The Chicago Bears: Lessons in Sabr (or something)

Hi

Right now, the Bears stand at 5-9. The same team that went 13-3 last season is now at 5-9. Five and Nine, folks. I can't get over it. The same team that has most of the same players from the 2006-07 Super Bowl season is now out of playoff contention. We can't even say "We're not mathematically ruled out" at this point! This is the same team that was by far the most hyped up team during the pre-season (perhaps NE being the only other team to stand above us).

Sure, we were missing key staff and players like Ron Rivera and Thomas Jones, but we also gained Babich, who was supposed to fit perfectly with Coach Lovie, and Greg Olsen and Devin Hester on the offense. And while there was some mad drama about Lance Briggs, ultimately he came back to play at least one more season here. And we were also supposed to get a more confident Rex Grossman and Cedric Benson.

Instead, we've ended up so far with a mind boggling 5-9 record. This is what we have: A frustrated Urlacher who's playing with an arthritic back, a defense that no longer strips or intercepts the ball, a defense that can't make tackles, safeties who don't make the cut (i.e. Archuletta), an o-line (which was praised as one of our strengths last year), an offensive coordinator that doesn't know how to use his amazing plethora of weapons, a friend-less Cedric Benson, injuries (i.e Mike Brown), injuries (i.e. Nathan Vasher until today), and injuries (i.e. bruised up guys like Tommie Harris, Darvin Walker, Cedric Benson, Mark Anderson, Rex Grossman, Brian Griese, Anthony Adams, Dusty Dvoracek, Ruben Brown, and on-and-on).

And this is what we don't have: a prayer.

Or do we?

I've been thinking about the course of the season; debating over how a team this time last year was regarded as the next coming of the '85 Bears and how a team of that caliber can fall apart so easily. Things that come to mind are coaching mistakes (Does Lovie know anything about his offense? Hell, does Turner?!), arrogance (playing with a chip on our shoulders that apparently players in the City of Big Shoulders can't seem to get a hold of), injuries, or a lack of simply making the plays. I'm sure you can see why I'm constantly debating over these issues - you can probably make a case for each one.

My constant inner battles and rages to ascertain the answers to my questions lead me to develop a more philosophical approach in arriving to a conclusion. And so, on my journey to enlightenment, I began asking myself questions like, Why does greatness always seem to succumb to failure? What is greatness? What is failure? If we seek glory and seek to appreciate glory, then do we have to know what failure is? Why do we not forge ourselves into binding contracts where we lure the Dallas Cowboys' cheerleaders to Chicago? Or the Lakers' cheerleaders? And why shouldn't I name my first born Maximus after Russell Crowe's character in Gladiator?

After more introspection and analysis, I was finally blessed to come to a realization that the hardships we are facing as Chicago Bears players and fans are not only due not having hot cheerleaders, but also because we are being tested. Yes, Allah is testing our patience, our loyalties, and our convictions on the Chicago Bears (and, for that matter, all professional Chicago teams right now). Hey, far be it me to to question why we are being tested after over two decades of not winning a Super Bowl. All I can surmise is that we are in fact being tested.

How else can you rationally account for what has happened? We are being tested, my friends! Maybe someone has given Da Bears the evil eye (azubillah)? I mean, after all, we even have Muslims on our team now. Oh yes; Muslims. Take Br. Kyle Orton as an example. Here's a brother that looked forward to nothing more than boozing and getting into precarious pictures of himself completely and utterly plastered (and then later those pictures uploaded on just about every sports blog out there). He went from that to pre-season interviews of admitting that he was a drunken fool who looked to make amends with his Lord and set forth a positive example to all (hey, I'm not saying that I'm quoting him verbatim...). But the point is that you have this type of positive mindset on the team at the beginning of the season and then you somehow mysteriously lose it?!

Call it conspiracy (note: see also "ESPN" for their excessive coverage of all Eastern-based teams especially Boston for further definition of "conspiracy"). Call it stupidity (Ron Turner). Call it lack of confidence. Call it lack of balls (people from Saint Louis). Or just simply call it a test.

If you do, you will free your mind like Neo did when he took the red pill and came to see that right now we're in a Matrix where...oh, jeez, enough of all these different analogies already...

Bottom line: we're for some reason not the same team we were last year. We need to step out of it and make changes where needed. We need to play some good ol' fashioned Chicago football and get our hands down and dirty, folks.

And we need a prayer for this to happen.

And Allah Alone gives Success...