Bears' losing should come as no shock

While they may not like it, the current Bears hysteria is neither historical nor unexpected.

Not for a team that played in the final game of last season and talked ever since about not only participating again in the Super Bowl but actually winning it this time.

Tommie Harris blamed the media Sunday for unreasonable expectations, but it's the Bears who fantasized.

They were one play from being knocked off by a very mediocre Seattle team in January, from being exposed as a 9-7 team masquerading in a 13-3 conference.

But even after being crushed by Indy in the Super Bowl, based largely on a predictably horrible performance from Rex Grossman, the Bears still pretended to be something that they weren't.

And if they weren't pretending, they were at least deluded.

They are who we thought they were -- great commercial, isn't it? -- just as they were a year ago, an 8-8 team like 25 others, the kind that plays OK one week and terrible the next.

Welcome to the NFL, where the difference between 10-6 and 6-10 is as small as a playoff bonus at Halas Hall.

Chicago fans knew this already but forgot for a season while every ridiculous break and call went their way.

Now, the bounces are evening out, teams are more careful with Devin Hester, and injuries -- none worse than Mike Brown's -- have taken a toll.

Their two best players continue to be punter Brad Maynard and Hester, and the latter's liable to wind up thinking he's Ethel Merman if the Bears keep sending him across the middle into triple coverage.

With apologies to Leslie Nielsen, I just want to tell you both, good luck. We're all counting on you.

It's the NFL, my friends, where 3-5 doesn't mean the season's end. It means a chance to further the myth that you can make the playoffs and upset anyone, when in reality only a few teams each year have a chance to win it all.

The rest fill up time slots and the NFL coffers, which is what the Bears are and will continue to be.

Unless, they quit.

Now that would be atrocious.

Most average teams follow terrible games with something slightly better, which is usually good enough to win, and the Bears proved that at Green Bay and Philadelphia.

After a week off, they should follow the formula and handle an equally crummy Oakland squad.

Unless, they quit, and then you have to wonder if the McCaskeys will question the $22 million extension GM Jerry Angelo handed head coach Lovie Smith, who's locked up through 2011.

Angelo (2013) and team prez Ted Phillips also voted themselves extensions -- after the Super Bowl is a wise time to do it -- and it's difficult not to ponder the fear that would be sweeping Lake Forest today if Lance Briggs hadn't blown up a fourth-and-1 and twice a third-and-1 in the second half against Seattle in January.

The flip side is, without those game-saving plays, the Bears would just be the Bears today, expected to win in Oakland and just another NFL team hoping to keep its season alive an extra week.

Expectations would not be unreasonable, unmanageable or unprecedented.

All fans would ask is that the Bears show up and at least attempt to tackle someone.

Perhaps that should be the main goal in Oakland.

Inside dope

Brian Urlacher has been giving stories to foxports.com for years, including some involving teammates and coaches.

That's his prerogative. His business. Who really cares?

But now his need to feed seems to be ushering in a split with his coach, which is when it becomes Chicago's business.

Urlacher's admission to the online site that his back hurts not only goes against Khrushchevian policy, it also makes Lovie Smith look like someone who either refuses to tell the truth or doesn't know that his player's hurt.

In the long term, you have to be concerned about the Bears' future on defense if Urlacher doesn't plan to play very long, and in the short term you wonder about the locker room if there's a serious irritation between coach and star.

Stay tuned.

The catch

Did you see ASU's Kyle Williams (son of White Sox GM Ken) haul in his fifth TD catch of the season late Saturday night against Cal?

Midway through the fourth quarter, QB Rudy Carpenter hit Williams for a 12-yard TD to give Arizona State a 31-20 lead and put the game away.

The Sun Devils (8-0) are fourth in the BCS but travel to No. 5 Oregon (7-1) Saturday for a monster showdown.

The quote

Oregon offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, on defeating USC: "Ask 118 teams if they want to play (the Trojans). We played them once and we don't want to play them again. That's as good a defense as I've ever seen."

The shot

Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle: "(Kobe) Bryant has become L.A.'s version of Barry Bonds '07 -- a beloved, sore-kneed and controversial superstar/media magnet whose main job is to dazzle the fans so they don't notice how bad the team is."

The pain

No way would the Cubs be interested in A-Rod when they already have A-Ram.

Enough to give you A-Headache.

The answer

Matt Ryan.

And finally …

This headline from sportspickle.com: "Eric Mangini digitally edited out of Sopranos final season DVDs.''

brozner@dailyherald.com