O'Donnell: Are crusty Bears fans prepared to handle a two-game winning streak?
BEARS FANS CAN DREAM if they want to.
They wouldn't stay Bears fans if they couldn't.
Ten mornings ago, the specter of an 0-17 season was very much in play.
Today — Mach gasp — the chance of a victory over the visiting Vikings is very real (FOX, noon; Brandon Gaudin and Robert Smith to 16% of the nation; SF-CLE is the network's dominant early game).
L-Vegans say Minnesota is minus-3. That figure is a “fumes number,” more predicated on bodies of work extending further back than the last two weeks.
The Vikings are a shell of what they were while going 13-4 last season. They turn the ball over and they make critical mistakes.
JUSTIN FIELDS IS STARTING TO HAPPEN as a full-service NFL quarterback. If he and the Bears have zero giveaways this afternoon, they coast. One turnover, and as the grand Phil Georgeff would say, “This one could go either way!”
Kirk Cousins is a pedestrian fraud. He was coached into that 13-4 last year primarily because of the brilliant WR Justin Jefferson — who won't play today — and the brain trust of head coach Kevin O'Connell and OC Wes Phillips (son of Wade Phillips and grandson of Bum Phillips).
Jefferson's absence may be offset to some extent by rookie Jordan Addison. He's so fast that he was ticketed for doing 140 mph on I-94 near St. Paul in a Lamborghini Urus on his way to training camp.
Also, since his days at Michigan State, Cousins doesn't win football games playing from behind. Last season was a curious exception. The Barrington native has reverted to type this campaign.
INTO THE WEEKEND, the Vikings continued to draw “smarter” money, according to Bill Adee and his skulk of speculators at Vegas Stats and Info (vsin.com).
But Matt Eberflus and the Bears have crossed a threshold unthinkable two Sundays ago after their late meltdown vs. Denver.
They're not unbettable today.
A win would be one small step for Bears fans, one nice leap toward an organizational oxygen tank for a franchise suffocating in legacied toxicity.
Then, boom-zappo — who knows?
Next thing could be they'll announce that 25 months after first word of plans to purchase Arlington Park, details concerning development of the 326 acres and manageable impact on adjacencies will finally be made public.
STREET-BEATIN':
Excitable boy Pat McAfee is making great dough from ESPN — estimated by some to be close to $16M per year. But his daily TV talker is averaging less than 300K viewers. That means it probably plays well only in that thin demo of underemployed pro wrestling fans. …
Excellent news for Stephen Bardo: He and Robbie Hummel will serve as primary analysts for NBC's Peacock and its streaming coverage of Big Ten men's basketball this winter. Bardo was the glue on Lou Henson's Final Four aerialists — “The Flying Illini” — back in 1988-89. (If only that orange outfit had a perimeter shooter for the money moments.) …
Kevin Schmit, the Daily Herald's freshly elevated associate sports editor, continues to draw high fives for his debut prep column. The most fervent wish of the late Bob Frisk would be that high school sports coverage beams onward and upward on the rails of excellence that he established. Multi-threat Orrin Schwarz is the new sports editor. (He's also a premier soccer analyst.) …
Kathleen Danes, who elected to leave the Daily Herald last month, is on an extended European vacation to celebrate her ground-breaking turn as the paper's first woman sports editor. Few in the history of the section sweat as much blood as the Stevenson High alum did during a demanding period of transition. Her free agency will end when and where she wants it to. …
Mallory Kolodziej reports that a keenly timed centerpiece of the silent auction at the “Unmask the Violence” annual gala at the Lincolnshire Marriott Saturday night was a No. 51 Bears jersey autographed by the late Dick Butkus. The event benefits A Safe Place, the Zion-based Lake County Center for the Prevention & Treatment of Domestic Violence. A record 300 tickets were sold. …
Don Weiland has left the Bulls stats crew after a steady 37-year run. The one-time starting QB at Addison Trail High School started back when beat writers still had landline numbers for Michael Jordan. Weiland's run touched such sideline good fellows as the late Tom “Smoke” Wiscarz and Bob “Pierre” Trudeau. …
George Ofman's fresh “Tell Me a Story I Don't Know” (Triumph, $22) has hit the bookstands. The veteran radio sports reporter pours his heart and soul into the work. (Any time a local author is trying to aggrandize Corey McPherrin, Peggy Kusinski and Jonathan Hood, he has to.) …
And Eddie Zaleski, on the ongoing saga of America's latest longshot suite hearts: “If Travis Kelce gets traded to Carolina, does Taylor Swift go with the package or just shift her public cheering to George Kittle?”
Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.