Disclaimer: the author, a lifelong Chicago Bears fan, decided to watch professional football this weekend as opposed to watching the Bears. As his opinions are colored blue and orange, they should be read with a grain of salt the size of Lot's wife.)
During the bye week, several things of note occurred in the NFC North Division, none of them good for the Chicago Bears.
The Bears defense might be ranked higher as of this writing, but the (expletive deleted) Green Bay Packers (the author pauses to spit) are now the owners of the division's stoutest defense. They utterly pummeled the normally chatty New York Jets into a humbled silence, but then being absolutely stone-walled offensively in one's own house for four quarters will quiet even the most loquacious of teams. Nothing the Jets tried worked, and right tackle Damien Woody(notes) has friction burns from Clay Matthews(notes) running past him. This defense is now healthy and hungry, sensing that the division is still within its grasp. But that's not the worst of it.
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The benighted Detroit Lions handled the Washington Redskins, and are now the owners of the division's most explosive offense. For those required by court order to watch Bears games this season, you'll remember the Redskins as the unwilling beneficiaries of six Bears turnovers last weekend as they won by three in Chicago. This past Sunday, they ran smack into a Lions team with all hands on deck offensively and they could do nothing about it. Matthew Stafford(notes) threw four touchdown passes in his first action since getting injured in Chicago in Week 1, and rookie defensive line monster Ndamukong Suh(notes) has just become a man that NFC North offenses must now account for on every play from scrimmage or pay a terrible price. When we look back in 12 years, we will likely say that the Detroit Lions Renaissance began with Stafford, Suh, and Jahvid Best(notes)but I digress. This, too, is not the worst of it.
The Bears don't even lead the division in drama anymore; that honor firmly belongs to the Minnesota Vikings. Four weeks ago, the New England Patriots traded receiver Randy Moss(notes) to the Vikings for draft picks. This past Sunday, against the Pats, Moss caught one pass for eight yards. Moss played for the Pats just this season, and had insider information that another coach might have used to his advantage. But Brad Childress, in a stupid bid to reassert his lost authority, refused Moss' advice and, for good measure, froze Moss out of the game plan (it had to be a freeze-out, because nothing else can explain Toby Gerhardt being targeted more). Then Chilly had the cojones to cut Moss when Moss rightly called him out for stupid coaching.
It might be wishful thinking, what with the league's waiver process, but here's hoping that Moss comes to Chicago, not necessarily to ride to our offense's rescue as much as to see him get to play the Vikings twice this season after what Childress did to him.
The Vikings soap opera is actually the worst of what occurred during the Bears' bye week for one meaningful reason: it is beyond all doubt that Brad Childress will be fired. This puts Vikings owner Zygi Wilf in play for one of those three Super Bowl champion ex-coaches currently on ice, and Wilf, having already overpaid for an old, wounded quarterback well past his sell-by date, will have no problem opening the checkbook to put a proven winner under a Vikings headset. That, or the next head on a pike after Childress' will be his. The McCaskeys are not going to get into a bidding war over guys who could actually win a Super Bowl for them because, well, they already have one of the soppy things, don't they?
Meanwhile, what did the Bears do while the rest of the division surpassed them in every meaningful category?
Lovie Smith got stuck in traffic for hours at the North Lake Shore Drive Bridge because the bridge sign looks like a third down marker and he had no idea about how to cross the intervening distance.
Jay Cutler(notes) spent a day combing the roster, looking for that DeAngelo Hall(notes) kid, because he finally felt like he was getting some rapport with one of the receivers.
Mike Martz' shrine to Don Coryell and Ernie Zampese ran red with the blood of virgins all week as he vainly beseeched them to remove the curse from his team's offense. There is no truth to the rumor that the ghost of Coryell wailed "stop sacrificing virgins and start sacrificing a receiver for a blocker, you idiot."
Rod Marinelli quietly and efficiently kept coaching up the defense, the only unit on the team that is actually exceeding expectations in a good way. Currently ranked sixth in overall defense (including 5th against the run and 3rd in total points allowed), it's scary to imagine how good they might be if they were getting anything from Tommie Harris(notes).
Mike Tice spent the week getting his offensive line treated for aphephobia.
Finally, team president Ted Phillips gathered up some empty boxes and left them in the hall outside of Jerry Angelo's office, with the following note: "Hey, Jerry, I was in the neighborhood and it occurred to me that you might need these in a few weeks. Oh, and could you clear all of your old 'Field & Stream' magazines out of the executive washroom? Thanks, Ted."
For good or ill, these were the jokes. The fact that the Bears will have needed the bye week to get the ship righted in time for the Buffalo Bills is not one of them.
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