Notes on a 10-6 loss to the 49ers …

Worst. Football. Game. Ever.

OK, well maybe not. There have surely been worse games. Right? I dunno. In the heat of it all last night, all I could think about was what a horrible performance I was witnessing. The penalties were downright awful. Devin Hester’s back-to-back flags for offsides and holding were one thing. But Chris Williams’ unnecessary-roughness penalty in the fourth quarter of the Bears’ last drive, when he literally leaped over a pile of players — the pile of players everyone was looking at because they were the ones directly involved in the play and tackle — to push another dude? Ridiculous. All and all, it was 10 penalties for 75 yards, and many were momentum killers.

But the 49ers had a ton, too. Try nine for 77 yards. And one on the last drive of the game that completely saved the Bears, who had appeared to go four and out on their last chance. Before the Bears advanced it into 49ers territory on the final drive, there seemed to be a penalty on almost every play. It was unbearable to watch.

And then you add in Jay Cutler’s five interceptions to this whole mess, and well, yeah: this was an ugly game all around. The play calling seemed suspect as well.

That being said, the Bears defense played well, especially the line, which did a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage. And this team certainly had a chance to win, but you can’t win games when you beat yourself.

Got to blame Cutler this time, too.

Look: I’ve spent most of this season defending Cutler. And it’s because the parts around him — the porous offensive line, Matt Forte, average receivers — have made it tough on the guy. I actually find myself feeling bad for Cutler during these games. A good number of his picks so far this season have been, in part, the receivers’ fault.

But last night? Throw him into the mix of guys that underperformed. Sure, Devin Hester fell down on that one pick. And maybe on his fourth pick, the refs should have called defensive pass interference. But it’s his two red-zone interceptions that are the most grating. The first one? Just throw it away. Settle for a field goal. Had he done that, the Bears could have just kicked a field goal for the win, instead of having to punch it into the end zone on the last drive. And that last pick of the game? Greg Olsen was open. Had Cutler led Olsen to his right with a throw, or at least thrown it to his right shoulder, I’m certain the Bears win that game. It was almost like throwing a pass into a basketball player in the post; Olsen had position on him, even though he was covered. Instead, Cutler threw it right to the guy who was covering him, and that was the ballgame.

The Bears traded for Cutler for him to succeed in moments like that. Instead, he choked it away. When you throw for over 300 yards and have little to show for it, that’s a problem. I found myself rooting for a pick-6 from the defense. This is what I used to do when Kyle Orton was on the team. This is not what I’m supposed to be doing now that Jay Cutler is our quarterback.

And man, Cutler really has some bad statistics now. He leads the league in interceptions with 17. He’s thrown nine interceptions in the red zone the last two years, more than double anyone else. Yeesh.

The good.

We finally got to see Matt Forte in the open field last night. Sure, he didn’t run the ball well, as he only rushed for 40 yards on 21 carries, but Cutler repeatedly went to him on a screen pass, and we were treated to the open-field runner we’d almost forgotten about from last year, the one that, when given an opportunity to succeed, does quite well. On the night, he had eight receptions for 120 yards.

And as I mentioned before, the defense played well. The defensive front controlled the line of scrimmage for the most part. The secondary played good enough. Frank Gore did crack the 100-yard mark (25 rushes, 104 yards), but he didn’t dictate the pace of the game. And the team’s lone touchdown — which Gore scored — wasn’t the fault of the defense, as the 49ers started their drive from the Bears’ 14 thanks to a 51-yard return off a Cutler pick.

I could go into how this game just made Lovie Smith’s job even less secure, about how outside of Robbie Gould and Brad Maynard this team has almost no one to count on game in and game out, about how the Bears have to play the Eagles and Vikings next and they’ll likely be 4-7, but it’s time to cut this off.

My brain is starting to hurt.