A tale as old as at least 1994. Bears look great to start. Packers look broken and beatable. Bears give it away. Aaron Rodgers does the whole snarky “I was never nervous” thing. Packers win, Bears back to the drawing board. Lather, rinse… don’t repeat?
Let’s keep some things in mind here.
The Bears went into this game with one with maybe two players the common man would be able to see their jersey and know who they are. That’s not supposed to be a diss or disrespect to the guys who are going out there to make a living and a livelihood. It just is what it is. The Bears have Justin Fields and a (supposedly) bright future. That has to be what our takeaway is to keep the sanity and the peace.
Obviously, as a Bears fan, all you want to do is beat the Packers. It is a tough pill to swallow knowing our loss to them keeps us in the running for a top two draft pick, so it’s actually a “good” thing. I hate that logic, I hate that backdoor cover, but that is where we have to be. The Packers can keep their false hope while we hang tightly to our promising outlook.
This team has a first-year head coach, a first-year general manager, and a quarterback who is figuring it our on the fly knowing resources are coming. This year is supposed to be a loser, it is supposed to be a filler and a transition into what this team is supposed to be.
The internet is buzzing with haters talking about Fields and his inability to perform in the clutch. He has had at least six opportunities with the ball down one score late in the game and has yet to execute. However, if you watched any of those games, it is very easy to relieve Fields of any blame and point the finger towards the lack of sustainable support. I’ll let my guy Max take you to school on that:
Sometimes it has also felt like the coaches are in on the fix for a tank. Luke Getsy and his offensive play calling have had many questionable moments – most recently in this Sunday’s matchup. Earlier in the season, I even questioned if he was serving as an undercover agent for Green Bay with how bad some of his calls were. But ultimately, now is the perfect time to be toying with things. Let’s find out what works and doesn’t now. Let’s watch Fields work (with essentially nothing) and see what he could be with weapons. Let’s find out what those weapons are.
Fields is undoubtedly our guy. We also have seemingly long-term pieces in Darnell Mooney, Jaylon Johnson, and Jaquan Brisker. I would love to see David Montgomery stay, but we know what life is like for running backs in the NFL. Also shoutout to Brisker, because he seems committed to the future…
This team can be young and so talented with the right assets and the right people making the moves. We are seeing the blueprint work right now in Miami and Philadelphia. Both of those teams used their assets to position themselves well in the draft and dictate the trade market. They were also not afraid to pay players. And now, all that is left for them to do is execute on the field. And if you are a well-run franchise, that is exactly where you want to be.
This year is painful, but it is a different kind of pain than before because we see something that has seemed so foreign to Chicago – hope. There seems to be a plan and that is what I am hanging onto.
I am looking forward to the next time these two teams meet because I believe the narrative and trajectory of these teams will be in two very different directions.
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