Random Recordings of Mental Meanderings

Hopefully, the Bills will show for the game today. I’m not expecting a win, but a close game would make a statement. I liked hearing Tim Russert say on “Meet the Press” just before the game started, “Go Bills, beat Duh Bears”. Home is where the heart is.

And the Bills get the ball first. They are throwing a lot more than I’d like, but they are moving the ball. They almost had a touchdown, but JP overthrew Evans in the end zone. Then, they got to ask the eternal question, “Do we go for it on fourth and a half”? Unfortunately, Shelton jumping offside answers the question, and the Bills set up to punt. Something happened, and rather than pinning the Bears back in their end, a mishandled punt gives the Bears the ball at the Bill’s 40. The best that the Bills can hope for is a field goal or an INT, and they get the field goal, thankfully. They lucked out there. Usually, a play likes that spells disaster.

Then the Bills get the ball again, and go three and out. I don’t understand why they are passing so much. They need to run a little more, to grind out yards, and eat clock. The one key to beating the Bears is to not let them have the ball. This is shown by the next drive. A terrible penalty by McGee gives the Bears a first down, and the Bears just drive. It’s very methodical, and the Bills show little to prove that they can stop them. But then the defense tightens up, and forces the Bears to hit another field goal. So the Bills are not that far out, luckily, and can score just one touchdown to take the lead. How’d that be, the Bills beating the supposed best team in the league at home?

Tasty, I’d call it.

They fake the defense out; they were expecting a pass, and Willis guts it up the middle for a 6-yard gain that’s nullified by a dumb, dumb, DUMB false start. Price drops an easy pass that could have gone for a large gain, and then Losman is sacked for a three and out. The play calling that’s killing the Bills, it’s the dumb mistakes, and the poor play. How the hell do you expect to win, when you let them sack your QB? How can you win if you let them return a ball for 21 yards? How can you win, if you let them run all over you? Hellfire and damnation! It’s like the Bills are giving it away! This isn’t a friggin’ used car commercial, it’s a football game, goddammit!

The first quarter ends, with all my hopes of a decent game dashed. The Bears have six first downs to the Bills one; they have over twice the yards, and have all the points. They have to do something here. But a couple of runs have the Bears inside the Bills’ ten. The run defense is not looking good at all. Then the Bills push Chicago back a little, and spank. There’s a pass for the TD. All Chicago in that drive, with the score 13-0.

Ugh.

This isn’t what I was anticipating, not at all. I figured the Bills would at least make a meager attempt at playing the game; at least try. They need to stop making mistakes and keep the Bears offense off the field, and rest the Bills defense. Incomplete passes won’t do it. Tipped passes won’t do it. But a nice pass to Evans will. That’s four for Evans, and just three plays later, another dumb mistake. An INT by Briggs and the Bears are at the Bills 32.

The Bears pass. Run. Run. Run. Penalty. Run for TD, and it’s suddenly 20-0. Instead of holding the Bears down, and making people notice them, the Bills are giving them the game. This really looks like a blowout in the making. I mean, when the best chance you have for making yards is penalties on the other team, things aren’t looking good at all. I had such high hopes, too. I wasn’t expecting a win. But I figured they’d make it close, or at least reasonable. They have been playing decently, and with each game, they’ve been getting better. The defence caused a lot of three and outs, and kept them in games. Obviously, they have been doing things right.

In this game, they are way out of their league, and it shows. It may as well be the Lackawanna Steelers out there, for as well as the Bills are playing. And now a 62-yard pass play? How the hell do the Bills expect to win this one? How can they get back into this? The “D” needs to do something, and the offense needs to pull their heads out of their asses. A sack will do, and maybe another. Maybe an INT. But a 15-yard TD pass makes it 27-0 with over four minutes left in the half.

This is fucking awful.

They finally get a decent drive going, and with the first play after the two-minute warning, Chicago intercepts a badly thrown pass by Losman. Just when they look like they’re starting to do something good, they pull that .38 special out and put a bullet in their foot. They should have aimed for the head.

The Bears finally wind up doing a three and out. I think it was a mercy drive. They don’t want to kill the Bills too badly. I would expect in the second half to see a lot of second and third stringers playing for the Bears. And I expect to get a lot of razzing from everyone at work, because I kept saying how I thought the Bills could compete. I didn’t go so far as to say they’d win, except to say that “Hey, it could be an upset”. How terribly overoptimistic of me, to think that the Bills are in the same league as the Bears. They need a lot to even compete.

Then again, I did say that the Bills would go 2-4 in the first six games of the season. This was not a game I thought they’d win, even before the season started. With the Bills having won two games already, they’re ahead of schedule.

So now, it’s getting to the start of the third quarter. The Bears are blowing the Bills out, and they’re getting the ball. They will grind it out, and the Bills will try anything they can to turn it around. The Bills need to hold the Bears scoreless, and score four touchdowns in order to win. I don’t see it happening, but hey, you never know. An almost interception causes a three and out, so that’s better.

So, it’s the Bills at their 29-yard line. A nice pass to McGahee goes for a first down. Then another couple of runs by McGahee puts the ball at the Bear 41. This is what they should have done in the first half. Let the run develop the pass. And just as things were going so well, Losman throws his third interception of the day. I don’t know what he was looking at doing, but that was a terrible pass. This qualifies as his first terribly bad game of the year. I’m sure his quarterback rating is in the negatives by now. 9/18 for 88 yards, zero points and three interceptions? Come on, man, get on the stick and start playing.

If anything can go wrong, it will in this game. Clements tips the pass, and the Bears still get the reception. They get a break when Berrian steps out of bounds in the end zone, but the Bears just grind out a drive. They remind me of the Bills of yore, when General Kelly would practically do whatever he wanted to opposing defenses, we had a great offense, and very good special teams. But that was years ago, and for all intents and purposes, in another era.

So, what do the Bills need to do? They need to run the ball. They need to be effective in the management of the game. Losman needs to throw the ball well, on target, and to our players. They need to cut out the penalties, and they need to eliminate the turnovers. The special teams need to step up, and bury Chicago in their own end. The defense needs to start playing, and not let themselves get pushed around the field. However, it won’t do any good to pin them down if you are allowing 19 yards on third and seven, and allow six of eleven third downs to be converted.

But the Bills do nothing to right the ship. They couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag if they tried. This isn’t bad, it’s terrible. The Bears throw in Griese and he even has his way with the Bills’ defense. It reminds me of the Sex Pistols playing “Johnny B. Goode”: Stop it! Stop it! It’s fucking awful!

Even against scrubs, the Bills can’t stop them. The Bears drive for six minutes and get another field goal. There’s six minutes left, and the Bills fumble the kickoff. Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it stands up and slaps you right in the face. This game is such a joke. An easy touchdown puts the Bears up 40-0.

Wrap this one up and put it in the books. Put in all the scrubs. Let Holcomb take some snaps so Losman doesn’t get hurt. Pull McGahee out of the game, get McGee out of there, and let someone else return kicks and punts. Just pray that this doesn’t turn into the worst loss in Bills history, because it’s getting into that territory. It’s so disappointing.

But no, they leave Losman in, and finally, a touchdown is scored. Woo-hoo. Too little, to late. I’m sure all the comparisons between this Bears team and the one that won the Superbowl in the mid-80′s will come out. I don’t think they are that good, but hey, you never know.