[CBFF] Bears bashing boggles the mind

[mom2iancal]

Mike Downey 
In the wake of the news 

February 11, 2007 

Jay Leno and David Letterman have made Bears jokes almost nightly. 

A columnist from the Los Angeles Times referred to the Bears as "Da Bums" 
and as "the Munsters of the Midway." 

A gentleman from ESPN said of the Bears, "You wonder how they reached the 
playoffs, much less the Super Bowl." 

A fellow from a Chicago paper proposed after the Super Bowl that it might be 
best for all concerned if Rex Grossman went to a different team. 

A football writer for Sports Illustrated suggested the Bears try to trade 
for Houston's David Carr, who is the quarterback of one of the NFL's worst 
teams. 

A guy from Fox Sports cracked "if Grossman were added to the presidential 
ticket, Barack Obama probably couldn't carry Cook County." 

A columnist for the Denver Post wrote Grossman "stinks" and, furthermore, 
"Truth is, the Bears are vastly overrated." 

That guy put those last two comments on the record before the Super Bowl. 

Forgive my foul language on a Sunday, but what the hell is going on here? 

How did the Bears go from being one of the top teams in football to the 
butts of jokes and to the targets for all sorts of verbal and critical abuse? 

How did a seven-point underdog lose a game by 12 points and suddenly turn 
into a different kind of dog? 

How did a team win its division a month early, win its conference 
championship game by 25 points, win 15 of its games and lose four, only to end up on 
the receiving end of an almost daily bashing? 

A week ago this day, the Bears were on a wet field in Florida with the 
favored Indianapolis Colts, a team led by perhaps the best quarterback of the 21st 
Century. 

At the end of a quarter, the score was Bears 14, Colts 6. 

Chicago's fans must have been as proud as punch. Their heroes were up by 
eight. A 92-yard kickoff return put the Colts in a hole. Grossman threw a 
touchdown pass. 

Thomas Jones broke a 52-yard run. In a word, the Bears looked super. 

At halftime, the Bears were behind, but only by two. They didn't touch the 
ball much. But there was a Colts fumble and a missed field goal. It was still 
anybody's game. 

At the end of three quarters, the score was 22-17. 

It wasn't a blowout. It wasn't a Bears embarrassment. The favored Colts were 
up five. They did not score a touchdown on the Bears' defense in the third 
quarter. Manning passed for 54 yards in this quarterâ?"big deal. 

In the end, Indianapolis did win. A team that was expected to prevail by a 
huge majority of NFL analystsâ?"many of them former pro coaches and players with 
a certain amount of expertiseâ?"did, in fact, beat the Bears. 

It was not an upset. And I, for one, was not upset. I was sorry to see my 
guys lose but grateful for a great season, as many of my Bears brethren were. 

Bob Newhart, the comedian, a true-blue fan, called up to joke, "I've just 
entered a 12-step Bears recovery program." 

We both expressed surprise at the way the team was knocked and mocked in the 
game's aftermath. 

Hadn't the Bears had a spectacular season? Weren't the Colts supposed to 
beat them? Why did the Bears suddenly seem to be getting a worse 

beating in the postgame than they did in the game? 

I have been to Super Bowls decided 42-10, 46-10, 48-21 and 52-17. 

I saw a team John Elway quarterbacked be torn to shreds 55-10. Now that's 
the kind of thrashing a team could get embarrassed about. 

Denver obviously should have gotten rid of that Elway bum. 

Twenty-three teams lost games from Super Bowls I through XL by margins as 
bad or worse than the Bears' just was. 

But now they are bums? They were lucky to make the playoffs? They were 
vastly overrated? They ought to dump a quarterback who went 15-4 and go get the 
quarterback of the Houston Texans? 

Madness, madness. 

Look, no one likes to lose. 

In the painful first minutes after last Sunday's game ended, Bears wide 
receiver Bernard Berrian said that where winning the Super Bowl is concerned, 
"Anything less is failure." 

No, it is not. 

Did we imagine those division and league championships? Did we imagine 
Virginia McCaskey having the George S. Halas Trophy placed in her hands? 

Did we imagine beating Super Bowl XL runner-up Seattle twice? Did we imagine 
winning in Green Bay 26-0, in St. Louis 42-27, beating the two New York 
teams on the road by a combined 48-20? Did we imagine pounding Detroit 34-7, 
Buffalo 40-7, San Francisco 41-10 and New Orleans 39-14? 

Did we imagine Grossman passing for 3,193 yards and 23 scores in the regular 
season? Did we imagine Jones and Cedric Benson rushing for 1,857 yards? Did 
we imagine Robbie Gould making 32 of 36 field-goal attempts and Devin Hester 
returning six kicks for touchdowns? 

I don't know about you, butâ?"please pardon my language againâ?"I thought 
Chicago had one hell of a team. 

_mikedowney at tribune.com_ (mailto:mikedowney at tribune.com) 

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