Darkness Before The Dawn
By Mitch Berg
As I’ve noted in this space in the past, the Chicago Bears fortunes tend to be a leading indicator for the nation as a whole.
The evidence is writ large across history, and is inescapable for those with eyes to see, ears to hear, and voices to cheer:
- In the mid-thirties, the Bears dynasty dominated football – foreshadowing the recovery from the Great Depression.
- In 1940, as war clouds gathered on the horizon and Europe knelt before Hitler, the Bears – heavy dogs to the Washington Redskins – punctuated the end of the beginning. Their record 73-0 win over the ‘skins in the NFL championship gave the nation the courage it needed to face the upcoming challenges, leading – albeit indirectly – to victory in World War II.
- The twilight of the great Bears dynasties began in ’63, with the Bears final NFL championship for nearly twenty years. But amid the collapse came hope in the form of the ’63 team’s tight end, Mike Ditka, whose emergence as a utility receiver/blocker/enforcer presaged the entry of Ronald Reagan to electoral politics the next year; we’d hear from both of them shortly.
- The Bears’ nadir – the late sixties, when epic talents like Dick Butkus and Gayle Sayers shone on otherwise-mediocre years, when Wes Montgomery led the team in rushing with 200-odd yards on the season, when quarterback Bobby Douglass out-rushed the rest of the backfield because if he didn’t he’d get sacked into concussionland, the entire Abe Gibron era – coincided with the Great Malaise, with stagflation, with the Nixon, Ford and Carter years all in one.
- The nation’s recovery began shortly after Walter Peyton started playing. And like the recovery, the Bears’ fortunes with Peyton started slowly and fitfully; like America, Peyton needed a leader who could channel and energize all that talent and power.
- The ’86 Super Bowl – which happened at among the Cold War’s darkest hours – that leader arrived. The year brought Ditka together again (metaphorically and metaphysically, at least) with Reagan, as well as John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher and the like, to begin the trip up the road that would end, five years later, with the fall of communism. Reagan, Thatcher and the Pope laid the political and moral groundwork for the revolution; but to accomplish big things, a people need big hopes -and that’s what Ditka, Peyton, Singleterry, Perry, MacMahon and company brought us.
- On the other hand, the Bears’ Super Bowl loss to the Baltimore Clots laid the groundwork for the electoral fiascos in ’06 and 08; when the Bears are down, the nation is down.
And so all I can say today at hearing this news…:
[Middle Linebacker and team leader Brian] Urlacher left Sunday’s 21-15 loss to the Green Bay Packers with a wrist injury in the third quarter.
Bears coach Lovie Smith said Urlacher dislocated his wrist, and no timetable had been set for his return.
Citing unnamed sources, the Chicago Tribune reported on Sunday night that Urlacher will have surgery when the team returns to Chicago. The newspaper reported that Urlacher had an X-ray at halftime, but an MRI was not needed.
“It’s always tough to have your leader go down,” linebacker Lance Briggs said, according to the newspaper. “He knows the defense better than anybody and he communicates everything to everyone else.”
…is “oh, crap”.
September 14th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
There are a couple of similarities between Bobby Douglas and President Obama: they’re both Chicago lefties who know how to run. Their completion percentages, though, leave something to be desired.
September 14th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
So *that’s* why I got laid off!
September 14th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
all I can say is… Skol Vikings, let’s go!
September 14th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
It could be worse. You could be a Lions fan.
I also note that the Bears lead the league by a wide margin in the number of Vanderbilt alumni. That’s always a sign of quality.
September 14th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Someone ought to see if the Bears willingly give tax-evasion advice to prostitutes who want to smuggle under-age illegal immigrant girls for the purpose of running a sex-slave ring.
It might start them on the road to redemption.
September 14th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
I’ve been rooting for Da Bears since I was a kid, but even if it helps the economy, I’ll still have trouble rooting for a team that Comrade Obama likes.
Hopefully he starts rooting exclusively for the Redskins. I can always cheer for their opponent!
September 14th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Mitch- You must be close to 7′ tall now with all the stretching you had to do to come up with this. The mid-Thirties foreshadowing the recovery from the Great Depression? The 1986 Super Bowl happening amid the Cold War’s darkest hours? We’re willing to give you a little latitude when it comes to sports, but you’re straining the limits of credibility here.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
“Sweetness” was drafted in 1975, so his “started playing” years would be . . . the Carter Administration? The recovery started shortely thereafter? Seriously?
In 1940, as war clouds gathered on the horizon and Europe knelt before Hitler, the Bears – heavy dogs to the Washington Redskins – punctuated the end of the beginning. Their record 73-0 win over the ’skins in the NFL championship CAUSED THE JAPANESE TO BOMB PEARL HARBOR ALMOST EXACTLY ONE YEAR LATER. (there I fixed that one)
And what Chad said.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Chad,
That a man’s reach exceed his grasp, or what is heaven for?
— Samuel Johnson. Or Mike Ditka. I forget.
September 14th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
“Sweetness” was drafted in 1975, so his “started playing” years would be . . . the Carter Administration? The recovery started shortely thereafter? Seriously?
No, that’s not what I said. Like Reagan, the Bears were building strength, waiting in the wings for their chance. And thank the Almighty that chance came.
In 1940, as war clouds gathered on the horizon and Europe knelt before Hitler, the Bears – heavy dogs to the Washington Redskins – punctuated the end of the beginning. Their record 73-0 win over the ’skins in the NFL championship TIDED A BLITZKRIEG-SHOCKED WORLD OVER UNTIL THE WESTERN ALLIES COULD RESPOND
There. Three’s the charm.
September 14th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
I remember Mike Ditka doing quite a bit of reaching and grasping on national television during a memorable Monday Night Football game from the Metrodome.
September 14th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
All I can say after reading that whopper is:
Mitch was drunk when writing it.
We’re doomed
Sid Luckman’s ghost haunts Soldier Field.
Somewhere, Bob Avellini is laughing his ass off.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
I’m just picturing Berg doing the Superbowl Shuffle with the Fridge. That would be entertainment.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
I’m just picturing Berg doing the Superbowl Shuffle with the Fridge. That would be entertainment.
You’re looking at the blogger, they call me Mitch
I write all day but I don’t get rich
I give my readers treatises on historical trends
Sometimes they fit the template, sometimes they bend
I pound on the table when I watch Jay Cutler
If he can’t get it fixed I’ll have no Super Bowl Shuffle