The game meant nothing, which is pretty much how the Bears played it, but Saturday night`s 24-13 loss to the ignoble Indianapolis Colts could provide a worthwhile, if not overdone, service to Chicago`s sporting consumers. That is, don`t count your playoff tickets until they`re printed.
Exhibition games are by design what they always will be, banal trips to the sauna bath to ascertain whether a prized draft choice–say, the best refrigerator available–is worth his weight in Fritos. Scores and highlights, though, are confetti.
But this year, off what they did last year, the Bears have conspired to evoke immediate and promising thoughts of what the postseason will offer. Which is precisely why the preseason has been disturbing, because it has created all the vital elements of a Chicago athletic enigma revisited–great expectations shattered.
Bear fans, a perennially whiplashed lot, have spent many a sleepless night, and many a sleepy afternoon at Soldier Field. This regimen was interrupted last season by an enlivened team that blended considerable talent and excellent attitude to reach rarefied heights previously reserved only for coach Mike Ditka`s high-flying clipboards.
But now that William Perry`s grazing habits have been well-chronicled, it is time to move on to what is left of the Bear club that contained Super Bowl- champion San Francisco better last January than the 49ers` Super Bowl opponents. Will that fire return, or do Mike Singletary, Al Harris and Todd Bell have to return first?
”I`m worried about the lethargy,” admitted general manager Jerry Vainisi. ”I had hoped that coming back to Chicago from training camp in Platteville (Wis.) might help, but it`s like everybody is looking over their shoulders, waiting for those three players to show up. It`s an uneasy situation, and, naturally, you worry what will happen if they don`t show up.” Ditka, for one, is tired of discussing this touchiest of subjects. He`d rather talk about what the three ”replacements”–Brian Cabral (for Singletary), Wilber Marshall (Harris) and Dave Duerson (Bell)–have shown, instead of the three bodies who haven`t shown. Ditka even referred to the reluctant triumvirate as ”the other people” after Saturday night`s tiff at the cement colossus on the lake.
Vainisi can afford to name names, if only because he has them on the tip of his tongue every minute he`s awake. He is also a leading man in this morality play. It is his job to preserve whatever momentum the Bears discovered last year; it is also his job to abide by the wishes of his boss, president Michael McCaskey.
”In the long run, what would hurt us more is if we buckle under,”
Vainisi mentioned. ”We have to play hardball. I`ve talked to other clubs about Al Harris. Kansas City, Miami. They`ve asked what we`re offering, what he`s not accepting and they say that we`re being more than fair. Already, it`s too rich for the blood of a lot of teams.
”Bell`s agent (Howard Slusher) has a history of asking his clients for the absolute last day they think they can join a team without missing too much time. Maybe something will happen quickly there. Singletary, I asked Walter Payton what he thought of our proposal to him, and Walter thought it was more than fair.
”There will be a point–I don`t know when, maybe a week before our regular-season opener–when we`ll have to draw the line at negotiations. Break them off. Go without the three players. From Michael McCaskey to myself to the coaches, we`re all united on this. I would hate to see that change, but if you go 0-4, I suppose that`s possible, too.”
Vainisi says he senses that fans have had enough of this business disguised as sport; they`re pro-management, at least now. He also must comprehend that, if the Bears greet Indianapolis here again on Dec. 8 with a 5-8 record, public opinion might have changed markedly. By then, people who pay to attend might also exercise the privilege to voice a change of heart about how this situation was handled. It is a gamble, and even His Sweetness has some qualms about the outcome.
”Right now, I`m concerned a little about the chemistry, the attitude of this team,” Payton allowed. ”Not the personnel, the makeup. Jerry Vainisi has done all he can do, according to club policy. A contract is like marriage, except in marriage, you can get a divorce. In the NFL, there`s no place to go. But it`s a free country, and Mike Singletary feels strongly in what he`s doing, so I respect him for it.
”We`re all waiting to see what happens when the whistle blows. We all expect them to be here. There`s been a lot of negative stuff coming from all this, but I`m not worried, really. We should have what it takes to repeat. The fat lady hasn`t even warmed up yet. She doesn`t sing during exhibition games, does she?”
Ditka thinks it`s a bit premature to ”dig the grave and put the tombstone on it,” and he`s probably correct. Steve McMichael says there are too many Bears who want to knock heads. He wants the three missing links to reappear, but ”we`ve still got it from last year . . . if it was 22 guys holding out instead of 3, we`d lose it. But we`ve got it.”
Meanwhile, Bear fans should feel free to keep open minds about what the winter might offer. There is no law that a very good team one year will become even better the next year, especially when it`s not the same team. It costs nothing to be cautious. Besides, disappointment is a year-round malady of Chicago playpens. Will an usher be tearing those Bear tickets in half next January? Or will you?
