“This is the defending division champion.”
“This team was one win away.”
“We won 11 games last year.”
These statements, continually uttered by Chicago Bears faithful this preseason, are often in response to news regarding offseason moves and personnel changes, as well used to combat decisions made by Head Coach Lovie Smith and General Manager Jerry Angelo. Bears fans want to see 2010 results in 2011.
Before we form our opinions on how we feel about the Chicago Bears acquisitions, draft picks, cuts, re-signings, preseason performance, and everything in-between, perhaps we should first look at the ground floor where the basis for our assessments begin: the previous season.
Many opinions have centered on the fact that the Bears finished the 2010-2011 season with an impressive 11 wins and extended their season into the NFC Championship Game. While the team failed to make it to the Super Bowl, you would be hard pressed to find someone who would write off such a season. But should we?
Being a Bears fan, when the 2010 schedule was released, I cowered when seeing Chicago’s opponents. On the road against the Giants and Dallas, and facing New England, the Jets, and Philadelphia at home seemed daunting. Tough match-ups against future Super Bowl winners Green Bay and the Favre-led Vikings did little more to calm Bears fans, as well as the supposed-emergence of the new-look Detroit Lions. I picked the Bears to finish 5-11 after the schedule was released.
The Bears put up solid, deserving wins against an overrated Dallas team, a poor Panthers squad, the water-logged Dolphins, and two wins against Minnesota. Add in a gritty performance against the Jets, and that totals six, quality wins.
The Bears were beaten handily by the Giants, Seahawks, Redskins, Packers, and were obliterated in Week 14 against the Patriots in a game where every Bear seemingly decided to crap the bed. Five deserving loses, including a single Redskins game where the Bears may have deserved to be awarded two loses.
That total puts the Bears at 6-5 for the year. The other five wins seem to have merely been gifted to Chicago.
They caught an undermanned, injury-plagued Packers team in Week 3. They tried as hard as they could to lose in Toronto to the Bills in Week 9. Drew Stanton was gift wrapped for the Bears in Week 13. And say what you will about Calvin Johnson’s Week 1 non-touchdown. They were outgained yardage-wise in both the first Lions victory and against Green Bay in Week 3. Against Buffalo and in the Week 13 Detroit matchup, the Bears outgained their two opponents by a total of 21 yards, 14 and 9 respectively. These matchups gave the Bears four seemingly undeserved wins.
(In the only unmentioned game, Chicago had a soggy, ripped-up Soldier Field on their side against Michael Vick and the speedy Eagles in Week 12. Regardless, Jay Cutler threw four touchdown passes and the Bears played their only turnover-free game of the year. While another possibly questionable game, I’ll give it to the Bears.)
If we award Chicago the Philadelphia game, their record would presumably stand at 7-5. Open the year with a loss to the Lions and Pack, the Bears start the year 1-2. A 1-2 team prepares and plays far different than a 3-0 team, and1-2 could have quickly turned into 2-5 with actual loses to the Giants, Seahawks, and Redskins. Turn the other questionable wins into loses, the Bears finish at 7-9 and our outlook towards the 2011-2012 season is drastically different.
Injuries, weather, and bad calls are a part of every game, and obviously should not be thrown away as if they don’t contribute. My humble point is that the 2010-2011 Chicago Bears did not truly appear as NFC Championship caliber, despite what their record says. We should base our expectations for the upcoming season upon the team’s true caliber.