Now is the winter...

Welcome to the first Sunday AF [after football]. It was a fun season, from a Bears fan perspective- coming in nobody predicted an eventual NFC Championship fight against the Packers. The hype on local radio stations [it didn't matter if you were listening to The Score, The Drive, or even NPR] was unprecedented. And although our defense did its job against the ballyhooed Packers O [albeit after spotting them a 2-TD lead], it's hard to win with a 1st-string QB injured before halftime, and a 2nd-string 'veteran' QB who made me yearn for Kyle Orton. That's hard to do.

How about a '5th Phase' next year?

At the end of the day, though, da Bears missed a golden chance to take a stab at a title. It ain't easy getting through the playoffs, and the Packers look poised to start an NFC North dynasty [they are a quarterbacking gold mine]. With 32 teams in the NFL, simple math in a 'fair league' says you should win a Superbowl once every 32 years... so da Bears still have 8 years before their next Superbowl win is overdue. But with certain teams always trying to spoil the party and win at a rate faster than 1/32, being this close to the Superbowl [and losing in it a few years ago] hurts. I don't know how da Bears got where they were this year, but it'll take some similar magic to do it again. And the NFL rewards solid-team-building much more consistently than 'magic'.


Okay, that's enough rambling about football for the next few months [assuming there's no 'work-stoppage'...]. My weekends just opened up due to lack of football. Here's hoping the weather avoids dipping below-0 from here on out... but it's still another month until the equinox brings us Spring. Looking forward to an Amtrak trek west in early April, too! But for now, time to get back to lazy Sundays.