Your First Place Chicago Bears?

Lovie Smith: "We get off the bus running."

Jay Cutler, Todd Collins, and Caleb Hanie: "We get off the bus running...for our lives."

To Lovie's credit, he hasn't been rehashing that quote as much this year, although I wouldn't be surprised to hear his QBs saying the second quote. Especially after Sunday night's 17-3 loss to the Giants, in which the Bears allowed nine sacks in the first half alone and saw Jay Cutler miss the second half after suffering a concussion. Unlike the win in Dallas, when they shifted offensive linemen around and switched to a shorter drop to counteract the pressure, the Bears had no answer for the Giants' pass rush. And with no running game to speak of, the Giants were able to tee off even more on the helpless QBs, as both Cutler and Collins were sent to the sidelines during the game. I give the defense credit - they held their ground as long as they could, but they got absolutely no help from the offense. On the night, the Bears could only conjure up 103 yards of offense and those three points, which came after a turnover set the offense up at the Giants' 29 yard line. I suspect you won't find many games in which a team has the same number of forced turnovers and points.

As bad as this game was, the Bears are still in first place in the division with a 3-1 record, with the softer part of the schedule on tap. But we'll have to spend the week wondering if Jay Cutler is going to be cleared to play. And whether or not Cutler plays next week in Charlotte against the 0-4 Panthers, it would be nice to get some help from the offensive line and the running game. But if the Bears haven't been able to run the ball effectively against the Giants, Packers, or Lions, all of whom rank in the bottom half of the NFL in rushing yards per game allowed so far this year, when will they be able to run the ball?