The Bears Might Be Really Bad

There is an emerging trend of these articles coinciding with air travel.  This article is being written some few thousand feet in the sky while I rocket towards Phoenix Arizona for a work trip.  Choosing between working on the presentation I had been slogging through or writing this article was an easy choice.  The presentation is done and here I am, struggling to diagnose where exactly it all went wrong for the 2025 Chicago Bears just two games into the season.

                Dealing with a losing season is normal.  The cycle of sports fandom involves losses.  Cliché’s like nothing is guaranteed except for death and taxes should also include your team being bad from time to time.  The operative phrase being “from time to time”, not being bad for multiple years during an alleged “rebuild”.  Right, I almost forgot – we’re in the middle of a rebuild so I should hold my criticism because one of these days Ryan Pole’s master plan will come to fruition.  The Bears are not a bad football team, you just don’t understand the vision of a seminary figure in modern NFL general managing.  I hope the sarcasm is evident.

                I was initially miffed over this weekend’s game because I was committed to a family event with my in-laws.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my in-laws (no they aren’t holding me at knife point while I write this) and the event was for a wonderful cause.  Truly!  But, I’d be lying if I said going into the weekend I would have rather stayed home and watched the game.  Containing laughter is hard right now.  I am thankful for the distraction of Sunday’s activities because I might have actually vomited had I sat and watched the game in its entirety on Sunday.  Someone holding my eyes open A Clockwork Orange style as the Lions put up 50 with ample time left in the 4^th quarter.  I am thankful for the distraction.

                Watching or even keeping one eye on a football game around other people is interesting in that you hear everyone else’s opinions.  My brother in-law who admittedly has more NFL knowledge and wherewithal than I do – he exclaimed to me towards the end of the game “it was never about Mitch Trubisky or Justin Fields”.  After a semi-thoughtful pause I countered that Justin Fields is not good and never was.  What I failed to mention though, was that I understood where he was coming from and I did not necessarily disagree with him.  How is it that after multiple first round picks and GM’s and re-builds we find ourselves in the exact same spot?  Justin Fields is not that good and neither is Mitchell Trubisky but the numbers don’t lie.  Multiple first round picks.  Time is a flat circle.

                Later that evening as I watched a middling Sunday Night football game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Minnesota Vikings I couldn’t help but notice how medicore JJ McCarthy looked.  Mediocre against the falcons.  On paper, the Chicago Bears are a better team than the Atlanta Falcons.  I stand by this.  Unfortunately for me, football games are not played on paper.  I texted one of my best friends and joked that I should jut be a Bucs fan (not that I am not a Bucs fan mother) and his response intrigued me.  He remarked that “none of this matters”.  He explained that fan choice is arbitrary and no one really cares.  I don’t disagree with him.  Sports are entertainment and goddamn, could you fault me for being an Eagles fan because I like Jalen Hurts?  I could certainly be happier watching games.

                I don’t disagree with my friend.  I understand where he’s coming from.  I guess I just want it to matter.  Maybe its immature to put so much meaning into an NFL Sunday, but I want being a Chicago Bears to mean more.  I want to have pride and expectations and feel the weight of a big divisional game.  Does the game of football itself matter?  No.  I still have to go to work Monday and pay my bills and walk the dogs.  I want it to matter though.  The way this team is operating from the ground up, I don’t think I can ever see a moment in time where it will matter.  That sucks.