‘Tis the season of mixed feelings if you’re a Bears fan.
Football seasons are hard to settle into. The NFL has done a good job of making the sport a 12-month event. Seventeen games in a season throw off the balance we seek in basketball, hockey or baseball. Those sports have real ebb and flow. That’s not the case with football. It puts us on edge. The games feel urgent, and, in every season, there’s a team that comes from nowhere to be a real factor in the postseason. That parity allows every fan base to dream big when the schedule arrives.
Bears fans have been stuck in a recurring nightmare since January 2019. Watch, I’ll prove it to you. DOUBLE-DOINK! That phrase can give even the toughest -Grabowski a case of hives. And why? -Because it harkens back to the days of trying to figure out if the Bears indeed had a franchise quarterback.
I’m not here to relitigate the drafting nor the development of Mitch Trubisky. We all can admit now that it was a failed experiment conducted by two mad scientists, Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy. Consequences from that experiment reverberate today.
Football is such a team sport that it feels silly for us to put any individual ahead of the rest of the squad. It’s noble to be a “team guy” type of fan but not always realistic. Quarterback is the most important position in pro sports, and the only way that your team has a legitimate chance of winning a Super Bowl is if your front office has gotten that position right.
So you wake up, and it’s 2022. Justin Fields is the quarterback, and you’re not quite sure how to feel about him yet. That’s OK. The sample size is still too small to reach any conclusion, except this one: Fields’ development is more important to the Bears than anything else that will happen this year. Yes, even wins.
Think about it . . . the comeback against the 49ers had you euphoric, but even Zendaya couldn’t save you from the reality of the butt-whuppin’ in Green Bay. The win against the Texans had you singing “Bear Down” on the ride home, but once you got there, it felt a tad empty because Fields was outplayed by somebody named Davis Mills.
Sunday against the Vikings felt more like a win than the actual wins the Bears have. It was the first tangible proof of Fields’ potential. If you were angry at Ihmir Smith-Marsette for having the ball snatched away to end the game, that was the residue of hope.
In the second half, Fields was 12-for-13 for 135 yards and a touchdown and had 36 yards rushing. The Bears’ offense was humming, and Fields was the engine making it go. His play was so good that you were able to visualize a scenario in which they’d complete the comeback with a touchdown. Then maybe Matt “Riverboat Flusy” Eberflus would’ve gone for the two-point conversion and a glorious division victory. That daydreaming was courtesy of Fields looking more comfortable than he ever has as a pro.
It’s key to remember that progress isn’t always linear. Fields could stumble against the Commanders, but his success Sunday allows you to wonder what might be if he’s that dude. The Bears stumbling backward into six or seven victories without Fields growing would be mostly pointless, but think about how you would feel if the light clicks on for No. 1, and this team finished 7-10 because of him. That was the warm feeling in your fallow heart Sunday.
In ”Avengers: Endgame,” a distraught and vengeful Hawkeye softly sighs: “Don’t give me hope.” That’s you — the tortured Bears fan.
Allow me to be your Black Widow . . . I’m sorry I couldn’t give it to you sooner.
You can hear Laurence Holmes talk Chicago sports Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 670 The Score with Dan Bernstein.
