A Fan’s Non-expert Take on Bears Week 2 Divisional Win Over Vikings
My Bears mosaic TV tray handcrafted by Beth Napier
Whew! That was close. A little too close for me. I also had to deal with some angry glares from my wife, Beth, because our almost 2-year-old, Junior, likes to repeat what Daddy says. The guy that originally thought of football game snacks being foods such as 7-layer dip and chips, pizza, sausages, and wings, didn’t have to watch games like this. He also was not a doctor.
Throw in the fact that most fans begin preparing in advance of the game and may have already partaken in an alcoholic beverage or two. I am 44 years old and am in good health for the most part, but if I keep eating foods like this, watching games that end like this, I’m gonna end up keeling over while “Bear Down, Chicago Bears” plays in my living room. My tombstone will say “He died doing what he loved, watching Mr. Fourth Quarter of the Chicago Bears!”
Having said that, the close games certainly are more exciting, but most things that put you at the edge of death usually are. I’m sure some fans are not this into the game. If you came over to watch a game at my house you’d probably think from my behavior that I had bet a large amount of money on the Bears winning. Not the case. I don’t even gamble. The only sport I watch is Bears football. So I get 16 games a year that I care about, more with playoffs. Throw in a couple of games rooting for teams playing against our divisional rivals throughout the season and some wishful losses for wild-card front-runners. So I have a lot riding emotionally on these games. Watching our Beloved is a huge part of the American Dream for me. So much so that I don’t even care how that sounds to you.
This game had me a little confused for a minute. The opening kickoff returned for a touchdown…. Wait a minute, we do that, not you! Stripping the ball, that’s our move! Forcing a fumble and taking it for a touchdown, that’s what we do to teams, they don’t do it to us! I have to give the Minnesota Vikings some credit. They couldn’t get any O-line tips from the one-time Bear, J’marcus Webb, because he didn’t have any. But he shared everything he could about our defense and special teams and the Vikes used it against us.
They were in desperation mode and it showed. Bears fans should be very concerned about them. They are possibly the best of the 0-2 teams and have yet to play at home, where they do very well. Fortunately, we now have an offense, some excellent play calling, and we have “Mr. Fourth Quarter.”
Jay Cutler. How cool did he look in the game? It used to look a little bit like his “cool” was really apathy, but now it looks like he’s the only one that has seen the future and it is a Bears victory. NFL “poster child” Tom Brady needs to learn from our quarterback how to be cool.
Don’t get me wrong, Tom Brady is one of the best of all time, but calm when his team’s down or threatened he is not. I have always been a supporter of Jay’s. I’m not just saying this now. If you’re a lifetime Chicago Bears fan, you have survived for the most part without a “franchise” QB. It just wasn’t how we rolled.
Our thing was playing great defense, and having “a guy” that could manage an offense, period. Jim McMahon was the most prolific PR guy that managed a couple really good offensive outings while boasting the best defense in NFL history. Hell, at one time I thought Rex Grossman was going to be our guy because he showed up amazingly in some games. Other times, he just showed up. That’s just how desperate Bears fans were to have what other Championship teams had, a franchise quarterback.
With Urlacher gone and Jay Cutler having the supporting cast he has always deserved, pulling off wins like this, I’m officially dubbing Jay Cutler as the new face of the franchise.
“Mr. Fourth Quarter”