More Top Picks Best Travel Weighted Blankets
player ready...My new friend beside the press box at Lambeau Field was dressed in green and gold. Also, he was turning blue.
So, in keeping with the spirit of Christmas, I reached over my warm side of the window and tossed him a cigar. He nodded thanks, took another swig of his Blatz, uttered one more unkind remark about Chicago, then headed off to his home at the North Pole, an unincorporated village near Green Bay.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him what will happen next. The Bears will win their two home games and finish first in the NFC Central, anyway, with a 10-6 record.
When you hold your opponent to 516 yards, there’s a chance you won’t also hold on to a 3-0 lead. This much the Bears confirmed Sunday in losing 40-3 to the Packers.
But otherwise, the Bears proved nothing except that they’re ready to hit the unsuspecting NFL with yet another surprise. They will beat the Rams and Patriots at Soldier Field while other division contenders crash.
Minnesota (9-5) could drop its remaining two games, even if San Francisco doesn’t need to beat the Vikings after what Cleveland did to Dallas.
Detroit (8-6) might beat Minnesota at home Sunday, but do you really like the Lions at Miami on Christmas night?
Meanwhile, the Packers have the easiest schedule (Atlanta and Tampa Bay), but they’re 7-7 and need even more help than the Bears gave them here.
So, it’s all aboard the Bears’ bandwagon. Unless you’d rather be under it, which is understandable.
“Defensively,” said Steve Walsh, “the Packers didn’t do anything that surprised us.”
That’s what was most curious about Sunday’s lullaby in cheeseland. The Bears say they were motivated, anxious, prepared, and still they were slaughtered. And if the Packers didn’t do anything that surprised the Bears, it’s safe to say the Bears didn’t do anything to surprise the Packers.
It is proper and fitting that Dave Wannstedt be hailed as the league’s coach of the year. But if other teams are going to take a chapter from the Bears’ success, does it have to be torn from the Bears’ playbook? Since when did it become available on store shelves, or was it just coincidence that the Packers called all the right plays Sunday, with and without the ball?
The Bears have taken great pride this season in leaving self-destruction to others, but being too predictable also has a downside. Walsh assures that new wrinkles were inserted into the game plan. If one of those was Nate Lewis losing a kickoff in the sun, then trying to boot it the other way for a rouge, can we go back to the chalkboard? Green Bay is close to Canada, but not quite there. This is still America’s toilet paper capital.
Then again, when Bear biorhythms were up and expectations lower, an intended pass that deflected off Ryan Wetnight would have landed either in a teammate’s hand or out of danger. Sunday, second quarter, the ball was surrounded by Green Bay’s LeRoy Butler, who returned it 51 yards. If luck has been the residue of design for the Bears this season, they have our permission now to worry whether the statute of limitations is up.
Or maybe Sunday was just the Bears’ way of having us reassess their talent. Much more of this and they won’t have to endure all that talk about them being overachievers. Wannstedt said after the rout that in December, everything moves to another level. Sunday, the Bears reached down and went even lower than their Halloween night impression of a playoff team, also against Green Bay.
However, there’s no quarterback controversy. With the Bears behind 37-3, Erik Kramer appeared. It is unclear whether he was supposed to win it or just tie it, but that doesn’t matter, either. Walsh keeps his job for the Rams game.
“Yes,” Walsh said, “I’ve still got was supposed to win it or just tie my confidence.”
Give that man a cigar, too. Or should we wait for the parade?