Blame it if you must on Rashaan Salaam, who shed 10 pounds during the off-season while retaining all 10 of his thumbs. What does he put on those gloves, anyway, pigskin repellent?
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Ah, but it’s deeper than that. The game could have gone either way, and the overriding shame of it is that the Bears lost Sunday’s fray between two teams going nowhere.
While focused on local pratfalls, we tend to forget the NFL’s vast vanilla middle, where most franchises reside, wedged beneath the elite few and the certifiably awful like an Oreo cookie.
That’s why Sunday’s 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings effects such indigestion in this precinct. The Bears are so close to joining the mass of alleged contenders, yet the record suggests that in another month, their case could be as vulnerable as their red-zone defense.
If memory serves, no sleeping giant has started 0-2 in the division and finished at a Super Bowl, which is all this new regime ever promised, not that either the preachers or the pledges seem so invigorating anymore.
Dave Wannstedt, point man in the redecorating plan, even appears vexed. Effort is nice, he said, but not without execution. Until this eyesore at the Soldier Field dungeon, the coach spoke as if one would beget the other.
But after watching the eminently beatable Vikings move 61 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown inside the last three minutes, Wannstedt was clearly annoyed. We will address certain problem areas, he said, before the Bears’ playoff chances wind up in the dead-letter bin.
His counterpart, Dennis Green, surely would have been beside himself in defeat, too, if indeed he isn’t already there. Let us just say that Dennis is growing into the job, though the Viking players needn’t worry about having to carry him off the field anytime soon.
Sunday’s tilt defied a popular notion that there are too many exhibition games. There might be too few. How else to explain the various ways in which both squads bungled their way through three hours? (Why did this game deserve a blimp?) The Vikings, repeatedly blessed with excellent field position, nevertheless aborted just often enough to require enemy assistance. Consider it done. Quarterback Brad Johnson, sacked by Jim Flanigan and Anthony Marshall during the fourth quarter, still found Chris Walsh for the clinching score.
Why was Walt Harris defending from somewhere in the vicinity of those baby blue seats in south end zone? Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and that’s why coaches have films. Wannstedt didn’t heap rave reviews on Erik Kramer, either, and, yes, Raymont Harris does look like a superior threat to the prodigy, Salaam.
At least on that second fumble, Scissorhands tried a different wrinkle than his usual three-step drop. Separated from the ball by Ed McDaniel, Salaam deftly airlifted it into the waiting grasp of Orlando Thomas, who went thataway for 22 yards. The ball never touched the ground and was, in fact, almost a perfect spiral. Beware, Rick Mirer.
Salaam was booed, an insult that enraged the Bears into replying with a 60-yard drive. They led again, just like that, 17-13. This could have saved the season. Or if not there, Harris rambled 59 yards for a 24-20 advantage. Absolutely, that would do it.
But, for all the positives gleaned by finicky types such as Bryan Cox–“I am not demoralized”–the Bears threw the Vikings a life raft instead of a knockout punch.
“We’re all in this together,” intoned the linebacker, quoting from that book he just read about the Titanic.