I thought I’d take little field trip while breaking down the disappointing 2008 Bears and go back to the good old days.  Old Doc Brown is at it again.  The Delorean takes us back 20 years ago today to the Bears-Eagles playoff game, known simply as The Fog Bowl.  I remember trying to watch this game and being so frustrated because I didn’t know what was happening.  I heard that the  flying saucer shape of the new Soldier Field was designed to prevent this from happening in the future.  Time will tell.
Check out this video from YouTube with some of [...]

First off, check out Jerry Angelo’s comments of the Bears defense from his season ending press conference  here from the Bears website.
If you think the arrow is pointing up for the Bears’ offense, the once-heralded defense is another story.  Long gone is the defense that carried the Bears to Super Bowl XLI.   The defense that ranked 5th overall in the NFL in 2006 has been in steady decline in the two seasons since.  The team that ranked 3rd in scoring defense in 2006, slid down to 16th the last two seasons.  In fact, last year the team’s average PPG was [...]

Now that the dust has settled a bit, let’s take a closer look at the offense and where it finished so we can evaluate where to go from here.
Quarterback
Kyle Orton manned the most important position on the field admirably for the better part of the season, though he wasn’t quite the same after the ankle injury sustained Week 9 versus Detroit.  I think it’s important to keep everything in perspective.  A few years of Grossman may have blinded Bears fans as to what a real QB is supposed to be.  Other than not being Rex, did Orton really do that [...]

The Chicago Bears battled late in the season, including improbable back to back Overtime victories, but ran out of gas when it mattered most, falling to the Houston Texans 31-24 at Reliant Stadium to end their season.  It remains to be seen if the loss really matters, since the Vikings stole a victory with a long game-winning field goal over the resting New York Giants to clinch their first ever NFC North title.  The Oakland Raiders pulled off a huge upset with a 31-24 victory to quash Tampa Bay’s playoff hopes.  If the Bears had won, they still would have [...]

In Behind Enemy Lines, I sneak into enemy territory to get the lowdown on the Bears’ next opponent and do the dirty work so you don’t have to.  This week sends me to Houston, so insert your steers and queers joke here.   I don’t know what it is, but it seems like every opponent in recent weeks hasn’t had a strong presence on the fansided network.  The Toro Times, the Texans’ site, has the equivalent of tumbleweeds blowing down the streets, so I turned to the Houston Chronicle to get some dirt on the Texans for the Week 17 clash [...]

Here’s a copy of my letter to Santa on behalf of all Bears fans:

Dear Santa,
I have been a really, really good Bears fan this year.  I never missed a game and even ignored some of the obvious faults of my favorite team.  Some people say you’re not real, but they’re from Green Bay, so they are stupid and don’t know what they’re talking about.  I hope you can bring me some great presents this year.  Here is the list of what I want:
A Bears win over the Texans.  Maybe Devin Hester could return at least one punt for a [...]

Check out this highlight package from NFL Network.  At first it seems like a Packers highlight reel, but that’s just because of their early dominance of this contest.  I love Jeff Joniak’s calls.  No, he’s not a homer.  Neither are Ron Santo and Hawk Harrelson.
Now that the dust has settled and I’ve fully thawed out, I’ve had a chance to take a closer look at the game, BY THE NUMBERS:
1 – as in 4th and 1.  Looking back at the highlights, this key conversion late in the Bears’ final TD drive was way closer than I originally thought.  Thanks for the [...]

Sorry it’s taken me a while to get this post up; I’ve been busy thawing out.  Thanks to the generosity of the fine folks at Marconi Foods (www.marconi-foods.com), I was able to attend the coldest game in Bears history.  Not even the hottest giardiniera in Chicago could keep me from freezing my butt off. 
With as much help as the Beloved received over the weekend, for much of the game, it appeared that it would all be for naught.   A flat, lethargic effort in the first half made it seem like the Bears would send the thousands of Chicago faithful home frozen [...]