September 18, 2007
Smith confident Bears offense will soon blossom
By Larry Mayer
LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Awakening their offense from its early-season slumber will be a top priority when the Bears host the Dallas Cowboys Sunday night at Soldier Field. But coach Lovie Smith isn’t ready to panic after just two games.
“I don’t think you make any calls based on what you’ve done after two games,” Smith said. “You need to go into the first quarter [of the season] a little bit. We are taking steps. We just haven’t been able to see it all in our play right now.
"It’s still a little early to say, ‘This happened last year,’ and then start judging it based on what’s happened after two games right now. I’d say give us a little bit more time.”
Rex Grossman had a 97.9 passer rating in the first half of Sunday's win over the Chiefs.
In their first two games last season, the Bears beat the Packers 26-0 and the Lions 34-7 thanks in part to an offense that scored five TDs and committed two turnovers on 22 possessions.
In losing to the Chargers and defeating the Chiefs in their first two contests this year, the Chicago offense has scored just one TD and committed six turnovers on 24 possessions.
The Bears have mustered two or fewer first downs on 22 of those 24 drives. The only exceptions were back-to-back second-quarter possessions that resulted in a touchdown and a field goal in Sunday’s 20-10 win over Kansas City.
Always with his glass half full, Smith is optimistic that the offense will get back on track Sunday night against Dallas in the Bears’ only scheduled prime-time home game of the season.
“If I was a betting man, I’d say that we’ll take a big step, and we need to take a big step,” Smith said. “We’re not where we want to be as a football team. I can’t give you reasons why. That’s why we go to the practice field and we try to correct those things. That’s what we’ll do and hopefully we’ll make some more progress this week.”
While Cedric Benson rushed for 101 yards against the Chiefs, the passing game fizzled after a decent start. Rex Grossman completed 13 of 20 passes for 120 yards and 1 TD in the first half, but he connected on just 7 of 14 passes for 40 yards with two interceptions in the second half.
“I take full blame for those two turnovers,” Grossman said. “I didn’t feel it in the second half like we felt in the first half. We just need to put two halves together and it wouldn’t have been close.”
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Smith confident Bears offense will soon blossom - Chicago Bears
Smith confident Bears offense will soon blossom
Smith confident Bears offense will soon blossom
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