Dare we compare Bears to Cubs?

By now most of us should be out of jokes about the Bears.

Not insults, though.

There's still the trump card of all disrespect, the one that should shiver Halas Hall's timbers.

The insult is a knockoff of something a senior citizen and longtime Cubs fans told me years ago: “I love the Cubs, but I don't like them anymore.

It was one of the most intelligent, articulate, profound statements ever uttered about sports.

Now, translate that to the whole lot of them up in Lake Forest and you'll understand what I'm thinking Bears fans are thinking about the Bears:

“I love them, but I don't like them anymore.

What worse could anyone do around here than compare a sports franchise in any way to the Cubs?

I mean, we're talking about a baseball team that hasn't won a World Series since 1908 or played in one since 1945.

(Sorry, even in a column about the Bears I can't resist mentioning the durability of Cubs futility.)

Anyway, the Bears aren't nearly that terrible. They are 4-2 and aren't an awful football team even if too often they play awfully.

This is more about a franchise's style than its team's substance and why fans are so quick to turn on it.

I speak only for myself though feel free to join in when I say that it's hard to like Bears ownership, management, coaching staff, the Tampa-2 defense, the offense's incompetence, the alleged franchise quarterback's mumbled answers, the high-priced defensive tackle's checking out after cashing in, the star middle linebacker's moods and the offensive coordinator's diminishing genius.

Nor is it appreciated that the club's most prominent members are sometimes smug, sometimes arrogant, sometimes condescending and sometimes all of the above.

Hardest of all to take is that like the Cubs under previous ownerships let's not include the Ricketts family just yet the Bears don't seem to have a blueprint for long-term success.

The plan is more like, “Oh, no, there's civic unrest after three seasons out of the playoffs so let's sign some free agents to become respectable and fool folks again.

You know, just as the Cubs have done a couple of times after particularly ugly seasons already this young century.

Maybe it's a symptom of franchises that have such a firm hold on the public that they're comfortable being only vaguely committed to excellence.

The idea becomes less “let's try to win consistently to attract fans and more “let's try to win occasionally to retain fans. The strategy is, trick the faithful into thinking you're doing what they want instead of actually giving them what they need.

Teams like the Bears and Cubs have the security of waiting lists for season tickets, of the family tradition of tickets being passed down from generation to generation, of fans paying price increases even during a recession out of fear that the year they give up tickets will be the year the team finally wins another Super Bowl/World Series.

No wonder a debate rages over whether it's preferable for the Bears to make the playoffs or for them to fail so Halas Hall will be cleared out.

Piece it all together and it's easy to still love the Bears without liking them anymore.

If the Bears are insulted by that notion, well, mission accomplished.

mimrem@dailyherald.com