Miami, Here We Come

Well, much to my surprise and delight, the Chicago Bears are in the Super Bowl. I have been bracing for the worst all year and they went out and won the NFC Championship. As a Cubs fan I am used to being let down when it comes to my sports teams. So, I tend not to get my hopes up because it makes the pain a little easier to take. If you don’t expect your team to win, when they lose it takes a little of the sting out of it.

So, all year as I watched the Bears beat opponent after opponent, I tried not to get my hopes up. I saw glaring weaknesses on the team. My brain and my eyes kept telling me that this is a flawed team that will break your heart if you let it. The only other Super Bowl Bears team was in 1985. I was sixteen and had not yet had the scars from watching year after year of futility of the Cubs and Bears. That team unlike this one was dominating. There was no doubt at any point in my young mind that we were bound for glory.

However, after that year the Bears, kind of imploded. I sat back and watched Saint Mike Ditka squander all that talent. I watched as Jim McMahon kept getting hurt and then saw him traded by a vengeful Iron Mike. Eventually after the Bears came to their senses and fired his ass, I watched in horror as they brought in the clueless, and porno mustached, Dave Wannstedt. Then they replaced him with Dick Jauron and mediocrity rained. Other then the one lucky year in 2001 it was an exercise in futility watching them lose week after week for the better part of a decade. It suddenly was not a whole lot of fun to be a Bears fan.

Three years ago the Bears hired Lovie Smith. Along with some shrewd moves by Jerry Angelo all of the sudden the team started to show signs of life. Last year as they went 11-5, I found myself getting my hopes up. Then they went out and got their ass kicked in the first round of the playoffs. So, as this team started out of the gate on fire, the flames were stoked. Still, among most Bears fan that I know, no one was puffing their chest out just yet.

After being burned so many times over the last twenty one seasons, most logical Bears fans were kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop. In my heart I was behind them all the way but my mind told me something different. Still, I watched and rooted enjoying the ride this team was taking me on. When we lost on New Years Eve to the dreaded Packers, I like most Bears fans needed to be talked off the ledge.

As the playoffs started I was not sure what to expect. This team was so hard to gage. One week they looked like World beaters, and the next they looked as if Brother Rice would give them a game. So, I sat on pins and needles as they squeaked out a victory against the under-manned Seahawks. As the NFC Championship game approached I was not very optimistic.

Sure, I felt the Bears could win, but the way they were playing scarred me. It looked as if this team peaked in October. Then without much warning this past Sunday, the defense came back to life against the Saints. The D, which had been in hibernation for most of the last two months, played like it did early in the season. As I sat back and watched I knew we were in for a good day. We hadn’t played like that for awhile. Sure, enough despite some tense moments early in the second half, they Bears came through and gave the city a chance to celebrate.

So, as we head to Miami, seven point underdogs, I am for the first time confident. We can beat the Colts. This is not to say we will but, if we play our game and they play theirs I like our chances. Defense will always beat offense. If Rex can manage the game like he has the last two weeks, meaning he doesn’t turn the ball over and takes what the defense gives him, we will win. The Patriots scarred me a lot more then the Colts. Even if we lose, I am still going to be proud of this team and proud to be a Bears fan. It was a long and trying year in a lot of ways but the payout was worth it. In my mind we can’t lose. If the Bears should get beat by the Colts what can their fans say? I mean they still have to live in Indianapolis.