They Won, But Just Bear-ly » Brats & Beer

January 17, 2007
posted under: effin Bears, NFL playoffs

I apologize for the tardiness of this post, but Brats & Beer has been undergoing a move to a new hosting account. An unpleasant and frustrating endeavor, I hope it results in less downtime and improved responsiveness.

Before that bit of necessary evil befell me, I was hoping to fill this space with some scintillating prose on the dull witted Chicago Bears and their unremarkable 27-24 victory in overtime against the hapless Seattle Seahawks. Has a team ever tried so hard to lose a playoff game and still come up short? I guess by friend Pete from work was correct in his pre-game assessment: The Bears were very capable of losing the game, but Seattle just couldn’t muster the will to win it.

I will say, though, that it made for good television and kept me watching far longer than I planned. I really thought one of those teams would take a commanding 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter and hold on for the win. Instead we got two turnovers, three punts, a failed fourth-and-one, and the game-tying field goal. By that time I just wanted someone to win the game; I had things to do.

So for the first time since 1985 Chicago is headed to the NFC Championship game, but despite all the early season hype, the 2006 version is very far from being the ‘85 Bears. Yes, their defense is pretty good, but it is also banged up and vulnerable. The big difference, though, is the offense. Ditka in 1985 had a young Jim McMahon at quarterback, Willie Gault, and of course the great Walter Payton. (No apologies to Jim Brown, Emmitt Smith, and today’s back du jour LT, but Sweetness was — for my money — the greatest of all time.) What does Lovie Smith have at his disposal? Rex Grossman, the Sex Cannon. God help you, Chicago.

Home field advantage is about the best hope for Windy City fans this weekend. For the football gods to shine on Chicago, they’ll need to throw the best the Bears defense has to offer and a huge blizzard at New Orleans. And even then, the Bears would be the biggest Super Bowl underdog since the Jets faced the Colts, whether they play New England or Indianapolis.

But the funniest thing about this Bears team is that they seem to know they aren’t too good. There’s been no Super Bowl shuffle this time around. There’s barely a hint of cockiness coming out of Chicago. They know they are holding on by the grace of the gods and a slim margin, unlike Ditka’s Bears who knew they were the cream of the crop and announced it to the world. For that, I am somewhat greatful. Can you imagine making the country suffer through Urlacher and Grossman rapping in a video? Un-Bear-able.