It’s midseason, and things have changed for the Bears.
Even their old nickname, Monsters of the Midway, assumes a different and fresh perspective with a 6-2 record.
But are they Midway to a heavenly reward seldom seen in Chicago or to yet another season from hell, that is the question.
Not since 1991 has a Bears team posted such a positive record at this turn in the road. That bunch traveled from 6-2 to 11-5 and was pushed out of the playoffs by Dallas, 17-13, the promise snuffed quickly in their first postseason game.
Mike Ditka lasted another season, but that, in effect, was the end of his era. With the Bears now second only to the 7-1 Cowboys in the NFC race, the two clubs could be on a collision course for the first time in four years.
Dallas gave the Bears its defensive coordinator, Dave Wannstedt, head coach in Chicago since 1993. So maybe there is a synergy working here that will insist on America’s Team going against Dave’s Debutantes, a group that wouldn’t be recognized in the other 49 states.
But those people you now see hanging from the sides of the bustling Bears bandwagon, clinging for dear life with a hand free in case they have to jump, aren’t there because the seats are full.
These are the tentative, the hesitant, the insecure. They want to be first to the exit just in case 6-2 dissolves into 6-5 after games in the next three weeks against Pittsburgh, Green Bay and Detroit.
The struggling Steelers are no pushover. The Packers make a habit of feasting on Bears. And just when that Bears’ run defense thinks a new day has dawned, along comes the nightmare of Detroit’s Barry Sanders.
Why all the doom and gloom, when you could easily argue the Bears have rounded a corner and are the new stars on the NFL block? Blame it on a good memory.
Some wary Chicagoans will play their rooting game in the same way the Bears perform. Just as you don’t know before the clock runs out whether the Bears have won most games, so there will be a host of skeptics reserving judgment right to the end of the regular season and beyond.
But after being 3-5 and 4-4 in his first two seasons, Wannstedt thinks the Bears have made a legtimate downpayment on a Super Bowl hunting license.
“To be in the hunt is one of the biggest things,” he said of their status. “There’s two things when you get to this halfway point–that you’re not fighting an uphill battle and that you have a healthy team.”
Except for offensive powerhouse Raymont Harris, a fullback expected to return some time in November from a broken collarbone, the Bears can’t complain about their health.
What do they have now they didn’t last season?
A wiser Erik Kramer, a more determined Curtis Conway and a promising Rashaan Salaam are the main differences on offense.
Beyond that, there’s free-agent safety Marty Carter, a maturing Jim Flanigan and a developing Al Fontenot on defense.
Three impact changes on offense, three on defense. That’s enough to have the Bears with the third-best record in the NFL, tied with the Oakland Raiders and behind only Kansas City and the Cowboys.
Qadry Ismail did prematurely hand the Bears their 14-6 victory Monday as Minnesota was driving toward the end zone and a possible tie. But Ismail’s fumble, recovered by Fontenot, was forced by Barry Minter. More a takeaway than a giveaway.
“Obviously Rashaan is still learning and it’s going to be a learning process the whole year,” Wannstedt said. “The most encouraging thing about him is his mental maturity.
“The guy is a lot farther ahead from a physical standpoint and a mental attitude than what I could have imagined. And at quarterback and wide receiver, it’s not even close to what we were doing a year ago.”
So much so that offensive coordinator Ron Turner is experiening the kind of grapevine bonanza that comes to all successful coaches.
“There’s no question Ron is capable of being a head coach,” said Wannstedt, who traveled this same road. “How it works in this league is the coaches who win and get to the championship and big games, are the coaches who get the opportunities. So it’ll happen for him.”
Sounds like a Super Bowl prediction. Anybody care to climb fully onto the bandwagon, sneer at the Packers and leave their parachute behind?
