Who We Thought They Were

“I don’t like to live in the past; I think the past is for cowards. If you live in the past, you die in the past.”
- Mike Ditka

It’s hard to explain what it’s like being in Chicago with the Super Bowl approaching. It’s a bigger deal than the White Sox being in the World Series in 2005, or any of the Bulls appearances in the Finals, even though pretty much all of those teams were more dominant than the 2006 Bears. There are Bears signs, flags, shirts, and jerseys everywhere you look. I’ll almost definitely take crap for wearing my Lucky Bears Sweater tomorrow (since it’s just a plain orange-and-grey shirt with no Bears logo) as opposed to wearing a jersey or renting a giant grizzly bear costume (as one of my friends is actually doing). (Note: I have been superstitious about sports ever since I was a kid. The main reason for this was that I was a little bit out of shape in grade school – I realize it’s incredibly hard to believe now – so my dad had me do sit-ups during timeouts of Bulls games, which would supposedly help them rally. Since I grew up during the 90s, the Bulls almost never lost, and I assumed that it was working. Looking back, it may have had more to do with the fact that they had the two best players in the league and a coach who was so smart that he actually understood the NBA’s illegal defense rules at that time…but the sit-ups couldn’t have hurt.)

Anyway, growing up as a Bears fan in Chicago, you are constantly told about the greatness of the NFL’s premier franchise, to the point that it borders on brainwashing. I’ve watched black and white highlights of Red Grange, Bill George, and Sid Luckman and grainy footage of Dick Butkus, Gayle Sayers, Mike Singeltary, and Walter Payton. I became familiar with the stories of the legendary George Halas, the craziness of the dominating 1985 team, the team’s nine Championships, and it's Hall of Famers so numerous that even the oldest, most die-hard fans could not list them all.

Sadly, the games I grew up watching on Sundays did little to confirm these beliefs. Instead, the football heroes of my youth included Rashaan Salaam, Curtis Enis, Cade McNown, Erik Kramer, Steve Walsh, Curtis Conway, Jeff Graham, Bobby Engram, Carlos Huerta, Bryan Cox, Chris Zorich, Tom Waddle, Vinson Smith, Donnell Woolford, Todd Sauerbrun, Jim Miller, and Big Cat Williams. Many of those players were likable, and not all of them were bad players, but none of them possessed both the talent and the heart to become special players at the NFL level (I hesitate to say “professional” level because most of them could have been pretty good in the CFL or NFL Europe…). Anyway, I doubt I’m going to tell my grandchildren that I saw any of those guys play, unless they ask why nobody ever talks about any of the Bears teams between 1992 and 2001. The memorable players from that era were mostly guys who always had huge games against the Bears, like Barry Sanders, Cris Carter, and Brett Favre. Honestly, if Bears fans were fixating on history during that era, can you really blame us?

What the Bulls accomplished with their dynasty was to replace Chicago’s reputation for Al Capone and crime/corruption with Michael Jordan and basketball (even though it’s not entirely accurate – except during Jordan’s apex, football and baseball have always been bigger here, and while Chicago is a lot safer than it used to be, Illinois politics is as corrupt as ever). The White Sox destroyed the myth that Chicago was doomed to never again host a World Series, and also significantly damaged the conception that it’s a Cubs town exclusively (I actually don’t know anyone that isn’t a Cubs fan and still thinks this). What the Bears have accomplished is give Chicago a new set of gridiron heroes, who not only are still alive, but are actually still playing in the NFL and in many cases haven’t even peaked yet. Yes, they are in some ways an homage to the past – Jones and Benson recall the Bears history as a great running team, Urlacher can’t avoid comparisons to George, Butkus, and Singletary, Devin Hester conjures up images of Gayle Sayers returning punts, and Rex Grossman somehow manages to remind you of great gunslingers like Luckman and McMahon while simultaneously reminding you of all the crappy quarterbacks who have played for the Bears since. But, while those comparisons are obviously there, what this team has really done has been to enable Bears fans to stop living in the past. Instead, we can now look at the present and the future. And things look pretty good.

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Of course I’m picking the Bears in this game; I’m a huge homer. Here’s my rationale (I’m trying as hard as possible to exclude stuff that I’m hearing everywhere, so if I’m missing something obvious, that’s why. Well, that or I'm just missing it.):

- Yes, I’m aware that the AFC is unquestionably better than the NFC right now, but I’m also aware that the Heat and Cardinals are defending titles despite being from drastically inferior conferences. In fact, I’m pretty sure that both the gap between the AL and the NL and the gap between the NBA’s West and East is larger than the gap between the AFC and NFC.
- It also warrants mentioning that, as much as people tried to make cases for the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys, Seahawks, and Saints as threats, the Bears absolutely DOMINATED the NFC this year. There’s no way you can spin it otherwise. Although you could say the same about the Seahawks last year.
- The Bears coaches learned from last year that, at least in the playoffs, you have to tailor your gameplan and account for the bigger threats on the opposing team. I don’t think they’re just going to give the Colts one look and let Peyton pick them apart like they did two years ago.
- Peyton Manning is one of those rare athletes who comes into every regular-season game as well-prepared for his opponent as he could possibly be. Rex Grossman can have a tendency to get a little cocky and be unprepared for games (along with his LA Bias ties, this is my theory behind his inconsistency this year), usually either when he’s been on a hot streak or when the Bears are playing an inferior opponent. Who do you think the extra week is going to help more?
- Also, although I’ll easily concede that Peyton is a vastly superior quarterback, if Madden gave players a “stones” rating, Grossman would probably be around an 88, and Manning would be at best a 73…
- All that said, I will say that the Colts have a clear advantage at quarterback, receiver, and um…um…wait, there are 25 starters on a football team (including base offense, base defense, kicker, punter, and kick returner), there must be more than three spots where the Colts have a clear edge if they’re supposed to be that much better…right?
- Unless you’re horrifically overmatched, it’s advantageous from a motivational standpoint to be the underdog. Remember, the media people who are picking the Colts are the same people who pencil the Arizona Cardinals in for a Wild Card spot every year, and who backed off on both the Bears and Colts during the middle of this season.
- The Bears scored as many points as the Colts did this year and game up significantly fewer. You can’t tell me that doesn’t bother you at least a little if you’re going for the Colts. And if you’re a yardage guy, that means the Saints, not the Colts, are the NFL’s best offense, and the Saints just played the Bears and managed to score only on a two-minute drill (for whatever reason NFL DBs lose the ability to cover receivers during the last two minutes of the first half. It doesn’t make sense to me either, but based on observation it can’t be denied), and on a fluke play involving an illegal screen.
- And of course, the Bears are the greatest franchise in the history of the NFL. All right, I’m ready for this game to start.