Jim O'Donnell: NBC's Collinsworth says it's time for nothing but 'slow' for the Bears and Justin Fields

NBC HAS EVERY REASON to hype Sunday night's main event between Tampa Bay and New England.

It doesn't take any midnight ride by Paul Revere to signal the national consciousness will be focused on Tom Brady's first return to Gillette Stadium since bolting for a seventh lifetime Super Bowl victory. But that last one was with "Champa Bay."

For Bears fans - still reelin' and rockin' from a week that was one of the most seismic in franchise history - there's more nuanced subtext.

Bill Belichik has been starting Mac Jones at QB. He was the fifth and final quarterback taken in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft.

Along with Trevor Lawrence (Jaguars) and Zach Wilson (Jets), Jones is one of three who has been his team's No. 1 since Week One. (Trey Lance has seen spot duty as backup to Jimmy Garoppolo with San Francisco.)

Throw in the extraordinarily ill-conceived start of Justin Fields for the Bears at Cleveland last week and prized rookies are a combined 1-10 so far this season manning the opening throttle.

THAT'S ROUGH, BUT TO BE EXPECTED, according to Peacock sage Cris Collinsworth.

Responding to a question from The Daily Herald, Collinsworth said: "I think it's really hard to understand how hard it is to play the quarterback position in the NFL.

"I used to just be blown away even in our meetings to watch what they expected from Boomer Esiason. He had to know every single check and call and had to know it all by Tuesday.

"It was just unbelievable."

COLLINSWORTH ACKNOWLEDGED viewing video from the Bears-Browns debacle and said:

"I watched Fields a bit and there were a couple of times he sort of scrambled back and forth. OK, but you can't do that in this league because the defensive ends rushing you are sometimes faster than you and getting a running start.

"A Myles Garrett is going to catch you right there."

BUT, ACCORDING TO COLLINSWORTH, there remains burnt-orange hope for deliverance.

"To expect someone who is in his second or third NFL game to decipher all the presnap looks these guys get is just impossible.

"So if they at least get to sit and watch an Andy Dalton, for instance, just do it. Week after week, game after game, film after film. Pretty soon all of that starts to slow down."

But "slow down" was not in the lexicon of travelers from Halas Hall this week.

Neither on the south shore of Lake Erie or racing into the future.

STREET-BEATIN': Quick Q. before Jose Abreu and the White Sox begin play in an ALDS Thursday (FS1): When were the tin-clanging Astros cleansed in some sort of morality car wash? (Cheating is one thing; getting caught cheating in Texas defiles much of what Lyndon Baines Johnson stood for.) ...

Only 12% of the nation will be subject to the Bears-Lions Sunday (Fox, noon, Gus Johnson and Aqib Talib). Significant money push toward Detroit - hovering around +3 - but the implication is that Madcap Matt Nagy's munchkins could be 2-2 by sunset. ...

Ed O'Bradovich's over-the-edge theatrics on WGN-AM (720)'s post-Bears game show reminds of when he played "Eddie the Bartender" on the short-lived Robert Conrad/NBC miniseries "The Duke." O'B normally had one or two lines each show, Actors Studio stuff like, "Naw, he hasn't been around," or "Yeah, over by the door." ...

While O'Bradovich and Dan Hampton continue to spank 'em, sharp-eared Mike Smith - who doubles as sports editor of The Daily Herald - notes that Olin Kreutz is bringing passion and precision to his post-disaster Bears analysis. (Kreutz remains as no-nonsense as a lifeguard at the Lahaina Breakwall.) ...

No one is planning a poll, but unquestioned MVP of Arlington Park's no-budget 2021 meet was racing secretary Dave White. And the career pro did it without petulantly clearing out a press box filled with racing journalists working on deadline. ...

A quiet visitor to the last live day at AP was Ralph Ross, who was "the other money man" when Dick Duchossois put up 91% of the cash to purchase the track from Gulf & Western in 1983. His late brother Lanny Ross (Drake University '69) was one of the most affable media stewards in the history of the oval - and right out of a Neil Simon play. ...

From the "Humble Py" file: Hawk-eyed reader Eric Selin caught the misspelling of the Pure Prairie League classic "Amie" by the insouciant last Sunday. (The real killer is that - in an earlier life - the bearded keyboardist played the tune hundreds of nights behind masterful Ray Herr in the Ron Showboata Show Band; Keith Reinhard was the band's unofficial P.R. man.) ...

Also on the sports & music front, grand that the NFL and NBC have Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige and all set to perform at halftime of Super Bowl 56. But less than three miles from their Hawthorne (Calif.) roots - where are the Beach Boys? (Snoop doing "Fun, Fun, Fun" would be memorable enough; Mike Love trying to manage "Gin and Juice" would be even better.) ...

And Phil Mushnick, on the notably rude fans who should have been whistling-straitjacketed during NBC's coverage of The Ryder Cup: "They acted like they were at a three-day salute to Vince McMahon."

• Jim O'Donnell's Sports & Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.