The 49ers have lost four in a row after starting 3-1; sounds like a great fit for our inept Bears, in what should be an exercise in futility for the season opener of Thursday night prime time games. I thought it was fitting that when Fox decided halfway through the third quarter of the game Sunday that the Bears were no longer worthy of national coverage, I agreed. Lovie’s defense probably has NFL Network wishing it could flex out of this gem.

Overall, the first half of Sunday’s Bears and Cardinals game left me with a few questions: Do the Bears in fact have the worst defense in the league? It sure looks that way after that first half; I’ve honestly seen better pass rushes coming from summer high school passing league games. How is it that Danieal Manning and our entire defense can’t seem to figure out that you need to hit a running back below the waist and not up high so that he doesn’t bowl you over for an extra six yards? Are Peanut Tillman’s joints lubricated with molasses? I know that Larry Fitzgerald is an elite receiver, but what do we have, a Cuisinart?

Even with all the garbage transpiring Sunday, and I’ve by no means provided a summation, it didn’t really bother me that much. In a sense, I expected that from the secondary and it was honestly comical how bad the Bears defense was overall. There are obviously other things wrong with the team, but I think we can all agree the most glaring problem is every aspect of our defense. If you try to pinpoint the problems, I think you could narrow it down to the fact that we can’t really tackle, cover, or stop offenses from doing whatever they want against us.

A few conclusions have festered inside me after these last few weeks and I apologize if these are boringly obvious to some: The Bears are not making the playoffs in 2009; Lovie “simple is as simple does” Smith & Ron “slow learner” Turner have to be done at the end of the season, and having a coaching philosophy that is Lovie Smith-simple doesn’t work. Apparently, it can be advantageous to have a coordinator that is able to adapt their scheme to what the other team is doing. Mike Shanahan, anyone?

Finally, this is going to be a bad rebuilding off season to not have a first-round pick, because it looks like ours could be a top-ten choice. I wouldn’t trade Jay Cutler for anything, but Denver’s end of the deal is sweetening by the week.