Fire Ryan Poles | Fire Ben Johnson

It was frustrating to see the Bears’ defense once again let their opponents throw and run all they wanted. The good news was that they only allowed it in the first half which helped the Bears beat the Lions in a close one 24-20. The Bears have flaws all over the place but the important part of their 9-3 record is being able to adjust to them.

Offense: Shitty offensive line? Martz early on was sending Cutler to the seven-step dropback and he paid for it. Cutler was running for his life quite a bit in this game. Martz to his credit though, had Cutler going just one or two steps back on some plays then firing the ball to a receiver which was huge. We also saw some draw plays for Forte and Taylor and both were able to score on the ground. The word I have been saying in these recaps since the bye-week is “balance”. No matter what the stat people (Cue the idiots who believe they know everything about football) think, balance of the run and pass plays can be the difference between a win and a loss. The Bears ran the ball 28 times and passed 26 times. As long as it’s close to 50/50, this team will be in every game. Another important part in balancing the offense is that this leads to controlling the time of possession which the Bears did win by almost seven minutes.

In the passing game, Cutler hit seven different receivers including Earl Bennett who had a career game with seven catches for 104 yards. A key play of this game was the Nadamukong Suh hands to the head of Jay Cutler. When watching it live, it looked like Suh hit him in the back of the head real bad. When the replay was shown, Suh pushed him on his shoulder with his left hand and on his neck with his right. I didn’t think it was a penalty but the Bears were lucky on that. Rather be lucky than good? I’d say so.

Defense: In the first half, the defense was absolutely shitty. Drew Stanton was Drew Brees early on. I realize that these aren’t the same  Lions the Bears are use to seeing but that was awful. Here’s a stat for the morons to chomp on: The defense gave up 253 yards in the first half alone and over 100 of those yards were on the ground. The last drive of that half went for TWO plays and 91 yards (45 yard run by Best and 46 yard touchdown by Johnson). All I have been hearing this whole season is the defense saying in the media that they don’t care if anybody else thinks they are good or not. Well, the first half proved that they are not as good as people think. I will give them credit in the second half that they decided to wake up and actually play defense. The only score they gave up after halftime was a field goal and that was because Cutler fumbled the ball in his own territory and they only gave up 49 yards. They found a way to hold it down but problems still remain.

Special Teams: Well, this has been the most consistent part of this team. Robbie Gould nailed a career-long 54 yard field goal in a crucial time down six in the third quarter. Devin Hester nearly took one back on a punt return but later on, the Bears scored the eventual game winning touchdown so the field position he gave the offense was huge.

The Bears are now 9-3 and maintain their one game lead in the North. They will host the Patriots next Sunday while the Packers are on the road against the Lions. This division race will not be easy.

Sometimes in life, you try to ignore things that piss you off. You try to get away from something that annoys you. For me two years ago, I quit watching baseball. I couldn’t stand it. These days, the only way I even see that piece of shit team that I use to follow is on the news.  I see some of your reader’s comments from time to time, but that’s only to make sure everything is flowing smoothly and that the idiots who come here every now and then discuss sports in a grown-up matter.

However, this is something I cannot ignore. Ron Santo died Friday morning. I was checking the site before getting ready for work when I saw all the comments. I could not believe it. This sucks ass. I am one emotional kid this morning.

Until I was 16, I grew up just south of the Wisconsin border in Northwest Illinois. I did not have cable tv and WGN came in once every great while on the rooftop antenna. The only way I could watch baseball on TV was to either wait for the game of the week on Saturdays or go to a friend’s house (Which I did every now and then). So there I was stuck listening to Radio 720 WGN as early in my life as I could remember. I remember Harry Carey doing some of the games then in the mid-90’s, Pat Hughes took over.

Needless to say, I fell more in love with baseball when I heard the duo of Pat Hughes and Ron Santo. I could not have imagined looking back how much I enjoyed those two guys. Hughes is one of the best announcers in baseball right up there with Vin Scully and Bob Uecker. This baseball team was as bad as it could get yet all of those years, I still made it a priority to follow them everyday. I could remember jumping in excitement as a kid when Hughes called a homerun for the team I use to root for with Santo being excited as well. The team was probably in last place, but Hughes and Santo made it sound like they were in the pennant race.

I met Ron Santo in 2004 and in 2005, I met both him and Pat Hughes. Hughes signed a baseball for me on the last home game of the 2005 season. That guy was as classy it could be. I remember telling him how much him and Ron meant to me listening to the games and he replied back with “Thanks for tuning in”. He is one classy guy. I ran into Santo again earlier that year and he was kind enough to sign my baseball glove. Even when I was still following baseball, I could see why he was screaming and yelling in the booth. That’s why I was never annoyed with him. I did the same damn thing in my house. I just wanted them to fucking win and so did Ron Santo even more than me. I think in the later years as a fan, he was screaming even more in the booth. I am sure all of us could notice the idea in the back of our heads that his time was running out and all he wanted to see was his team to win.

Loyal reader of the site JimmyD said a big “Fuck you” to the veterans committee and I would like to second that. It doesn’t matter if he gets in or not now. It’s too late. Go fuck yourselves veterans committee. Just another reason for me to hate that sport.

I remember watching his documentary a few years back and seeing all of his struggles. I almost cracked a tear. This morning, I had a couple running down my eyes. The only thing I missed about following that fucking baseball team was listening to Hughes and Santo on the radio. Now one of those guys is gone. No matter how much I hate baseball now, it was my life when I was younger and that was because I listened to the games on the radio. Before I quit watching the sport, I remember telling myself I really wanted them to win the whole thing. While it seemed selfish that I wanted them to win more than anything else, I wanted them to win more before something bad happened to Santo. Too late on that too.

I am going to miss you Ron Santo. No matter how shitty life was for me growing up listening to that team, you along with Pat Hughes made it a consolation prize.