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Buffalo Bills vs. Chicago Bears Notebook

By Jordan Campbell

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Sep 7, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Buffalo Bills running back Fred Jackson (22) rushes the ball against Chicago Bears free safety Chris Conte (47) in overtime at Soldier Field. Buffalo Bills defeat the Chicago Bears 23-20 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Bears lost their season opening game to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. The Bears lost to the Bills 23-20 in overtime and the loss, unlike other opening losses, stings more because the issues that the Bears had last season surfaced once again on Sunday afternoon.

Lets take a look at the game notebook.

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    • Jared Allen was on the cusp of retiring from the NFL after the defensive end did not receive the offer that he wanted from the Seattle Seahawks. Before Allen could retire, the Bears offered the veteran defensive end a handsome sum of $32 million. Allen took the offer and the Bears finally found their prized pass rusher, right? Well, the jury is still out.

    Allen barely played during the pre-season and that much was evident on Sunday. Allen looked smaller on Sunday while also appearing to have lost a step. Hopefully, Allen simply needs to more playing time to get back to his standards, but if the post-30 year-old defensive end has indeed lost a step, that does not speak well for the Bears’ pass rush this season.

    Charles Tillman was named a captain for the Bears season-opening game on Sunday, unfortunately, much of the adjectives used to describe Allen’s performance on Sunday could be used to describe Tillman’s performance on Sunday. Tillman has yet to speak with the media this season and it would seems as if the cornerback knows that the end of his career is quickly approaching. If that is the case, the question becomes how long is it until Kyle Fuller starts getting snaps as a starting cornerback?

    Jay Cutler has been in the NFL for nine years. Nine years. Never is it okay for a quarterback to make the throw that Cutler made on his second interception of the game on Sunday afternoon. After running towards the sideline, Cutler had the options of running out of bounds, running for the first down, or simply throwing the ball away; instead, Cutler threw across his body, back to the middle of the field and the ball was picked off by a Bills’ defensive lineman. Cutler failed with his mechanics once again on Sunday as the quarterback threw off his back foot more times than not.

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    After the game, when reporters were hoping for insight, Cutler was standoffish and indicated that it was not the reporter’s place to judge what is going on during the game. That doesn’t really sound like a matured Cutler now does it?

    The Bears signed former Detroit Lions defensive end Willie Young because of Young’s ability to cause disruptions. On Sunday, Young was the only defensive end to stand out in a positive manner and that was due to his disruptions. Young routinely got into the backfield to either pressure Bills’ quarterback EJ Manuel or thwart a Bills’ rushing play.

    Oh, and Chris Conte still is an awful defender against run and still does not know how to tackle.

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