Like a lot of other Chicagoans, I have something of an inferiority complex when it comes to our sports teams. We're always seeking respect from around the country that we seldom feel we're getting.
The Bears are 3-0 and in first place in the NFC North, and if you asked a lot of Bears fans, they'd tell you that, while the Bears are the best in the NFC, no one but them is noticing.
Personally, I don't feel the Bears are the best team in the NFC either, but that doesn't mean I think this city is fairly assessed. In 2005 when the White Sox were winning every day, all the media talking heads could say is that they weren't as good as the Yankees or the Red Sox. Never mind the fact that the White Sox were beating those teams. It took a World Series ring for people to finally take notice, and even then the consensus was, "well they caught a lot of breaks."
That right there is the difference in how it seems Chicago teams are viewed around the country. Find me a championship team in any sport that doesn't "catch a lot of breaks." The Yankees do it, the Red Sox do it, the Patriots do it. Ask Seattle and Dallas if the Steelers and Heat caught a few breaks.
Still, when those teams win they're seen as deserving champions. When Chicago teams do it, well, they got lucky. (Okay, not the Bulls dynasty. That was all MJ.)
This dismissive attitude definitely affects the way the Bears are perceived. I remember last season when the Bears were on a winning streak, it was, "they haven't played anybody yet." Then the Panthers came to town and promptly got the shit kicked out of them in a beating so bad that Chris Simms would have lost a spleen and a kidney. But that week everyone in the media was still talking about how the Panthers were a better team than the Bears. Of course, after last season's playoff loss to those same Panthers, nobody remembers the beating they got earlier in the season.
All of this bitching leads me to a point:
No matter what the Bears do against the Seahawks this Sunday night, people will still say that the Seahawks are the superior team.
And it's all because of hairline fracture in the left foot of Shaun Alexander.
Even if the Bears go out and win this game 63-2 people will say that it doesn't matter because the Seahawks were without their most important weapon. They won't look at the fact that Alexander's been hurt all season, only averaging 62.3 yards per game and a whopping 2.9 yards per carry. They won't notice that, after averaging nearly 2 touchdowns a game last season, Alexander has only had 2 in three games, yet the Seahawks are still 3-0.
That means a few things. Most obvious, the Seahawks are damn good and deserve to be considered the best team in the NFC. They are the defending conference champions, after all. Seattle is good without Alexander because they still have Matt Hasselbeck taking the snaps, and throwing to a pretty nice set of wide receivers (Darrell Jackson, Bobby Engram, Nate Burleson, and now Deion Branch).
Their defense hasn't been too shabby, either. Yes, they've given up 46 points on the year but it pays to notice that 30 of those came against the Giants last week after Seattle had built a 42-3 lead.
It also means that the Bears can't afford to get cocky or complacent, thinking it will be an easy ride come Sunday night absent Alexander. It won't.
The defensive line will be what decides this game for the Bears. They limited the Vikings to 16 points, and have only surrendered one touchdown this season but they didn't tackle at all last week. Seattle's offensive line lost a huge advantage this offseason when Steve Hutchinson left for Minnesota, but then last week they lost "Pork Chop" Womack for the season. What the Bears will need to do is let Seattle quickly realize that Maurice Morris isn't going to go anywhere running the ball, and then just play "Meet at Hasselbeck."
On offense the Bears are going to have to establish a running game. They've yet to do it this season, but at the very least they haven't abandoned the running game. They need to find a way to get Cedric Benson on the field. I like Thomas Jones but the fact he's only averaging three yards a carry tells me that he could probably use a breather here and there. Not to mention, Benson wasn't drafted #4 overall and making all that money just to stand on the sidelines and give Rex Grossman high fives after he throws a touchdown.
The key to the Bears offense will still be Rex Grossman. Rex showed last week that he can recover from making a back-breaking mistake (the ill-advised pass intercepted and returned for a Viking touchdown in the 4th quarter). Rex did get away with a few other passes earlier in the game, though, that should not be forgotten. On one of them, Darren Sharper dropped a pick that he would have easily returned for a touchdown. (There's one of those "lucky breaks" again!!)
This game is going to be a close, hard fought contest, and a great one to watch. When it's over I expect that the Bears will stand victorious and be 4-0, with possibly the best record in the NFC.
Not that any of it will matter, cuz after all, we'll just be lucky cuz Shaun Alexander didn't get to play.
BEARS 20 SEAHAWKS 14
11 comments:
it is a good thought, but it ain't happening. seahawks 26-16. our D is under-rated and you will see Mo Morris become Bryant Westbrook west.
The game IS important for your Bears, far more than for us. If you don't win, you'll probably end up in Seattle come playoff time, and that means you'll be watching disappointed come SB time.
I do appreciate your thoughts about being "lost" by the media, but I laugh at Chicago getting that kind of a thought process. Try being lost in the NW, were all year we were FAR more underappreciated last year than warrented.
Peter King, with one of the largest readerships in the nation, addresses Chicago far more frequently than Seattle.
I do recall last year he picked Philly over us. We kick Philly's ass on MNF and Tuesday's MMQB/Tuesday Edition was spent talking about how great the Bears D was.
WTF? You PICKED Seattle, they provided the greatest asswhooping in the history of MNF and you didn't even comment on them at all.
Appreciate the closeness you have to the East Coast media. If your team was to be out here, you'd be even more pissed.
Either way, see you again in the playoffs. Welcome, Chi-town, to the NFC elite. Now you get a "measure-stick" game.
okay, you're kicking our ass. i acknowledge the superior play by your team tonight and look forward to a long diatribe by Peter King about how great your team is.
I'm a little pissed though, i'm trying not to be paranoid but i'm a tad frustrated by the PI in the endzone and the incomplete that i thought should have been a fumble.
NOT that those calls would have changed the outcome right now, but they could have altered momentum a bit...
just like a seattle fan to whine about the officiating...
Wow. I think there is no question now who the best team in the NFC is. I don't care what any media jackass has to say, Chicago proved without a doubt who rules the NFC right now. Believe me I know what you're saying, I had to listen to an entire season of the week schedule argument on the way to the Suber Bowl last year. Great win for the Bears tonight and here's to seeing you guys again in the championship game.
By the way for all the morons who want to say Alexander was the reason the Bears won. When was the last time Shaun Alexander allowed 37 points?
Go Hawks!!!!!!!!
Fuck, I'll even spot you guys to Alexander TD's for shits and giggles.
Anon-niiiiice. Made me laugh.
Also, T-Dawg. My point wasn't the lack of attention the Bears and Chicago teams get. We get it, it's just that we never really get that respect where people say "Oh shit. They're awesome." It's usually, "Ya they won, but they play in the NFC North." Let's face it, the Bears are pretty damn good right now, I don't care what division we're in. The way our schedule sets up I think 8-0 is a very likely situation for us before a tough 3 week road binge in NY twice and then New England.
Wow, good call on the "well, they didn't have Alexander" thing. That was all they talked about on ESPN Radio's GameNight tonight.
We all know that Shaun would have run for 250 yards and 6 touchdowns if he was healthy. I mean the Bears defense sucks.
leave it to an anonymous fan not from Seattle to say we whine about the officiating... boy, that was a hard joke to jump on. I'm impressed with your witticism.
If you get to the SB this year and get anally raped like we did, you'll be just as bitter and cynical about the officiating as I am. Otherwise stfu and stop mocking, be thankful it wasn't you the poor officiating put in the position of "pissed off fan."
I'm not saying the officiating was the difference sunday night, it wasn't. shaun wasn't the difference either. Your players were the aggressors. Your players hit harder (something we've gotten used to seeing our guys do over the past year+, btw) and your gameplan apparently was better.
Right now, there is not a team in the league playing better than chicago, and I'm speaking as a fan of the game there, not just a guy who saw my team get beat. Frankly, this hawks team is not the team I saw peak at the right time last year, coasting into the playoffs and rolling into the SB with the swagger i saw last night... in Rex Grossman.
A word of warning before you reserve a hotel room in Miami, however. At this point last year, Dungy's boys were in the same boat. It is a long season, and the team that peaks from week 16 on is the team to be that the world will see.
I do think we'll see you in the playoffs. And I hope that officiating doesn't mar the game in any way.
No, officiating did not play a factor in this game, I'm simply tired of seeing crappy calls fall against us, difference-making or not.
You're mostly all from Chicago, you have no idea what i'm saying there. Last year I recall a certain play vs. the Angels that was a legendary call in your favor. And let's be honest, you had His Airness in hoops, the originator of "superstar calls."
Did he deserve it? perhaps more than any other player ever. Did you ever think during the Jordan years, "Damn, the officials screwed us?" If you did, you were delusional.
So until you see a series of calls in multiple sports fall against your city at championship levels, don't call us whiners for a lame easy and tired joke. Be original at least.
Or I'll start associating your city with only one person-- JAY MARIOTTI!
also... forget the national media... other than to scorn, we have. some of us call it the "most of the nation minus the west coast media."
i'm saying it, and every seahawk fan is sayin' it-- your boys are damn good.
What's more, I'm scared. We've known since the Giants game last year that we could beat anyone in the NFC come playoff time in Seattle.
For the first time since November 27th, 2005, I'm not so certain.
The post season just got a lot more interesting...
I haven't booked anything, but right now round trip to Miami from Chicago on Super Bowl weekend is $330.
Just sayin....after the NFC championship it'll pry be around $800.
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