Bears dare to believe
Today the Bears find out if they're a good team capable of overcoming a rough stretch or just another of the several recent Super Bowl losers that flopped the year after falling just short of the ultimate prize.
The Bears would like to at least emulate the Seattle Seahawks, who last season became the first Super Bowl losers in the past six years to make the playoffs the year after getting ditched at the Big Dance.
In the five years previous, none of the Super Bowl runners-up even posted a winning record the following year. They were, in a word, lousy, with a combined 31-49 record.
That's the direction the 2-4 Bears are pointed, and they're desperate for a turnaround heading into today's meeting with the Eagles in Philadelphia.
Coach Andy Reid's team is also desperate, considering its 2-3 record and the fact that the Eagles also harbored Super Bowl aspirations heading into this season.
Both teams are in last place in their respective divisions and have a long way to go before they can even consider themselves contenders.
But 10-year veteran Bears quarterback Brian Griese is adhering to the adage that the longest journey begins with the first step.
"Obviously we're not in the position we thought we would be in at the beginning of the season," Griese said. "After being through it a bunch of times, you understand there is a lot of time left, there is a lot of football to be played.
"But your focus needs to be on the next game. I know it's kind of cliché-ish, but that's the way that you have to operate. The only thing that's guaranteed to you is the next Sunday. So that's what we're aiming for."
The Bears insist they have as much talent as a year ago when they opened with seven straight victories, five by 26 points or more.
"There's no doubt in my mind we can turn things around," middle linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "But saying it and doing it are two different things. We have to flip the switch and start being physical and doing things the right way."
The defense has been inexplicably trampled by running attacks and shelled by aerial games while allowing 125 points the past four weeks, resulting in three losses.
Even though the resurgent offense has put up 85 points the past three weeks with Griese at the helm, the Bears have won just once.
"I can't even explain it to you," defensive tackle Tommie Harris said. "If I knew that we were a sorry team, or that (we should be) a 2-4 team, it wouldn't bother me. But we're so much better than what we're playing. I really can't understand it.
"We will step up. I believe in this team. We will do it. And my hamstring is healed. I've been praying on it. Everybody continue to keep praying for my hamstring, so I'll be fine.
"This will be a great outcome when we make it far. This will be a great outcome for a team that's 2-4 to go ahead and be 12-4."
Yeah, good luck with that. Despite the Bears' 24-8 regular-season record over the previous two years, they've discovered that their own superior attitude doesn't make opponents fear them.
"A lot of guys are coming in here and thinking that we're already proven and that people will respect us, but they don't," Harris said. "We have to change that mentality, and we have no choice now.
"We have to show people we're still the Bears that can run fast and play hard and do everything. We have to go back and show people who we really are."