CHICAGO (670 The Score) — The last time Lovie Smith won a football game that meant this much to the Bears organization, his team advanced to Super Bowl XLI.
That was 16 years ago in the NFC Championship on Jan. 21, 2007 at Soldier Field. Snow fell, hopes grew and everybody loved Lovie.
Fast forward to Sunday afternoon and Smith’s popularity soared high enough locally to consider entering the Chicago mayoral race if he gets fired again.
About 180 miles away at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Smith’s Texans scored on a 28-yard touchdown pass after a desperation, fourth-and-20 heave with 50 seconds left from quarterback Davis Mills to receiver Jordan Akins. Smith never hesitated, deciding to go for a successful game-winning two-point conversion even though beating the Colts 32-31 meant a Texans’ victory dropped them to second in the NFL Draft order in April.
Allowing the Bears to draft No. 1 overall.
That’s all that really mattered after the Bears lost 29-13 to the Vikings on Sunday at Soldier Field to set a franchise record for defeats in a season with 14. Frankly, that’s all too many people in town have cared about for months anyway, at least since Oct. 24 – the last time the Bears actually beat an opponent, the Patriots in Foxborough, Mass. Such is the sad and absurd state of affairs in a so-called football city when the historically bad home team just mercifully ended coach Matt Eberflus’ first season with its 10th straight loss.
Yet so many celebrated throughout it.
Related
The Bears now own the No. 1 overall draft pick for the first time since 1947, possess more than $100 million in salary cap space and have an exciting young quarterback in Justin Fields at the organization’s bogeyman position. Still, after 20 years covering this team, this dreadful season confirmed only one thing to me: No football city celebrates futility quite like Chicago. This had to be one of the happiest 3-14 seasons any NFL fan base ever has experienced.
Fans and media have softened to the point in which it was fair to wonder on Sundays whether those rooting for losses this season outnumbered those cheering for wins – or even those appreciating professional attempts at victory. While understandable given the state of professional sports, that gradual shift in priorities comes without the promises many assume. That obsession with “losing isn’t everything, it’s the only thing" diminishes the value of learning how to win and dismisses how difficult roster-building really is in the NFL.
Remember, drafting first and spending wildly guarantees the Bears nothing but raised expectations for a franchise that traditionally struggles to meet them. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. The Bears aren’t as close to competing as some of these artificial incentives to lose games and shed salary suggest. In the NFL, a league in which rebuilds tend to be quicker, are you really sure the Bears are done tearing down?
Celebrate the emergence of Fields as loudly as you like, this is a team nowhere close to competing for a division title. Not in the same area code or vicinity. Even if "tanking the North" replaced "taking the North" as the understood objective of the 2022 season, it hardly means next year at this time the Bears won’t be reflecting on another season full of double-digit losses. And then what? And then who?
As for the last game of the 2022 season, it felt like the first game of the 2023 preseason, with backups competing against reserves and more than a few Bears and Vikings making memories significant only for stories at their future neighborhood barbecues. Let me tell you about the day I tackled Justin Jefferson.
Few positives emerged. Khalil Herbert gained 50 yards on 10 carries. Punter Trenton Gill finished a solid rookie season by pinning two punts inside the 20. Cole Kmet caught four passes for 57 yards and ran hard after the catch. Inconsistent rookie receiver Velus Jones Jr. went into the offseason with some momentum after a leaping 28-yard catch preceded a nifty 42-yard touchdown run down the sideline. Had Jones supplied any more highlights that potentially interrupted this orchestrated loss, he might have been benched again.
Nathan Peterman and Tim Boyle split time at quarterback. Before Bears fans had finished Googling Boyle, the backup, he had thrown an interception that Vikings cornerback Patrick Peterson returned 28 yards. Boyle’s pass hung in the air long enough to count as his first NFL punt. Peterman completed 11 of 19 passes for 114 yards and a touchdown but sounded proudest postgame of paying tribute to his former University of Pittsburgh teammate Damar Hamlin, the injured Bills safety whose recovery has captivated America.
Related
Little stood out on a Bears defense that gave up 482 total yards, begging the question for a second straight week whether the execution or effort was worse. In fairness, if everything goes according to plan, the only defensive starter Sunday likely to start Week 1 next year was safety Jaquan Brisker.
Everybody knew this was coming, especially after the Bears announced early in the week that Fields would miss the finale with a hip sprain. With a straight face, Eberflus even tried convincing reporters that Fields wouldn’t have been able to play if the Bears were in a playoff game. It seemed like a silly thing for him to say out loud. I mean, the Bears in a playoff game?
But attrition and injuries conspired to make sitting Fields a defensible decision, especially for a team not exactly incentivized to win, even if the QUITS principle appeared to replace the HITS principle as the Week 18 theme.
Week 19 peaks Tuesday when Poles plans to address reporters alongside Eberflus. Everybody wants to know how committed Poles is to Fields, the quarterback he inherited but didn’t draft. It’s a fair and topical question. As much as Fields emerged as a game-breaking threat as a runner and demonstrated what special looks like, he remains a work in progress as an NFL passer. Evaluating isn’t criticizing. And that evaluation prevails from Bears coaches to league observers to Poles himself, who said so on the record as recently as last Sunday in a pregame interview on WBBM-AM. Only Fields apologists allergic to objectivity disagree or view that opinion as derogatory.
How Poles handles the Fields question publicly this offseason bears watching.
If Poles makes clear the Bears believe Fields unequivocally established himself as the franchise quarterback of the future, he risks devaluing the No. 1 pick because teams will conclude the Bears have no plans to take a quarterback. The longer teams that need a quarterback more desperately than the Bears think Poles will draft one, the higher the price goes. So, add auctioneer to Poles’ resume.
But here’s the rub: If Poles plays coy and allows any ambiguity about Fields to linger over the next several months, he must consider how a show of no confidence will affect Fields, who has reason to think his leadership and performance this season deserves more than just a postseason shrug from his GM. Therein lies the conundrum.
In all likelihood, Poles will say due diligence requires him to thoroughly scout and evaluate all three quarterbacks capable of being drafted in the top 10: Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and Kentucky’s Will Levis. Expect the process to play out gradually through the NFL Combine and Pro Day workouts and pre-draft lying season. Projections will be glowing enough to tempt the Bears into thinking an upgrade is available – heck, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit already compared Young to NBA superstar Steph Curry – even if nothing has happened in any of those quarterbacks' college careers to make me certain they'll have more NFL success than Fields. Before taking a deeper dive into their credentials, none of the three appear as qualified to be the top overall pick as much as, say, Andrew Luck, Joe Burrow or Trevor Lawrence did.
Practically speaking, I believe the Bears have enough holes on an awful roster to reduce the possibility of starting over at quarterback, again.
Fields offers the Bears an exciting, albeit unconventional, opportunity to finish what they started in terms of his development. To get a return on the organization’s investment in him. To see it through. A better roster also should increase the chances we’ll see an improved passer in Fields. Additions to the offensive line and wide receiving corps will help Fields as much as experience naturally will. The debate will rage for months, but I believe seeing where Fields can take the Bears with his unique skill set makes more sense than trusting Poles to pick his own quarterback. In essence, based on a small sample size from each guy, I’m saying I have more faith in Fields becoming an elite quarterback than I do in Poles becoming an elite talent evaluator. In a perfect world, of course, both possibilities happen simultaneously and become obvious sooner rather than later.
The list of things the Bears need to address as an organization makes this arguably their most important offseason in decades. Over the next several months, the Bears must hire a team president, finalize a stadium move to Arlington Heights, intelligently spend their small fortune available in free agency and now maximize having the No. 1 pick of the NFL Draft.
Now, the fun begins.
Because whatever the Bears did for the last 18 weeks sure didn’t fit my definition.
David Haugh is the co-host of the Mully & Haugh Show from 5-10 a.m. weekdays on 670 The Score. Click here to listen. Follow him on Twitter @DavidHaugh.
Listen to WBBM Newsradio now on Audacy!