Bear Down Baffa

Special Teams isn’t necessarily the way you want to win, but it still counts.  And the Bear’s Special Teams brings a whole new meaning to the word “special.”   

Devin “SEVEN” Hester, who never ceases to amaze, became the Bears all-time TD return leader in only his second season by returning his ninth and tenth career kicks, and almost single-handedly keeping the Bears in Sunday’s game.  Yes, I’ve rethought my position on calling him “Six” because, well let’s be honest, all of his scores have lead to seven points.  And I don’t know why I didn’t see this before, or no one mentioned it to me, but Devin rhymes with Seven.  Duh!  This guy is so hot right now, he’s even watching himself on the big screen while he’s scoring.  I later realized he was just looking to see if anyone was behind him, kind of like checking his rear-view mirror.  What more can be said about him, other than, “Devin Hester, you are ridiculous!”  Denver punter Todd Sauerballs even went as far as saying publicly that Denver planned to kick to Hester.  That was almost as big a mistake as actually kicking to him, as he was certainly made to eat those words.  But I don’t know what’s more amazing, Hester returning two for scores, or the Bears not committing a penalty on either one. 

Either way, to this point, this game probably defines our season.  I’m ashamed to admit that even I crossed over to the dark side, counting us out with about ten minutes left in the game.  Denver had scored TD’s in three straight drives, and despite Seven’s 14 points, we were down 14.  And it didn’t matter that we had the ball; our typically limp offense was jonesing as usual for their much-needed Viagra.  A loss meant we’d pretty much be done, both realistically and mathematically.  We would probably go on to lose out, finishing 4 – 11, but only because Olin Kreutz would call off our last game.  So having resigned myself to the loss, like most fans already have, I finally resigned myself to our season being over.  And I was nauseous.  But that’s what I get – shame on me!  It was only moments later, with just over seven minutes to play, when an Illegal Formation penalty forced the Broncos to re-punt.  And the Bears took advantage by finding yet another way to win – blocking a punt.  This gave us a short field, and by the time the smoke cleared, Rex had tied it up, finding a receiver to actually hang onto the ball.  Berrian made the catch of his career.  A coin flip later and the Bears won after a loss for the fifth time in six tries this year.

Game balls also go to Adrian Peterson and Peanut Tillman.  Peterson proved himself a solid plan B, earning virtually every one of his yards 45 yards (on 17 carries), including his TD run.  He certainly played with more heart than Cedric “Suck Ass” Benson, who got sand in his va-jay-jay again (let’s hope it’s serious).  Peanut nabbed an INT (his first of the year, and fifteenth of his five-year career) and blocked the punt. 

Special teams aside, this win was super duper huge for us and our momentum.  Finding a way to come back when virtually out of the playoff race, and basically playing for pride, against a team that won big six days ago on a national stage, not only do we keep our playoff hopes alive, but we’re back within striking distance of that seemingly elusive .500.  And THAT win would put us right back in the thick of it – yeah, legitimately!  Follow me and I’ll break it down.

Playoff Break Down
Four division winners: Green Bay (10 – 1), Dallas (10 – 1), Tampa Bay (7 – 4), Seattle (7 – 4).
Two Wild Card teams: NY Giants (7 – 4), Detroit (6 – 5).
Five tied with Bears (5 – 6): Minnesota, Philadelphia, Washington, New Orleans and Arizona. 

Though we’re tied with five teams in our conference, the only two teams ahead of us in the Wild Card race are New York and Detroit.  And we host the Giants next Sunday, the same NY Giants that got blown out at home by the Vikings today.  Beating them would put us at worst a single game behind the two Wild Card leaders, and at best tied for the second Wild Card spot.  On the likely flipside, a loss to New York would be a huge – and probably final – blow to our post season chances.  We’d fall to 5 – 7, and New York would jump to 8 – 4, taking a three-game lead with four to play.  We’d only have one shot at the remaining spot, sought by six teams with at least five wins today.   

But all this is only possible because of today’s win.  Even though it was an AFC opponent, we sorely needed to show some life before the city collectively pulled the plug on the Bears.  So we must cherish this moment like a national holiday, and dance naked in the streets.  But only for tonight because the Bears have taught us that winning is fickle in the NFL.  So as much as I would like to be fully submerged in beer right now, it is necessary and proper to wait until next Sunday.  THAT game will no doubt wind up defining our season – either ending it for good, or giving us new life with a two-game win streak at our backs. 

And along with the Giants, we still have Minnesota, Washington and New Orleans on our schedule.  So the more we win, the more we control our fate, and the better our chances of advancing.  And something tells me the Bears aren’t ready to make today’s game lose meaning by following it up with anything other than a win.   Funny, we’ll know in “seven” days.

© 2007

This entry was posted on Mon, Nov 26, 2007 at 2:40 am and is filed under n) 2007 Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.