NBC analyst Rodney Harrison spoke up about Jay Cutler’s struggles, here’s what he had to say:

“His mindset shouldn’t be on ‘Well, this is what I should have done or this is what I could do if I played him again, the fact is you absolutely killed your team. You’ve been killing your team the entire year by making [errant] passes over and over again, so show some maturity, grow up … just put it on your back and show some leadership. Show some maturity and say, ‘I can’t turn the ball over.’ …

“But this is still Jay Cutler. That’s why they got rid of him in Denver, a guy that hides behind his cockiness, his arrogance, and that’s why he continues to play like this. The guy has all the talent in the world, but until he matures and grows up, he’s going to continue to make these stupid mistakes.”

NFL Network’s analyst Jamie Dukes spoke up about Jay Cutler’s struggles and the struggles of the Bears, here’s what he had to say:

“Just like Philip Rivers, and this isn’t derogatory toward Rivers, you get a reputation for being smarmy and aloof but that’s OK. I don’t need him to be my best friend. But you have to at least give him a chance and all that personal baggage outweighs the facts.”

“The bottom line is they have the worst offensive line in football. They can’t run block or pass block. And the receivers … I was irate watching Johnny Knox get pushed around like a little girl by DeAngelo Hall. He should be embarrassed to watch Hall out-fight him.

“The red zone, that’s Jay. And throwing off his back foot, Jay. But from his perspective, he has to be frustrated because he’s saying, ‘I have a coordinator whose system calls for me to throw the ball to these spots and I have these knucklehead receivers who freelance.’

“To me Cutler is the least of the Bears’ worries. He’s not even close to being a worry.”

all quotes from ESPNChicago.com

Former NFL vice president of officiating Mike Pereira said Tuesday that if Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith would have challenged a call Sunday, it would have resulted in a touchdown that could have gave the Bears a win against the Washington Redskins.

Here’s what Pereira had to say:

“None whatsoever,” Pereira said when asked if he had any doubt the call would have been reversed.

“Fox gave you the two looks from both sides, from both pylons basically,” Pereira said on “The Waddle & Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000. “It was pretty clear on the first one, distinctly clear on the second shot.

“They would have reversed it to a touchdown.”

“It’s tough,” Pereira said. “I feel for Lovie, because the coaches are put in this challenge situation.

“But I think you have to look at this whole procedure and your philosophy of challenges. I’ve had several coaches tell me they feel they can waste a challenge and waste a timeout in the first half, but you can’t do it in the second half, because timeouts are too critical at the end of the game. And so is the challenge, so you’re not left without one.”

“I think the coaches are so disadvantaged here that they have to look at the play in real time, can’t slow it down, and even if they show a replay on television, all they can do is watch what they show without the ability to slow it down and run it back and forth like the replay assistant does,” he said. “I’ve recommended for years to give them some recording equipment in their coaches booth so somebody can look at a play closer and make the determination ala Lovie Smith style that this has to be challenged, because they could have stopped the video when the ball broke the plane.”

all quotes from ESPNChicago.com

The Bears aren’t the first team to commit six turnovers in a half.

The last two offenses to do so were also coached by Mike Martz: the Rams had six turnovers in a half on Jan. 2, 2000 in a 38-31 loss to the Eagles and again on Oct. 28, 2001 in a 34-31 defeat to the Saints.

Both of those Rams teams eventually advanced to the Super Bowl, winning the first one and losing the second.

Here are the week eight Bears power rankings from various sites around the web:

Yahoo Sports: #18 (Last week:17)

Analysis, “Given his dubious record on replay challenges, don’t you get the feeling that Lovie Smith can’t figure out how to work the DVR at home, either?”

SI.com: #17 (Last week: 12)

Analysis, “Did I actually hear Jay Cutler stand up in the postgame news conference and say he’d throw DeAngelo Hall’s way again the next time they meet, four interceptions in one half be darned? There’s bravado and then there’s not knowing enough to keep your mouth shut. When the Hall of Fame called to request the jersey Hall was wearing against the Bears, that might have been Cutler’s cue to tip his hat and move on.”

ESPN: # 15 (Last week: 12)

Analysis, “QB Jay Cutler found a new favorite target: Redskins CB DeAngelo Hall.”

Fox Sports: #18 (Last week: 14)

Analysis,“It’s getting more difficult to watch Jay Cutler each week, but I wouldn’t put it all on the offensive line. He simply needs to make better decisions with the football. And it woud help him and their offense if offensive coordinator Mike Martz would dial up more running plays.”

CBS Sports: #18 (Last week: 10)

Analysis, “It’s the same old song: Offensive line stinks and the quarterback turns the ball over. You can’t win that way. Jay Cutler is regressing.”

Pro Football Weekly: #19 (Last week: #15)

Analysis, “Oh, and what happened to that great run defense?”

Pro Football Talk: #17 (Last week: 12)

Analysis, “The good news?  Jay Cutler finally has found a reliable receiver.  The bad news?  He doesn’t play for the Bears.”

NFL.com: #19 (Last week: 17)

USAtoday.com: #20 (Last week: 13)

The 2010 Chicago Bears are very frustrating to watch. They started the season 3-0 and looked like a solid team. Then they post a record of 1-3 in their next four games.

When they look bad they look bad, but they find ways to snap out of it and when they look good they look good. They did  both of those things against Washington last Sunday, but they fell back into the trap of looking bad.

I knew from the very first play of the game the Bears were in for a long day. If you don’t remember, Washington’s kick returner, fumbled the ball and both Rashied Davis and Josh Bullocks looked they could get the ball, but they both failed to recover it.

The Bears wound up doing thing like that consistently against Washington. They almost recovered one fumble on the play after Jay Cutler’s fumble at the goal-line and D.J. Moore had an interception for a touchdown called back due to a delay of game penalty on Washington.

The defense was playing pretty well, they didn’t consistent pressure on Donovan McNabb, but they were the reason the Bears were even in the game. Allowing Ryan Torain to run for 125 yards didn’t look good, but that was due to the offense’s struggles.

Danieal Manning added an interception, Israel Idonije deflected the pass into D.J. Moore’s hands which lead to a touchdown and Charles Tillman forced two fumbles, recovering one.

The offense failed to get anything going in the first half. The line was horrible, Cutler was getting hit way too much. The end of the second quarter they picked it up and had a nice little drive, which ended in a Johnny Knox touchdown. The short little passes were working for them on that drive.

The second half was a different story. The offensive line actually was giving Cutler time, but he kept making mistake after mistake. You can’t completely blame him, the receivers didn’t seem to be where they were supposed to be, but Cutler could have thrown the ball out of bounds.

They were winning the game for most of the second half, they could have just settled for field goals on a couple of drives instead of trying so hard for touchdowns. Speaking of touchdowns, Cutler clearly had one late in the third quarter when he ran a quarterback sneak. The ball was obviously over the goal line, but he “fumbled” the ball and the referees called it a fumble and Washington took over.

For Lovie Smith not to challenge that play is pathetic. Lovie decided to challenge the play before that one, when Earl Bennett hauled a long pass and took it to about the two of Washington’s. It was obvious on the replay boards that Bennett was short of the goal line. How Lovie can challenge that play but not the obvious touchdown by Cutler blows my mind.

Lovie should be blamed for the loss because the game would have been 21-10 at that point and the Bears defense was shutting down McNabb and the Redskins. If the season goes downhill from here, Lovie and the rest of the coaches will all be out of town.

Cutler should get a lot of blame for the loss, but not challenging that play is inexcusable and for Lovie to admit to the mistake shows how bad of a coach he is.

The offensive gameplan should have been geared towards running the ball against one of the worst run defenses in the league, but the Bears again for the second straight week leaned on the arm of Cutler.

Thank goodness for a bye week because this team needs to draw things up on offense. The receivers and Jay Cutler need to get in sync or they could be in serious trouble against the revamped Bills in Toronto. The offensive line doesn’t worry me as much because they played much better in the second half and Roberto Garza should return against Buffalo.

Rumor has it Chris Williams will move back to left tackle, which will put Frank Omiyale back at right tackle. That means rookie tackle J’Marcus Webb will be on the bench and that is a great thing for the Bears. Webb has looked pathetic so far this season at right tackle.

Bears fans don’t worry that much were still technically in first place. The good side of the Bears will reappear against the 0-6 Bills two weeks from now in Toronto. Trust me.

Fantasylive.com reports Matt Forte has been stripped of goal-line duties, here’s what the site had to say:

News: Chicago Bears RB Matt Forte is no longer the goal-line back, as offensive coordinator Mike Martz said Chester Taylor will now handle the duties.

Analysis: Forte has three rushing TDs and only one has been inside the 5-yard-line, but still, he sees a slight drop in fantasy appeal as a result.

My Thoughts: I think this is a great move, Forte has struggled all season at the goal-line, Chester Taylor is a solid change of pace back, who can sneak past defenders with his blazing speed. Great decision by Bears coaches, it will make this team much better in the red-zone. The red-zone is an important area for any teams, especially the Bears who have struggled there all season long. Look for Chester Taylor to improve their red-zone chances.

The Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins will meet for the 57th time Sunday at Soldier Field. The Bears lead the all-time series 23-22-1. The last time these two teams met, in 2007, the Redskins won 24-16.

A lot has changed since that 2007 meeting. The Redskins quarterback in that game was Todd Collins and the Bears quarterback in that game was Brian Griese. Fast forward three years, the Bears have Jay Cutler running the show and the Redskins have career lifetime Eagle, Donovan McNabb.

The Bears are in first place in the NFC North at 4-2 and the Redskins are in third in the NFC East. The Bears offensive line has been the problem as of late. But this will be the first time all season where the same starting line will start consecutive games.

The offensive line has been bad, but the receivers and quarterback have to be part of the blame as well. The receivers have been failing to get separation. Jay Cutler needs to get rid of the ball and step up into the pocket.

It seems like Mike Martz’s offense has confused everybody. Devin Aromashodu was late to learn it, but now he is back in the mix. Johnny Knox and Earl Bennett are consistent playmakers. The tight ends on the other hand are invisible as of late, Greg Olsen hasn’t had a catch in two weeks and Brandon Manumaleuna was paid to block, but he seems like he can’t really do that.

The Bears problems on offense seem like they can be fixed against a weak Redskins defense. The Redskins defense give up 420 yards per game on average. The Bears need to run the ball down there throats because running the ball 12 times last week proved to be the letdown.

Matt Forte and Chester Taylor will get more carries on Sunday. This will ultimately help them balance there offensive attack. The defensive attack for the Bears has to be stopping Ryan Torain. With Lance Briggs back in the lineup and Julius Peppers lined up against a rookie left tackle the defense should be in order.

The Redskins don’t have that many weapons on offense, so I don’t understand why they couldn’t shut them down. This game could be the best NFC match-up of the week.

Jay Cutler versus Donovan McNabb is the main headline, but the other big headline is Rex Grossman’s return to the windy city. No one knows if Rex will be booed or cheered. If I was there I would cheer him on because he was a big part of the Bears when they were successful and he got more unneeded hatred than anyone I have ever seen.

Grossman should never have been hated like he was when he was with the Bears. Hopefully they don’t boo him, if they do I just don’t understand why they would.

Players Who Must Step Up:

1) Devin Aromashodu- He played for the first time since week one last Sunday. He made three catches for 40 yards and looked back in the mix. He needs to make some plays because that would help take pressure off of Jay Cutler.

Prediction: 6 catches, 63 yards, one touchdown.

2) Julius Peppers- He was invisible last week against the Seahawks, but played very well against the pathetic Carolina Panthers. Look for him to take advantage of his matchup at left tackle.

Prediction: 5 tackles, one sack.

3) Chester Taylor- He has been good every time he gets the ball. Look for him and Matt Forte to get a good amount of carries. Taylor will have success, he is a veteran who knows how to carry the rock.

Prediction: 13 carries, 59 yards.

Who will win?

Bears 27, Redskins 17.

Weather forecast:  67 degrees, 18 mph and a 50% chance of rain.

EA Mobile’s Madden Mondays is a campaign where each week a Madden NFL 11 mobile user wins an engraved iPod Shuffle.

To be eligible, players of  Madden NFL 11 on iPod touch, iPhone & iPad simply need to play out the Monday Night match-up on their device, screenshot the final score and email it to Monday@ea.com. The entry that’s closest to actual score gets the iPod.

Here’s a link to the official rules and regs: http://www.eamobile.com/maddenmondays/rules

Check it out if your a big gamer because this is a solid contest, so get going.

Devin Aromashodu was a big part of the Bears team late last season and Bears fans raved about his performances against Green Bay and Minnesota. This season Aromashodu was expected to do even bigger things in Mike Martz’s offense with Jay Cutler running the show.

Instead after a week one performance against Detroit, where Aromashodu dropped a couple pretty catchable balls, he was benched in favor of Earl Bennett.

Aromashodu recorded his first catch on Sunday against Seattle since week one. Aromashodu caught three balls for 40 yards on Sunday.

Aromashodu was worked into the lineup because the Bears gave Devin Hester less time, due to his success at returning punts, so that gave Aromashodu his time to make plays.

I have been a big supporter of Aromashodu ever since he first signed with the Bears, but maybe he just needed time to adapt to the new offensive system. Either way its nice to see the big wide receiver out there making plays once again. I was worried Aromashodu’s spot on the team was up in the air.

The wide receivers are critical in this system and they need to play better to help out Jay Cutler. It seems like they can’t get consistent separation from corners.

That is why having Aromashodu, Knox and Bennett out on the field together makes them that much more dangerous. Imagine if the Bears used four receiver sets with Hester included with those three receivers listed above, how much “potential” they could have.

I expect Mike Martz to find a way to utilize all four of these dangerous receivers on the field at once now that Devin Aromashodu is familiar with the offense. Aromashodu will continue to make plays if he is put in the right situation. Cutler is a big fan of Aromashodu’s, so don’t expect for the Bears to give up on him just yet. Aromashodu is back in the mix and that is only a good thing for this struggling offense.

Aromashodu is back and he is ready to contribute. It’s nice to see Aromashodu making plays once again, maybe he will make some flashy plays against Washington on Sunday.

Linebacker Nick Roach has been pretty quiet this season. Roach didn’t beat out veteran Pisa Tinoisamoa for the starting linebacker job next to Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs this off-season.

Roach has been playing on special teams all season, but it feels like he never makes a play. Roach has three solo tackles this season in five games.

I would have played Nick Roach over Brian Iwuh last week when Lance Briggs went down, but Iwuh was handed the start. Roach might be in the future plans at linebacker for the Bears, but for now he seems invisible.

Maybe a couple more tackles on special teams will make Bears fans and coaches notice him. I’m a big fan of Roach’s and I wouldn’t mind seeing him step in for one of the current linebackers, hopefully he doesn’t have to, but Roach is ready to play off the bench.

Another player who will most likely see time on special teams is rookie cornerback Josh Moore. Moore will likely see his first action as a Bear this Sunday when he takes the roster spot of the injured Zackary Bowman. Bowman’s injury is minor, so Moore will have to impress coaches if he wants a shot at playing again this season.

Moore had this say about getting playing time:

“I figure I am ready to play, definitely on special teams. I feel I was ready to play on special teams when the season started. As the season goes on, you gain confidence. I am ready to play on defense, special teams, wherever they need me at.”

Lastly the Bears brought back a former draft pick, his name is Ervin Baldwin. Baldwin a defensive end spent six games last season on the practice squad and that’s where he will put with the Bears, the practice squad. Baldwin appeared in three games for the Colts last season and looked pretty solid. Baldwin knows the Bears system, so this is a solid addition to the roster. I expect him to make it to the active roster sometime soon.

All quotes from Chicagotribune.com