Bears Get Lazy And Almost Blow Sure Victory

That is this armchair quarterback's assessment of yesterday's game here in Chicago against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As the announcers alluded to during yesterday's broadcast, Tampa Bay used to be a sure win notch on the belt of the fellow NFC Central residents for many many years a couple times a season.

For 25 years that team was the doormat for the doormats, incapable of mustering a competitive challenge to their northern NFC Central division competitors in their home stadiums, particularly as the dead of winter approached late in the season surrounding these treacherous Great Lakes. At least that what they used to say.

In fact, die hard rabid idiotic football fans of old like myself used to regularly refer to Tampa Bay back in the days as The "Tampa Bay F*&^*n Qu#$%@" (email me if you cannot figure that offensive slur of slurs out) regularly while watching them get their backsides handed to them Sunday after Sunday year after year. That says a lot when we as Bears fans have seen the bottom of the bottomless pit many years supporting this team through thick and thin.

As most fans now know, the Buccaneers have flirted with, become and then retreated as the league elite and are now in one of those dreaded franchise nosedives that we here in Chicago know all to well not only in the football stadium here, but any other pro sports arena that is located within the boundaries of the Windy City.

Anyways, the Bears hibernated in the fourth quarter of yesterdays game allowing the Buccaneers back into the game in a big way, only to then allow the Bears to squeak out a victory they did not deserve for the third or fourth time this season on their way to a super bowl berth we all hope.

But, as a true fan from way back, this team does not compare with the benchmark 1985 team anymore, that of playing in a dominating fashion many times and yet simultaneously displaying pee wee or Canadian football like flashbacks all too frequently to be considered the best of the best. And I myself do not want to see this team squeak by for the remainder of the season stumbling accidentally into a championship cheapening the legacy of the few and far between Chicago championship teams that lived up to the hard working blue collar image of the city earning the trophy only when they deserved it, other that in absence of a more worthy recipient, which seems to be the case right now.

Bears out on top as Johnson situation looms
Tough week ends with blown lead, OT win, No. 1 seed; Tank decision expected today

December 18, 2006
BY BRAD BIGGS Staff Reporter

At this point, the Bears will need an extra plane to get to Miami with all the baggage they are carrying.

But at least they know the road to Super Bowl XLI goes through Chicago. They clinched the top seed in the NFC playoffs Sunday when Robbie Gould, atoning for an earlier miss, kicked a 25-yard field goal with 3:37 remaining in overtime for a 34-31 victory over the down-and-out Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It's the first time since 1988 that the Bears (12-2) have earned the top spot, and eight of the NFC's last 12 No. 1 seeds have reached the Super Bowl.

But the news wasn't all positive. With Tank Johnson joining fellow tackle Tommie Harris in the absentee ranks, the Bears' decimated defense looked vulnerable in the second half against the NFL's worst offense. read more

• Photos: Bucs stop here
• Mariotti: Bad seeds sprouting
• Telander: Sports, real life crash
• Mulligan: Tank-less job ahead?
• Full Court Press: Better to win ugly
• Fans: Give Johnson a chance
• The case: Photos may show clues

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