Jim O'Donnell: Right now, Matt Eberflus is one up on Vince Lombardi
AS THE GLORY-BOUND HEAD COACH of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi was 42-8 in "exhibition" games.
He insisted that winning was a habit.
But he opened 1-1 in his first season. That included a loss to quarterback-punter Ed Brown and the Bears at the old County Stadium in Milwaukee.
Matt Eberflus is now 2-0 in a very different sort of NFL "preseason."
Amid the fog of transition, for Bears fans grasping at any reason to believe, it's a hopeful start.
EVEN THOUGH ESPN made it as difficult as possible to watch the 27-11 win at Seattle on Thursday night.
The Network That Annoys threw a bone to loud-and-louder play-by-play burr Steve Levy by assigning him to the game.
Levy was thankfully rolled off the web's "Monday Night Football" crew during the offseason.
But there he was from Lumen Field in Seattle, as robustly grating as ever.
That left Chicago homies the audio option of Jeff Joniak and Tom Thayer on WBBM, 780-AM.
Joniak local or Steve Levy national is like choosing between Malnati's thin crust or week-old Domino's.
BACK TO THE HEAD COACHING DEBUTS of Lombardi and Eberflus:
Any comparisons are weak. Different eras, vastly different leaguewide approaches to preseasons.
Eberflus is married to Justin Fields, which Bears fans can only hope proves to be as complementary as Hewlett and Packard, or at least Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford.
Lombardi actually walked into floundering Green Bay with his choice of three quarterbacks - Babe Parilli, Lamar McHan or Bart Starr.
Starr, at that point entering his fourth NFL season, had never won a game in which he played all four quarters.
SO LOMBARDI CUT PARILLI, opted for McHan and allowed Starr to twist a little more in the autumn Wisconsin wind.
Starr finally fit himself into the new system. Beginning in 1961, five NFL championships in a seven-year run ensued.
Most Bears fans can't begin to envision that sort of cultural turnaround.
Perhaps in the modern NFL west of New England, it's simply not possible.
But until next Saturday night at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, Matt Eberflus is one up on Vince Lombardi.
So for now, Bears fans can dream if they want to.
At least for a little while.
STREET-BEATIN':
NBC is set with its 2022 Notre Dame football broadcast duo of Jac Collinsworth and Jason Garrett. (Not exactly wake-up-the-echoes stuff; young Collinsworth, at least, is an ND grad. It's 55-45 that Garrett knows South Bend is in Indiana.) ...
Joe Girardi's new role as a late-summer presence on the Cubs' Marquee Sports Network may seem innocuous enough. But it also puts one of the prides of Peoria within easy fungo distance of the rocky chair of David Ross. ("Rossy" continues to fail to inspire; But Girardi's flop in Philly could be early evidence of Sleepy Senor Syndrome.) ...
Forbes is reporting that the Saudis plan to spend $2.4 billion over the next four years on their LIV Golf tour. That's from the $620 billion assets of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. (Two keys to success, according to Greg Norman, are: a major video presence in the U.S. and a newly enraptured following among fanatics 40-and-under.) ...
Speaking of the LIV, still no word on whether very rich Jerry Rich will be pulling the plug on the group's scheduled event next month and his far west suburban Rich Harvest Farms. Sometimes in life, it's hard to see the petrodollar evil between the tees. ...
Larry "Low Return" Rivelli has been knocking 'em dead at Colonial Downs. The frequent training king of Arlington Park's last decade is showing have condition books, will travel. ...
A rougher note for old Million Day ship-in ace Chad Brown: The Saratoga-based trainer was arrested on a Class A misdemeanor "criminal obstruction of breathing" following an incident at his residence near the upstate New York spa Wednesday night. The allegation is extremely out of character for the image-driven 43-year-old. ...
And Rick Zemanski, on that mammoth new Big Ten TV deal: "Does this mean I'll be paying more for Rutgers-USC lacrosse?"
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.