Chicago Tribune
Bernie Lincicome
Training camp is the NFL's refrigerator magnet season, a replica of the real thing, but entirely decorative and of limited use.
For the Bears it is, as usual, a mixture of wishing and wanting, this time with a whole new bunch of strangers in charge, none of whom can, alas, play football.
Trying to put together a respectable NFL team this Bears training camp will be like trying to rearrange a junkyard full of used tires.
What the Bears need are better football players rather than better resumes, the most notable being that of coach John Fox who has been to two Super Bowls with two different teams. This achievement was not impressive enough to keep his job in either Carolina or Denver.
Still, for Chicago, his is a distinguished pedigree, certainly more impressive than that of the last guy, Marc Trestman, who proved to be too gentle, and occasionally too befuddled, for the sport of brutes.
The world begins with training camp. Gloom comes later, by October surely, November absolutely and January eventually. The world for now is as cheery as it will get, just before the Bears matter again.
The notion that the Bears may just be the worst team in football does not defy reason, nor is it likely to start arguments even among the faithful. Who is worse? Tampa Bay? Washington?
Each one is on a relatively benign Bears' schedule, so it is unlikely that the Bears will go completely winless. Still it may not be too soon to start considering who might be the No. 1 draft choice (assuming he is a quarterback to erase the annual regret that has been Jay Cutler).
The best Bears quarterback has always been one who is not playing for the Bears. Cutler has managed the remarkable achievement of being tomorrow's quarterback on his way to becoming yesterday's quarterback without ever being today's quarterback.
The Bears have reached the point of being unable to disappoint. That is the beauty of lowered expectations. Every little success looks like a step up. Say, losing to Green Bay in the opener by only 10 points rather than 21 or 41 as they did last season.
And any time the Bears defense holds a team as it failed to do on successive weekends-why, pass the bottle, boys, the stink is now a rare perfume.
Ah, yes. The Bears defense. Once the pride and delight of generations, the one dependable identity of the Bears, built around a fierce middle linebacker, with safeties that could maim, corners that could pick and a rush that could make a quarterback stammer when calling signals, that defense is now a collection of sighs spread in unfamiliar spaces.
Inside linebackers, outside linebackers, nose tackles, no tackles. Introducing the starting defense-Whozat, Howzat, Whatizname and Huh?
The Bears have three middle linebackers in the Hall of Fame and four when Brian Urlacher gets there, meaning there is a place for them in Canton but not in Chicago's new scheme.
This change belongs to Vic Fangio, the new defensive coordinator. Whether it will work or whether it is just busy work, what it seems to be is an attempt to disguise what is obvious, these guys are not very good.
Of the nine Bears coaches (now 10) who have succeeded George Halas, not one has had a winning record in his first season. Only two managed to win in his second season and even Chicago's antique treasure, Mike Ditka, who came to a great team, didn't win until his third year (and went to only one Super Bowl instead of five, but that's another column.)
No off season acquisitions improved the Bears and one-temporary defensive tackle Ray McDonald, awash in domestic abuse charges-embarrassed the Bears and exposed their desperation.
This Bears team is no better than the one that lost its last five games, and probably a worse one, a team that has permission to be as awful as it should be, a team marking time until it can rid itself of Cutler, lose the well worn Matt Forte as well, and become relevant again.
Refrigerator magnets? Maybe bobble head dolls. To be generous.
Lincicome is a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune.
Bernie Lincicome
Training camp is the NFL's refrigerator magnet season, a replica of the real thing, but entirely decorative and of limited use.
For the Bears it is, as usual, a mixture of wishing and wanting, this time with a whole new bunch of strangers in charge, none of whom can, alas, play football.
Trying to put together a respectable NFL team this Bears training camp will be like trying to rearrange a junkyard full of used tires.
What the Bears need are better football players rather than better resumes, the most notable being that of coach John Fox who has been to two Super Bowls with two different teams. This achievement was not impressive enough to keep his job in either Carolina or Denver.
Still, for Chicago, his is a distinguished pedigree, certainly more impressive than that of the last guy, Marc Trestman, who proved to be too gentle, and occasionally too befuddled, for the sport of brutes.
The world begins with training camp. Gloom comes later, by October surely, November absolutely and January eventually. The world for now is as cheery as it will get, just before the Bears matter again.
The notion that the Bears may just be the worst team in football does not defy reason, nor is it likely to start arguments even among the faithful. Who is worse? Tampa Bay? Washington?
Each one is on a relatively benign Bears' schedule, so it is unlikely that the Bears will go completely winless. Still it may not be too soon to start considering who might be the No. 1 draft choice (assuming he is a quarterback to erase the annual regret that has been Jay Cutler).
The best Bears quarterback has always been one who is not playing for the Bears. Cutler has managed the remarkable achievement of being tomorrow's quarterback on his way to becoming yesterday's quarterback without ever being today's quarterback.
The Bears have reached the point of being unable to disappoint. That is the beauty of lowered expectations. Every little success looks like a step up. Say, losing to Green Bay in the opener by only 10 points rather than 21 or 41 as they did last season.
And any time the Bears defense holds a team as it failed to do on successive weekends-why, pass the bottle, boys, the stink is now a rare perfume.
Ah, yes. The Bears defense. Once the pride and delight of generations, the one dependable identity of the Bears, built around a fierce middle linebacker, with safeties that could maim, corners that could pick and a rush that could make a quarterback stammer when calling signals, that defense is now a collection of sighs spread in unfamiliar spaces.
Inside linebackers, outside linebackers, nose tackles, no tackles. Introducing the starting defense-Whozat, Howzat, Whatizname and Huh?
The Bears have three middle linebackers in the Hall of Fame and four when Brian Urlacher gets there, meaning there is a place for them in Canton but not in Chicago's new scheme.
This change belongs to Vic Fangio, the new defensive coordinator. Whether it will work or whether it is just busy work, what it seems to be is an attempt to disguise what is obvious, these guys are not very good.
Of the nine Bears coaches (now 10) who have succeeded George Halas, not one has had a winning record in his first season. Only two managed to win in his second season and even Chicago's antique treasure, Mike Ditka, who came to a great team, didn't win until his third year (and went to only one Super Bowl instead of five, but that's another column.)
No off season acquisitions improved the Bears and one-temporary defensive tackle Ray McDonald, awash in domestic abuse charges-embarrassed the Bears and exposed their desperation.
This Bears team is no better than the one that lost its last five games, and probably a worse one, a team that has permission to be as awful as it should be, a team marking time until it can rid itself of Cutler, lose the well worn Matt Forte as well, and become relevant again.
Refrigerator magnets? Maybe bobble head dolls. To be generous.
Lincicome is a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune.
