Thoughts on a 41-21 beatdown at the hands of Kurt Warner …

Bears need more than Cutler.

In the first quarter, Jay Cutler threw an absolute strike down the sidelines to Devin Hester, then followed it up with a great TD pass to Greg Olsen. This is Cutler at his best: throwing with strength, accuracy and precision, making those throws the media told us about during training camp, making those throws most other quarterbacks wouldn’t even dare to.

But as we’ve come to find this season, the Bears need more than a quarterback doing those type of things to be successful. They need a defense that can keep great receivers in check; they need an offensive line that’s going to control the line of scrimmage; they need an effective running game to balance out what they’re doing through the air.

No quarterback, no matter how great, is going to be able to overcome the other glaring deficiencies on this Bears team. This was never more apparent than yesterday against the Cardinals. You can put up 369 yards of passing, but when there are penalties negating any progress and your defense struggles, it’s tough to pull out a victory.

G-reg to the rescue.

We’ll start with the positive(s) first: Greg Olsen had a day yesterday, catching three TD passes from Cutler. This was the expectation this year for Olsen: that he’d be an oft-used weapon in the Bears’ offensive assault. But because there was perhaps a little too much hype surrounding his on-field rapport with Cutler, mixed with defenses keying on him, we haven’t seen what we’ve expected.

But yesterday showed what sort of potential these two can have when they’re both feeling it.

Warner is as Warner does.

Just when Warner was having a bit of a ho-hum season, he comes out against the Bears and puts on a ridiculous show. Sure, it helps that he has Larry Fitzgerald, who made a mockery out of the Bears’ secondary. (Though, he was without Anquan Boldin.) But throwing for five TDs on 22-of-32 passing for 261 yards at the age of 38 is no easy feat.

The Cardinals were able to establish a solid run game between Beanie Wells and Tim Hightower (28 rushes for 149 yards between them), which made it all the more easier for the passing lanes to open up and for Warner to toss five TD passes.

Oh Tommie.

To me, it didn’t seem like Tommie Harris actually punched that bro in the face. It was more an attempted punch to the eyes that seemed to land on the facemask of the helmet. Either way, this was about the worst thing he could do, considering he’s been on an incredibly short leash with Lovie Smith this season.

This defense is just not very good.

Let us consider this, from Brad Biggs today:

The Cardinals came into the game averaging 64.9 yards rushing, the lowest figure since the merger in 1970 according to the fine folks at Football Outsiders. Tim Hightower and Beanie Wells both surpassed that figure as the Cardinals chewed up 182 yards on 31 rushes, finding big chunks time and time again. Meanwhile, Kurt Warner became the second quarterback in three weeks to pass for five touchdowns vs. the Bears, who prior to being burned by Carson Palmer for five touchdown passes on Oct. 25 hadn’t suffered that indignity since 1995 vs. Brett Favre. Arizona scored on its first six possessions in mounting a 34-7 lead, and the Bengals scored on their first seven possessions two weeks ago.

There are injuries, sure. But this is some bad defense. Very bad.

It only gets worse from here.

The Bears have a quick turnaround here as they take on the 49ers on Thursday night in San Fransisco. That’s certainly not a gimme game. Then they have the Eagles at home, before they go take on the division-leading Vikings. Is it possible the Bears drop all these game and fall to 4-7? Maybe. There’s no indication now they’d be the favorite in any of those contests, especially against the Vikings.

We’ll see, but as the season continues to progress, the playoffs don’t seem likely for this team, nor does a record better than .500.