The ‘no respect’ theme is an ongoing one for the Lovie Smith led Chicago Bears. It seems like no matter what they do, they don’t garner the same kind of mainstream media love as other teams do. But I get it, it’s a reflection of the coach. Lovie is a quiet no-nonsense guy so his team, for the most part, is very low key. It’s true what they say, the squeaky wheel always gets the grease. If Brian Urlacher or Jay Cutler had bigger personalities the Bears would be out there more.
The Bears were picked to lose against the Atlanta Falcons in week 1 by just about every expert out there. To twist the knife even more, the Bears were a home underdog. Talk about a slap in the face. But it wasn’t a surprise, as you’d be lucky to find a handful of experts that even predicted a return to the playoffs for the 2011 Chicago Bears.
That’s OK, the Bears thrive on the no respect bulletin board material. What I did find odd, was the Bears didn’t even get that big a mention in the post game shows. You’d think a shocker like the Bears beating the Super Bowl contending, Matty Ice led, Atlanta Falcons would be the top story on most shows…but no.
The Philadelphia Eagles beating the St. Louis Rams, an injury depleted Rams mind you, was the first game mentioned. Then it was Carolina Panthers rookie QB Cam Newton going off on the porous defense of the Arizona Cardinals. The three national post game wrap up shows I watched barely gave the Bears a passing mention. Terrible.
This was the top two NFC seeds from 2010 facing off in the season opener and it was like the crickets chirped all over the game from a national perspective. But that’s OK. The Bears will just add that to their bulletin board, bring on the Saints!