Does Chicago ever need what the Bears are giving the city right now.
Nothing unifies Chicago more than the Bears. Chicagoans disagree with one another on many things — including, of course, their baseball allegiances — but there’s little if any dissent about our football team. Many of us live and die with them, and the rest of us are happier when they’re succeeding and bummed out when they’re not.
So what a gift in this year of extreme discontent in Chicago that the Bears have defied all predictions and gone on a five-game winning streak. Under first-year head coach Ben Johnson, the team’s 9-3 record not only puts it in first place in the highly competitive NFC North but alone atop the entire conference. If the playoffs started today, your Chicago Bears would have the No. 1 seed and would enjoy a bye during the first weekend of playoff action.
Having written the above and pinched ourselves a few times, we’re required at this stage to issue the necessary disclaimer that past results don’t guarantee future performance, as they say on Wall Street. There still are five games left to play including two against the rival Packers, beginning next week in Green Bay. (We were going to use a more unkind word than “rival,” but this is the editorial board, not the corner bar.)
So we think it fitting and proper, particularly after Thanksgiving weekend, to be grateful for meaningful December games for Chicago’s NFL franchise. Before the season started, most fans would have been more than satisfied if you’d told them the Bears even would be in the playoff hunt at this point, much less leading the conference.
Continuing with the thanksgiving theme, it’s all gravy from here, Bears fans.
Sure, if the Bears stumble after reaching the dizzying heights the team is occupying now, we all will be disappointed. But if that happens — and we’re not ruling out more future miracles by any means — Chicago football fans should quickly pivot to remembering the joyful feeling they’re experiencing this week.
Enjoy the remainder of the ride, whatever happens. A hearty thanks to those at Halas Hall, from administration to coaches to (of course) players, who at long last have this NFL cornerstone firmly back in the land of relevance and seemingly headed well beyond.
Did we ever need this.
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