Running back Rashaan Salaam is not the only Bears rookie who came out of Thursday’s loss to Indianapolis with a need to pick up his game. Although punter Todd Sauerbrun had a 61-yard punt with the help of an artificial turf bounce, coach Dave Wannstedt was critical of his inconsistency afterward.
“Todd had a rough day,” he said. “He’s way too inconsistent and he’s got to work his way out of that. I don’t know. He was kicking great pre-game. You tell me.”
One positive: Probably the biggest silver lining in a game with very few positives was the effectiveness of the Bears’ run defense for the second straight game. Arizona gained just 31 net yards rushing against the Bears Sunday and Indianapolis was held to 50.
“That’s been our emphasis this preseason and so some good things are happening there,” linebacker Vinson Smith said.
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Turn it around: The most worrisome statistic for the Bears in the preseason was turnovers.
“That’s what has been most discouraging,” coach Dave Wannstedt said after the Bears finished up with 14 preseason fumbles, eight lost, and six interceptions.
The Bears fumbled only 21 times all of last season, losing posession on 10. So their inability to hang onto the ball could be a bad habit that will haunt them into the regular season.
Mint condition: Last week against Arizona, linebacker Barry Minter had an interception. Thursday, Minter made a huge hit on third down that killed off a Colts drive.
Wide receiver Floyd Turner was trying to catch the ball in the middle of the field. Minter came across, put his head down and made sure that Turner had no chance to make the reception.
Wish list: Jim Harbaugh knows that wishing to be the Colts’ starting quarterback instead of Craig Erickson’s backup doesn’t do much good.
“I’d like to be the starter, but I’m sure (offensive coordinator) Lindy Infante would like to be a head coach somewhere in the league,” he said.
Infante didn’t disagree.
“If we’d have had Marshall Faulk in Green Bay, I’d probably still be coaching there,” said the former head coach of the Packers. “If you talk to any coach on any staff and he tells you he’s not interested in being a head coach, I don’t think that guy is being very honest with you.”