Over the years I have witnessed mostly bad Bears teams. Since
1985 they have played in only one Super Bowl and got blown out. Speaking of
blowouts, yesterday’s game in Tampa ranks among the Bears all-time worst
losses. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers scored 32 first half points leading to a
38-3 victory. The Bucs are probably the best team in the NFL and are poised
to win a second straight Super Bowl. While no one expected the Bears
to win, they might not have expected it would be this ugly.
Tom Brady threw four touchdown passes in the first half. He
probably could have
thrown four more if the Bucs hadn’t decided to carve up the
Bear defense running the ball. Without Akiem Hicks and Robert
Quinn, Khalil Mack and the pass rush are invisible. Quinn is out with
COVID-19. If vaccinated, you are allowed to play if you have you
negative tests prior to the game. Unvaccinated players have to sit
out. Being unvaccinated, Quinn also put his teammates in
danger of contracting the virus.
Rookie QB Justin Fields had a poor outing with five turnovers.
While he made some mistakes, some of these came under extreme duress.
Inexplicable, but not surprising, the Bears made no adjustments. The main
objective of the offense should be to protect your franchise quarterback
at all costs. Coach Matt Nagy just doesn’t get it. If you need a silver lining, running back Khalil Herbert gained 100 yards on 18 carries. He also caught five pas
ses for 33 yards.
If you think things couldn’t get worse for Chicago sports fans,
you haven’t been following the Blackhawks. The Hawks are 0-5-1. They haven’t
had a lead in any of the games. There have been relatively no changes from
last year’s low scoring offense. Instead of improving on that end, GM
Stan Bowman acquired three defensemen and a goalie. You
could have all Norris Trophy winning defensemen, but when you
don’t score and rarely have possession of the puck you can’t win.
The Blackhawks will probably not make the playoffs for the
fifth consecutive year.* I can’t figure
out why Bowman is still allowed to run the team.
If you are looking for a positive, there are the Chicago Bulls.
President of Basketball Operations, Arturas Karnisovas, and GM Marc Eversley
have completely revamped the Bulls roster. This is a fun and exciting
team to watch. They are currently 3-0, but I will curb my enthusiasm as they have
played two of the worst teams in the league. We will know more as they face
tougher competition this week.
*The Hawks made the playoffs when the field expanded to 24 teams
in the shortened pandemic season otherwise they would not have qualified.
Could not agree more!
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