Faceoff: Bears' problem? Bad omens? Disappointing QBs?

CBSSports.com pro football writers Pete Prisco and Clark Judge face off weekly throughout the season.

PRISCO: Can I say all three? Let's start with Smith. I think a big issue with this team is finding an identity. The Bears landed Cutler, a gunslinger, yet Smith insisted they would be a running team. They aren't. It's all about Cutler throwing it, and Matt Forte has not put up big numbers. That blame goes to Smith. Who are you as a football team? Cutler also hasn't helped by not playing well. I thought he'd star, but he forces too many passes and now looks to be playing scared. You can't win that way. As for the defense, it sure hasn't looked like a Bears unit. Teams move up and down the field on them. The secondary isn't very good, and it shows. And where is the great pass rusher? Smith handles the defense, so that blame goes to him as well. But GM Jerry Angelo deserves some heat as well. The Bears botched fixing their offensive line, and that is a big reason the offense hasn't been good. So let's blame them all. There's plenty to go around.

JUDGE: Lovie Smith and the defense. I already knew about Cutler, and what I knew was that the guy can't win, is not my idea of a leader and was not a good fit for this team. So I would not have brought him in. But the Bears did, and Cutler is what he is -- Jeff George in a Bears uniform. Where's the surprise? I'll tell you where: The other side of the ball with a defense that Smith took over before this season. He was supposed to make it better, but the Bears aren't better. They're awful, and I say that after watching them disintegrate in first halves of losses to Cincinnati and Arizona -- games where each opponent scored touchdowns on its first four possessions. Someone explain that to me. No, Lovie explain it. It's his defense. He makes the calls. He devises the scheme. And don't tell me about injuries. Everyone has them now. This defense stinks, and that is not Chicago Bears football.

PRISCO: While the Bengals losing to the Raiders is troubling in a lot of ways, it has to be the Steelers losing to the Chiefs. Why? They are the more desperate of the two teams. The Steelers are essentially two games behind the Bengals, and a victory over the Chiefs would have tied them with 7-3 records, even though the Bengals have defeated them twice. So Pittsburgh blew a huge chance and must now go on the road to face a Ravens team that needs it even more than they do. That won't be easy. Cincinnati's loss prevented them from essentially locking up the division, but they can handle it. The Steelers might not be able to get over that loss to the Chiefs, especially since they controlled the game in the fourth quarter.

JUDGE: Dallas putting up seven on Washington because it tells me the Cowboys are getting ready to go into the fetal position for December. Yeah, I know, that's nothing new. Except this year was supposed to be different. Watching Tony Romo flounder for most of Sunday's game, I couldn't help but think that maybe this year is not. Maybe it's just more of the same. The Bengals losing to Oakland was bad, but the Raiders are capable of dialing up upsets at home. Ask Philadelphia. The Steelers losing to K.C. was bad, too, but the Chiefs are beginning to get their act together. So I'll excuse that with, "It happens," especially with the Steelers operating without Troy Polamalu. But Dallas struggling late in the season? That has happened before, and it looks as if it might happen again. If I'm a Cowboys fan I'm nervous. The next elevator might be going down.

PRISCO: It's Matt Ryan. I think he has star potential written all over him, but he hasn't played to that level this season. I think there are a variety of reasons. He's being asked to do more, so the mistakes will go up. I'm OK with that. To be great, you have to take chances. But he's making too many mistakes. Some are his fault, but some are the fault of the receivers. They haven't been as consistent with their routes, which has hurt. Early in the season, teams loaded up to stop the run and Ryan put up some big numbers. But when they backed off, the running game got going again and Michael Turner had some big games. Now with Turner out, it's on Ryan. He has to play big in the next three home games to get the Falcons back into the playoff hunt. I think he does. I still think this is a star in waiting.

JUDGE: Matt Hasselbeck. As long as he was in the lineup I considered the Seahawks a playoff threat. More than that, I considered them the favorite to win the NFC West. But the way they're playing now, they couldn't win the Mountain West. Hasselbeck is beaten up, and it's time for the Seahawks to draft his successor. I love the guy and thought he was the key to this team's success, but he's not. The Seahawks can't run, and their defense gives you way too many points for Hasselbeck to be a factor. Hasselbeck is 34, has back issues and can't carry this team -- none of which is exactly a revelation. But I thought he -- and his team -- were going to be OK, that the offensive line would come together, the Seahawks would run and the defense would be improved. Wrong. Wrong. And wrong. When this team was good Hasselbeck had Shaun Alexander moving the chains. He needs that running game again, and it's not there. Virtually nothing is anymore.