Reasons why it's difficult to like this team

The Bears remind me of something once said about the Cubs.

"I love them," it went, "but I don't like them right now."

That's what I have been hearing from Bears fans most of this season.

After the loss to the Titans, even some of the players seemed to feel that way about each other, or their coaches, or the franchise, or the game plan, or whatever.

"None of the players are questioning our scheme," Bears head coach Lovie Smith claimed Monday afternoon.

OK, sir, if you say so.

"Our schemes are good," Smith insisted. "We have to execute better."

Take that all you players who are or aren't questioning the schemes you're being asked to execute. Fan un- rest is interest- ing because the Bears have- n't gone 100 years without winning a championship.

But wake up any morning, turn on Mully and Hanley on WSCR 670-AM, move later to Murph on the Score or Waddle and Silvy on WMVP 1000-AM - well, it's as if callers believe the Bears are responsible for the stock-market slump.

This is odd because this team has a 5-4 record and is tied for first place in the NFC North. Isn't winning supposed to cure all ills?

Apparently not. The Bears had a 1-13 team in 1969 that drew less criticism than this one does.

The anger can't be due to unfulfilled expectations either, the way it was with the Cubs last month. These Bears weren't expected to win many more than five games all year.

Yet what I'm hearing is, "I still love the Bears, but I don't like them right now."

Why, oh why, is that?

Start with the slow-talking, measured Smith, who frequently comes across as condescending when his philosophies are challenged.

(By the way, this is the same guy who implored us to trust him last year and then coached the Bears to a 7-9 record.)

Now, condescending isn't a foreign substance around here. The revered Mike Ditka was condescending when he coached the Bears to the Super Bowl. But Chicago prefers that the brand of condescending - Ditka's rough and raging as opposed to Smith's smug and smirking.

Does the wild stuff work? Sometimes and sometimes not, but it's sure more appealing than a laid-back coach whose team's style of play reflects his personality.

Which brings us around to the image, justifiable or not, that the Bears play defense as if it were contract bridge. What really isn't acceptable around here is a lack of physical, mental and emotional aggressiveness.

Fellas, "bend but don't break" doesn't work here.

Sure, the Bears stopped the Titans' running game the other day. But it looked like they did it at the expense of not rushing the passer, not pressuring receivers out of their rhythm and not keeping a mediocre passing game from picking them apart.

"We change up always," Smith said a bit testily Monday. "We do it all."

Speaking of this defense, maybe the contempt for the Bears has something to do with linebacker Brian Urlacher smiling in commercials but grumpy in person.

Combine a condescending coach, a defense uncharacteristic of Chicago and a phony star and you get these Bears.

Yes, what you have is a team Chicago football fans can love but are having trouble liking.

mimrem@dailyherald.com