Well, THAT was interesting.

So... the 2010 season has come and gone. *sigh* Where to start? Well, there was good news and bad news. OY was there bad news. Good news: Our Chicago Bears won the 2010 NFC North Division championship with an 11-5 record and earned a first-round bye in the playoffs. What's more, they beat the Seattle Seahawks 35-24 (should have been 35-10) to get to the NFC Championship Game, played at Soldier Field!!! This... is where the news gets bad. REALLY bad. HISTORICALLY bad. BIBLICALLY BAD. Strangely enough, the Bears have no one to blame but themselves. Let's back up to Week 17 - the regular season fnale. The Beloved Bear travelled those 3 sickening hours north on I-94 to take on Satan's Greatest Triumph (you know who I'm talking about. If you don't: quit reading this, get off my blog, never come back and start organizing your Oscar pool). All the Bears had to do was win the game and the Choads would have missed the playoffs. Oh, how sweet. It was a winnable game but the Bears let the Asshats into the playoffs as the #6 seed with a 10-3 loss. From there, God's Sorrow won consecutive road games in Philadelphia and Atlanta (the #1 seed) to get to... that's right. Soldier Field and the NFC Championship Game.

The only other time these two teams had met in the postseason (in 181 overall meetings) was in 1941, one week after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Bears won that game 33-14 at Wrigley Field, so tickets for this 2011 game were in HIGH demand. I sometimes shudder to think what we could have sold our tickets for but of course, there's NO WAY that would ever happen.

Sunday, January 23, 2011 was cold but sunny. It was full of hope as well. The grills blazed a little more brightly in the parking lots, the adult beverages flowed a little more freely, the smacktalk between us and The Green and Gold Mouthbreathers more spirited. A trip to Super Bowl XLV (a mere 3 hour drive from our house, mind you) was on the line. At the appropriate time, we filed into the stadium and prepared for the battle on the field.

Those Damnable Wretches took a 14-0 lead into the half and to make matters worse, our starting QB Jay Cutler somehow disappeared from action. Those 50,000 or so of us who had the good sense to root for our lakefront heroes were understandably uneasy. The second half started with our (WTH??!?!?! WHY???!?!?!??) 2nd string QB Todd Collins (SERIOUSLY????!??!!!?) failing miserably (as he does). He was quickly yanked in favor of Caleb Hanie, now The Most Popular Man in Chicago. He did not disappoint at first, driving us down the field and getting us on the board via a 1 yard TD run by Chester Taylor. Unfortunately, Hanie also proved quite charitable as he threw a backbreaking Pick 6 to a defensive end. Scum 21, Bears 7. A late TD to Earl Bennett closed the gap to 21-14 and after a defensive stop, the Bears were driving again with under a minute left in regulation. We were ALL ready for a miracle. It was going to be the greatest story in Chicago sports history. We had Super Bowl plans in our heads but would not speak them aloud. On 4th down, Hanie drops back to throw and spots Bennett near Mammon's 20 yard line. He rears back and throws.

In one instant, it was over. An interception sealed the deal and what was to be the celebration of all celebrations became a silent trudge to the parking lots. The Focus of Evil in Sports received a new (crappy) trophy for winning the conference championship and our championship t-shirts and hats got loaded up to ship to Zimbabwe or God knows where. So, that was it. One heck of a roller coaster season came to an end with plenty of questions for the upcoming season. Oh, the capper? Hitler's Anus went on to win the frickin' Super Bowl over 6-time SB champ Pittsburgh. GAH!

Questions for the 2011 season? Will there be a season? A lockout looms if a new collective bargaining agreement isn't reached by the first part of March. If there is a season, who will be back for the Bears? Free agents include S/KR Danieal Manning, DE Anthony (Spice) Adams, P Brad Maynard, and S Chris Harris, among others. Well, these questions will answer themselves in due time. For now, I am officially sick of football until further notice.

I may rap at you come draft time or when Cutler and Kristin Cavalliari (or however it's spelled) break up. Until then... pitchers and catchers report in less than a week. Enjoy that. Later.

I've been busy. Shut up.

Since my last post (10/28/09)...

Bears... 7-9
Hawks - STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS
Bulls - .500ish? I think...?
Cubs - Bataan Death March, revisited (again)
Sox - No idea.
Texas Longhorns - Big XII Champs, lost to Alabama in National Championship

As for the Bears, 2010 version... Manumaleuna. Taylor. JULIUS FRICKIN' PEPPERS. Martz(??!?!????). Urlacher healthy. Tommie Harris healthy. Can't help but be a little excited. The preseason opener is this Saturday against the Chargers in San Diego. No injuries... please?

What a difference...

a couple of weeks makes. Prior to the matchup with the Falcons, most Bears fans had visions of January success and possible Miami plans, much like 2006. But after choking away chance after chance to win against Atlanta and then being overwhelmed by a good-but-not-great Cincinnati Bengals team, it is hard to figure that the 2009 Chicago Bears team can or will be anything but a middling bunch of underachievers. Kelly and I watched (what we could of) the game at a popular wings chain in Round Rock - a town close to our Austin home. This place offered a dedicated section for Bears fans to watch on large-screen TVs, complete with sound. They even played "Bear Down Chicago Bears" as the game started! A very nice touch. There were 20 or so of us ready to cheer our heroes on... we're still waiting. Kelly and I left with about 8 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, thoroughly disgusted.

Thoughts on what's wrong? Sure, why not? It seems to me that the offensive line has not lived up to expectations. I'll admit I readily bought into the vision of what could have been - Orlando Pace reviving his career and pancaking pass rusher after pass rusher, Frank Omiyale proving himself as worthy of his free-agent contract, etc. It hasn't happened. In addition, it seems to me that the Cover 2 defense is played out. Carson Palmer absolutely picked it apart with ease this past Sunday. I'm not sure what worked in 2002 works so well anymore. The NFL is a league of ebb and flow... one side of the ball constantly adjusting when the other seems to have the upper hand. When an offense dismantles a scheme as easily as the Bengals did, I think some changes should at least be thought about. Well, it's the hapless(?) Browns this Sunday... the Bears should have a decent shot. In addition, Sunday will mark 10 years since the passing of the greatest Bear ever, Walter Payton. I'm looking forward to the halftime tribute but wish the Park District would have figured out a place to put the statue. That's it for now - everyone have a safe Halloween and BEAR DOWN!!!

One man's view - two games in

Hey folks,

Yeah, been a while... whaddaya gonna do? Life has a funny way of intervening. Truth be told, after the Green Bay debacle I don't think I could have written anything that wouldn't have made George Carlin blush. Just glad the Bears turned it around against the Steelers this past Sunday. Well, here's what I'm seeing after two weeks of Chicago Bears football:
1) Until Jay Cutler fully develops a rapport with his receivers, expect a combination of the performances we've seen. I think Cutler will feel the need to pull in the reins until he figures out upon whom he can count in tough situations. Right now Johnny Knox and (to a lesser degree) Devin Hester appear to be those guys.
2) The loss of Brian Urlacher in Week One won't hurt us as much as people might think. Sure, a playmaker like him will always be missed but the defense really rallied against a tough Pittsburgh offense. The defensive line has looked as advertised with the addition of Rod Marinelli as D-line coach; their improved play will lessen pressure on the back 7.
3) I may have to rethink Greg Olsen as a Pro Bowl tight end - at least for this season. With the roster as deep as it is at the position, Cutler is looking at all options available (hello, Kellen Davis!). In addition, Olsen was double-covered practically all night against the Packers. He got loose a couple of times this past Sunday but it generally seems like defenses have painted a bullseye on his back this year. Of course, this could change and I hope it does.

All in all, the 2009 Chicago Bears season is a continually developing story. This promises to be a lot of fun to watch - just try to keep the cuss words to a minimum when we take a step backward from time to time. BEAR DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Safety Shuffling...

Hey folks... fellow followers of the Beloved... interesting news coming out of Halas Hall today on the verge of the trip to BEARbonnais. Lovie and crew have installed Danieal Manning as the starting free safety when our heroes take the field on Friday. Kevin Payne will line up at strong safety with Craig Steltz taking over the nickel position on passing downs.

I'm intrigued. The Bears did this ostensibly to get all their best (most talented) players on the field; I just hope that Manning's return game doesn't suffer like one certain former all-world KR-now-turned-WR's game did. Let's also hope that Manning does a better job of recognizing signals from the sideline better than he did in Super Bowl XLI. For those who don't remember, the Colts faced a 3rd-and-long situation in the 1st quarter, down 7-0. The Bears lined up in a cover-2. The FS (Manning) was expected to pick up coverage on the WR after Peanut Tillman passed him off in order to pick up TE Dallas Clark squatting in the flat. It's been reported that Manning looked to the sideline for the call and saw a coach signal with one finger - which told Manning to shadow Clark. In reality, the coach was holding up two fingers - Cover 2. Manning, based on where he was standing on the field, couldn't see the second finger. The ball was snapped and Tillman and Manning both converged on Dallas Clark - leaving WR Reggie Wayne absolutely wide open down the seam. Peyton Manning fought off a late charge from DT Tank Johnson and found Wayne for the 53-yard touchdown. PAINFUL. As you can probably tell, that's not something I'll forget for a while (at least until we get back to another Super Bowl). Well, it will definitely be interesting to see how this shakes out... with any luck, the safety position will end up being a source of strength instead of weakness this year.

Thoughts? BEAR DOWN!!!!!!

Hello again everybody!

What's up everybody?? I decided to take some time off from writing since news has been slow in coming (besides OTAs and Jay Cutler's first appearances in a Bear uni). But now training camp is scheduled to start this Friday at 3pm and it's time to get the 2009 NFL season underway! The Bears received some news today that isn't particularly welcome... starting CB Charles 'Peanut' Tillman has undergone back surgery and is scheduled to miss all of training camp and most of the preseason. 'Peanut', however, says he will be fine and that he should be able to start the season opener in Green Bay on September 13.
Personally, I don't find this news to be particularly disconcerting... it's much better this happens now and not a month from now. In addition, Peanut is a veteran player who knows the ins and outs of training camp. Had this been one of our rookies, the organization would have no choice but to count out any contribution from him for the season. Fortunately, this is not the case. Another benefit: putting Peanut on the shelf means more training camp reps for young CBs Corey Graham, Zack Bowman, and rookie D.J. Moore. Bowman in particular raised many eyebrows with his performance in OTAs; let's face it - the Bears can use the depth in the secondary. Let's hope our youngsters take advantage of the opportunity now presented them and flourish. So excited to camp to start - BEAR DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Continued Speedy Recovery, Fridge!

Shame on me for not commenting on this sooner... really glad to hear that William Perry is recovering from his ongoing bout with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a disease that affects the peripheral nervous system. He was originally listed in serious condition when first admitted a couple of weeks ago but now has been upgraded to fair condition. I think any Bear fan 30 or older can't help but smile when thinking of the 'Fridge', his gap-toothed smile, and his contributions to that magical 1985 season. I still have my original 'Fridge Fever' glass mug... I'll be sure to drink out of it the day he is discharged from the hospital. Get well soon, Fridge. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.