CHICAGO (670 The Score) – There was a point Sunday afternoon when it seemed like someone had maybe dosed the Soldier Field press box coffee.
The Bears and 49ers played much of their season opener at high tide, stumbling around in ankle-deep slosh that, especially in the fourth quarter, washed away any chance of a Trey Lance-led comeback for San Francisco. It rained before the game, during the game and after the game – saying it was a wet day on the lakefront is like saying it was a wet day when the ark took off. Hyperbole is a staple of postgame locker room interviews – not to mention postgame columns – but the Bears' 19-10 win Sunday offered a truly realistic look at what it'd be like to play a pro football game in the shallow end of a swimming pool.
"It was different, man," Bears safety Eddie Jackson said. "I've never played in anything like that in my entire life – not Little League, college, never in my career have I ever played in anything like that."
"I've done snow, and I've done ice before when I was a kid," offensive lineman Teven Jenkins added. "But this heavy downpour, like this? I haven't done that."
The worst of it came about halfway through the fourth quarter right after – if you can believe it – the Bears took the lead. What started as a thick mist rolling over the stadium lights quickly morphed into a steady drizzle. On the field, giant swaths of puddles, which Jenkins affectionately referred to as a "soupy pond," appeared almost immediately after. Up two scores with about four minutes left, no one on the Bears' sideline seemed to mind when that steady drizzle started coming in sideways.
"It's just your mindset," running back Khalil Herbert said. "You've got to embrace it. I feel like we did a good job embracing it. It was fun out there just being able to slide around. Run the ball, protect the ball, go out there and play in the soaking rain. It was fun."
To a person, every player went out of their way to commend the Bears' equipment team for having them prepared. Rookie edge rusher Dominique Robinson had extra-long studs put on the bottom of his preferred Adidas cleats, while Herbert, who led the team in rushing yards, was happy with how quickly his dried out.
"It was cool," said Robinson, who had 1.5 sacks in his NFL debut. "Like, almost the whole field was underwater. But we've got the right material and equipment to go out there and play. So we're all good … it wasn't even that bad. I still was able to make cuts."
Sunday also featured the debut of Tahoma 31, the Bermuda grass that was rush delivered to Soldier Field after a few summer concerts made the infamous turf even more worse for its wear. The company that provided the grass advertises it as a surface that's better for absorbing rain, though the snapshots Sunday probably aren't making it onto the marketing promos any time soon. Still, after game one of eight (or more?!?), the grass is, quite literally, starting to look a little greener.
"Held up good," Jackson said. "It held up pretty good. Usually we'd be slipping and sliding everywhere."
Robinson may have put it best: "That Bermuda grass came in clutch."
Cam Ellis is a writer for 670 The Score and Audacy Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KingsleyEllis.
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