Oh, the Pain!
Oh, that hurt.
Gotta tell ya, by the time the Vikings kicked their field goal to win it in the last seconds over the Giants, thus ending the Bears chances of winning the division, the wind was already out of my sails.
But the capper comes three hours later as the Eagles completely wipe out the Cowboys. Which would have ensured the Bears a wild card entry - if they had won. Which they didn't.
All roads to the playoffs required a Bears win. And there was none to be had today.
I'd like to have that positive mental attitude. You know, that "well, they did a whole lot better than people predicted they would" feeling. But I'm just not there. It always felt to me like they might be able to get there. Call me naive. But I had a decent feeling back in Bourbonnais, and it didn't go away until today.
Granted, that feeling has been sweating profusely for a couple of weeks just trying to get to today. But it was there.
So our Bears season is over. There was a lot of talk today among the folks with whom we were eating chili about what should happen next. Start making the O-Line a bit younger? Seek out a Number 1 type receiver? Convince Jerry Angelo to let someone else make the first round pick for us (since he's not been so good at it lately)? Not really sure what the magic formula will be.
But I do have to admit that anytime you have a playoff-related reason to watch every single game, even when some of those games are stupefying, it's because you've had a good season. So I guess that might be the first sign that I'm coming around to the positivity stuff.
Who knew it would be so fast?
CHILI DAN
