Don't Call it a Funeral

I've poured all the negativity into this team that I'm going to. While I'm still pretty sure they're not actually as bad of a team as they've looked for the first six weeks of this season, it's also painfully clear the Chicago Bears are not the team they were last year, and certainly they're not the team I thought they were going to be coming into this season. The Bears this year are a team that's really going to struggle to make it over five hundred. They are a long-shot to make the playoffs. And though some of their problems seem painfully obvious--I'm looking at you, Ron Turner, The Sultan of Suck, the Worst Offensive Coordinator in the League--some of their problems are a little less clear to me--since when is Adrian Peterson the younger better than our entire defense?

So at this point all there is for me to do is to recalibrate my expectations. I tried to do that a couple of weeks ago, but then I got caught up in all the dangerous "they're back" thoughts the victory over the Packers conjured. I think, even had Longwell missed the field goal and the Bears gone on to win this game in overtime, I'd be doing this recalibration right now anyway.

I'm going to watch the Bears and cheer for them and be happy with whatever wins they manage to claw out the rest of the season. But I'm not going to expect anything from them any more.

And at least we've got Devin Hester. Here's hoping that this weeks beautiful 80-odd yard TD pass was just the beginning for him and our offense. All questions of winning aside, the Bears owe it to their fans--who, after all, ultimately watch them to be entertained--to give Hester the ball with as much regularity as possible. But there's one massive obstacle standing in our way: the gigantic stone mule that calls itself Ron Turner.