Imrem: Chicago Bears buzz just isn't there
Can you hear the buzz about the Bears?
Me neither.
Can you hear the snores about the Bears?
Me too.
Talk on the street is that there isn't much talk on the street about the Bears.
Indications are that interest is down to levels of the Neill Armstrong and Dave Wannstedt coaching eras.
So, what will inspire fans to care about the Bears again?
The initial answer is obvious if only the McCaskeys would embrace it: Bring back the Honey Bears!
Unfortunately the curvaceous pep squad remains a no-no.
The next best answer is a fresh set of game-day promotions: Yes, we're talking Donald Trump Hair Day!
This one isn't going to happen either.
That leaves a winning team to inspire fans, which doesn't seem to be an option even if it says here that the Bears won't be as bad as prognosticators predict.
Famously or infamously, USA Today pegged the Bears as the NFL's worst team and later gave them a 3-13 record.
The Bears looked better than that in last week's exhibition game at Indianapolis. Then this week's developments made them look worse.
Defensive lineman Jeremiah Ratliff was suspended for three games. Wide receivers keep getting hurt. Left tackle Jermon Bushrod has trouble getting on the practice field. So on and so bad.
Not much newsworthy happens in training camp except the negative, and the Bears are compiling piles of it.
We're still nearly three weeks from the season opener, however, so let's go back to exploring Bears fans' waning passion.
It should be pointed out that much of the decline has been attributed to the Cubs' stealing attention with an early emergence from their own abyss.
That's nonsense. This sports town is big enough and rabid enough to care about a football team and a baseball team at the same time.
The Bears didn't need the Cubs to create local indifference. It has to do with even more than last year's 5-11 record.
Losing rarely has been a turnoff around here. It actually gives fans something to be miserable about that doesn't really matter in their lives.
However, losing unprofessionally will drive Bears fans to, of all places, libraries and museums on game days or more likely grocery shopping.
Current general manager Ryan Pace and head coach John Fox inherited the mess from predecessors Phil Emery and Marc Trestman.
The gibberish coming out of Halas Hall in recent years was insultingly insulting to the intelligence of Bears fans.
Now wonder the faithful plunged into unfaithful status and from admiration to anger to apathy.
Who can blame them? None of the prime characters were Huggy Bears, particularly not the quarterback.
Now it'll take awhile to take the Bears to heart again. So, how long is awhile and what will it take?
Maybe merely beating the Packers in the season opener will lure back fans, but it'll be a temporary reprieve unless the Bears build upon the victory.
Of primary concern is closing the talent gap with the Packers. Of secondary concerning is closing the gap with Bears tradition in the areas of toughness, physicality, aggression, tempo and energy.
Bears fans still are out here, just as Cub fans always were. All that is required for them to engage again is a compelling reason or package of reasons.
Why and when are the questions, especially with the Honey Bears and The Donald's hair off the table.
mimrem@dailyherald.com