Bears Notes: Houston, Slauson Injured; No Answer For Gronkowski
By Dan Durkin-
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (CBS) -- Bears defensive end Lamarr Houston is scheduled for an MRI on his right knee on Monday, which he injured after a sack of Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in Sunday's 51-23 loss. Never mind the fact that the Bears were down 25 points when it happened. Houston wasn't the only Bear to leave Foxboro injured.
Left guard Matt Slauson was seen leaving the locker room with his right arm in a sling. It was reported that Slauson suffered a pectoral injury. The severity isn't known at this point in time, and more details should be available later this week. Slauson missed three games earlier in the season with a high ankle sprain. Michael Ola filled in for Slauson previously, but Ola played right tackle Sunday in place of injured starter Jordan Mills.
The Bears were one of three teams to play with the same starting five offensive linemen last season, but they haven't been as fortunate this season.
Cornerback Kyle Fuller was also unable to finish the game. Entering the game, Fuller was dealing with both hand and hip injuries, and the hip knocked him out of Sunday's game. In the locker room after the game, Fuller wasn't moving his right hand at all while speaking with the members of the media.
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Al Louis-Jean played in Fuller's place and was picked on mercilessly by New England quarterback Tom Brady and wide receiver Brandon LaFell, who set career highs in receptions (11) and yards (124) and finished with a touchdown.
Bears linebacker Darryl Sharpton left the game with a hamstring injury. The severity of the injury is unknown at this point.
No answer for Gronkowski
Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski connected on all nine targets for 149 yards and three touchdowns, upping their career total to 48 touchdown connections. That mark is the second-highest in NFL history for a quarterback-tight end combo, trailing only San Diego's Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates (69).
From a personnel and scheme standpoint, the Bears had no answer for Gronkowski. The Bears tried covering Gronkowski with safeties Ryan Mundy and Chris Conte as well as linebacker Shea McClellin, none of whom had a chance.
"Obviously, they have a good rapport and Tom Brady knows how to get him the ball," Mundy said. "He (Brady) always puts it in a good location where he can catch it. He (Gronkowski) knows how to use his body and they did that today. I just have to do a better job of anticipating and try to swat the ball."
Bears coach Marc Trestman noted Gronkowski is a physical mismatch, but he also credited Brady's accuracy.
"There's a size matchup when you have him man-to-man," Trestman said. "We had him covered man-to-man by two to three different players. As I said, Tom (Brady) made some meticulous throws, he was on target even when he was covered. So, you have to give him credit for that. And he caught some in zone as well, certainly, but we had some very tight coverage on him, some hip-to-hip coverage, and the ball was thrown perfectly."
Undoubtedly, Brady was on target all game, but suggesting the coverage was tight on Gronkowski all game long is a stretch.
Where do the Bears go from here?
At the midpoint of the season, the Bears' season has tipped in the wrong direction with a 3-5 mark. They're now three games behind Detroit in the division and have a Week 10 matchup with the Packers looming.
The bye week is well-timed, but what will the second half of the season have in store? Defensive end Jared Allen pointed to the veteran experience in the locker room as a starting point to help salvage the season.
"We have been in worse situations," Allen said. "We have to rest on the experience in this group. This bye week is going to be one of those weeks where guys are going to have to look at themselves and re-commit. I have to try and find a half-a-step. I have to try and find how to get the QB on the ground and knock the ball out of his hands."
Bears players constantly talk about the talent on the locker room -- which does exist -- coming through. The defense must play better, but the onus falls squarely on the shoulders of the offense and quarterback Jay Cutler to right the ship.
"Collectively, as a whole, we have to decide how we want to end this year and how we want to do in the second half," Cutler said. "Do we want to just pack it in and hover around .500, maybe a little bit below, or do we want to use the talent in that locker room to make a run for this?"
Dan Durkin covers the Bears for CBSChicago.com and is a frequent contributor to 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter at @djdurkin.
