[CBFF] Bears still have time, but not much margin for error (Wojciechowski, ESPN)

[Victor Waldron]

(Ouch!!!)

Bears still have time, but not much margin for error
By Gene Wojciechowski
ESPN.com

The Chicago Bears are going to finish the regular season 14-2, have
the home-field advantage during the postseason and then, if they're
not very, very careful, get eliminated in the NFC Divisional playoffs.

	
Last season's playoffs didn't end well for Bears coach Lovie Smith and
QB Rex Grossman.
Have you ever seen a more dysfunctional, less-impressive 12-win team
than these guys? Have you ever seen a coach who plays the paranoia
card as often as the spectacularly tone deaf Lovie Smith? Have you
ever seen fewer players unwilling to at least acknowledge what
everyone else with at least a beer cup's worth of objectivity sees:
that the Bears are walking a line as thin as the laces on a football?

Sunday afternoon, as I was cleaning my cache of semi-automatic weapons
and surface-to-air rocket launchers, I watched the Bears-Tampa Bay
Buccaneers game with my kids and our 26 pit bulls. Oh, wait, that was
defensive tackle Tank Johnson, who, incredibly enough, is still
employed by the Bears.

Anyway, the more I watched, the more I realized how flawed and fragile
this team is. They're not posers. Posers don't go 12-2. They're not
frauds. Frauds don't clinch a first-round bye as early as Game 14. But
they're also not the NFL's best team. Or second best. Or third. Or
fourth. Or maybe fifth.

I know they have the league's best record. I know they're 4-0 in their
division and 10-0 in their conference. But the other three NFC North
teams are a combined 14-28 and in danger of being optioned to NFL
Europe. And the rest of the NFC is so stressed out that it needs a spa
day. It's the two-bagger conference, if you know what I mean.

In mid-October, the Bears needed the collapse of the decade to beat
gawd-awful Arizona on the road. Two months later at home, they needed
overtime to beat a Tampa Bay team that scores less often than guys in
leisure suits. If you have to struggle to beat the Cardinals and the
Bucs on opposite ends of your regular season, you've got a major
problem.

The Cardinals' Dennis Green had it right when he went Danny DeVito
after the Oct. 16 loss. "The Bears are who we thought they were," he
raged. "If you want to crown them, crown their asses," said Green,
YouTube's Sportsman of the Year. "They are who we thought they were
and we let them off the hook."

The Bears deserve a fist bump, not a crown. Of their 12 wins, 10 have
come against teams with records of .500 or worse. Next up: the Detroit
Lions (Hello, No. 1 pick! Goodbye, Matt Millen!) and Green Bay
Packers.

In a game of NFL word association, you'd say, "Bears," and I'd say,
"Watching the Super Bowl on their home plasmas." You'd say,
"Home-field advantage." I'd say, 2005 Divisional Playoff at Soldier
Field: Carolina Panthers 29, Bears 21."

You'd say, "Kyle Orton." I'd say, "Rex Grossman and his 1.3 quarterback rating."

There are too many moving parts on this machine. The tailback tag team
of Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson can barely tolerate each other.
Grossman is like food on a cruise ship: You don't know if you're going
to love it or ralph in your state room. And the defense suddenly needs
mouth-to-mouth.

The Bucs, led by third-string quarterback Tim Rattay, outscored the
Bears 28-7 in the second half of Sunday's game. The Bucs.

Six days earlier, the Bears gave up 27 points to the St. Louis Rams.
If defense wins championships, then the Bears better find some help
for Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs. And fast.

Did I mention the injuries? Offensive tackle John Tait missed the last
game, though it didn't seem fatal. Cornerback Nathan Vasher was out.
Defensive tackle Tommie Harris is lost for the season. So is safety
Mike Brown. Jones has some cranky ribs. Charles Tillman is nursing a
sore back.

And yet, Mr. "The Glass Is Completely Full" Smith acts as if it's a
huge deal the Bears are unbeaten against the rest of the NFC North
mopes. He recites the Bears' overall record like it's a weather
update. Last week, 11-2. This week, 12-2. Next week, after they
dispose of the Lions, 13-2.

But it doesn't change some essential truths about this team. First of
all, they aren't the '85 Bears. Never were -- even when they were
winning big during the first six weeks of this season. Never will be.
Aside from the fact that the '85 Bears would crush your thorax the
moment you walked off the team bus, they were likeable, eccentric,
charismatic.

The '06 Bears reflect Smith. Mostly bland. Defensive. In a state of
denial about all sorts of things, including, oh, I don't know,
defensive tackles, assault rifles, and wee-hour fatal shootings.

Four days after police raided his suburban Chicago home and found
unregistered firearms, Johnson was still on the team. Three days after
Bears management read him the riot act, and two days after his
friend/roommate/bodyguard was shot and killed at a Chicago nightclub
(with Johnson at the same club), Johnson was still on the team.

Smith didn't absolve Johnson's actions, but during his weekly news
conference Monday he did seem to suggest that the defensive tackle's
Bears' career still had a heartbeat, however faint. If so, then Smith
needs a refresher course on tough love.

There is a lot to like about these Bears, but more to dislike. They
are either five games from a Super Bowl championship or three games
from a January playoff loss. Right now, I'm leaning toward the loss.
Too much Bears' indifference, arrogance and self-importance.

What's that phrase they tell alcoholics? The first step toward
recovery is admitting you've got a problem.

That's what the Bears have to do: admit they've got a problem. There's
still time for recovery. Barely.