Bears' frustration, rage boils over after loss to Dolphins

Losing rarely builds character. It usually does, however, reveal it. The Bears are losing, their third straight at home with Sunday’s 27-14 loss to the Miami Dolphins, and the fury was evident in a player yelling, “It’s SUPPOSED to hurt!” heard through closed locker room doors.

Had the Bears directed that much emotion toward the Dolphins, Sunday’s outcome might have been different, but it wasn’t and the cracks were starting to show.

“Anytime you have a loss like this, and let’s face it, with all the outside pressure at home, there will be frustration,” said defensive tackle Jeremiah Ratliff, one of the few Bears to play a strong game, with 3.5 sacks in the first half. “We just have to move forward from that and stay together. Staying together and chemistry is a big part of that.”

Wide receiver Brandon Marshall, believed to be the voice of “hurt,” was blunter.

“You should hear frustration,” Marshall said, his voice rising. “We’re 3-4. It means everything to a lot of guys in this locker room. It means a lot.

“We’re 3-4. That’s unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. We shouldn’t have lost today, shouldn’t be 3-4. All of us gotta play better — simple as that.”

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It is not turning out to be anything simple, however. The Bears lose when they give the football away in turnovers, yet they did precisely that on Sunday, with an interception of Jay Cutler, sack and strip of Cutler and fumble by tight end Dante Rosario — leading to 10 Miami points and a blocked field-goal try.

“Same mistakes. Same mistakes. Same mistakes,” Marshall said. “We’ve gotta protect the football. Gotta execute the game plan. Gotta execute when things don’t go as we saw them. Alshon Jeffery, Martellus Bennett, Matt Forte, myself, the offensive line we’ve got — we’ve got a great, great group of guys and this is unacceptable.

“We’ve been playing football all our lives. That’s the amazing thing about football, that it is a volatile sport and you have the ability, when you get frustrated, to go out there and take it out on the field. ... You have to be able to play with an edge on your shoulder, and it has to mean something to you.”

The defense was trampled for 393 yards, the second-most the Bears have surrendered this season only to the New York Jets’ 414, and three scoring drives of 75 yards or longer. But the Dolphins also got a touchdown on a 28-yard drive following the interception of Cutler, which was followed by some of the poorest tackling efforts by members of the offense.

So Marshall kept the blame on the side of the ball where the Bears have poured the greatest amount of money:

“It starts on the offensive side of the ball,” Marshall declared.

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The team that left Atlanta was brimming with confidence on all sides of the football. But do the Bears still have confidence as a team?

“I don’t know,” Marshall said. “I don’t know. My confidence is there. Alshon Jeffery’s confidence is there. Martellus Bennett’s confidence is there. Yeah. Jay’s a gunslinger. Jay’s our guy. Jay’s our leader.

“We’ve got to do a better job. It’s unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. I’m not going to name anywhere else, but this is a special ballclub, a special organization, a special city. You gotta love what you do, playing for this ballclub. You gotta leave it out on the field.”

Marshall said he was not implying that anyone wasn’t.

“This is a great group of guys, tightest locker room I’ve ever been a part of. Tightest. Tighest. Tightest.”

That tightness might be tested soon, and often.

-- John "Moon" Mullin, CSNChicago.comBears' frustration, rage boils over after loss to Dolphins