All of Dave Wannstedt’s pieces are already in last place of the mighty NFC Central, but hold onto your helmets. Now is not the time to panic over the Bears.
They failed to shock the Green Bay Packers Monday night, yet they did surprise Las Vegas in losing by only 38-24 at Lambeau Field, a monument to clogged arteries, even when traffic flows freely along Lombardi Avenue.
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The defending champions seemed a bit overripe from their Super Bowl XXXI conquest at New Orleans. Meanwhile, the oft-maligned Marshmallows of the Midway from Chicago wisely avoided picking up where they left off last season, a shameful surrender in Tampa Bay.
Why, on this warm evening in dairyland, when the building throbbed from celebratory noise, the Bears even insisted on a few moments of peace and quiet. When was it really eerie? When we could hear the guy in the flannel shirt burp from the top row? It was a guy, wasn’t it?
Probably when Todd Sauerbrun deftly completed a trick play, flinging a two-point conversion from his left earring, off a fake botched kick formation. Jim Flanigan, as planned throughout training-camp drills, fetched the pass in the end zone, and the greatest underdogs in Monday Night Football annals owned an 8-3 advantage.
Good grief. This was early second quarter. The team invited north to be stage props for the commencement of another title run was stealing the show. The Bears, who usually talk a much better game than they play, had brought some bite with their bark.
Alas, the next flying object of any consequence from the Bears was jettisoned by Bryan Cox, he of the Olympic helmet toss. When he wears the headgear, is it half full or half empty? That is the question. All that energy, all those penalties.
As a group, the Bears are similarly puzzling. They hog the ball for 21 of the opening 30 minutes, run 41 offensive plays to Green Bay’s 22 before intermission, restrict the Packers to minus-2 yards on the ground during that span and still trail 18-11.
Erik Kramer, awarded the start because he affords the Bears a better chance to win here, operated smoothly enough, at least until he hit Green Bay’s Doug Evans in the palms with a bullet. Rick Mirer couldn’t have picked a worse time to fling an interception.
Brett Favre, the most valuable opponent, paced the sidelines until summoned to untie an 11-11 situation. He was so brilliant during a 2-minute drill that he left a minute to spare. And so it goes.
The quarterback who will take the Packers into the next century writes books. The quarterback who is being paid dearly to build the Bears’ future still writes plays on his wristband. The first half was closer than anybody expected, on either side of the Illinois-Wisconsin border, but participating franchises are still well-distanced.
The Packers will improve. The Bears offer no guarantees, only hope that one moderately efficient half will yield an entire, complete game, perhaps as soon as Sunday in Soldier Field. If the Bears didn’t look scared here, they didn’t look quite ready, either.
Any minute now, the Bears will declare that they got what they came for at Lambeau Field, a measure of respect from football’s finest organization. There was a day when the Bears didn’t waste their time on such trivial pursuits, but sparring partners can’t be choosy, and Monday night wasn’t the expected quick knockout. Only a unanimous decision.