The Bears are what we thought they were! Oct18 '06

As a Chicago Bears fan, I have the ultimate privelage of saying my team is 6-0, and #1 in the league. This I feel pretty good about, especially since it's been a very long time since we started out this well.

What I don't feel good about is the fact that the Arizona Cardinals beat us on Monday night.

Wait, Matt - the Bears won that game. Don't you recall that surreal night in the middle of the desert?

I do recall that game. But although the scoreboard showed a final of 24-23, in favor of the Bears, the Cardinals still beat us in a different manner. Their rookie quarterback practically walked all over us, for most of the game. Their defense (one of the worst in the league) played like our defense did, in the previous five games - stopping us on almost every drive.

I suppose I should just accept the win, for what it is. However, I can't seem to get this quote out of my head:

"The Bears are what we thought they were!"

Dennis Green yelled this repeatedly after the game - the tired and frustrated head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.

"The Bears are what we thought they were, and we let them off the hook!"

You're damn right you did, Dennis. You let us off the hook, and handed us that victory.

Had three sporadic events (all in the final quarter) not occured, the Bears would have walked off in defeat, as they probably should have:

Devin Hester returns a punt for 83 yards, scoring a touchdown.
Brian Urlacher strips the ball from Edgerrin James, moments before James hits the ground, and is ruled down. Another touchdown.
Neil Rackers misses a seemingly easy 41-yard field goal, to win the game for the Cardinals.

Sure, you can "chalk up" the first two events to pure determination on the part of the Bears. Hester (as darn good as he is) had some great blocks, and made some of his own "moves" in order to wheel his way into the end zone. It could happen any day, to any team.

And Urlacher stripping the ball from a running back who doesn't allow that very often, is another event for "any given day."

And the third event is also a "once in a while" type of thing. It happens even to the best of kickers.

But all three events in the same game!? And all in the final quarter, when it mattered most!? Impossible, some would say.

How can anyone explaining the fundamentals of football, explain that game?

The "team of destiny" makes much more sense, because logic was simply out the door, in the desert on that night.

What do the Bears do next? I guess they just keep showing up, because that's all it seems to take, in order to win the game. "Fate" appears to be doing most of the work.

However, if the Bears are looking for that elusive Super Bowl crown, they're gonna have to rely on more than "fate."

And as far as Dennis Green goes, I really hope that was just "hot desert air."

Categories: Bears , Sports

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I totally agree that the Cardinals won that game - they were the better team that day, offensively anyway. The Bears were definitely not the team t ... Read more.

matthom is published and produced by Matt Thommes - an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from Chicago. Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.