Because it's Mullen. How many years are we going to listen to him use practice as a reason for whatever questions are thrown at him before we realize you can't take those comments at face value?
Anyway, look at the game: other than the friggin' drop, Bell was obviously kicking better. Baker has been nothing if not consistent, he didn't get the start, we tried him once and the punt was poor (for Baker), we only went back to him after the safety and his next punt was even worse, so we had to go back to Bell again. It's easy to put two and two together to see something was wrong with the man.