"The Big Sleep lasted almost three quarters. As usual, Jay Cutler was feeling around in the dark, not sure who he was or where he was during a night game. All that was missing was a stubbed toe on the dresser.

He wasn't in the grip of a five-interception night, as he had been the previous game, but he didn't look to be all there against the Eagles on Sunday. Overthrown passes, underthrown passes, passes begging to be intercepted -- that was Cutler under the artificial lights at Soldier Field.

But then he dropped in a beautiful pass to tight end Kellen Davis, an achingly accurate 15-yard touchdown toss that ended a run of four Robbie Gould field goals. Observers would have been forgiven for crying because, by definition, watching four straight field goals is like watching the play-in game of the national knitting tournament.

But that pass from Cutler -- that was the promise fulfilled wasn't it? The promise going into the season was that he was going to throw footballs all over the place, maybe even the occasional touch pass, and you would get to see greatness. The promise was that you'd see lots of greatness.

The promise has been broken too many times this season, so you believed at your own risk Sunday. The Bears lost 24-20 to the Eagles. And the night ended the way these things tend to, with a Cutler interception.

"It's fair to say I missed throws," said Cutler, who was 24 of 43 for 171 yards.

In a matter of 10 days, the offense went from bad against the 49ers to uninteresting against the Eagles. Hard to say if that's improvement or some sort of cosmic punishment on Bears fans for unspecified sins. But it made for some extremely tedious football Sunday.

There will be continued scrutiny on the Bears quarterback, who looked beleaguered for much of the game. Admit it: Before the season, you would have bet me your house that I wouldn't use the word "beleaguered" to describe Cutler.

But after the Bears took a 20-17 lead on the Davis touchdown reception, the Bears went three-and-out on their next three possessions. Then came Cutler's interception.

Now they're 4-6 and out.

Cutler has played poorly in night games this year, leading to speculation that his diabetes might be playing a role, but he was quick to quash the idea after Sunday's game.

"Diabetes has never been an issue, and it never will be an issue," he said. "We stay on top of that to excess probably, to a fault.""