I need to start off by bitching a little bit about football pre-game coverage. I never watch the FOX NFL pre-game show and that policy was completely validated this weekend. Because it’s the playoffs and the NFL TV contract limits who can broadcast the product at any given time, I had no choice but to watch the FOX pre-game show before the Seahawks/Redskins game. I’m not sure exactly what ‘infotainment’ is but I think this crap probably qualifies. First of all Terry Bradshaw is intolerable (I actually just muted the TV at one point). Second, there is almost no actual football analysis or content. They spent most of their time taking a viewer poll about Jimmy Johnson’s hair, showing a fake clip from a TV show where Jimmy Johnson pretends to be in jail and then they turned to their “weather commentator”, Jillian, who after 30 seconds discussing game-time weather turned to more important things like the NFL Sexiest Man contest and her appearance on Skating with Celebrities. I am not sure how class act Jim Brown can handle being associated with crap like this. It’s kind of like the Regis and Kathie Lee (or whoever else is on that show now) for the NFL, not that I have ever watched Regis other than while waiting to have my tires rotated. And, the most depressing part of the whole thing was that I realized a major downside for the Bears was their membership in the NFC which, in turn, meant that FOX would be broadcasting their game on Sunday.
Of course, real depression did not set in until Sunday afternoon. I watched the first quarter of the Colts’ embarrassing loss to the Steelers before taking off to Noah’s cousin Talia’s birthday party (Happy Birthday, Talia). My PDA kept me up to date on the score and I got home just in time to see Mike Vanderjadt miss a long, but totally makeable, field goal. How lame after going to 13-0 to not be able to win at home…in a dome…with a week’s rest! And how lame was it that Peyton Manning had to whine about the ‘protection issues’. I like Peyton, but if that’s how he is going to react, he deserves to lose.
OK, so back to my depression. I decided to go to my parents house for the second half of the Bears game and bring some early dinner. I was thinking that I would just stop off and get a meatball sandwich on the way over. Seems like a sensible idea, right? I mean, Avenue 3 Pizza is just down the street so I could call in my order, pick it up and be sitting in my parents’ family room just in time for the second half to get underway during which I would enjoy a domestic light beer, a meatball sandwich and some quality NFL couch potato time with my Dad. However, I was foiled by the COMPLETE LACK of pizza places open on Sunday in the greater Cerritos area! There should be a law…
So, the Bears were down at half and brought the game to within two by the time I made it to my parents’ house with, I am sad to admit, Taco Bell for dinner (there’s a time and a place for Taco Bell, and the grilled steak burrito is actually pretty good but I really wanted a meatball sandwich). But, sadly, Steve Smith was just too much for the Bears despite their NFL-leading defense. I like what coach Lovie Smith has done with the team and I was so excited to have a good season for the first time in a number of years. But, I have to say, that the Bears really departed from what has been working for them all season. During the season, they ran the ball and limited big plays by their opponents and consistently won low-scoring games. So, it was disappointing to see them blow several big pass plays, mostly to Steve Smith, and to watch them throw the ball over and over again with a quarterback that, because of injury, just didn’t have enough experience to be risking it all like that in the NFL’s sudden death playoffs.
Sadly, when I got home, I went outside and retrieved my lucky Bears flag from the porch and put it away until next season. The flag that I got at Soldier Field had been flying all season as the Bears posted one unexpected win after another. A season that started off slow, picked up major speed after my visit to Soldier Field in October and resulted in the second seed in the NFC and a home playoff game unraveled in a three hour block of time and I couldn’t even enjoy a frickin’ meatball sandwich (I did have fun hanging with my Dad and grubbing on some Taco Bell, though). Such is life, I guess. And, I hope that the Bears are able to build something off of this season for a change and, with smart off-season moves and draft picks, build a real, sustainable contender so future football seasons can be as exciting as this one was.