For the first time in years, the Chicago Bears are a team with actual flare. True, evident flare. The franchise has always embodied a gritty attitude highlighted with a hard nosed run game and stout defensive play. The 1985 and 2006 squads were the peaks of the Bears’ values and it showed on both reputation and success levels. However, in years’ past, there was a shocking absence of this ideology. As fans, we haven’t enjoyed legitimate “Bears” football since 2012 with the conclusion of the Lovie Smith era.
But now a few years into the John Fox era paired with some stellar drafting (not you, Kevin White), the Chicago Bears are back. Shout it from the rooftops, folks, because suddenly Bears football is fun to watch again. And this game, despite ending in a relatively pedestrian 23-17 loss, gave us the best Chicago football in a very, very, very long time.
They were able to go toe-to-toe with the NFC Champions who were so close to winning the Super Bowl that it took blowing a 28-3 lead in a quarter and a half to lose. If Jordan Howard reeled in the catch on the goalline in the waning seconds or the coverage wasn’t “letting a tight end score an 88-yard touchdown” levels of blown, this game could have very well swung the other way.
It was an invigorating showdown that sent out beacon after beacon of hope for Bears fans. Mike Glennon looks like a competent starter, the five foot six Tarik Cohen toasting the Falcon’s defense for 158 all-purpose yards, Akiem Hicks proving he deserved a 48 million deal with two sacks, the list just goes on and on. The Bears have shown there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
But folks easily, by far, without a doubt, the best part of this game was the refreshing absence of Jay Cutler.
Yeah. That Jay Cutler. The Jay Cutler with a single playoff win with the Bears but holds virtually every career passing record for the franchise.
Bears fans have endured seeing his stupid face looking like he wants to retire every time he’s in contact with the sport for far too long. Now, this is not to say he’s a bad quarterback, he’s just a boring one who sucks all of the life out of the most exciting sport on the planet.
His play style reflected his face. His completely and utterly out of it, lifeless, stale, naive, dead inside face. Cutler was never able to get a crowd on their feet a la Cam Newton or Aaron Rodgers. His quarterback play was so vanilla it hurt.
And obviously, the Bears are a franchise who have never had great quarterbacks. It’s been 22 years since they have sent a quarterback to the Pro Bowl. While that hasn’t affected the wins column as much as it could, it still has cemented the Bears with a gritty play style that turns games into total slugfests because they simply haven’t had the tools to actually be exciting.
But now Cutler is gone. Cutler and his moronic visage have now doomed Miami to the abyss of mediocrity. Yeah, Glennon isn’t ‘04 Michael Vick but guess what. He’s not Cutler! At this point, it doesn’t even matter who’s in at quarterback as long as it’s not Cutler.
And because of this, suddenly the Bears are having fun again. The dry, no-nonsense mindset paired with the run it down their throats mentality from years past has dissolved away and been replaced with a defense where the only job to is to assault the ball carrier and on offense giving the five foot six man the ball and letting him run every other play.
This game was a breath of fresh air when it comes to Bears football. It’s been far too long since fans genuinely enjoyed a Bears game. We have had some diamonds in the rough since the end of the Lovie Smith era, but nothing with this much élan.
So whether or not the Bears contend for a playoff spot or even breaking .500 for the first time since 2013 really doesn’t matter. Bears football is fun again. And to me at least, that’s enough for the most successful season in years.
By Eduardo Monk
They were able to go toe-to-toe with the NFC Champions who were so close to winning the Super Bowl that it took blowing a 28-3 lead in a quarter and a half to lose. If Jordan Howard reeled in the catch on the goalline in the waning seconds or the coverage wasn’t “letting a tight end score an 88-yard touchdown” levels of blown, this game could have very well swung the other way.
It was an invigorating showdown that sent out beacon after beacon of hope for Bears fans. Mike Glennon looks like a competent starter, the five foot six Tarik Cohen toasting the Falcon’s defense for 158 all-purpose yards, Akiem Hicks proving he deserved a 48 million deal with two sacks, the list just goes on and on. The Bears have shown there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
But folks easily, by far, without a doubt, the best part of this game was the refreshing absence of Jay Cutler.
Yeah. That Jay Cutler. The Jay Cutler with a single playoff win with the Bears but holds virtually every career passing record for the franchise.
Bears fans have endured seeing his stupid face looking like he wants to retire every time he’s in contact with the sport for far too long. Now, this is not to say he’s a bad quarterback, he’s just a boring one who sucks all of the life out of the most exciting sport on the planet.
His play style reflected his face. His completely and utterly out of it, lifeless, stale, naive, dead inside face. Cutler was never able to get a crowd on their feet a la Cam Newton or Aaron Rodgers. His quarterback play was so vanilla it hurt.
And obviously, the Bears are a franchise who have never had great quarterbacks. It’s been 22 years since they have sent a quarterback to the Pro Bowl. While that hasn’t affected the wins column as much as it could, it still has cemented the Bears with a gritty play style that turns games into total slugfests because they simply haven’t had the tools to actually be exciting.
But now Cutler is gone. Cutler and his moronic visage have now doomed Miami to the abyss of mediocrity. Yeah, Glennon isn’t ‘04 Michael Vick but guess what. He’s not Cutler! At this point, it doesn’t even matter who’s in at quarterback as long as it’s not Cutler.
And because of this, suddenly the Bears are having fun again. The dry, no-nonsense mindset paired with the run it down their throats mentality from years past has dissolved away and been replaced with a defense where the only job to is to assault the ball carrier and on offense giving the five foot six man the ball and letting him run every other play.
This game was a breath of fresh air when it comes to Bears football. It’s been far too long since fans genuinely enjoyed a Bears game. We have had some diamonds in the rough since the end of the Lovie Smith era, but nothing with this much élan.
So whether or not the Bears contend for a playoff spot or even breaking .500 for the first time since 2013 really doesn’t matter. Bears football is fun again. And to me at least, that’s enough for the most successful season in years.
By Eduardo Monk
