There's kind of two levels of being a football fan. On the one hand, you want your team to play well. You want them to be getting better. You want them to play solid games in which they beat their opponents for entire games. You want them to dominate.

But on another, more sublime level, that doesn't really matter. I know the Bears didn't play all that well tonight, and I spent most of the game really depressed and angry about what I was seeing. But in the end, it was all worth it. No amount of solid play could've felt better than watching the Packers final kick get blocked. Frankly, almost nothing in the world feels better than moments like that.

This is a Bears team with a lot of flaws, and they're pretty much the same flaws they've had for the past several years. It's a little bit frustrating. But, at the same time, what happened tonight (just as I heard Alex Brown saying in a postgame radio interview) maybe even topped the Arizona game in 2006 in terms of pure excitement, in the end.

It is irrational, stressful, and sometimes totally devastating--but when Alex Brown gets his hand on a chip shot field goal to send the game into overtime, when I find myself jumping into the air and screaming (in public!) at the ball's broken careen, when the most improbable shoestring of hope I let myself foolishly cling to pays off, when the coin toss bounces off of Urlacher's head and Orton and then Forte each make the exactly one play they really need to make, when Robbie Gould comes out and calmly continues to live up to his name's symbolic standard--Praise Payton I fucking love being a Bears fan!

Weep On, Blonde Minnesotans

Today was a good football day for our team. And I'm going to continue to thoroughly enjoy the feeling of having seen the Vikes look inept and clueless until it's time to go to bed.

But when I wake up, that's going to be in the past. Tomorrow, we have to beat the Packers. I don't even remember much of our last game against the Packers--and I don't care to. Tomorrow I expect my team to come out and play their best game of the season. I don't just want a win (I mean, I'd settle for that, but), I want there to be no doubt at the end of the game that the Bears belong at the top of the NFC North. I want a game that I want to remember.

For now, though, this is just beauty:

Fetish

Magic hasn't worked before, but it's bound to work some time. In preparation for the Vikings/Falcons game today, I've put this photo up as a kind of fetish to ward off a Vikings victory. This photo was taken (there's a StarTribune story about it) after the Vikings loss to the Falcons in the NFC Championship game in 1999. That was the year (the 1998) season the Vikings went 15-1. It was horrible--but in the end, that loss almost made it worth it. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to football at the time--the Bears were awful and the Vikings went frickin' 15-1 bleurgh--but I do remember the night before the game I had a dream that the Vikings lost by a field goal. Sure enough, it came down to Gary Anderson missing one, which sent the game into overtime and ultimately led to one of my favorite all-time Vikings choke-jobs. I seem to remember jumping up and down on the couch when they lost, but I'm not sure if that could be accurate--I was seventeen at the time, a senior in high school, surely I was too big to be jumping up and down and the couch... Regardless, that was how I felt.

Interestingly, the Vikings last three games this season are all against the teams who defeated them in my three favorite moments of Vikings failure. Last week, the new version of the Arizona Cardinals failed to live up to the standard of the 2003 Vikings, who scored two touchdowns after the two-minute-warning to send the Vikings home without an appearance in the playoffs. That was sweet. This week, it's the Falcons, who, as mentioned above, ended the run of the 15-1 Vikings team, the team that set all sorts of offensive (pun intended) records. Next week, it's the Giants, who, in 2001, hosted a favored Vikings team for the NFC Championship and absolutely obliterated them.

As of this moment, I'm still feeling good about the chances for a Vikings collapse. It's really the least they deserve for that fucking goddamn horn-call they play all the time...

Good News

Vikings to go with Jackson at starting qb. I know he had a good game against Atlanta, and had an alright game the week before. But, c'mon. With two of the toughest games on their schedule coming up, Childress has made his decision. He will not be going with the QB who, tho certainly not an example of awesomeness, did open up the Vikes offense enough that they're in the position they're in. Instead he'll be going with his pet project, who has never yet come close to succeeding on the professional level before the last two weeks, when he "led" the team to victories over the worst team in the history of the NFL and a thoroughly uninspired Arizona Cardinals team. This is why I feel, as a Bears fan and a Vikings hater, as long as Childress is the coach, there's always hope the Vikes could pull off another splendid choke job. This is a decision based on nothing but what Childress sees as a chance to restore his reputation. Everyone knows he's an idiot for investing so much time in Tarvaris Jackson, but he will not give it up. Seriously, I hope the Vikings blow these last two games, and even more I hope the major reason is because of Childress's egotistically stubborn insistence on going with Jackson. I don't get to go home for Christmas, so I'm asking Christmas for this one Christmas present. Please please!

17.5

I'm far from ready to look towards 2009, but there is the possibility that come Monday that is exactly what will be happening. Though this is distressing, there is at least one very bright piece of news today.
Albert Haynesworth will be an unrestricted free agent starting 2-27-2009. It's not likely that the Bears will have the most pull in the league, and he's already on one of the best teams, but I have to imagine the prospect of playing for Lovie Smith in a 4-3 next to Tommie Harris and with Lance Briggs isn't totally dismissible.
The Bears will have at least 17.5 million available at the start of free agency and I assume much of that could be used to form a pretty enticing offer. Unfortunately this would probably eliminate the Bears chances of getting Anquan Boldin, but I'd take the best D in the league over a balanced team.
The Bears still clearly need to rethink their offense or at least their wide-outs, but anything like what B. Lloyd was offering before his injury would be good enough to be top 20. And 91 and 92 would immediately take over as the Monsters of the NFL.

Smith's Defense

There've been various rumors floating around over the past few weeks that Lovie has been getting himself much more involved in the defense lately. I found this snippet from Biggs' article telling:

Babich was solely responsible for the position, but coach Lovie Smith is very involved now, too. Manning goes to Smith's office, where he gets one-on-one film sessions with the man who learned the Tampa-2 in Tampa. They meet before walk-throughs every day.

''Mainly, I am with coach Smith,'' Manning said. ''He's just like a regular coach when it's just me and him. We're there for a good hour, and we get it down.''

It could just be that Lovie knows how important the nickel position is to the defense and felt he needed to do something about how, earlier in the season, practically every time there was a big play given up by the defense you could see Manning was obviously out of position.

But I have thought the defense has started to look a little better over the past few weeks, and that and the other little hints all see to point to Smith having decided to take a much more active role in that capacity. What that means about Babich's future remains to be seen, but it's hard to imagine that even with Lovie's tremendous loyalty he would want to keep a defensive coordinator whose responsibilities he feels he has to take over.

And Smith's seemingly increased role in the defensive coaching certainly bodes well going into a game against a team whose offensive strength plays so strongly to our earlier-season defensive weakness. That is, if we can keep up our dominant run defense, and our passing defense improves to slightly above average, we could be set for this game.

Jared Allen. Great guy.

"When I first got hit I thought it was done," Allen told KFAN's morning show. "It didn't feel too well. After the pain subsided then the anger took over. All I could think of was, 'I'm not going to let them cart me off this field.' I have a rule [that] I'm going to have to be dead before you cart me off that field. Then I got up and I was so mad, I figured if my season is over that dude's season is over as well. I'm taking him with me. Luckily it worked out all right, and I was able to come back and play."

I admit, I'd feel a little differently if it were a member of the Bears saying this. But whatever. Jared Allen should get fined for saying something like this. Hell, he should maybe even be suspended. He just admitted he went at a guy with the intention of ending that guy's season! How is that possibly an okay thing?

Is there still hope? (I don't know)

Once again, the Bears came out and looked, for the most part, like the better version of themselves. Turner pretty much shut down the offense for the second half, maddeningly, for no good reason. But the defense kept Jacksonville out of the entire game, and for most of the game looked pretty dominant. And before Turner decided that he'd rather be napping than calling the game, the offense looked effective. So, hurray.

And then the Vikings barely managed to beat the Lions. Stupid Lions. Stupid, stupid Vikings. Of course, they lost Frerotte to a back injury. They lost Allen to a knee injury. They still might lose the Williamses to their suspension this week. Which means, best case scenario:

Over three games in which the Bears play first New Orleans at home on Thursday, then GB (who's lost three in a row and is done for the season) at home on a Monday night, followed by a trip down to Houston (who will be done for the season by then as well), while the Vikings have to travel to Arizona (who, with their great passing offense, will be fighting to still be in the race for a first-round bye), then host Atlanta (w/their strong passing offense, who will still be hoping to make first place in their division), and finally host the Giants, (who, with Eli Manning apparently deciding to live up to his namesake and with the type of defense that makes me jealous, have been the best team in the league for much of the season, but with their loss today and with Burress gone and with Jacobs getting hurt, might possibly be playing for home-field advantage going into the playoffs, but at least showed last year they're not the type of team who will shut it down going into the playoffs), the Bears have to win two more games than the Vikings--either we have to go 3-0 and the Vikings lose two of those games, or we could possibly still even make it if we win two games and the Vikes lose all three. And, frankly, I think either of those possibilities are quite likely. I mean, they certainly could happen. And if there ever was a team you needed to count on to choke, that team is the Vikings.

So, here's hoping. Choke, you suckers.

Confessional

I have to admit, at this point I've pretty much lost all my faith in this team. I'm on my way out to watch the Jacksonville game, and I have absolutely no idea what to expect. Frankly, I don't really expect that I'm going to be watching a Bears victory today. I think the Bears should be able to win, but it's been a long time since I've seen the team I think the Bears should be. The team the Bears actually are has gone 2-3 over the last five games, with both of those victories coming over two of the absolute worst teams in the league. Two of the losses have been against the Vikings and the Packers, and in both games they got absolutely creamed. There's nothing about the team I've seen over the last five weeks that makes me expect very much. Depressing.

So I feel like I pretty much don't care about the game today, for the first time all year. Which is a pretty lame feeling. The Bears could win today, I think--I mean it's pretty likely they'll win today. And in all likelihood they'll still be effectively two games behind the Vikings with only three games to go. I normally try to be optimistic, because I think it makes being a fan more fun, but I just don't have the energy to put that optimism up for this team anymore. I'm still hoping for another epic collapse by the Vikings to put my team into the playoffs. But unless the Bears actually manage to finally turn their season around in the final four games, unless they go 4-0 and actually look good doing it, I don't see any reason to feel like they deserve to make it to the playoffs.

But, then, who am I kidding. There's still a chance we could get the NFC North title! And I fucking want that. C'mon, you slags! Show us what you got!

fucking bullshit

The federal judge delaying the suspensions today is ridiculous. The language of the bargaining agreement is very clear and the players took a supplement that was neither listed as ok or not ok due to lack of regulation, thus taking said supplement is an unnecessary personal risk and deserves to be punished. The stay of suspension is clearly just a move to help the Vikings make the playoffs and not lose a bunch of money. Its fucking stupid!

Nothing is sitting well about last night.

Because of last night, I hate the Vikings more than I ever have. It's hard to really hate Adrian Peterson, because I just really appreciate good running backs, but now he's on my shit list. I can never be happy about anything he does ever again. In fact, I hope he never has a good game for the rest of his career (fat chance... but still... one can hope). Much easier to hate is Jared Allen and his dumb-ass calf-roping celebration. St. Clair has done a good job all year--except against Jared Allen. Which is all the argument you would ever need for not even considering him to start the position next year. Chris Williams better be everything he's advertised to be--and he better fucking shut Jared Allen down. I never want to see that stupid calf-roping celebration again. I hope Allen sprains his arm doing it some day...

Beyond all that. Getting burned by Berrian is just about the most pathetic thing to have happened all season. He is just not that good of a receiver, and karma should be punishing the Vikings for paying too much that skinny fucker. Why wasn't Tillman shoving Berrian around at the line all night? That's all you have to do and he becomes completely worthless. Ugh.

Anyway, I know that our chances to make the playoffs are not completely shot yet, but, at this point, we certainly don't deserve to make it to the playoffs, but if the Williams guys get suspended (which they fucking better--if they don't, the league is just making an exception for them because of recognizing how important they are to the Vikings; but the rules, even if they're dumb, are explicit; Metcalf got suspended for the same reason for four games) and if we can just take care of business against some mediocre teams (hardly a foregone conclusion given how we've played all season), well, there's a still a pretty darn good chance of us making the playoffs over the Vikings--which, at this point, is all I really want. Yeah, we'll get creamed in the playoffs by whatever legit team we play, but I don't care; I just want us to go to the playoffs over the Vikings. Because I hate the Vikings. And they don't deserve to go to the playoffs ever.

I've already started thinking about what the team needs to do to get better for next season. But I don't wanna be thinking about that yet. There'll be plenty of time for that in about five or six weeks...

My coach's message for Sunday

In order to show that the Bears struggles aren't totally schematic, this Sunday it is necessary for the inactive list to receive a bit of a shake-up. These players need to make way for new guys to have a chance to make a mark.
QB Haine - but if the Bears show up and dominate he should see some 4Q time
CB Hamilton
DT Toeaina
LB LaRoque
LB McClover (inj)
WR Booker (inj)
DE Anderson/Baldwin - if 97 doesn't make some plays it should be his last active game for awhile
LB Roach - it's more important to play receivers against a bad D, send the message that being on the field isn't good enough, Bears defenders are expected to make things happen.

Blitz!

This is the most exciting and frustrating tidbit I've seen this season: "Entering the Green Bay game, the Bears were the No. 1 defense in the league against the pass when they blitzed. Opponents had a passer rating of 52.0, according to STATS Inc., and seven of the Bears' 12 interceptions have come on blitzes."
If Brad Biggs knows this why don't the Bears coaches? I had noticed that the four man rush gets beat all the time but this stat is mindblowing. If you're team is really good at blitzing and really bad at not blitzing then maybe it makes sense to do a lot more blitzing!

In troubled times of psychic distress, I often turn to poetry.

"Mama!
I can't sing!
Flames are all over the choir.
Blistered little ciphers of words
and numbers are leaping from
my skull like kids. O fear
clutching at sky..."

--V. Mayakofsky

That's about what it felt like today, watching Green Bay beat us 37-3. I can't remember the last time I saw my team get a good ass-kicking like that--and I don't want to remember.

At least--and that's a very desperate at least--it was only one game. It doesn't matter how badly we got beaten, we're still 5-5, just like the Packers and the Vikings, and we still have the easiest schedule of the three teams remaining. I'm gonna guess (and hope, so strongly that I might start sweating blood) that this Bears team is not as bad as they looked today. And I don't care if we back in, I just wanna get to the playoffs.

I want Lovie running the defense!

Such is my state of upset that I must make a second post praying for the elimination of Bob Babich from ruining my Sundays. Mike Brown wants a new coordinator, at least that's how I choose to interpret this quote. ‘‘Obviously our defense isn’t what it used to be. Everyone wants it to be what it used to be, and it’s not. Once we come to grips that our defense isn’t what it’s supposed to be, we’ll all be better. Our perception is that we have a good defense. The reality is we don’t.’’
Lovie is the only member of the staff who might be able to save the season and honestly I'm really sick of seeing him stand on the sideline not doing anything. It's fine if he's not a yeller and doesn't spend the game getting in people's faces, but he doesn't manage the clock and he doesn't keep Turner from making ridiculous, obvious play calls. What does he do on Sunday?
San Diego's defense played better this Sunday after Rivera took over, there is abounding evidence that changing defensive coordinators can instantly, dramatically improve a team. Chicago needs to become the next example. Lovie absolutely has to take control of the defense for the rest of the season. If the Bears turn it around they could have a shot at making a run, if they don't it will be time for change. I'll take tried and true execution over new ideas for the sake of change any day but there is no execution on the defensive side of the ball. It is time to try some new ideas.
If the defense doesn't improve there is no choice but to turn the focus to Orton and build the coaching staff around him, possibly from the top down. There is no creativity in Chicago's coaches right now. The offense ALWAYS looks better when Orton has more control because he can diagnose problems on the spot and isn't limited by a script. Turner is incapable of adjustments. With Turner, if it isn't working it isn't going to work. The only reason I'm not worried about the offense is Orton.

Observations, desparingly.

After watching every play of that humiliating display a few things are evident without "watching the tape." The Bears got their assess kicked in every way. The Packers didn't even look that good, the Bears just looked completely and totally inept.
Bob Babich should be demoted back to LB coach or anything that keeps him out of game-planning and play calling. This defense is loaded with talented players and they didn't all just forget how to play. They are not being put into situations to make plays. Lovie needs to run the defense. I can't tell what he does as head coach anyway, he certainly isn't exercising any power over clock management. And what the fuck is Ron Turner's deal? How can you be a coach that long and not understand the most basic strategies of time management?
Along with the coaching change, shich should remind everyone on the team that playing well now is more important than having done so two years ago, Mark Anderson should be inactive and Daniel Manning, Nick Roach and Brad Maynard should lose their respective places. If Hillenmeyer isn't good enough anymore give Williams a shot. Roach hasn't done anything in three games. Likewise Steltz should be seeing some regular action by now. The coaching staff needs to start rewarding players who are actually making plays instead of "staying the course."
On offense this means that B. Lloyd should play every snap as the No. 1 wideout. The switching around shit is stupid. Coaching is supposed to be about maximizing ability first, then versatility.
It's also probably time to give Bennett a game and rest Booker for a week at least, he just isn't offering anything at this point.
On top of this Manning should be the new full time kick returner. Keep Hester on punts and try to actually utilize him on offense instead of just playing him on it.
Finally, since the pass rush has sucked all year why don't the Bears try putting Harris and Idonije at end sometimes. Give teams different problems to deal with instead of just sticking with the same tired formula. It certainly couldn't hurt this defense.

Neckbeard!

Just as a sort of fetish, I'm posting this picture of Kyle Orton and his neckbeard. This will provide the power for us to BEAT THE PACKERS!

UPDATE: Packers 37 Bears 3 Alright, jeez, fine... I won't dabble in the occult anymore!

Virtuoso, nearly

David Haugh has once again surprised me, accidentally doing something good he managed to lead me to B. Lloyd top single which I find totally listen-to-able as a Bears fan. Though I'm fairly certain Haugh is a country music fan and he's under the impression that B. Lloyd sings instead of raps, I'm willing to give him the pass this week for his willingness to say he actually wants the Bears to win. Sitting a healthy Lloyd makes no sense and who knows what was really going on last week, but with Orton and Lloyd back this Sunday, and for the stretch run, the Bears can really catch fire. Lloyd looked like he could be the latest 4-5 year wide receiver to finally turn dominant before his injury. I'd love to see him and Orton together for a few years forming a dominant tandem. As an extra bonus it would be hilarious to see what asinine columns DH could come up with if the Bears star receiver had a moderately successful music career on the side. Maybe he'd just quit as all he holds dear crumbles around him. It's just too good not to happen!

Statuesque.

Regardless of what the Bears line may think, the problem starts up front. This is the reason Baldwin was promoted from the practice squad and will likely take Mark Anderson's active roster spot on Sunday. Too many times opposing QB's get a free look 12-15 yards down field and find an easy comeback completion. The Bears line isn't getting enough pressure, not sacks necessarily, but pressure that impairs a QB's timing, throwing lane or at the very least comfort. The truly damaging plays are these easy yards on 2nd and 3rd and long, and they usually come when the LB's are back in their zone. This is certainly not the only problem though.

The Bears secondary is playing too soft this year. The corners need to get better jams and start jumping routes instead of allowing easy completions. Take a few illegal contact penalties but don't let offenses get so comfortable. They need to get their arms in and break up some passes. And Nathan Vasher isn't the problem and Corey Graham isn't the answer. Graham started two of the last four games in which they have gotten torched. Vasher has more passes defended and the same interceptions. Graham is a better fit at nickel where he can help more in the running game which is his best attribute.

The LB's are also getting beat far too often. For this D to function the LB's need to be breaking up passes and getting interceptions instead of running behind TE's after missing reads. The final first down Sunday was a pretty obvious call and a terrible play by Roach?.

Which leads finally to play calling. The defense is obviously far too predictable. The execution has been spotty, but every offense seems to know exactly what to call every time the defense has a chance to really turn the game.

All in all though the defense isn't horrible, they're just not great. They need to start being great in the red zone though. The rest of the field doesn't really matter, if they don't give up any TD's I'm sure Orton will win every time. On top of that all they need is a couple big third down plays or turnovers and they'll be the toast of the town.

When the defense has something to prove they usually get it done. They wanted to stop the run last week and they should have won. If they want to stop the pass in Green Bay I have faith that they will get it done. Rodgers is good but if they keep the pack out of the end zone this will certainly be a win.