It’s already two weeks and counting since the Bears played their final game, and this past weekend’s wildcard playoffs reminded fans of the navy and orange what could have been.
Making the playoffs – and winning there – is a common denominator each fan can certainly appreciate. Yet beyond that, it’s difficult to predict just what type of future playoff challenge Bears fan are hoping for their team to represent.
With Jay Cutler now at the helm, some are probably thinking that the shootout at the OK Corral between the Cardinals and Black-and-Blue Division’s Packers is what the Bears ought to pursue. Yet to others, the way the Ravens waltzed into Gillette Stadium and laid a pounding on Pretty Boy Brady and his cast of overly self-enthralled Patriots is more the standard.
If beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, then which of the eight teams still in the Super Bowl hunt is the one the Bears might emulate? Who deserves the weighty allegiance of Bears Faithful’s vicarious embrace, now that their own squad has left them alone at the altar yet again?
Let’s take a look at each game:
Arizona @ New Orleans
This promises to become another shoot-out, but this time, Drew Brees ought to be scattering the ball around to the likes of Marques Colston, Robert Meacham, Reggie Bush and even Jeremy Shockey.
For most of the season, the Saints showed that they indeed have a defense and, second, that both of their lines aren’t afraid to bust people in the mouth. That’s good, because the Packers' defense was ranked even better, and Kurt Warner and Co. shredded them like good Wisconsin cheddar.
There’s something about Arizona, and it begins with Ken Whisenhunt and his Steelers roots. Yes, this team can certainly throw it with the best of them. But during the second half of the season, with the emergence of Beanie Wells, they also began to establish a ground game. Not THE ground game, but A ground game. Something to actually complement the prolific passing game and create symbiosis between the two rather than a mutually exclusive, one-or-the-other stasis.
The Bears could learn something from that and Cutler has the opportunity – with the right supporting cast – to become Warner-esque with the tools and speed surrounding him. Bears fans ought to get behind the Cardinals, for no other reason than they used to both play in Chicago. Somewhere deep within that Phoenix DNA lays a bratwurst and Italian beef-laden chromosome. Whisenhunt is a guy who not only appreciates that; he wants to evolve a team (like the Steelers) where it’s predominant.
Bears fans should take a look at Ken Whisenhunt's Cardinals for a blueprint of what their team could be like.
Baltimore @ Indianapolis
OK, the Colts took the Bears out (some say badly) in the Super Bowl three years back, and so that deserves banishment to the Bears' dungeon – forever. Not so fast.
The Colts are a finesse team, but Peyton Manning is not a finesse quarterback. He’s big and he’s bad and he gets pissed – but he keeps it under control and channels it toward the continued excellence of his cast. How come kids like Austin Collie or Pierre Garcon somehow magically become quality receivers, virtually overnight? Sure, Manning can thread a needle with an overgrown ostrich egg from about 70 yards, but his command of the game, determination and DEMAND that those around him perform to his level is what separates the Colts from the pack. Sound familiar, Chicago fans? A guy named Michael Jordan did a lot of that in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and Bears fans came to appreciate him pretty well.
Once Brian Urlacher went down in the first game of the season, there was nobody on the Bears' defense willing to step up in the same way. Dan Hampton would have done it years back, and Mike Singletary continues to do it from the sidelines, albeit in San Francisco. Accountability still means something in the Colts' backfield – as well as everywhere else – and while the Baltimore defense is to be envied, it’s the qualities that Manning represents that deserve recognition and emulation by Bears Nation (especially the current team).
Dallas @ Minnesota
Easy, hope for a zero-zero tie in which both teams self-implode and embarrass themselves. For Bears fans, this is a case of trying to decide on the worse of two evils.
Did anyone notice during the Alabama – Texas national championship game that the Texas team carried out the Texas flag flanked by two American flags rather than placing Old Glory in the feature position? Dallas claims to be “America’s Team,” which is yet another not-so-subtly veiled attempt to reduce American interest to what best suits the state of Texas. Can’t we all just turn a blind eye while Viva Mexico splays across the border and subsumes that dust pit south of the Rio Grande?
As for the dreaded Vikings, maybe Bears fans can just hope for overtime and for Jared Allen to pull Tony Romo down in the end zone for a 2-0 win. After that, it’s Katy bar the door for either the Saints or Cardinals to embarrass the Vikings again and deny the franchise yet another opportunity to lose the Super Bowl.
New York Jets @ San Diego Chargers
Rex Ryan and the Jets' defense are direct descendants of former Bears defensive coordinator and legend Buddy Ryan and his 46 Defense. Rex is pretty much as brash as the old man, but so far he’s walking the walk, and the young Jets aren’t afraid to punch people out, including those in their hometown who still consider the Giants the cock of the walk.
It used to be that Chicago was known as the “Second City,” and that might have once flown in terms of population (where Chicago is now No. 3) but never in terms of attitude. Strange, because New York is the clear No. 1 in that dynamic, but Bears fans have someone to love in the Jets since they’ve always been the second horse in a two-stable town.
Nobody much cares about the Chargers, and while LaDainian Tomlinson deserves accolades and comparisons to Walter Payton – as much for heart as for yardage – the Chargers are about equally as loyal as fantasy football owners in their continued commitment to LT. Take the Jets in the upset.
So, where to go with your loyalties after this weekend, Bears Nation? Stick with the Cardinals. Call them the “Chicago” Cardinals and bring out your No. 33 Ollie Matson jerseys. And know that the Bears could certainly use the same mix of aerial expertise, speed and complementary running to their own benefit next season. The Cardinals' defense continues to improve and, with Whisenhunt in charge, they’re likely to become one of the NFC’s (and NFL’s) best units before too long. And that’s the goal for every Bears fan: a team with the ability to harness a young, sometimes lunkheadead but dynamic-armed QB with a powerful running game and lash it together with a bad-ass defense with attitude. That’s the Bears team everyone wants to see.
Remind you of anything? Back in 1969, the Bears and Steelers were tied with 1-13 records and the Bears lost the coin toss for the first pick in the draft. The Bears could have tanked their one win of the season – a victory over the same Steelers in Week Eight – but they won when a loss could have brought them greater spoils. The Steelers used that first pick to bring in a strong-armed yet erratic quarterback who, early in his career, was often ridiculed for his backwater ways and perceived lack of intelligence, especially the many times he passed into the hands of his opponents rather than those of his own team.
But he sorted that all out. And Chuck Noll built a Super Bowl powerhouse around Terry Bradshaw that included a good multi-dimensional running game, tremendous receivers and a Steel Curtain defense that every Bears fans could love. Those Steelers played in eight AFC Championships and won four Super Bowls. With a flip of the coin – and a consistent strategy and plan – they went from a 1-13 laughingstock to laying the foundations for what is still one of the NFL’s most storied and successful franchises.
Whisenhunt’s Cardinals are Steelers West, and they lost by an eyelash to those Steelers in last season’s Super Bowl, before the Steelers failed by an eyelash to make the AFC playoffs this time. The Bears might have been the Steelers. They could still become the Steelers, and with the Steelers no closer to the Super Bowl tournament than the Bears these next few weeks, the best alternative is the Cardinals – the Chicago Cardinals.
And then we all hope that Whisenhunt’s mentor, the iron-jawed Bill Cowher, builds enough of a will to return to the game that, should the Bears tank again in 2010, the search for a new leader on the Bears sideline ought to be self-evident.
-- THOMAS TYRER
With no first- or second-round pick in the NFL draft the Bears decided to stir up a free agency whirlwind starting Thursday night when coach Lovie Smith flew to Charlotte to take Julius Peppers back to Chicago and give him a whole lot of money. While that was happening the Bears were also courting running back Chester Taylor and tight end Brandon Manumaleuna.
Cedric Benson didn't play against the Jets Sunday but will be active when the teams rematch in the playoffs Saturday.
Kyle Orton posted big numbers in the Broncos' season finale - both in yards and interceptions - and Denver ended the season 8-8 after a 6-0 start.
