By George Ofman
Tell me you didn’t find the Bears-Rams game entertaining? Seriously, what else were you watching, Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN? Wasn’t the idea of one bad team (yours) playing another bad team (much worse) just a tad alluring?
You know why you were watching. It was for the same reason I was and many others were; to see if the Bears would actually lose.
They didn’t because the Rams are truly putrid.
Not that the Bears looked much better.
When you’re forced to call a timeout on a punt because you have only ten men on the field, you’re not much better.
When you try a botched shuffle pass on a field goal attempt that everyone on the Rams knows is coming, you’re not much better.
When Devin Hester is still running backwards on punts or calling for fair catches as often as Republicans say no to Democrats, you’re not much better.
And when you’re slipping on a newly sodded field as if you laced up double runners on a bumpy ice rink, you’re not much better.
I wasn’t hoping the Bears would lose, but I was sure curious enough to pay attention. In the end, the Bears were simply reduced to the team that couldn’t lose. That’s because the Rams employ Kyle Boller, arguably the worst NFL quarterback since P.T. Willis or Will Furrer or, for heaven’s sake, Jonathan Quinn. And did I mention Chad Hutchinson? If you think Kyle Orton has trouble with long balls, Boller could barley muster a pass of 20 yards! The Rams should have let Stephen Jackson run on every play until he demanded an oxygen mask.
But this wasn’t so much about the Rams as it was the Bears who were desperate for a victory, even if it was against a 1-10 team.
Nothing has changed. Nothing at all. The Bears are still a bumbling, misguided aggregate despite General Manager Jerry Angelo’s plea on WBBM 780, “I promise this to our fans, and I know this in my heart of hearts, we will be better through this ordeal.”
I could have sworn the same thing was said by the pilot of the Hindenburg.
How will the Bears be better through this ordeal? Will Gaines Adams make them better? OOPS, he was inactive and it wasn’t the first time. Angelo traded next year’s second-round pick for a defensive end who might end up being defensive about being inactive.
Maybe Angelo figures that when Brian Urlacher returns, so too will the Bears’ swagger and running game. Too bad for Urlacher, Orton will remain with the 8-4 Broncos. Too bad Matt Forte lost his feet somewhere between last year and a couple of games against wretched opponents such as the Rams and Lions. Angelo also told WBBM he had issues with what Urlacher said about Cutler and Forte. Just send them all on some off-season cruise and let them work things out.
And while he’s at it, Angelo might be well advised to send Hester packing. Yes, I know this is blasphemous. Hester was All-World during his first two years with the Bears. He was the most electrifying player in the league. Every time he fielded a kickoff or punt, you sensed he might go all the way. Then came the ill-advised conversion to wide receiver and Hester has since lost his identity along with which way to go with a punt. Think Angelo can extract a second-round pick for Hester or maybe even a first? If you want to start refurbishing your short stock of high draft picks, this might be one direction to take. It’s a bold idea, perhaps more bold than replacing the head coach. But alas, Angelo will likely be making these picks again next year so don’t expect Hester to go anywhere.
Or for that matter, the Bears.
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George Ofman is now with WGN radio after a 17-year run with The Score. He also now blogs for ChicagoNow under the banner That’s All She Wrote. Comments welcome.
Posted on December 7, 2009