Loss has familiar Bears ring

Now we know why Lovie Smith, Jerry Angelo and Jay Cutler did not want to be interrogated by NBC bulldog Bob ''I have ways of making you talk'' Costas. They knew they wouldn't like the questions. They also knew they didn't have any answers. The Bears wanted to let their play do their talking, so what did their performance in a 24-20 loss to the Eagles at Soldier Field on Sunday night say to the national television audience? We're not the defense we used to be or the offense we want to be. The Bears aren't good enough to avoid their third straight loss and fifth in their last six games. Hope. That's what this was about. The Bears wanted to head into the final six games with a glimmer of it but had it snuffed out after another wildly inconsistent performance. Even with Cutler, it's the same old story. The defense was sound. The offense was a mess. ''It's starting to get old fast,'' defensive end Alex Brown said of losing. ''It's frustrating. The lack of consistency is becoming unsettling and disturbing.'' SOME SIGNS OF LIFE ON DEFENSE This looked like another defensive rollover early. The Eagles scored on their first two possessions and produced a nagging here-we-go-again feeling that everybody remembers so well from the Bengals and Cardinals blowouts. It didn't happen. The defensive line got some pressure. Israel Idonije was all over the field. Tommy Harris had a sack. There were two confirmed Mark Anderson sightings. Charles Tillman knocked balls loose. Lance Briggs was supplying the big hits. They were soft early and gave up the go-ahead touchdown late. For the most part, however, the defense wasn't the problem. The unit is playing as well as can be expected given its shortcomings. It's the offense that again let the Bears down. The Eagles' linebacking corps and secondary has been decimated by injuries and the Bears still looked overmatched much of the time. ''They were getting turnovers, getting stops on key third downs,'' Cutler said of the defense. ''We've got to play better. I've got to play better.'' Cutler must be hearing voices. Leave it to the Bears to finally get a franchise-caliber talent and yet every time he plays on national TV he does a Chad Hutchinson impersonation. He didn't throw the ball to the opposing secondary until his tipped pass was intercepted with less than a minute left. He didn't throw it to anybody. His confidence seemed shaken. Three times he overthrew wide-open receivers for what would've been easy touchdowns. He played like he got his first glimpse of the playbook 10 minutes before the game. What does it say when Robbie Gould's leg is more accurate than Cutler's arm? The defense is off the hook for a loss that should finally make even the most optimistic Bears realize this will be the third straight season without qualifying for the postseason. You can't judge this defense the way you have judged past defenses, not with Brian Urlacher out for the season and so many questions in the secondary. Not with an aging defensive line struggling to get consistent pressure. It's not that talented. It's plain to see. A sound, resilient unit that complements what should be a more potent offense is all that anyone can reasonably expect. Al Afalava shouldn't have let DeSean Jackson get behind him for a 48-yard touchdown with 5:53 left in the third quarter. It would've been nice if they would've gotten a stop on the fourth-quarter drive that resulted in LeSean McCoy scoring from 10 yards out to give the Eagles the winning margin. THREE TURNOVERS NET THREE POINTS But the offense needs to score more than 20 points against a defense this battered, especially when the defense delivers three potential game-changing turnovers. Zack Bowman intercepted Donovan McNabb and Tillman forced two fumbles that the Bears recovered. Not that the offense took advantage. That has been another problem with this team under Smith. The offense doesn't complement the defense and vice versa. On the first offensive play after both first-half turnovers, the Bears were whistled for holding. The fourth-quarter fumble recovery resulted in a blocked field goal. That meant three turnovers netted a whopping three points. That's not the defense's fault. That's on the offense. ''We played pretty good as a group,'' Danieal Manning said. ''We're flying around and playing with a lot of passion. We still have to tighten some things up, but for the most part we're playing well.'' There's a fine line between having a bunker mentality and hiding under the covers. The Bears claimed they had the former this week when they snubbed NBC, which pays hundreds of millions for rights to broadcast NFL games, by the way, some of which ends up in McCaskey family mattresses. They wanted to do their talking on the field and the message was loud and clear: Our defense is OK. Our offense is as clueless as ever. In Chicago, some things never change.