It’s Adorable Seeing the Bears Try To Play the Role Of Juggernaut

How about those Chicago Bears!

After beating 40-year-old Joe Flacco in a shootout where Flacco looked like an MVP candidate for 60 minutes, the Bears followed that up by holding off a feisty 2-10 New York Giants squad that was led late in that game by the electric Russell Wilson.

Watching this team act like a serious juggernaut is hilarious.

If those two wins to start November didn’t convince you, the Bears followed it up by beating a Minnesota Vikings team that is having issues with the concept of the forward pass; all it took was a game-winning field goal as time expired. The always-reliable Mason Rudolph came up just short for the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 31-28 win for the Bears the following week. It was a victory that had them sticking their chests out as though they had just defeated the 1978 “Steel Curtain” version of the Steelers.

What a daunting road to 9-3! We didn’t even mention beating Spencer Rattler and the New Orleans Saints, or needing a blocked field goal late to escape Las Vegas with a one-point win! Wow!

As things currently stand in the NFC, the Bears would have the No. 1 seed if the season ended right now. How shocking it was then to see that all the sports books, including FanDuel, aren’t buying the hype! Via FanDuel, the Bears are +1300 to win the NFC. They have the seventh-best odds behind the Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, Philadelphia Eagles, Packers, San Francisco 49ers, and even the Detroit Lions.

The Bears are the feel-good story of the NFL so far this year that nobody believes is a serious contender. They’re the team everyone in the NFC wants to see in the playoffs. They are Tulane or James Madison making the College Football Playoff. It’s a cool story, but there is no threat.

How many parents have had their grade schooler bring home a drawing? As the parent, you’re required to act amazed, brag about it to others, and maybe even post it online. Nobody is going to criticize little Jenny or Charlie’s drawing. But this isn’t a Picasso. It’s not even hotel art. It belongs on the fridge for a couple of weeks. The Bears are the grade schoolers getting false reassurance from everyone around them because they don’t know any better.

How awesome was the scene after Friday’s win over the Eagles — a genuinely impressive beatdown at that — when head coach Ben Johnson took his shirt off in the locker room to fire up the squad. It came to light that a local hot dog joint on the North Side, The Wieners Circle, had guaranteed Chicagoans free hot dogs if the head coach took his shirt off after any win this year. Johnson obliged after the win in Philly, and the hot dog stand did their part to hold up the bargain.

It was nice to see a local business get some notoriety in a city starving for it. This is Chicago, the same city that reported business activity declining for the 23rd consecutive month as of the middle of November. It’s nice to see the Bears doing their part to help pump up a local outlet. Who knows, maybe if they started every season 9-3, bars and restaurants in the area wouldn’t look like the Bears’ trophy case.

But we digress.

The Bears appearing to be a legitimate contender is good for the NFL and for the “rivalry” with the Packers. Nobody is more fatigued than Packers fans, hearing Bears fans bark year after year, despite the Bears being 1-11 against Green Bay since Matt LaFleur took over. It’s exhausting.

Packers fans were conflicted when Aaron Rodgers bellowed, “I OWN YOU” to Bears fans at Soldier Field during a 2021 win. They may have seemed more than pleased with what Rodgers said, reposting it online constantly and laughing hysterically. Deep down, they felt bad that the MVP and Super Bowl Champion quarterback would yell that at a fanbase nearing rock bottom yet again.

For the good of this historic rivalry, one that hasn’t been competitive since the George H.W. Bush administration (Green Bay is 51-15 against the Bears since the early 1990s), it’s great to see the Bears have a fun year. It’s made Sunday’s affair that much more appealing for the general viewer.

It’s the most important Packers-Bears tilt since what? Maybe 2013, when Randall Cobb caught a 48-yard touchdown pass in Chicago to clinch the NFC North crown? That was the same season Rodgers missed eight games, and the Packers shuffled through Seneca Wallace, Scott Tolzien, and Matt Flynn at quarterback before Rodgers came back for the finale to throw for 318 yards in the win. The Bears couldn’t even claim the division in a season where Wallace, Tolzien, and Flynn started half the games under center for Green Bay.

Let’s forget about all of that, though, and focus on this wonderfully jolly season for Chicago as they head to Green Bay on Sunday.