Apparently, Erik Kramer found it difficult to sleep after Sunday’s surrender in Detroit and was concerned.
So he opted for the ultimate test. He watched Bears game films, and when he still couldn’t nod off, he knew he was in trouble.
Now, anything is possible for the Marshmallows of the Midway, even Jeff George. At least he’s a pain in the neck without a note from his doctor.
First, there’s a new sheriff in town. Then, there’s a new quarterback. Add it all up, and the Bears also have another reason to write off 1996, if they so choose.
Some members of their official family, uniformed and otherwise, hang onto excuses better than they hang onto the ball, and Wednesday’s bulletin about Kramer could be the mother of all alibis for looking ahead to next season.
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If Elvis Grbac can enter the huddle for San Francisco’s 49ers in lieu of Steve Young, if Bernie Kosar can take over the Miami Dolphins for Dan Marino, the Bears could do a lot worse than Dave Krieg.
And they might, unless they care to prove otherwise. We’ll see what Sheriff Alonzo Spellman and his posse are made of, an ominous prospect given early 1-3 returns.
Kramer posted career numbers in 1995, when the offense not only imagined it could score on every series but almost had to. A bounce here or a whistle there, and the Bears would have qualified for the playoffs, thus camouflaging the fact they had too many square pegs in round holes.
It didn’t happen, but still there was the tendency to avoid reality. Kramer didn’t miss a down, broke team records for attempts, completions, yards and touchdowns and appeared indestructible. The statistics were impressive, but his durability was an aberration.
NFL quarterbacks are an endangered species, as Bears fans rediscovered when Kramer was rag-dolled this season by foes such as the routinely docile Minnesota Vikings. He had lost prime receiver in Jeff Graham, maybe some bravado and certainly some options.
To its credit, management hired Krieg. He ranks among the league’s all-time top 10 in all the major categories, and if he admired the Green Bay Packers while attending Milton College, that’s life.
Krieg is a good guy, a solid pro who has started every game in five different seasons and, after all that time in the American Football Conference, he will need no introduction to Sunday’s opponent at Soldier Field, Oakland.
Just win, baby, even if you are 37. The Bears need this game badly.
But even if Krieg reroutes this enigmatic squad and leads it to great glory, he does not represent the future of this program. Kramer does, though now on a week-to-week basis, and the last thing restless Bears loyalists want to hear now is another plea for patience on account of another patient.
Kramer’s prognosis isn’t as serious as originally feared, but what about the Bears’ condition?
Buying time will work for Dave Wannstedt’s regime as long as customers buy tickets, but if Krieg needs a couple games to get comfortable, and then a couple games after that for Kramer to reacquaint himself, November could look a lot like September in the NFL standings.
Meanwhile, down in Indianapolis, Jim Harbaugh really is the new sheriff in town, and the toughest hombre of them all. No excuses there. No defeats either.
It hurts, but so does Erik Kramer, and the good news is that his injury is not career-threatening. The bad news is that the Bears could be.