As philosopher Michael Keller Ditka once said, this, too, shall pass. But not if you run the ball for only 27 yards.
When the Bears aren’t doing everything right, they do nothing right. It’s a fickle league, and they have to keep up their end of the food fight. Or maybe these Bears have heard so much about the Super Bowl XX team that they want to be crazy, too.
Problem is, on every given Sunday, those Bears weren’t hard to figure. These Bears are. If only their moods were as habitual as their game plans.
Regardless of each week’s outcome-narrow victory or wide defeat-coach Dave Wannstedt invariably awards his athletes high grades for effort. They never, ever fail to put their pants on one leg at a time and give it all they’ve got. Or so he says, repeatedly. That protects everybody, including Wannstedt’s fellow staff members.
But it does leave the Bears open to other questions, as wide open as the Green Bay Packers were Sunday. If the Bears are so ready, willing and able and they still lose 40-3, what does that say about their talent level? They can’t have it both ways. If the Bears don’t want to be labeled overachievers, then they really shouldn’t be underwhelming so often and so thoroughly.
In four losses to Minnesota and Green Bay-three of which were blowouts-the Bears were outscored 148-50. The loss in Philadelphia wasn’t as close as 30-22 indicated, either. Yet-and here’s where it gets complicated-the Bears are ahead of both the Packers and Eagles and still have a chance to finish above the Vikings in the NFC Central. The Bears, even when stable types like Tom Waddle are available, don’t have the patent on irregular pulse rates.
If Bear fans are frustrated, what about Packer fans? The Packers are 7-7 with better players than the Bears, who are 8-6. The two teams could meet again in the playoffs, but first the Packers have to qualify. The Bears need to beat the Los Angeles Rams here Sunday, and make no mistake about it. They’re on empty, just like their Orange County home.
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Whether Alonzo Spellman will guarantee victory is irrelevant and has been all along. If opponents require his harmless predictions for bulletin-board fodder, they’re in trouble. Brett Favre said the Packers were “very, very ticked off” about Spellman’s fearless forecasts. But for being .500 with that roster, the Packers should be very, very ticked off at themselves. If memory serves, this Green Bay team was being mentioned in the same breath as Super Bowl XXIX last September.
But, in a sense, the Packers and Bears are alike, searching for a personality at this late date. In an NFL full of transients, the problem is widespread. One week, the Bears perform as a poised, together unit. The next week, it’s 17 newcomers to this year’s roster acting the part. Trace Armstrong, venerably solid one week, looks like a guy with his house on the market the next week.
Coaches are not immune. They outthink the great Don Shula in Miami, but schemes on either side of the ball at Green Bay seemed ill-conceived even before they were poorly executed. Steve Walsh’s early 45-yard pass from the shadow of Chicago’s uprights to Jeff Graham was about as bold and innovative as it got. What the Bears were trying live, the Packers already had stuffed on Memorex.
Tired instead of wired? Possibly. Wannstedt believes in contact, and the Bears might be leaving their game on the practice field at the Waukegan bubble, no place to leave anything as valuable as an upbeat season. The Bears will spare any need for further apologies with a playoff berth, and if they’re among four teams from the motley NFC Central to earn the privilege, then there will be hope for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But that, too, shall pass.