Many of us were watching the Bears as they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday. For those that did not, the Bears lost 27-24 on an overtime field goal by the Bucs.
The key play that led directly to the field goal was a 3rd down penalty by Charles Tillman, number 33, for fighting. Basically, the Bears had stopped the Bucs on 3rd down and forced them to punt and would give the Bears very good field position. This penalty gave the Bucs a 1st Down and new life as they marched down the field to within the Bears 5-yard line where they kicked the field goal to win the game.
Many people want to blame Charles Tillman for this loss, but, as it is a team game, he is not solely responsible for the game. I'll go backwards through the game to recount some of the plays that would have helped the bears.
After the Tillman penalty, the Bucs still had to go 40 yards to get into field goal position. The defense as a unit was unable to stop them, as they were productive on almost every play.
The Bears had an offensive position before the Bucs got the ball. on 3rd and 7, Kyle Orton threw a perfect pass of about twenty yards to Rasheed Davis who was running through the middle of the field. The ball went right between Davis's hands, causing the Bears to have to punt.
Orton, on an earlier play, was being forced to make a choice between running the ball for a few yards or throwing it. He threw the ball out-of-bounds, but the local receiver, Greg Olsen, was open and could have run a long way.
Kicker Robbie Gould missed a field goal that would have padded the Bears lead.
In the first half, which I only saw highlights, Orton threw an interception that was run back for a touchdown.
And let's not forget, the Bears were down by roughly 10 points at halftime and came back to take a commanding lead, though the Bucs returned the favor to win the game in the end.
I don't want to disregard the fact that Tillman's penalty was incredibly selfish and untimely, but the Bucs player who started the roucous was not penalized at all.
We should all remember that, in life, when something goes wrong, there are usually many factors that could have saved the situation. When I am involved, I try to look introspectively to see what I could have done to avoid the ordeal and less at what others did to cause it.
I am looking to put together a blogger carnival/haveil havalim just in time for Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). If you want to be a part of it, please send me a permanent link to one of your blog posts about any of the following topics: forgiveness/teshuvah, new beginnings, sweetness or hope.
ReplyDeleteFor those unfamiliar, a blogger carnival is a big collection of links to other bloggers' posts about a specific topic. It's a great way to get free publicity and lets you know who's out there that you can cross-link to. Since one of my big ambitions for the coming year is to better promote my blog and to write more, I figured this was a great way to start.
I'll put all the links you send me together and will post it probably on Monday right before the holiday. If you can send me your link by Friday, that would be best.
Shana tova u'metuka! (A happy and sweet new year!) http://www.shtetlfab.blogspot.com