The Bizarro Bears

Being a Bears fan, I figured I was in for at least a little bit of torture last night. The game was at home against the lowly Niners on Fox -- meaning Troy Aikman would contribute to the torture. Going into the game, one would reasonably expect the Bears offense to provide said torture, while the defense, Devin Hester, and Robbie Gould offered a reprieve.

Then the game started ... and we entered a whole new universe. Good was bad, up was down, day was night ...

For example:

- Kyle Orton was great. Sure the touch pass in the end-zone was too low and shallow, but he seems to have developed great game-relationships with Greg Olsen and Rashied Davis. Orton ended with quality numbers, but they should have been better. There were several dropped passes, including one by Davis that would have been his third TD.

- The offensive line provided solid protection for Orton, which was a huge bounce-back from the embarrassment in Seattle. They also opened up good enough holes for Matt Forte and Kevin Jones to combine for 74 yards on 14 carries. Forte ran very hard and shed several would-be tacklers.

- Dusty Dvoracek and Mike Brown appeared healthy and full-speed.

- Danieal Manning was stellar in the return game ... coming away with a 60-yarder and a 75-yarder that set up 10 first quarter points for the offense.

On the other hand ...

- The pass coverage was awful. Just pathetic. The Niners carved through the zone and picked on Charles Tillman all night.

- The defense didn't take the ball away once, formerly a signature of Lovie's Bears. They were actually all-around terrible. Runners were easily able to break through holes as they ran downhill towards the sideline. Usually this is where Lance Briggs or Brian Urlacher would run them down for a minimal gain.

- Devin Hester was pretty meaningless overall, and made a horrible decision to field a punt in the end-zone. He was bailed out by poor officiating, because he actually got both feet out of the end-zone before heading back in during the return. It should have been a safety.

- Robbie Gould uncharacteristically missed a field goal badly, and kicked a ball out of bounds on a kickoff as well.

Things were certainly upside down.

Then again, Rex Grossman wasn't good at all. He really looks like he's lost all his confidence, and throwing the ball ten feet over a receiver's head on a third-down five-yard hitch isn't the way to solve that. Especially at home, in front of thousands of people ready to blindly boo you at every perceived mistake, even when it wasn't your fault -- and many of his mistakes weren't.

Finally, it was good to see Brian Urlacher's interview where he refused to make any excuses about last season and flat-out said the defense "stunk" last night. He said it wasn't acceptable and things would get better.

As a die-hard fan, I'm willing to use the old "it was just pre-season" tag for the bad stuff ... and then embrace the good stuff like it was legit. I believe Urlacher. I know Hester and Gould are better than that.

I'll take a shot of optimism, please.

Convinced? Me neither.