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.