It’s nothing to brag about–there was little, if anything, that concerned the Bears worth bragging about this season–but this column predicted last September that the Bears would win 11 games, and that’s how many they won. Of course, I predicted the Bears would go 10-6 in the regular season and win one playoff game, while the Bears went 11-5 and then lost their first playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys. The point is raised, again, not for bragging rights but as a way of asking the question, “Just whom did the Bears impress this season?”
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As in any postmortem, it’s amazing how easily the Bears’ season breaks down for analysis once it’s all over. Not counting the playoff loss, they finished 11-5, but that record was inflated by the failure of three division rivals to field competitive teams. The Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are all in a disarray that makes the 1989 Bears look like titans. The Bears got excited when they opened with a win over the Vikings, and the mid-season victory in Minnesota was considered proof of the Bears’ resurgence, but it turns out that beating the Vikings twice was no great feat. Sweeping the home-and-home series with the woeful Pack and the even more woeful Bucs was even less cause for celebration. So there the Bears were handed six wins; take six wins from the Bears’ record and they were 5-5. The early season doubters could very well argue that it’s not that the Bears exceeded expectations but that the Vikings, Packers, and Bucs failed to meet expectations. With even barely decent parity in the division, the Bears would have been the .500 team so many supposed them to be in September.
What did anyone gain from watching the Bears this season? Everyone was cheered by the courageous play of wide receiver Tom Waddle, from his eye-opening performance against the Jets right through to his battered nine-catch game in the playoffs. He scored the first and final touchdowns of the Bears’ season. Yet afterward, he was held up more for shame than for greatness, as the epitome of the Bears and their new team character as a group of “overachievers.” Brad Muster flowered like a butterfly as a suddenly beautiful player to watch, then went about establishing himself as the fullback version of Jim McMahon. (He went down with an injury during the Bears’ first drive against the Cowboys, and the Bears were inept inside the Dallas ten-yard line the rest of the afternoon.)
As for special teams–punting, kicking, kickoffs, and all those other hermaphrodite football plays not really offense or defense but a combination of the two–the Bears were lousy. Special teams coach Steve Kazor should be fired, and that’s all there is to it.
So pray for Buddy Ryan to be hired in Tampa Bay. It’s the one thing that could make the next few seasons worth watching.
