In order to quit, don't Bears have to first show up?

As my mother used to say, "You were born upside down and wrong, and you haven't been right since.''

And let's face it, I couldn't have been more wrong in thinking last week that a Bears team angry at the fans and media would show up in Green Bay and prove everyone wrong.

My miscalculation was in believing the team's highest-paid and supposedly best players still had some pride.

But they don't need to prove anything anymore, and they could have provided just as good an effort by staying in Chicago for the weekend.

That's the truly shocking part.

I've thought all year that the Bears were an 8-8 team, and, sure, they get the woeful Rams next, but the complete lack of effort in Green Bay makes you wonder if the Bears are even worthy of finishing .500.

Who knows, Sunday's second half, when the Bears simply gave up, might be the 30-minute version of Mike Ditka's infamous 1992 rant in which he wondered if the Bears could win another game.

Adewale Ogunleye said he couldn't wait to watch the film to see which players quit on their teammates.

But that begs the question: In order to quit, don't you first have to show up?

There are some guys trying, like the warrior Mike Brown, who clearly is not the player he once was after so many injuries. And there are some players who very much care, like Matt Forte and Kyle Orton.

For all of his faults, Lovie Smith teams have generally showed up during his time here, but Sunday his team was never on the field and never in the game.

The head coach is criticized for much, and much of it's deserved. During games, Smith looks up as if he's waiting for a spaceship to land, and while waiting for aliens he rarely appears engaged.

But he got lucky during the fluke run to the Super Bowl, and got paid, so get used to him being here.

The players have always said they love playing for him, but now we'll see if that easygoing demeanor works for a team that could really go to pieces after showing such a pathetic lack of will.

It was, perhaps, the worst effort shown by a Bears team in a decade, when even a decent attempt would have been enough to stay with Green Bay.

Instead, the Bears made the 4-5 Packers look like the '66 Packers.

Much also will be made of defensive coordinator Bob Babich and his willingness to sit back and get picked apart, week after week, and how dreadful it is to endure as a fan.

There is, after all, compelling evidence to suggest that throughout history, sitting back in your rocking chair, refusing to pressure the QB and getting shredded for 30 or 40 points is not the best way to win football games.

For this, Babich gets routinely skewered, but Babich didn't hire Babich, or decide on this defensive attack.

Smith did that, forcing out Ron Rivera in a post-Super Bowl power play.

Babich is merely delivering Smith's message that vanilla defense is just fine. The bend-and-break scheme, we keep hearing, is not the problem.

Well, it wasn't a problem for the Packers, that's for sure.

Aaron Rodgers picked apart the Bears' corners, safeties and linebackers and had time left over for a cup of coffee and a sandwich.

The worst part is the Bears, except for Brown and a couple of others, didn't even appear disturbed.

But all the Bears' best players have gotten paid. There's no recession in Lake Forest, where the fat cats don't have to answer to anyone, and certainly not the fans or media.

This can't sit well with GM Jerry Angelo, who convinced his ownership that all the Devin Hester, Brian Urlacher and Tommie Harris types needed to be paid, and paid fast.

Oops.

After watching Sunday's game, all you can surmise is that too many Bears are OK with losing.

If they're not, they've got a funny way of showing it.

Look, some games are just bad. Some seasons are just bad. Some teams are just bad.

This is Chicago. We're used to it.

But lack of a decent effort is a different story. There are only 16 games, and the fans deserve better than what the Bears offered Sunday.

That wouldn't seem to be asking a lot, though in this case, apparently it is.

Maybe this week it happens. Maybe the Bears beat a truly horrible Rams team and then come out and blast the fans and media for giving up on them when they were 5-5 and tied for first place.

Maybe they'll show up for another winnable game.

Maybe.

brozner@dailyherald.com