For starters, we would like to formally thank any Bears fans brave enough to click on this report card link and read it. FYI: Your team lost 45-10 to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.

You’re a hard-core fan, and your patience is going to be tested more and more as this 3-3 season begins spiraling downward. In a game full of big storylines, revenge, trash talk and a potential 4-2 record at stake, the Bears went missing in action as the Bengals scored on all five first-half possessions.

This game wasn’t nearly as entertaining as all of the drama and storylines leading up to it:

- WR Chad Ochocinco, the NFL’s King of All Social Media, talked trash all week on Twitter, even telling Jay Cutler to put Peanut Tillman on him with safety help. The Bears did, and it did no good. Ochocinco backed up his talk with 100 yards receiving by halftime on the way to catching 10 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns. He capped off the second TD with a promised Samba dance.

- Cedric Benson, the Bears’  2005 first-round draft pick, rushed for a career-high 189 yards and a touchdown just four days after he said the team blackballed him around the league after releasing him before the 2008 season.

-  Quarterback Carson Palmer, perhaps Benson’s biggest challenger for the NFL’s comeback player of the year, completed 20 of 24 passes for 233 yards and five touchdowns before sitting out the last half of the fourth quarter.

But as good as everyone is feeling about a 5-2 Cincinnati team, the Bears are left to wonder how they can respond to a five-touchdown loss and avoid fading in the NFC wildcard race as the schedule heads into November.

We offer a few suggestions in this week’s abbreviated Bear report card, complete with video lowlights and calls from Bengals and Bears radio announcers:

OFFENSE

Let’s put it this way: Benson had 70 yards rushing in the first quarter and had outgained the entire Bears offense. Chicago’s offensive line is growing old and is just awful. It needs to be retooled in the offseason. It all starts up front. Olin Kreutz and Cutler need to get on the same page with shotgun snaps, as Cutler bobbled two that should have been handled easily.

At this point of the season, it’s important to note that Cutler has nearly as many interceptions (10) and touchdowns (11). We know he doesn’t have much to work with in Devin Hester, Earl Bennett and Johnny Knox. We know Desmond Clark is in his 13th season. And where has Greg Olsen been? He seems to vanish when his team needs him the most. But Cutler is going to have to carry this team and elevate those around him, including running back Matt Forte. We’ve seen flashes of that this season (Seattle and Pittsburgh), but he has to become more consistent to raise his team’s level of play every week. Grade: F

DEFENSE

Cincinnati didn’t unveil any gimmicks or wrinkles in its game plan. The Bengals gave the Bears what Chicago players saw all week on game film: play-action passes, Cedric Benson pounding up the middle or getting outside.

All week, we’ll hear excuses from the Bears about how much they miss Tommie Harris (out with a knee injury) and all of the injuries at linebacker (Brian Urlacher and Pisa Tinoisamoa out for the year). But injuries aren’t an excuse for losing players in the middle of the field. Ochocinco found seams in Cover-2 over the middle, and Benson’s blue-collar running (where was that two seasons ago?) left the Bears on their heels and overmatched.

When Ochocinco wasn’t beating Peanut Tillman badly, he was running away from Lance Briggs, who somehow got stuck with him on coverage at least twice. Zack Bowman lost Chris Henry in the end zone for Cincinnati’s first touchdown, and was spun around like a Pop Warner cornerback on a big play to Laveranues Coles in the second quarter.

This comes down to game planning and execution. Coach Lovie Smith thought the answer to last year’s defensive woes was to take over the play-calling. He has, and for the past two weeks (and at times in the Seattle) the Bears have looked lost and confused. Part of this falls on third-string linebacker Nick Roach, who has to make the calls in-game, but, ultimately, the responsibility falls on Smith.

Perhaps the most telling statement this week came from defensive lineman Israel Idonije: "As a team this week we gotta make a statement. The d-line has gotta be the exclamation point."
Instead, we’re left with questions. Grade: F

SPECIAL TEAMS

After several good weeks, one of the team’s strengths seemed to be going through the motions. Robbie Gould’s chip-shot field goal avoided a first-half shutout, Brad Maynard got plenty of work, and even Johnny Knox didn’t look sharp on returns. Grade: D-minus

COACHING

The defense was once again lost, and that falls on Smith. The offense never developed any rhythm and played from behind all day. That falls on Ron Turner. Grades for both coaches: F

-- MIKE REILLEY, Bears blogger.
Follow him on Twitter @bearsblogblitz