The Bears: Our Last Hope At Winter Sporting Salvation
By Tim Bearden in News on Oct 6, 2012 6:00PM
The Cubs and White Sox are out of the playoffs--both fell in their own fiery descents, which means it's time to divert our attention to winter sports. We could be in trouble.
Usually the Bears have the Blackhawks and Bulls to pull the full focus of Chicago away from the Monster of the Midway, but no such luck this year. With Derrick Rose still on Adidas' "Road to Recovery" the Bulls aren't much of sight in the early months. With Rose's return still uncertain, the Bulls are running with Carlos Boozer and Rip Hamilton as the faces of the organization. Neither player had a star studded season last year and Hamilton was an offensive disappointment.
Hamilton only started 28 games of an already shortened NBA season and averaged less than 50 percent in field goals made in 2011-12—not exactly what you're looking for in the shooting guard position. His playoff performance was also on par with his regular season performance, which begs the question if he can be relied on in the clutch the same way Rose can.
Boozer did more to step it up on defense, but offensively he was just as much of crap shoot as Hamilton. Like Hamilton, Boozer averaged around 50% of field goal attempts made and was fourth on the Bulls in offensive rebounds behind Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and Omer Asik--in that order. Gibson and Asik aren't even starters. Boozer only had 10 offensive rebounds in the playoffs to 49 defensive ones. Unlike the ball he bounces, Boozer is quite one-dimensional. This revelation even calls the most dedicated fans' loyalty into question until Rose's return, which means they're not going to get many casual sports watchers interested until later in the season--if at all.
The Blackhawks are non-existent. The NHL locked out its players and has already canceled the first two weeks of the season. This happened in 2004-05 and the entire season was canceled. History isn't on the Blackhawks side this season. We're going to call them a scratch for now.
This leaves the Chicago Bears as our one last hope at post-season prowess for Chicago. The Bears are 3-1, with the Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams on the list of those beaten. The loss? The Green Bay Packers, in a game in which Jay Cutler threw four interceptions and was sacked seven times. This is not the offensive hope Chicago had in mind.
The only game won in which the Bears played a decent team was Monday against the Cowboys. Cutler and Brandon Marshall connected for 138 passing yards and one touchdown, which is the performance Chicago expects from these two. Cutler also connected with Devin Hester for 38 yards and a TD on Monday. The defense also had two pick-six's with Lance Briggs leading the way with a 74-yard touchdown return. They dominated.
It shows promise, but it's no division rival. But the Packers and Lions, who the Bears play in their next divisional game, are at the bottom of the division. The Bears are tied with the Vikings for the first of the division—that's right, I said "the Vikings" and "tied for first" in the division in the same sentence. This is not the season many were expecting in the NFC North, but we'll take it.
With all that said, all eyes are on the Bears this winter. Right now they show a lot of promise, but each time a team gets hyped after a big off season, disappointments into the post-season soon follow. (See White Sox, Cubs 2012, Bulls 2011-12)
Help us (Phil) Emery-Wan. You're our only hope.