Last season the Bears scored 34 points in their first home game, 37 in the next, 40 the next and 41 in the one after that.
And we said to ourselves: “They finally have an offense!”
But do they?
This question will be at the heart of Sunday’s home kickoff against the Kansas City Chiefs, where a Super Bowl squad of seven months ago will find it necessary to prove itself to its own fans (and to TV viewers coast-to-coast) yet again.
Certain facts have presented themselves to cast doubt about these Bears.
One is that the Bears have been beaten in three of their last five games.
Yes, they did phone in last New Year’s Eve’s 26-7 loss to the Packers, when their only score came on a 75-yard pass to the too-seldom-used Mark Bradley from the almost-never-used Brian Griese.
Yes, the middle loss was in Super Bowl XLI to the Colts, where the Bears led 14-6 after the first quarter on a long Devin Hester kickoff return and a short Rex Grossman touchdown pass.
Yes, the latest loss was last Sunday’s, when the Bears led 3-0 at the half and might have shut out and shut up the loudmouthed Chargers if a punt hadn’t grazed a TV wire and struck a Bear in the back.
Nevertheless, three defeats in five games is nothing to sniff at because it makes the Bears look fallible and it supplies their doubters with ammunition.
We could use a reminder that:
*Grossman is the same guy who fired four touchdown passes in last season’s home opener against the Lions, because he has rarely had a day like that since.
*Cedric Benson is the same guy who rushed for 109 yards in that Dec. 31 loss to the Packers, because that was the only 100-yard day of his NFL life.
*Bradley is the same guy who caught that 75-yard touchdown pass, because the Bears have thrown the ball to him just one time in the four games since.
*Muhsin Muhammad is the same guy who grabbed Grossman’s touchdown pass in the Super Bowl, because that is the only scoring pass Muhammad has caught in the last seven games.
*Hester is the same guy who is a threat to score every time he touches a ball, because in San Diego he got to run back one kick, was not thrown a pass and was rendered almost invisible.
Sunday, therefore, is a day for the Bears to put people’s minds at ease. To prove to everybody that last season’s offensive eruption (47 touchdowns to the previous season’s 28) was no fluke.
A rookie, Garrett Wolfe, passed along some wisdom from a fellow running back, Adrian Peterson, the other day.
“Adrian said, ‘If you’re doing your job, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.'”
He and Peterson are next in line if Benson is unable to establish himself as the rushing force the Bears are paying him to be.
Wolfe is pulling for Benson. No tension exists, the way it seemed to grow between Thomas Jones and Benson. “He has been a great guy, very personable,” Wolfe said of Benson. “When you’re playing a macho sport, per se, the way we do, guys are often resentful of you. But not him. He has been a great teammate to me and I’m behind him 100 percent.
“I think Ced can be a great running back in this league.”
Peterson, whose locker is between Benson’s and Wolfe’s, had seven carries against the Chargers in support of Benson’s 19.
He will need to shoulder the load if anything happens to Benson, which is not beyond the realm of possibility. Benson injured his knee in his first NFL start in 2005 and also came out of the Super Bowl with an injury.
No one on the Bears expresses doubt Peterson could fill this role if necessary. The fact is, though, Peterson has been a starter once in 62 NFL games.
Which is one more than Wolfe, his backup.
“Get the job done,” Peterson said in describing his mission. “If they call on you, get the job done.”
He knows Grossman and Benson have their detractors. That a lot of eyes will be on the quarterback and running back in Sunday’s game.
“Get the job done and everybody will be fine,” Peterson said. “Same as last year.”
In the last home game of last season, the Bears shredded the Saints for 39 points. They scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter alone.
Where, oh where are those Bears? Are they still there?
———–
mikedowney@tribune.com
