Da Bears Now Under Tremendous Pressure

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This Sunday’s game at Soldier Field in Chicago against the visiting 7-4 New York Giants is without question the most important game of the 2007 season for the Bears.

Sitting at 5-6 and tied for the cellar position within the NFC North Division with the Minnesota Vikings, they are hearing the playoff cries from Chicago’s passionate fans, who just witnessed their team lose in the Super Bowl nearly 10 months ago.

The game is critical for the Bears because any NFL team can forget about making the playoffs if they inflict more than seven losses over the course of the season. Last year, only one team that did that made the playoffs… the Giants, as a matter of fact, at 8-8… and they lost in the first round, the Wild Card Playoffs. The previous year, in 2005, you watched on television if your team was not 10-6 or better.

Offensive ineptitude, as has been the case since the days of Walter Payton, continues to be the problem for a team that was an astonishing 9-2 at this point last season. Clearly not the answer at starting quarterback, it is time for the media to anoint Rex Grossman as incapable of being a top-caliber quarterback.

The once often-injured QB shed the injury prone image last season by playing in every game, but was unable to shed the notion of being an incredibly inconsistent player, with few games of brilliance placed between many games with terrible results. This season is no different, with only three touchdown passes to seven interceptions in six games while splitting duties with Brian Griese.

The rushing attack is as bad as Grossman is, coming in 30th in a league with 32 teams. The number of running backs that have attempted to even come near the glory of Payton cannot be counted, and Cedric Benson, the present main running back, was lost for the season last weekend after injuring his ankle against the Denver Broncos. By the way, Chicago needed overtime to win the game 37-34, or they would already have reached the dreaded seven-loss mark.

The Giants, ironically, are experiencing a similar quarterback quandary, as their starter Eli Manning has also been inconsistent beyond belief. We present Exhibit A: a four-interception performance at home last week against the Vikings where three of those picks were taken to the house en route to 41-17 butt-kicking. This occurred in the painful presence of his watching Pro-Bowl brother, Payton. Ouch.

Bears Head Coach Lovie Smith, the team, the players, the rest of the coaches and the organization and the fans will be feeling identical pains if they lose this NFC matchup to fall to 5-7 and practically out of the playoffs. We can only pray that the defense plays the game of their lives.