(670 The Score) That sense of excitement and hope curdling into dread relentlessly in front of our eyes is familiar enough, but going through it so soon and so completely was still a bit of a shock.
It feels like it needs its own long German word, this cruel sensation of watching any good thoughts about the 2023 Bears eroded by their sloppy play and inability to block or tackle the Packers in a season-opening loss Sunday.
Eberflussenschmertz, perhaps? Does that work?
The 38-20 drubbing on a gorgeous day at Soldier Field was the worst possible start to the outset of the Bears' ostensibly more competitive phase and the Kevin Warren presidential era, already calling into question what so many people have been doing to prepare for it.
So much happy talk about the quality of their camps and practices and draft picks and free agents, and they still got manhandled on both sides of the line of scrimmage, had glaring busts in pass coverage, committed too many penalties and allowed nine third-down conversions. There may still be a talent disparity at work even now, but that doesn't explain what we just saw.
The Bears' offense mirrors their apparent overall trajectory, in that it is self-defeatingly horizontal — a collection of smoke routes and bubble screens that were badly timed, spaced and executed. If Luke Getsy came right out of the gate channeling Gary Crowton, it may indicate his low confidence in the Bears' ability to keep Justin Fields upright, even after what were thought to be upgrades. Fields was again under siege most of the day, to be fair, but the short game clearly wasn't working and there was no pivot to any more protective formations that could allow a receiver to at least get down the field.
A mere two targets for D.J. Moore needs explaining, as soon as possible. He looked like he was sparking them at the outset of the second quarter, and all of his production for the entire day ended up coming on one drive that netted a field goal.
The Packers were down their most explosive receiver in Christian Watson and lost Aaron Jones early in the second half, but Jordan Love was unfazed, throwing for three scores with a 123.2 passer rating. Even if we're not ready to anoint him the next great in the line, he was still more than good enough and clearly better than his counterpart. Fields wasn't terrible, but the bar for him is higher than that.
Having all that time to throw does help too. There was no Bears pass rush, no consistent push regardless of the multiple alignments they deployed. One sack by Yannick Ngakoue on a tackle/end stunt was it, and even that was due largely to Love dropping his eyes
This loss happening in the way that it did is damaging to Matt Eberflus and Getsy, and it should rightly be setting off early alarms about how far along the Bears actually are. The former cleaves to his precious acronymic principle that simply isn't evinced by how his team actually plays, and the latter still calls plays more defensively than befits his title. And this is after the arrival of multiple reinforcements, at the point of the season where injuries are yet to be the issue they inevitably become.
Opening results often beget overreaction, indeed, but we know that was something more than just one of 17.
Dan Bernstein is the co-host of the Bernstein & Holmes Show on middays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on 670 The Score. You can follow him on Twitter @Dan_Bernstein.