The following is a choice lyric in the Chicago Football Bears fight song:
"Bear down, Chicago Bears, and let them know why you're wearing the crown."
Remember what Dennis Green said:
The Bears won the NFC Championship Sunday. Consider their ass crowned. But were the Bears who Dennis Green thought they were? Were the Bears the team that he Seahawks, Saints, Inside the NFL, Fox, CBS or ESPN thought they were? Obviously not.
And the doubts just keep on coming. If 15 wins didn't convince them, a 16th will be necessary. I'm happy for two more weeks of "Put your Rexy On" or "Bringing Rexy Back" pun-jokes. I'm not happy about two more weeks of Bad Rex vs. Good Rex talking head monologues.
The best storyline - not just because it's the least headache educing, but genuinely proper – is the Smith vs. Dungy match up. On February 4 the first two black head coaches to make a Super Bowl face off in the first week of Black History Month. Although I'm sure there will still be many stories regarding either a Rex-hex or Peyton's Primetime, at least it will take a meaningful back seat.
I vaguely remember Chicago's other Super Bowl appearance. The idea that I'm attempting to grasp is that for the first time in my adult life, the Super Bowl will also happen to be a Bears game. Normally Super Bowl parties are lackluster. The game never lives up to the superlative and the overall "party" creates too many distractions to enjoy the actual game (if the game ever warrants such attention).
What is a fan to do?
Should you treat it like another game? Prepare in the same way, have the same mindset, etc…?
Or do you take it to the next level, in the same fashion you hope the players accomplish?
I honestly do not know. Do you have to make it special? Isn't it already intrinsically special? Would you be missing out if you didn't make it everything it could be?
And also, embedded deep in my psyche, how can I best prepare for a defeat? I know I'm supposed to have fanatical tunnel vision, but I'm incapable of divorcing myself from the cynicism that has been with me most of my life.
And this is just the beginning… Can't they play this thing tomorrow?
