Remember when you were younger and life came at you slow and steady? Back then if you went into a store on October 20th you were likely to find Halloween themed items on display anxious for your grabby little hands. Today retailers have had their Christmas displays up since just after Labor Day and they are already making room for Valentines day materials.
Well our Monsters wanted to join the fun by celebrating All Saints Day two weeks early.
I know the press back in Chicago are beside themselves with stories of the demise of this years football team, six weeks into the season. Yes, yesterday's game was hard to watch and it showed that the Bears have a ways to go to be considered a playoff ready team. However, last year they started out just as inept and suddenly found their way, turning a frown upside down and making the playoffs.
For me, I had them at 4-2 right now so it is a one game swing in the wrong direction but nothing insurmountable. What is concerning, besides the offense being horrible, which is not that much of a surprise, is that the defense seems to be regressing too. Poor tackling, being out of position, and on the field way too much are not a recipe for a winning club.
The good news for the braintrust at Halas Hall is that the easy part of their schedule is about to kick in. The next six weeks will determine this team, and staffs, fate going forward. I was going to join the fun and rail against Mitch Trubisky, rip on David Montgomery, and wonder how Ryan Pace still has a job, but then I looked at the schedule and decided to hit the pause button on any negativity. For now.
Next Sunday they host the Chargers and I can tell you from living in their backyard that they are not doing well right now, this should be a win. The following Sunday they visit the Eagles, and if you watched the Cowboys dismantle them on the Sunday night game yesterday, hope should be springing, rack up another win here.
The Lions then come to town, and while they can be a lot to handle for the Bears, they are still the Lions and they still find ways to lose, put up another W please. Out to LA the Monsters go and face an up and down Rams team that honestly is just too good for them and this is going to be a loss. Back home to face the New York football Giants who have plenty of their own issues and this could be a 3-2 final score in the Bears favor. Finally, over to Detroit for Thanksgiving Day festivities and while the Lions are tough at home on this day, they are still the Lions, another win.
So, for this six week stretch I see the boys of fall going 5-1 and moving back into the playoff hunt. Unfortunately it turns pretty ugly after this and right now it is looking like a 1-3 finish which brings the season in at 9-7 and not enough to make the playoffs. However, once teams get on a roll weird things start to happen and you just never know.
For us the fans, we need to take the advice given by every athlete and coach, in every sport, since the invention of daily newspapers, and just take things one game at a time. Let's focus all our energy on the next game and not get ahead of ourselves. Maybe they will suddenly discover the secret to run blocking, or realize that you don't have to only arm tackle people, or Nagy will wake up one day this week and put in a game plan that the quarterback can actually manage.
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