Bears’ Olsen tries to move on after nightmare game

The glass is more than half full for the 1-1 Chicago Bears.
 
“We’re a couple of mistakes away from being 2-0 as the only team to start with two road games, against two good teams,” tight end Greg Olsen said.
 
He should know. He made two of Chicago’s biggest mistakes in Sunday’s 20-17 loss at Carolina, fumbling away his only two pass receptions.
 
Chicago’s 2007 No. 1 draft pick – the only first-round pick on the Bears’ offense – has had to cope with the unfamiliar experience of being a goat. He said teammates have been silently supportive.
 
“What are they going to say?” Olsen asked. “Obviously, they know I was disappointed and not happy with those two plays. They know I hold myself to higher expectations than that. I was harder on myself than anyone else could be.”
 
Offensive coordinator Ron Turner knew what to say, consoling Olsen after the Bears’ plane landed at O’Hare.
 
“You are a great player,” Turner said he told Olsen. “You have made a lot of great plays for us. You are going to make a lot of great plays for us. We’re going to come to you. You made a couple of mistakes. I made some mistakes in that game, too.
 
“It wasn’t one play that cost us that game. It wasn’t two plays. It was several plays.”
 
Not everyone saw it that way. An online poll on Comcast’s Bears postgame show identified Olsen’s fumbles as the runaway No. 1 reason the Bears couldn’t hold on to a 17-3 lead.
 
“Obviously, everyone on the outside has a lot to say about it,” Olsen said. “That’s part of it. I’ve just got to move on and know what I’m capable of doing. I’ve shown it many times. Now I’ve just got to get back to doing it.”
 
Quarterback Kyle Orton remains confident in Olsen.
 
“He knows we can’t have turnovers, especially on the road,” Orton said. “He feels bad about it. It was a tough game for him, but he’ll bounce back and make some good plays for us.”
 
“You never want to let your team down,” Olsen said, “but there was nothing I could do about it after the fact. I didn’t intend to do that.
 
“I just have to focus more on tucking it away. My whole career, I maybe fumbled one time, my freshman year in college, and I didn’t lose it. So maybe you take it for granted. Things like this will refresh your mind, so you don’t take it for granted. Get back to doing what you’ve done your whole life. There is nothing more to it than that.”
 
Actually, ESPN.com statistics show Olsen with zero career fumbles before Sunday, either in college at Miami or with the Bears.
 
“Greg is a competitor,” Turner said. “He knows that we believe in him. He will bounce back.”

(galesburg.com)