The atmosphere around Soldier Field Saturday night had a regular season feel to it.  The grills and fans were fired up and ready to go for the 2010 Chicago Bears season.  Fathers and sons were playing catch attempting to do their best Cutler to Knox impressions. One of the things missing from that scene was the collapsing pocket around them.    

The Raiders and Jason Campbell won the coin toss and wouldn’t waste any time getting to work.  A false start put the Raiders in the first of two successfully converted third and long situations on the opening drive.  Campbell answered back by completing a twenty-four yard pass to Michael Bush.  The Raiders would take advantage of the very loose coverage by the Bears secondary and marched eighty-one yards on ten plays in six and a half minutes to take a 7-0 lead.  Jason Campbell completed all five passes on the drive for a total of eighty-nine yards.  If that weren’t bad enough, the Bears would lose Brian Urlacher to a strained left calf on the fourth play of the game.

Now, the moment Soldier Field had been waiting for.  They wanted their questions about the offensive line answered and they wanted to see their quarterback play more than one series in the new Mike Martz system.  The answer awaiting them was not the one they wanted to see or hear.  The Bears would go three and out and Cutler would also get sacked twice for a total loss of twenty yards.  Oakland would soon find themselves very deep in Chicago territory, but an ill-advised throw by Campbell would find the hands of Charles Tillman.  Although the Bears were deep in their own zone and trailing by ten, that didn’t discourage the fans from attempting to put some life back into their team.  Matt Forte would take the first play from scrimmage following Tillman’s interception eighty-nine yards to the endzone to put the Bears within four.  A botched snap by emergency long snapper Dez Clark, however, would keep the score at 10-6 at the end of one.

The scoring would come to a halt for a good portion of the second quarter as the Raiders appeared to be stifled by the Bears defense.  With the Bears trailing 13-6, Martz and the offense decided to go for it on fourth and seven from the Oakland twenty-two.  A gutsy call would prove to be successful as Cutler would improvise a bit and find an open Johnny Knox on the left side of the field for a twenty-two yard touchdown, which would be followed by a Chester Taylor run to complete a two point conversion and give the Bears their first lead of the game.  One final attempt by the Bears before the half would prove to be unsuccessful as Chris Williams allowed Kamerion Wimbley to continue his career day by letting him get to Cutler two more times bringing his sack total to four for the day.  When asked about Chris Williams’ performance after the game, Coach Lovie Smith would go on to say, “Not good enough.  Chris is a better player than that.” Smith would go on to a utter a phrase similar to one he repeated practically every week for the 2006 season when referring to a certain quarterback.  “Chris Williams is our left tackle.”

With an unimpressive display of protecting Cutler looming over them, the offense would take the field first in the second half.  Rookie quarterback Dan Lefevour led the charge, or should I say led the lack of charge.  Things quickly went awry as forrmer Northwestern Wildcat Eric Peterman muffed a punt resulting in an Oakland touchdown when linebacker Slade Norris recovered the loose ball in the endzone, putting Oakland up 20-14.  The wind had been knocked out of the Bears’ collective sails at this point.  Kyle Boller would do nothing more than hand the ball off to Michael Bennett and run very simple short rollout routes to chip away slowly at the Bears defense.  There was nothing difficult or complicated about the Raiders play calling the entire game, but the lack of a secondary and the ability of Campbell and Boller to spread the ball out was enough to keep the Bears on the go constantly.  Boller would scamper two yards into the end zone before the end of the third to put Oakland up 27-14. 

A Swayze Waters field goal halfway through the fourth would begin sending fans to the exits shaking their heads wondering what else this season could possibly hold for them.  It’s a good thing they left, though, because what would follow was just more reason to shake their head.  Dez Clark would botch another snap and Slade Norris would again find himself in Brad Maynard’s face resulting in an Oakland safety, which would put them up 32-17. 

The Bears left the stadium dejected as did the fans.  The preseason is the time to answer questions going into the season and work out the kinks with a chance to compete for the ultimate prize.  The secondary seems to be lost and is as loose as it has been in recent memory.  The special teams were anything but special.  The offensive line was downright offensive for lack of a better word. Olin Kreutz said, “We have a lot to improve on.  There’s little things we have to learn playing together.”  Mike Martz’s offense doesn’t appear to be set in 100%.  According to Cutler, though, “You can see that Mike’s system works.  If we do what we’re supposed to do, the ball’s going to be moved down the field very efficiently.”  It seems that concept is easier said than done after the first two preseason games.  The first string will play into the third quarter next week as the Bears welcome the Arizona Cardinals to Soldier Field.  If there is a bright side, the Bears will not be seeing any more of the AFC West the rest of the way.