Week Eight Bears Recap: That Team Is Hot... In The Right Light
My buddy Chris and I were back at Buffalo Billiards on Sunday for the Bears overtime win over Detroit. Buffalo Bill's is like a security blanket in DC for NFL fans from all over the country. It's cavernous, with mounted TV's everywhere, so you know you can come in on Sunday, find a nook or cranny, order a Thomas English Muffin, and get your game on. Maybe even a few hometowns fans will be there with you. Three-hour friendships are the best.
If we sit at the bar, Ben or Christian brings us our food and drink. If we're at a table, it's almost always Nicole. This past Sunday was the day before Halloween. Our waitress was Claire. Claire had to be new. We'd never seen her before. And Claire must like Halloween (and tips), because she was dressed as Jessica Simpson from this summer's crap factory: "The Dukes of Hazzard".
Claire nearly lost the game for us. I always consider myself an integral part of any Bears game. My focus, intensity, and desire have to be there. It's true for all Bears fans. The players need us spiritually, people. Remember that. But Claire was wearing a pair of jean shorts I think I threw away after the second grade. Her shirt was a few plaid dishrags knotted together. Chris kept ordering food just so she'd keep walking away.
Claire was by no means perfect. She had on some ratty blonde wig that made me imagine a sad stripper in a town with no tall buildings. And the grill left something to be desired. Lots of make-up covering up, well, we didn't know.
But the Bears were up 13-3 at the half so my commitment to the team was obviously still on point. The D was dominant again. We weren't running the ball all that well but Orton led a 99-yard drive capped off by a touchdown pass to Muhsin Muhammad. It was the same play they hooked up on versus the Vikings.
The second half started off promising. The defense was giving the offense good field position but our 13 first half points were clearly all Orton and Co. were good for that day.
Detroit started creeping back. Thomas Jones fumbled. Charles Tillman got a fifteen-yard personal foul. The Lions tied it up (Keep in mind I'm recapping this entire game by memory, a fuzzy memory, as Chris was still interested in the label on the back of Claire's jean shorts and Miller Lites kept appearing at our table).
That was the problem. Claire. Vile temptress! It looked bad. The Lions won the toss and got the ball first in overtime. This was a game we seemed destined to lose. I started justifying it in my head. We're a good team, not a very good one though. We can't close out even bad teams on the road. This was another game we dominated but weren't going to win (see Cleveland, week five).
But I buckled down, ordered some water, and focused on the game. It probably helped that Daisy Duke disappeared for 20 minutes (we were counting) because the Bears got the ball back. Cedric Benson had some nice runs to set up a good punt that put the D in perfect position. And then boom. Jeff Garcia made a Jeff Garcia throw, lobbing the ball to Charles Tillman who ran it in for another Bears victory and a two-game lead in the NFC North.
So what are the Bears? Great defense, a running game, a quarterback with promise but problems, some of which are yet to be exposed. We just don't know how good they are, how good they are going to be. We think they're hot, but what if the wheels come off, they stop going to the gym, and start claiming we like a team "with a little meat on her bones"?
Claire came back with our bill. Credit cards were swiped. Claire went away. We couldn't decide what to make of her. She was the perfect accompaniment to the Bears game.
If we sit at the bar, Ben or Christian brings us our food and drink. If we're at a table, it's almost always Nicole. This past Sunday was the day before Halloween. Our waitress was Claire. Claire had to be new. We'd never seen her before. And Claire must like Halloween (and tips), because she was dressed as Jessica Simpson from this summer's crap factory: "The Dukes of Hazzard".
Claire nearly lost the game for us. I always consider myself an integral part of any Bears game. My focus, intensity, and desire have to be there. It's true for all Bears fans. The players need us spiritually, people. Remember that. But Claire was wearing a pair of jean shorts I think I threw away after the second grade. Her shirt was a few plaid dishrags knotted together. Chris kept ordering food just so she'd keep walking away.
Claire was by no means perfect. She had on some ratty blonde wig that made me imagine a sad stripper in a town with no tall buildings. And the grill left something to be desired. Lots of make-up covering up, well, we didn't know.
But the Bears were up 13-3 at the half so my commitment to the team was obviously still on point. The D was dominant again. We weren't running the ball all that well but Orton led a 99-yard drive capped off by a touchdown pass to Muhsin Muhammad. It was the same play they hooked up on versus the Vikings.
The second half started off promising. The defense was giving the offense good field position but our 13 first half points were clearly all Orton and Co. were good for that day.
Detroit started creeping back. Thomas Jones fumbled. Charles Tillman got a fifteen-yard personal foul. The Lions tied it up (Keep in mind I'm recapping this entire game by memory, a fuzzy memory, as Chris was still interested in the label on the back of Claire's jean shorts and Miller Lites kept appearing at our table).
That was the problem. Claire. Vile temptress! It looked bad. The Lions won the toss and got the ball first in overtime. This was a game we seemed destined to lose. I started justifying it in my head. We're a good team, not a very good one though. We can't close out even bad teams on the road. This was another game we dominated but weren't going to win (see Cleveland, week five).
But I buckled down, ordered some water, and focused on the game. It probably helped that Daisy Duke disappeared for 20 minutes (we were counting) because the Bears got the ball back. Cedric Benson had some nice runs to set up a good punt that put the D in perfect position. And then boom. Jeff Garcia made a Jeff Garcia throw, lobbing the ball to Charles Tillman who ran it in for another Bears victory and a two-game lead in the NFC North.
So what are the Bears? Great defense, a running game, a quarterback with promise but problems, some of which are yet to be exposed. We just don't know how good they are, how good they are going to be. We think they're hot, but what if the wheels come off, they stop going to the gym, and start claiming we like a team "with a little meat on her bones"?
Claire came back with our bill. Credit cards were swiped. Claire went away. We couldn't decide what to make of her. She was the perfect accompaniment to the Bears game.
posted by David Stassen at 4:43 PM
