When your team gets roughly 45 chances to grab a gift-wrapped game and walk off the field and yet you still somehow lose, well, you deserve it. That was the fate of the Chicago Bears in Week 6 of the NFL season as they lost to the Atlanta Falcons in what amounted to, for lack of a better description, insanity.

First of all, if I told you there was a goal-line stand occurring in the latter stages of a Bears - Falcons game, you would assume that Michael Turner got stuffed, Brian Urlacher did some fist pump and the Bears cheered. Right? Yeah, wrong. It was Matt Forte who got snuffed out on fourth-and-one at the end zone, forcing the Bears — who had two chances to move the ball one yard — to turn the ball over on downs and not decrease their 19-10 deficit.

But wait … there’s less. The Bears then held the Falcons to a three and out, marched down the field and got a Robbie Gould field goal. A Jason Elam 33-yard shank later and suddenly Chicago had new life, invigorated despite previous failures. A gritty 77-yard, two-and-a-half minute drive followed and Kyle Orton hit Rashied Davis on a miracle 17-yard touchdown pass to take the lead with 11 second left in the game.

Vic-tor-eeeeee. Or not.

Somehow, the squib (WHY?) resulted in Atlanta getting the ball near midfield and Matty “Ice” Ryan hit Michael “Free Vick” Jenkins on a deep 26-yard pass. Elam got a redemptive second chance and buried a 48-yard field goal to give the Falcons the victory and send Bears fans everywhere scurrying to play in traffic.

This game is a failure on a number of levels. First, the Bears lost. So, yeah, that’s Fail. Secondly, people are now talking about Matty Ice’s “signature victory” (oh please no why). And also how he has “IT.” IT being Intangible. (Again, oh no.) And finally, it was the ultimate stomach punch because Bears fans realized what might not have been completely apparent thus far — Chicago is a good, not great, team.

The offense is capable enough but when the defense is forced to spend eternity on the field, they get too tired to stop teams in the fourth quarter. At 3-3, of course, the NFC North is still totally up for grabs. But something’s gonna have to give on the early-game offense, because, as awesome as Orton has been this season, the defense is still the strong suit, until they get tired.