Spiegel: Simple Bears Epiphany
I keep finding myself re-assessing the Bears, considering the seemingly essential question of the moment: Are they any good? This morning brought a simple epiphany.
Relative to the league, they're pretty good, and there's no escaping it. We laughed at Jim Miller a little yesterday, when he said Jerry Angelo had assembled a "pretty good team," because the realist sees the immense flaws in the offensive line and the quarterback, starter and backup.
But every team in this league has enormous flaws. The Bears' are just more noticeable than the others.
Because it's offensive efficiency, and because it's pass protection, it's easy to see this is maybe at best a 7-9 offense. But other facets of the game have been great, with the defense playing at championship caliber, and the special teams covering and returning with the best.
The negativity from so many, including us, is because those flaws are right out front. Your backup QB, who you shamefully and unsurprisingly need in week 5, brings a 6.2 rating. Your offensive line is an embarrassment, as expected. Your head coach is so unlikable, you'd rather not hear what he has to say, for your own well-being.
Everybody's got their something. Every person has their dysfunction…their addictions. The overweight have their dysfunction right out front; it's more noticeable than other people's. Other people's dysfunction might be buried a little more.
The Bears are a fat guy of the NFL. Noticeable flaws that make you doubt them more readily.
I personally am going to try to embrace the good a little more. I've said it many times: We may get to, say, 8-3, or 9-4, and still not know whether the team overall can win a playoff game. I'm going to choose to enjoy it a little more along the way. Maybe it's a touch of willful delusion, but the league quality overall merits it.
The Bears, because they're working on it.
They're working on it. And winning while they do so…that's pretty fun.
