Bears Overrated?!?!

OK, let me first begin this by saying that I am, as the one or two of you that will from time to time read this blog know, a Bears fan. Let me also state that this is not a post about how what everyone saw yesterday didn't mean anything, or that they are still better than the Chargers, or anything like that. This is an attempt to educate the people out there that think they know something about sports.

Secondly, let me add that I am not against people's opinions. I realize that I am more positive about the Bears than other folks. Of coarse I am, I'm a fan. That is what we do. However, as anyone that knows me can attest, I am a realistic fan. I am not going to try to tell you that you are wrong if you don't think they are as good as I do. I am not going to say you are an idiot for thinking they might not be the best team in the NFC. If that is what you think, fine. I disagree, and I will give you valid points as to why I disagree, but as Chris Berman says, "That's why they play the games"!

Now, the point of this rant is the thought of the Bears being overrated. As I was driving home from my friends house last night after the game, I was listening to sports radio. There was a caller, lets call him "Joe from Jersey" that went on for about 10 minutes about how the Bears are the most "overrated" team in football. He talked about their QB, their losses to New England and Indy last year, and of coarse their loss to the Chargers yesterday.

My response would be this: Joe, do you know what the term overrated means? If not, ask the University of Michigan. What, can't get the Maze and Blue on the phone? OK, let me give you a general definition. It means that a team, for our purposes, has been placed in an elevated status, and then not lived up to this placement. Now I would ask Joe, given this definition, how are the Bears overrated? Let me give some perspective, before Joe gets into a lather.

Last year, from the minute the Arizona game ended in week 6, the Bears were not mentioned among the elite of the NFL anymore, unless you count local Chicago radio and TV people. They were called one of the better teams in the NFC, but I can't think of many "experts" that said they were better than San Diego, Baltimore, New England, or Indy for that matter. This was due in large part to their quarterback, Rex Grossman, and it was deserved. You can not be an elite team when the most important player on your team has a 50-50 shot of being the most important player on the other team too. Now, lets look back at our definition. If no one is saying that they are great, when they aren't great, how are they overrated? What they were was the best team in the NFC. I know this because they went to the Super Bowl from the NFC, and that, stat geeks, is all that really matters. But we'll come back to that.

Lets look at the New England game. They were a 4 point underdog. Wait, let me repeat that, the were a 4 point UNDERDOG. Now, as an underdog, you are supposed to lose. So, when you do lose, how does this make you overrated? You lived up to what was expected. For the record, they were 4 point dogs, and they lost by 4.

OK, now lets return the NFC title and the NFC playoffs. I can honestly say that there were 0, zilch, nada of the experts at ESPN that thought the Bears would go to the Super Bowl. Many of them picked against them in the Seattle game, and all of them, from Mike Golic to Merrel Hodge to Ron Jaworski, picked them to lose to the Saints. Again, I ask, if everyone is saying that you will lose, how are you overrated? Never mind the fact that you actually WON THE F#&*ING GAMES! You were picked to lose. This seems like the exact opposite of our definition.

Now, they of coarse lost the Super Bowl, but again, they were supposed to lose. They were underdogs in Vegas as well as in the eyes of the vast majority of analysts. How do I know, because I am a glutton for punishment and I love to watch as much of this as possible. So again, as above with the Patriots game, when you are supposed to lose, and you do, how is this overrated?

Then finally there is the issue of yesterdays game. Yes they lost. Yes they had 4 turnovers. However, as with the Pats and the Colts, they were supposed to lose. I can think of very few places where I saw them being picked to win. Even Michael Wilbon, a writer for the Washington Post, host of PTI on ESPN, Chicago boy, and unapologetic Chicago sports fan, picked the Chargers to win. See what I am getting at? Again, if you are picked to lose, and you lose, then you did what was expected of you. This doesn't make it ok, but it does mean that you weren't overrated.

Now, if you want to say that the Bears suck, fine. You're wrong, but fine. They are what everyone who has a brain has said, a good team with some serious flaws. Are they in the category with New England, Indy, or San Diego? No. Are they as good as Baltimore? Not sure. Are they better than everyone else in the NFC? Maybe, maybe not. Are one of the best teams in their conference? Yes. Will they make the playoffs? Yes. Can they make the Super Bowl again? Unless the entire defense gets hurt, then yes. They are one of the many teams that are in that second level. They are in their with Dallas, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Carolina, Seattle, etc. They are a team that is capable of beating any team in the league, while they are also capable of losing to some bad teams. So say that they aren't as good as the best teams, fine. Say they won't go to the Super Bowl, OK. These are statements that I can not definitively say are incorrect. However, you can not, at least correctly, say that they are overrated.

Will this stop Joe from Jersey and those like him? No. These types will continue to spew out all the "knowledge" they have. Most of which will be false, and that is fine. I'll just have to either turn it off, or listen, get pissed, and write a blog to vent and cool off. Ultimately, anger me though it does, this is is one of the things that make sports so great. There are few things that bring out as much passion and opinions as sports. I just hope that people will start using the correct terms and not calling any team that loses overrated.