Bears still not ready for the varsity
SAN DIEGO - Lovie Smith mentioned late Sunday afternoon that the Bears set the bar in their season opener here.
Wow, how low can it go? Are we talking about a limbo record? Digging to China low maybe?
Well, here's where the bar appears to be following the Bears' 14-3 loss to the Chargers.
Smith's team is back to being one of the favorites to win the NFC title instead of being capable of playing with the AFC's best.
In his capsule preview of the game, veteran San Diego Union-Tribune football writer Jerry Magee summed it up perfectly.
"Bad news, Bears," he wrote. "This isn't the NFC. It is the AFC, or another world, and the Chargers are preparing to make it their own."
That was half correct. On this day San Diego didn't look like it could play with the Colts, Patriots and the rest of their conference's elite.
Running back LaDainian Tomlinson, the league's MVP, carried an American flag onto the field during pregame introductions, high-stepped toward teammates as if he were Purdue's golden girl majorette and then ran for only 25 yards in 17 carries.
The Chargers overall looked like a team more stylish than substantive. Actually, they looked like the team that bombed out of last season's playoffs.
"We were just fortunate to come out on top," San Diego linebacker Shaun Phillips said.
Despite the Chargers' mediocre debut, the Bears still didn't look like they belonged with the AFC's best because they didn't take advantage of the opportunities offered them.
The Bears have a two-game, seven-month losing streak against teams from the other conference. You do remember they lost the Super Bowl to the Colts, don't you?
That's more discouraging than the fact the Bears landed back at O'Hare in last place in the NFC North after the Packers, Vikings and Lions all won.
The division isn't an issue. The assumption remains that the Bears can play with those teams and probably are the best among them.
The hope was the Bears would graduate in the quality of their play this season from the junior varsity NFC to the varsity AFC.
"It was the first game," said Smith, the Bears' head coach. "We played a very good team. We didn't play our best."
Listen, it's no disgrace to come into Qualcomm Stadium and lose by 11 points to a team that was 14-2 during the 2006 regular season.
However, frustrating and frustrated definitely are words that could be used to describe the Bears this morning because of the chance they squandered to establish themselves as more than the best of the least.
"It's disappointing to lose any football game," Smith said before adding, "The defense gave us an opportunity to win this game."
Yet the Bears couldn't capitalize and are right back where they were at the end of last season.
Judging by Sunday, the Bears are Super Bowl contenders only because the NFC's best teams again appear to be considerably weaker than the AFC's best teams.
The Bears could have been the exception. They were good last season, appear on paper to be better now, but couldn't accept a victory San Diego waited nearly three full quarters for them to take.
So the Bears, at least for now, are back to being a good team in a lesser conference.
It's a bar too low.
mimrem@dailyherald.com