The Bears had hoped to come out of their fourth exhibition game Saturday night with some resolutions about their roster, not the least of which was who will start the regular season at quarterback.
But the Bears-Arizona Cardinals game was postponed an hour and 15 minutes after the scheduled 7 p.m. kickoff because of heavy rain and lightning. The game was rescheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday.
The Cardinals’ players voted just before midnight Saturday to accept the rescheduling. They had initially questioned whether playing the game Sunday night would have violated their collective-bargaining agreement, which entitles players to a day off after six consecutive days of work.
“If you’re going to follow the rules, you have to follow the rules,” said Arizona linebacker Eric Hill. “But at the same time, the owners and the players somehow have to work together.”
The Bears had last Monday off after a loss in Miami, so the rule does not apply to them. Bears President Michael McCaskey said Sunday’s game will be televised on WBBM-Ch. 2 and broadcast on WMAQ-AM 670. Saturday’s game tickets will be honored. If more rain Sunday forces cancellation of the game, McCaskey said, refunds will be made.
“Both teams would like to get to work,” he said. “We’d like to offer this game for the fans. A lot of people would like to see us play.”
Bears quarterback Erik Kramer, slated for his first preseason start, said he was concerned about the condition of the natural-grass field.
“It’s going to be in miserable shape,” he said. “There’s no way we’re going to have anything close to a real football game out there, even (Sunday).”
The storm, which began about 5:45 p.m., dumped as much as 5 inches of rain on the Chicago area. The torrential rainfall flooded expressways, city streets and basements, and high winds knocked out electrical power to at least 56,000 Commonwealth Edison Co. customers.
The field looked much better by 9 p.m., and McCaskey was cautiously optimistic about playing Sunday.
“We still don’t know exactly what the weather is going to be,” he said. “It’s very uncertain in Chicago. There are pumps for this drainage system, so I’m sure the park district will be pumping the water out as hard and as fast as they can. We’ll just have to see tomorrow whether it’s a playable field.”
Bears players were not complaining about the postponement.
“We were all dressed up and we wanted to go dance,” quarterback Rick Mirer said. “But with the amount of rain, it wasn’t doable. Nobody would have asked the next guy to go out and play in that stuff in the preseason. The regular season is a little different.”
“We wanted to play, but you can’t question it,” defensive lineman Carl Simpson said. “This is the Lord doing this, so I’m not even mad. You just can’t question the Lord.”
Players took the field for warmups and left after about half an hour when the rain and lightning got worse. A delegation of players, coaches and officials later took the field to assess the conditions. By then, small ponds covered the playing surface, later enticing several fans and even an unidentified Bear to do running bellyflops.
“You’re not scared you’re going to get hurt,” running back Raymont Harris said, “but if you’re going to get hurt, you want to earn it doing something good, something in the regular season, making a good run, not in foul conditions like this.”
Bears coach Dave Wannstedt said Sunday’s game will be valuable in terms of “evaluation and a continuity standpoint. It’s a game we need to get in. Too many jobs are at stake with a cut coming Tuesday (from 80 players to 60).”
All agreed, however, that it still will be difficult to make solid judgments. “The quarterbacks were teasing me, saying, `You’re going to adjust the first 15 plays, aren’t you?’ ” offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh said. “We’d have adjusted the game plan some way and it would have been brutal out there.
“There are going to be games I’m sure in Chicago where the weather conditions come into play and you have to adjust. But not this bad. Hopefully not.”
WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAD TICKETS
The Bears-Cardinals exhibition game has been rescheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday at Soldier Field. Ticket stubs from Saturday’s originally scheduled game will be honored. Parking coupons also will be honored.
