Return of the Moose
For three years on the plains of the Midwest, there roamed a Moose. Muhsin Muhammad, the Carolina Pro Bowl wide receiver, signed as a free agent with the Bears in 2005 and built a following around town as a person who was a hard-worker, a teammate, a pro.
So you can imagine the shock and surprise when he told Sports Illustrated earlier this year that the Chicago Bears is “where wide receivers go to die.”
Or, at least, you would think there would be SOME shock and surprise.
A little maybe?
Well, yeah, there was a little. But mostly there was collective nodding. Deion Sanders agreed with him on ESPN. And the locals here in the City of Broad Shoulders who loved him on the field pretty much gave him the pass.
How does that happen?
Well, Moose played a great deal of the 2005 season with a broken hand. We instinctively remember that. Moose would routinely take the blame for missed passes that might normally have gone to one of the young QBs throwing at him. And we appreciate him having stepped up like that. And at our core, we know we were lucky to have a good receiver like Moose play for us and help mentor the team. Because, historically, Chicago HAS been where wide receivers go to die. This is a ground-game town.
So, we still love you Moose. And when you suit up against us this weekend, back in your old Carolina blue, we’ll be wishing a good game for you (albeit one in which your team loses).
And we won’t hold that SI statement against you, because we Chicagoans are a pretty well-centered group.
We save all our delusions for the Cubs.
CHILI DAN
