Jay Cutler was underwhelming.

Even if there weren’t already high expectations placed upon him, Jay Cutler looked weak. The numbers: 5-for-10, 64 yards, 1 INT. It should have been two interceptions. Cutler threw a ball right in Reggie Corner’s numbers, but he dorked and dropped it.

If this becomes a repeated pattern in the preseason, there’s cause for concern. As it stands right now, this is but one game, and it’s the first game. And it’s the preseason. Patience and perspective, people.

Cutler and Hester.

Cutler’s only interception of the night came on a ball he tossed downfield about 40 yards to Devin Hester. It was a bad throw; Hester didn’t have much chance at getting the ball because his momentum was taking him the other way. Yet, when asked about it, Cutler said this:

“You know, Devin is more of a go-get-it guy, he’s not really a back shoulder, or jump up and get it,” said Cutler. “You learn from it. We made some mistakes. It’s the first preseason game, luckily enough we have some time to correct them and keep going.”

As I wrote last week, if Cutler starts to call out teammates, it’s valid for people to start to address his candor and attitude. This quote seems to be a small inkling of that demeanor critics weren’t thrilled with in Denver. David Haugh discusses this at length today in the Tribune.

Other problems.

Besides Cutler’s performance, don’t forget this: the Bears’ corner/defensive backfield was nothing to write home about. Charles Tillman is still out with his back injury. Zack Bowman is injured, too. As such, the Bills literally feasted on the Bears in the passing game: Trent Edwards connected on all 10 passes he threw. Ryan Fitzpatrick completed 13 of the 16 passes he tossed. For a team that allowed the most passes in the league last year, this is not an encouraging sign.

Whenever you throw around the “indefinitely” tag on an injury, there’s always cause for concern. There were reports Peanut Tillman would be out about 10 weeks after his recent back surgery. But if what he told our Mitch Robinson about how he’s feeling after said surgery rings true, he just might be back before a lot of Bears fans, and Lovie Smith, thought:

“I expect to return for the first game, but pain’s your guide so I can’t rush to go back. Right now I feel good, I’m going to take my time but go as fast as I can, does that make sense?”

Yes, it does Peanut. You can get at the whole interview right here.

I would really rather not write about the futility of the Bears last evening, but this is a Chicago-centric blog, and damn it: It’s our duty to give you mediocre commentary.

Look: Some were pretty hard on Charles Tillman’s coverage blunder in the first half, the one that lead to a 99-yard touchdown catch by Bernard Berrian. And while it certainly was a bit of a bone-headed play, it was really about the Bears’ sequence before that. They didn’t punch it in in four straight chances from the goal line, and what was almost assuredly a 14-3 lead for the Bears turned into a 10-7 deficit. That was pretty much your ball game.

And Kyle Orton, the man we’ve anointed the new king of Beartopia, well, he sort of sucked last night. This is OK, though: After not throwing a pick in 205 pass attempts, odds were he was going to have a downfall at some point. But, one would have hoped he wouldn’t have thrown three interceptions in the second half with so much at stake.

The defense everyone has thought has crumbled this season, looked strong out the gate. But when Orton is turning the ball of in Bears territory all second half, it’s not as easy to stop the bleeding, especially when Adrian Peterson is on the other side of scrimmage.

And for as up and down and around as the Bears have been this season, (and oh have they been) there’s still a chance to win the division, as after the Vikings take on the Lions next week, they run up against the Cardinals, Falcons and Giants the last three weeks of the season.

The Bears have not made things easy for themselves, though. Welcome to Monday. Welcome to typical Bears football.

Look: I know the Bears have completely and utterly blown two leads in as many weeks — double-digit leads in the second half at that. It’s frustrating; it’s mind-numbing; it makes you want to slap your television in the face.

But this little ditty from the Chicago Tribune’s Steve Rosenbloom about the yesterday’s loss to the Buccaneers seems um, a bit overkill:

Fire someone.

I don’t care if it’s an overreaction just three games into a season in a lousy division in a weak conference. Fire someone.

At home. Against a mediocre team. Up by 10 with less than seven minutes to go.

And the Bears lost. Lost to a mediocre team. Lost to a quarterback they didn’t want. Lost a big lead.

Late. Again.

Fire someone.

I know there’s a lot of season to go, but be honest, don’t you want someone to pay for this disaster?

Charles Tillman is the obvious suspect. The Bears had just stopped the Buccaneers on third-and-9 at the Tampa Bay 8 in overtime. Punting time. But no. There’s a scrum. Tillman gets flagged for a personal foul. Fifteen yards. Bucs keep the ball. They wouldn’t give it up until they kicked the winning field goal.

Oh, oh, oh, this is an excellent idea. What Steve is proposing here is that the Bears fire their best cornerback three games into the season because someone has to “pay for this disaster.”

You see, then a defense that has struggled to hold down the stretch the last two weeks gets decidedly worse. I wish I had thought of this.

Firesomeoneonthebears.com has yet to be registered. I think Steve should buy it and continue this crusade until justice is served.

A veteran of the Chicago beat reporting scene, David Schuster regularly writes about the sights and sounds of Chicago sports from the press box and locker room for MOUTHPIECE Blog.

Most of the country and football establishment may have been shocked by last night’s Bears victory. But the 53 players as well as the coaches in the locker room showed no surprise at all.

Lovie Smith, Kyle Orton and the rest of the Bears were almost miffed at questions that suggested this was an upset. However, this was an upset. The Colts hadn’t lost in the months of September and October in almost three years and were 10-point favorites.

Brian Urlacher treated our questions the same way he does opposing running backs. He knocked them down repeatedly, saying the media always expects the worst from this team. Charles Tillman had that cat-that-ate-the-canary look on his face and threw in a few “I told you so’s” when he commented the Bears were saving themselves for the real thing and the preseason was just a charade. When asked how he continually strips opposing ball carriers of the ball (like he did again last night) Tillman said, “I don’t know, but I’m going to have to patent it.”

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