Jun 18, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks fans are covered in confetti during the 2015 Stanley Cup championship rally at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
As the Chicago Park District sweeps up the confetti in Soldier Field from the Chicago Blackhawks latest Stanley Cup celebration, I hope they leave some of the championship swagger to rub off on the Chicago Bears. This marks the third Cup in six seasons for the Blackhawks while the Bears fans old enough to remember are getting ready to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1985 season.
The Blackhawks have that championship swagger powered by their young leaders. Top draft picks like Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith have grown into cornerstone players. Patrick Kane has grown up and matured before our eyes. The organization built it from the ground up and you can see the fruits of their labor. Meanwhile, the Bears are churning through coaches and GM’s while pursuing free agents to patchwork a team together.
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The Blackhawks have had their “core” in tact for all three Stanley Cups – Toews, Keith, Kane, Marian Hossa, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Johnny Oduya and Patrick Sharp have been together through it all. Hossa, Hjalmarsson and Oduya were added just before this run of Cups. Otherwise, the rest were here together and grew up together into a champion. Head Coach Joel Quennville was added in favor of hometown favorite Dennis Savard and that pushed the Blackhawks over the top.
The Bears had a core. Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs and Charles Tillman were head coach Lovie Smith’s core, but the Bears 2006 run culminated in a water-logged front row seat to Peyton Manning’s Super Bowl XLI win. They went out and traded for Jay Cutler and added big ticket free agents like Julius Peppers but the second attempt culminated in the Packers earning a trip to the Super Bowl and Jay Cutler pouting on the sidelines. Now they’re re-tooling again. They need to take a page from the Blackhawks blueprint. Build it from the ground up through the draft.
The Bears core should consist of Kyle Long, Kyle Fuller and Alshon Jeffery. Hopefully Kevin White, Eddie Goldman and Hroniss Grasu can be part of that core. Maybe Fox can unlock something out of Shea McClellin or Jonathan Bostic?
With any luck, John Fox and Ryan Pace are the core, just like Q and Stan Bowman are at the heart of the Blackhawks run . Let’s hope this latest Bears core can figure it out before we’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of the ’85 Bears.