So, Lovie Smith, take us through the decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 behind a patchwork offensive line from the Seahawks' 15-yard line with a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter. Any regrets, coach?
"I should have taken the field goal in a game like that," Smith surprisingly volunteered. "I feel like we had momentum and wanted to really kind of knock them out. That was the big play of the game."
That was the biggest play. Or maybe was it Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson's 12-yard scramble on third-and-5 in overtime? Or tight end Zach Miller's fourth-down catch? Rice's TD reception? I keep changing my mind.
Apparently so did Smith, who is more likely to tell jokes at a postgame news conference than show candor. Yet minutes after wishing aloud that he would have kicked the field goal, Smith must have realized he publicly had agreed with so many critics in Chicago. He contradicted himself.
"Would I do it again?" Smith asked. "Probably so."
Huh? Smith would make the same decision he called the wrong one? Put the Lovie Smith Waffle on the United Club menu. Smith uncharacteristically sending mixed messages only underscored how much this loss rattled the coach and his team.
That is what happens when a tired defense that once was Super Bowl-caliber lets a rookie quarterback orchestrate a fourth-quarter, 12-play, 97-yard go-ahead drive. As old and slow as Wilson made the Bears look defensively, nobody should have been surprised when the Seahawks marched 80 yards in overtime with relative ease.