after this season.  The Bears needs weapons and blockers on offense, a complete overhaul is in order.  

The question is, is Phil Emery the man to rebuild this franchise?  Can you rebuild this franchise around Jay Cutler while rebuilding the defense?  

Emery is not without fault on this teams' failures this season.  Look no further than the failure to improve the offensive line, look no further than the failures in the draft.  

A lot has to happen for this team to be competitive for a potential Super Bowl championship, more than Bears fans may be able to stomach or have patience for over the next three years.

During the 2011 season the Chicago Bears defense faced some of the highest yardage producing QBs in the NFL.  Eight of sixteen games against QBs with with passing yard production in the top-10 in the NFL.  

Now during the 2012 season, the Bears' defense can't catch a break playing seven games against the top running back in the NFL in terms of yards produced on the season.  This includes six straight games against the best runningbacks in the NFL.  

The Bears have faced Chris Johnson, Arian Foster, Frank Gore, Adrian Peterson, Marshawn Lynch and again face Adrian Peterson for the second time in three weeks.  This while the Bears are trying to position themselves for a playoff run.  

In the last five games the Bears defense has allowed 697 yards or 5.2 YPC, and are still 10th overall in the league in rush defense at 103.5  yards per game.  The Bears have maintained this level of production despite Brian Urlacher having one good leg to play on.  

The question surrounds the Bears defense again, is this defense getting too old?  The inability to stop the run of late would seem to indicate as much.  Some may even argue that Stepheh Paea hasn't played up to his ability.

Once you consider all the factors it appears that the defense is still playing at a high level.  Just like last season when the Bears were 28th overall in pass yards allowed, this year the run defense production is down for two primary reasons.  

Obviously  I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but the Bears face a clear disadvantage that no other team in the NFL has faced.  The Packers and Lions have also faced these same running backs but neither has faced them in back to back weeks.  The Bears are the only defense that's faced this challenge over six straight weeks.  

 

This week the Bears wrap up their season series with Minnesota Vikings in a must win game.  First we wrapped up the Bears loss to Seattle, and talked about the Bears injuries.  The Sport Doctor radio's Dr. Bob Weil joined us to give a professional look into what Brian  Urlacher's hamstring  injury really means.  We also were joined by  Tim Yotter of VikingUpdate.com to get an indepth look into the game in Minnesota. 

Chicago Bears fans are starting to catching on that rookie defensive end Shea McClellin is not an every down base DE.  So now Bears fans have it in mind that McClellin could be the eventual replacement for Brian Urlacher.  That talk was a part of the discussion prior to Urlacher's injury and has exploded into the pantheon of discussion with Urlacher's possible season-ending hamstring injury. 

Tim Jennings is likely out for Sunday's game in Minnesota and starting in his place will be veteran corner Kelvin Hayden.  Jennings' shoulder injury is not considered to be serious, and could keep him out for one or two games.  Jennings has eight interceptions on the season and is tied for the lead with 19 pass breakups on the season.