Bears will win opener, then 'we'll go from there'
It's always fun to predict the Bears' record on the day the NFL schedule is released.
So here goes, complete with head coach Lovie Smith's postgame comments.
Sunday, Sept. 12, Soldier Field - Bears 35, Lions 14 - "Big win. Division opponent. Detroit is a great team. Great city. Great cars. American made. We'll go from there." Record: 1-0.
Sunday, Sept. 19, at Dallas - Cowboys 27, Bears 20 - "Disappointing loss. Tough penalty for too many men on the field. Coach (Mike) Martz couldn't get (Brandon) Manumaleuna's name out fast enough to get him off the field. We'll correct that and go from there." Record: 1-1.
Monday, Sept. 27, Soldier Field - Packers 23, Bears 13 - "Disappointing loss. Division game. Conference game. League game. Rivalry game. We'll go from there." Record: 1-2.
Sunday, Oct. 3, at New Jersey - Giants 16, Bears 13 - "Disappointing loss. We lost the first quarter (of the season) and we'll go from there." Record: 1-3.
Sunday, Oct. 10, at Charlotte - Bears 31, Panthers 7 - "Big win. Road win. Carolina hasn't won yet, but they're great. Great grits here, too. We'll go from there." Record: 2-3.
Sunday, Oct. 17, Soldier Field - Bears 24, Seahawks 23 - "Big win. Jay (Cutler) only threw 3 interceptions against a Top 32 defense. We'll go from there." Record: 3-3.
Sunday, Oct. 24, Soldier Field - Redskins 27, Bears 17 - "Disappointing loss. We knew we would have our hands full with (Donovan) McNabb. Jerry Angelo should have traded for him last year. Oops, did I say that out loud? Anyway, we'll go from there." Record: 3-4.
Sunday, Nov. 7, at Toronto - Bears 20, Bills 17 - "Big win, especially with both our safeties missing. They thought Toronto was in Iowa and didn't bring their passports to the airport. We'll go from there." Record: 4-4.
Sunday, Nov. 14, Soldier Field - Vikings 38, Bears 28 - "Disappointing loss. (Brett) Favre surprised us. Our scouts said he retired. We'll go from there." Record: 4-5.
Thursday, Nov. 18, at Miami - Dolphins 19, Bears 6 - "Disappointing loss. Blame me. As you all know I'm a South Beach hipster kind of guy. Still, I shouldn't have held team meetings down there last night. We'll go from there." Record: 4-6.
Sunday, Nov. 28, Soldier Field - Bears 24, Eagles 14 - "Big win. Thank goodness Philadelphia traded McNabb. We'll take it and go from there." Record: 5-6.
Sunday, Dec. 5, at Detroit - Bears 34, Lions 21 - "Big win. Back to .500, one of our season goals." Record: 6-6.
Sunday, Dec. 12, Soldier Field - Patriots 21, Bears 10 - "Disappointing loss. Give New England credit. Great uniforms. Red, white and blue. We'll go from there. Record: 6-7.
Monday, Dec. 20 at Minnesota - Vikings 30, Bears 27 - "Disappointing loss. We were ready for Favre this time, but then he went and retired. That's OK, we'll go from there." Record: 6-8.
Sunday, Dec. 26, Soldier Field - Jets 17, Bears 16 - "Disappointing loss. We thought they'd rest their starters after clinching their division. Guess what? We'll go from there." Record: 6-9.
Sunday, Jan. 2, at Green Bay - Bears 3, Packers 2 - "Big win. Great going-away present. Nice knowing you." Record: 7-9.
And we'll all go from there.
mimrem@dailyherald.com