Still Gotta Come Through Chicago
Still Gotta Come Through Chicago
Hello Darkness, My Old Friend
This week’s newsletter is solely a eulogy to our beloved Bears. In the next few weeks, there will be a new Bulls audio portion, a breakdown of the Cubs and Sox offseasons, and a return to the normally scheduled rants for each team…
Big things coming for the newsletter in the new year.
And hey, join the thread this week. Let’s get over this together.
I figured the Bears would be eliminated from the playoffs over the next few weeks, and I also thought today’s game would be the toughest. But after watching that game, none of those expectations made it feel better.
Because, as the Bears are wont to do, they roped us in. They wouldn’t let us down easy, and to some extent, that’s a testament to the team. I came into the season loving this team, learned to hate them in the middle of the year, and then became proud again to be rooting for them in the fourth quarter.
I was proud to root for Akiem Hicks, who battled his ass off when he clearly shouldn’t have been playing in the first place. You don’t see that kind of shit much any more, man. He pissed me off with his sign off on Waddle and Silvy a few weeks back, but he earned my unconditional respect forever today. Not only was he hurt, in frigid conditions, but he was making plays!
Nick Kwiatkoski was once somewhat of a joke to Bears fans. He was the back up linebacker who came in and made some plays in the preseason but you never wanted in the game. Is there any doubt as to whether he’s a starting linebacker in the league now?
He sacks Rodgers and puts them out of field goal range to keep the Bears’ hopes alive. Whether you want to admit or not, this team battled back from being down 21-3 to having a chance to send it to over time in a span of 15 minutes. And they did it despite awful officiating, despite poor coaching decisions, and despite bad injury luck.
But that was the 2019 Bears. They could never let us down easy. We thought we’d be out of the playoff race mid-year, yet here we were thinking we still had a chance with three games to play. They were down 21-3, roped us in about seven separate times in the fourth quarter alone, and then ultimately lost on the last play. In some ways, that’s an amazing thing. But it’s also an awful thing, and made this come down so much worse.
I wish we lost 35-3, I really do. If that was the final score, I wouldn’t be running through all of these What ifs? in my head right now, five hours after the game ended.
What if Jesper Horsted used his brain, didn’t try to take it himself like Zach LaVine at the end of a Bulls game, and pitched it to Allen Robinson? I cannot believe that play worked so flawlessly. Only the Bears could run a hook and ladder to absolute perfection, only for a third-string tight end to ruin it at the end. There is no chance Allen Robinson doesn’t score there. Knowing the Bears, they probably would’ve failed the two-point conversion anyway. But the shock of it all may have given them an edge. What a missed opportunity.
In a year where NFL refs have been awful, and especially awful to the Bears, that was the unquestionably the worst call I’ve seen. It completely changed the game, and won’t be talked about tomorrow outside of Bears fans’ circles.
Not only is that not a penalty, it’s TEXTBOOK. The best possible play that Patterson could’ve made, followed by an immediate recovery by the Bears. Instead of the Bears getting the ball in Green Bay territory, the Packers get the ball—and 15 yards—and go on to score a touchdown. Without that missed call, the entire game changes. It’s not enough to take seven points away from Green Bay. Momentum matters too much in football to think that that play doesn’t have a ripple effect on the rest of the game. The Bears are leading at half—who knows how big of a lead it could’ve been?—without this egregious missed call. For the refs not to rectify that is a crime. How does another ref not come in and say, ‘hey, let’s use our brains…he wasn’t there early, it was timed perfectly. And there was no fair catch signaled. So why are we throwing a flag?’ I don’t think I’ll get over this for a while, and it really does seem like such a Packer thing. When does this team not get the benefit of the doubt from the officials? It’s unbelievable.
This one will be forgotten about.
This isn’t even a good angle. There was a side view that clearly showed a green sliver between his cleat and the chalk. The ref that’s right there misses it. Then Nagy refuses to challenge, even though he challenged the long catch and run to Jake Kumerow in the third quarter, which was not even close to being overturned. (By the way, we really could’ve used that timeout later on). There’s no excuse not to challenge that, nor is there an excuse to kick a field goal afterwards. That should’ve been a first down at the one yard line. Assuming the Bears can score from 1st and goal at the 1, that puts us down potentially just 10 with 14+ minutes left in the game. But the fact that we elected to kick a field goal from the 10-yard line down three scores in the fourth quarter boggles my mind. Cutting the lead from 21-3 to 21-6 with 15 minutes left to go until your playoff hopes are shattered is indefensible.
On the play that resulted in a turnover on downs with less than two minutes remaining, Allen Robinson was held and interfered with. Of course the NFL isn’t going to overturn that, because the officiating is a joke. But what if Mitch throws a slightly better ball, and draws the penalty on the field? That’s a first down deep into Packer territory with plenty of time to score. Then again, who knows if the refs would’ve called it, even if the ball was placed better. They missed him being held for the 5 seconds prior anyway.
Break for this week’s thread, which I hope more people will join this week:
Where does this rank in your most disappointing Bears seasons of your lifetime? And, what needs to change this offseason?
I’m sure there are even more What if? plays that y’all are considering today that I’m not. But it goes with the theme of the entire season.
What if we beat the Chargers? The Raiders? The Eagles? The Rams? Hell, even the Packers the first time around?
Now, a showdown with the reigning MVP on Sunday Night Football will be nothing more than an exhibition game.
A few friends and I have been going to the closest home game to Christmas for years now, which has resulted in ruined Christmas Eve family parties and perhaps delayed illnesses after taking our shirts off in sub-freezing weather as Bears QB Matt Barkley threw five interceptions. Unfortunately, we missed last year. Isn’t that just wonderful? So next week we’ll head to Soldier Field again, with exactly zero playoff hopes, for the (who knows) straight year. How depressing is that?
But, nevertheless, Soldier Field will be packed. I will probably take my shirt off and drink $80 worth of beers in the stadium. I’ll lose my voice screaming on third downs, and the Bears will probably lose. The Bears weren’t always good enough this year on the three phases of the game that they can control. But on the only one we can control, the fourth phase, we brought it every game, all year. Sometimes it feels like that’s under-appreciated. Just like it is in the United Center. And at Wrigley. And at Guaranteed Rate.
I’m embarrassed to say that it makes me feel sick to my stomach, but it does. Another football season has come and gone and the Bears won’t be playing in a meaningful game past Christmas. We’ve been here before, and we’ve been here far more often than we’ve been there. But it really never gets easier.
I keep telling people I’ll be watching the last two games because I have a bet on the Bears winning over 8.5 games this year, but that’s a lie. I’ll be watching because I watch every game no matter what, and always have. The thought of waiting until next year is so daunting that I’ll do whatever I can to rid myself of it. On this very newsletter we counted down the days to the opening game every week. It came and now it’s gone, before the season is even officially over.
Stay low boys, keep those feet moving.
P.S. Special shoutout to @levy_declan, a Chicago guy who is now working in La Crosse, Wisconsin as a television reporter. A die hard Bears fan, he had to report from Lambeau on Sunday from a Packer fan perspective. And still, he has in his Twitter bio “Bear fan”. If that isn’t Still Gotta Come Through Chicago, I don’t know what is. If I had to report for a Wisconsin station at that game, I think I’d be fired by halftime. He sent Still Gotta Come Through Chicago a video of him asking Aaron Rodgers a question after the game, too, and that ass hole didn’t even look at him while answering. The fact that that average ass quarterback on that average ass team may get a playoff bye sickens me.
Anyway, shoutout to all SGCTChicagoans. Someday, our time will come. Time to get back to work.
Hit the thread, I want this lively all week. Will be posting to Twitter about reactions on the thread all week. By the way, our Twitter page is officially at 100+ followers.
Follow: @stillgottaChi
Betting pick:
Last week’s pick was Cowboys +1 and they dominated the Rams. Another easy win for the newsletter. That brings the record to 18-9.
No pick this week, next week we’ll return with a few bowl picks heading into the holidays.