Twitter Q&A: On Bears' D, honeymoon & Jay Cutler

The Sun-Times’ experts can answer your Bears questions all week long on Twitter.

Here’s a sampling of Tuesday’s queries sent to @patrickfinley, who responds with more than 140 characters:

A: It should last longer than one game. The Bears seemed competent on Sunday, and that was a change.

Do you know the last time the Bears beat a team that wound up winning more than eight games that season? It was Sept. 8, 2013 — Marc Trestman’s first game — against the Bengals.

It might be time to recalibrate your expectations.

A: For who? Neither second-year player Lamin Barrow, who had been with the Bears less than a week, or rookie John Timu played a defensive snap Sunday. Barrow has played 49 defensive snaps in his pro career. That could change, sure, but starters Shea McClellin and Christian Jones are being given every chance to hold down their jobs.

A: Let’s do this in your native language, Bard:

But soft! The Lions’ defense looked so soft, giving Chargers breaks/

Also out West, the Vikings looked done.

You’re right in that the two teams’ losses — the Lions in San Diego, Vikings in San Francisco — were far more embarrassing than the Bears in Week 1. But those West Coast trips ain’t easy, and NFC North teams losing doesn’t erase the Bears’ flaws. Let’s see the Bears win a game or two before we talk playoffs.

A: The Bears will likely have to do something, whether it’s finding a veteran off the street or, more likely, promoting Brandon Dunn or Terry Williams from the practice squad for Sunday’s game against the Cardinals. They made room, in theory, on Tuesday, waiving quarterback David Fales, who could return to the practice squad. The Bears fared fine with practically four linemen last week — Washington played one defensive down — but the no-huddle, spread-offense Packers didn’t necessitate more than that.

A: The Bears are as curious as you are. I thought the rookie from Penn State seemed comfortable and particularly aggressive in run support. Aaron Rodgers didn’t pick on him, either. All good signs.

A: Couldn’t make it through a mailbag without this, right? I thought Cutler was a serviceable conductor of Adam Gase’s offense, particularly in the no-huddle, though his numbers were padded by the final garbage-time drive.

The right man, if there is one, is probably going to be a high draft pick. If Cutler is good this season, the Bears won’t have one.

Follow me on Twitter @patrickfinley

Email: pfinley@suntimes.com