Well, we're in a lot better mood this morning than we were at any point last week. That's what happens when your favorite team in the world wins its first playoff game since you were 13 years old.
It never really hit us how long it had been since the Bears won a playoff game until we started looking at it that way. The last half of our life had been completely devoid of a Bears playoff win until yesterday.
That's a long ass time, and it felt gooooood.
It feels so good in fact, that we're just gonna do nothing today but revel in it. We know the problems that the New Orleans Saints pose for our Bears next week, but we don't wanna start worrying about that quite yet. Today we're going to pretend we're 13 again, and share in the endless optimism that comes with youth.
The best thing in the world that could have happened for the Bears yesterday, happened. We can't stress enough just how nervous we were all weekend, especially in the last few hours leading up until gametime.
It's only natural for a Chicagoan. The fact is, unless Michael Jordan is playing for your team, if you root for a Chicago team you're almost always preparing for disappointment.
So when the Bears marched down the field on their very first drive yesterday, and took a 7-0 lead, it was like the 2-ton monkey with halitosis and explosive diarrhea was lifted from our back. It's not like we thought the game was over at that point (though a few plays into Seattle's first drive, if Peanut Tillman hadn't dropped that interception in which he had an easy touchdown, we would have), but after seeing every minute of every Bears game this season, you can always tell how Rex is going to play by that first drive.
We got nervous again after the Seahawks tied he game at the start of the second quarter, but then the Sex Cannon put his arm around us and told us not to worry. He said,
"F--k it. I'm throwing downfield." And he did. On the Bears very first play from scrimmage afterward, Rexstasy found Bernard Berrian deep for a 68-yard touchdown pass.
We'd forgotten just how beautiful a Grossman throw can look when he's not forcing it into double coverage.
Rexy was far from perfect yesterday. He did fumble when sacked by Julian Peterson (TUCK THE BALL OR THROW IT AWAY!) and it did set the Seahawks up to tie the game, but he responded by leading the Bears on a two-minute drive to give them a 21-14 lead going into the half. His interception wasn't the typical horrible-throw interception we've come to expect from him. Yes, it was a little behind Moose, but it was still a ball he should have caught.
On the other side of the ball, the defense was nothing like the defense the Bears had before
Tommie Harris and Mike Brown were hurt. When it really mattered though, late in the game, the Seahawks couldn't drive on them. Lance Briggs made two huge stops on Shaun Alexander in the backfield. The first, on a third and one, and finally on a huuuuge 4th and 1 late in the fourth quarter. Alex Brown sacked Hasselbeck for a big loss on a third and one, and Tank Johnson sacked him again in overtime to get the ball back to the Bears. He fought back the urge to fire a semi-automatic rifle into the air afterwards.
''We just kept fighting, and even though we were tired, our crowd gave us a great energy, becoming almost our 12th man out there. We fed off them and we fed off each other. We knew we were going to win the game if we just stuck to our guns. But it's kind of nerve-racking, you know what I mean?''
-Tank Johnson
The biggest play of the game though came late in the fourth quarter. After the Bears and Lance Briggs stopped Alexander on that fourth and one, the offense got the ball back. On third down Rex took a three step drop and fired a pass to his right. The Seahawks Rocky Bernard got his hand up, and deflected the ball straight into the air.
As that ball hovered over his head in the air, the entire season flashed before our eyes. Bernard was going to catch that deflection, the Seahawks were going to have the ball at the 25, and we were going to have to wait yet another year for a playoff win.
But then Thomas Jones ran over, leapt into the air, and swatted the ball out of Bernard's hands, saving the season. It was then that we knew.
Whether the game went to overtime or not, at that point we knew the Bears would win.
The throw of the day wasn't Grossman's bomb to Berrian either. It was the 30 yard pass Grossman threw to Rashied Davis on third and ten in overtime. That was a big time throw. That was the kind of throw that a quarterback needs to make in the playoffs, and Rex answered all the doubters.
"After I got up, I screamed. It was probably the biggest catch I made in my life."
-Rashied Davis
A few plays later, Robbie Gould nailed (Get it!? 16 months ago he was
working construction, hammering nails! We're too funny sometimes.) a 49 yard field goal and the hex had been lifted.
It felt great.
"We win one game and we're in the Super Bowl, two wins away from having a ring on my finger for the rest of my life."
-Rex Grossman
We know it's not over yet, but we're going to try to hold on to this joy for just one more day.
Obviously, when the Bears traded Thomas Jones to the Jets in the offseason, it was a risky move. They were saying goodbye to their most consistent offensive weapon and giving the ball to the unproven Cedric Benson full-time.
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