Life is never easy, right?
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Life is never easy, right?
There is always something going on, an emergency, an inconvenience, a setback.
Or even the opposite side of things with celebrations, anniversaries, birthdays, work and/or school accomplishments, giving birth, a fun vacation day.
Although those are mostly fun, they also take time and dedication which means you probably went through the emergencies, the inconveniences, and the setbacks to get there.
If life is already hard enough, why do we make it even tougher on ourselves?
Why did we become Chicago Bears fans?
For the older crowd, I’ll say 46 and up, you got to see the lone Bears’ Super Bowl victory in 1986 along with the supreme talent of Walter Payton, William Perry, Mike Singletary, Steve “Mongo” McMichael, and Richard Dent. Plus, one of the best defenses the league has ever seen and a pain in the butt, loudmouth, renegade QB in Jim McMahon.
Since I was born in October 1985, three months before the greatest moment in Bears’ history, I only know of this team from record books, books written by sports writers, sports documentaries, and stories from…the older crowd.
In 2006, the Bears made it to the ship and I remember where I was, jumping up for joy when Devin Hester broke away for a touchdown on the opening kickoff, and how many Steak-n-Shake (I was working) burgers and shakes I ate after the Bears lost to the Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts.
Pure heartbreak.
And honestly, that’s all it has been as a Bears’ fan.
We thought a good quarterback had arrived after Jay Cutler was brought in on the trade with the Denver Broncos.
He would play great at times, awful at others, and then made a funny face or said something stupid to make everyone hate him. He was a class act, kidding, but his reign behind center from 2009-16 is still the best QB production the Bears have ever seen. Better than NFL Hall of Fame member Sid Luckman, Jim Harbaugh, the Super Bowl champ McMahon, and all of the lackluster QBs we’ve seen through the years including Mitchell Trubisky, Erik Kramer, Justin Fields, Rex Grossman (QB in the 2006 SB), Jim Miller, Kyle Orton (traded away for Cutler), Cade McNown, Josh McCown, Nick Foles, Chris Chandler, Andy Dalton, Chad Hutchinson, Mike Glennon, Caleb Hanie, and oh man, this list could be very, very long.
It’s not even just the QB role.
Besides Payton, who rushed for 16,726 yards for the Bears from 1975-1987, there hasn’t been too much to be excited about since the 1986 Super Bowl.
Matt Forte had a good run and is probably the best running back my generation has seen in a Bears jersey, but that’s it. That’s the list of good running backs after Walter Payton…Forte.
Gale Sayers doesn’t count because he left Chicago in 1971. David Montgomery would have been right there with Forte as he rushed for 3,609 from 2019-22, but then left for the Detroit Lions, where it is quite possible, they win a Super Bowl. …As long as they don’t see the Buffalo Bills in the last game of the season.
I’m not even going to get into to long list of ball carriers who were draft busts or pure failures for the Bears.
Let’s make it clear, I’m not saying players who have played for the Bears are all bad. They’re better than you and I who are writing, reading, and watching about the NFL, but are multiple, multiple layers from ever being good enough to be on the field with these guys.
I’m not saying it is a jynx.
Ownership and management could definitely be the answer as the McCaskey family has always been about money and not so much about the football product.
Coaching could definitely be the answer as Matt Eberflus became the first ever Chicago Bears coach to be fired midway through the season after the Thanksgiving time management debacle against the Lions.
Since Mike Ditka went 106-92 from 1982-92 where he won Super Bowl XX and was named the Associated Press Coach of the Year in 1985 and 1988, there has been two coaches who has posted a winning record, Lovie Smith and Matt Nagy.
The Bears ran Smith out in 2012 and Matt Nagy had one good season, AP Coach of the Year in 2018, because opponents hadn’t figured out his game plan yet. Once they did, he was run out also.
We don’t all have to be fans of winning teams.
But it would be nice to be able to watch football knowing a great game or a stellar victory is going to overshadow the grind of the rest of the week.
And before you ask, no, absolutely not. I will never be a Green Bay Packers’ fan.