Bears reaction: Offensive Coordinator Mike Tice needs to get better

Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Mike Tice has some improving to do, says Windy City Gridiron's Steven Schweickert. The Bears' slow-starting offense, combined with a schedule full of tough defenses in the not-to-distant future, will present some challenges that Tice will have to get figured out in the next few weeks:

The nice thing about stats is they as a sum can tell you something, but as a sum, they can also hide some things. For instance, that third-ranked scoring offense the Bears have is buoyed by their 35-point gift from the last three weeks by the defense, and their net yards per pass attempt and yards per rushing attempt are squarely in the middle of the league.

The Bears haven't played great defenses thus far, so the offensive inconsistency hasn't affected them too badly, which is evident by the team's 4-1 start. Perhaps more worrisome is that Chicago has played against mostly poor offenses in its first five games, so the potentially bigger problem of slow starts hasn't reared its ugly head ... yet.

... the Bears will be heading into a part of the schedule, especially with the Texans, Niners, Vikings, Seahawks and Vikings all in a row from weeks 10 through 14, that will be especially unforgiving. Those four have given away a total of 11 interceptions, and six of them have been from Russell Wilson, so aside from Seattle, a short field probably isn't going to be there.

Time is on the side of Tice and the Bears to get the offensive issues in check before the gauntlet, Chicago is in the midst of a bye week, and will face the Detroit Lions, Carolina Panthers and Tennessee Titans, each of whom have their own problems to deal with, in the three weeks following the open date.