Bears Toast

Lovie Watch begins:

• The Bears could spend between now and wild-card weekend counting the reasons they will be sitting at home with 10 wins.
  
  A defensive meltdown in Week 13 against the Seahawks and a brutal loss at Minnesota the following week are good places to start. Their time will be better spent, however, compiling ways they can improve in 2013 after a second-half collapse could not be saved by road wins over the lowly Cardinals and Lions at the end of a season that began with great promise.
  
  
• Questions will persist about the future of Smith, who has an 81-63 regular-season record in nine seasons, until Emery announces his plan. It will be interesting to see what role Chairman George McCaskey takes; most believe it was his call to fire GM Jerry Angelo a year ago.

With any luck, both the Bears and the CPD will be looking for new head coaches shortly.

Last Chance for Bears

Still a chance they might back into a playoff spot, and thereby gain the chance to fail on national television.

Latest odds have Bears by 3. If they manage to eke out a win against Detroit, then they have to hope the Packers don't play all their second stringers against the Vikings.

Do or Die

Da Bears are actually favored by 5.5 or so points.  After last week, we'd never pick them again.  They seem lacking in heart.  That, and they put their playoff fate in the hands of too many other teams.

Only 2.5 Points?

Green Bay favored versus Chicago.

The Bears carrying more than a few injuries, an aged defense and a broken offensive line.

And the Bears have lost 4 of their last 5.

We were figuring the Pack by 7 at least.

Bears by 3

Lots of injuries this week, but still the favorite. Did these guys look old last week or what?

Bears Favored by 3

Even with all the injuries last week?

Speculate away.

Bears Favored?

We've gotten off the bandwagon and are jogging alongside. Sorry, that's just the way it is.

The Bears are favored by 6.5 points at the moment.

We just don't feel it.

Underdogs

Cutler out, Bears underdogs by 6.

Spend your toothpicks wisely today.

Bears by a Point-and-a-Half

Only if the offense shows up.  The defense can take care of itself

Bears Romp

Well that was refreshing.  Especially after the first few series:

• Once again, after the defense forced another turnover, the Bears offense squandered that opportunity by going three-and-out on consecutive series at the start of the first quarter. But the defense and special teams sparked a historic first quarter to build a 28-2 lead that ended with a 51-20 Bears victory over the Tennessee Titans.
  
  The barrage of points started with a blocked punt by Sherrick McManis and a five-yard return by Corey Wootton midway through the first and included a 46-yard interception return for a touchdown by linebacker Brian Urlacher, the defense’s seventh score of this young season.
  
  Feeling left out, though, the Bears offense regrouped and reloaded...

The offense better regroup and reload for next week against the 7 - 1 Texans.

Bears by 3.5

After that walk-off field goal win, one has to wonder which Bears team will show up this week.  We sat on the sidelines seven days ago lest we sacrifice more toothpicks that we need to trade for new winter boots.  Fortunately, we have a line on some lumber that will provide us with many more toothpicks for the remainder of the season.  But not this week.

Bears Favored by 7.5

Well, last week we lost about 100.... "toothpicks" betting the spread.  The Lions scored late and covered.  This week, we're a bit wary of things.  Plus we're running low on toothpicks.

Bears by 6.5 (UPDATE)

Give the points.  Detroit was lucky to have won the last game they did.

UPDATE: Seriously?  That late touchdown cost us one-hundred dol.....toothpicks.  One-hundred very expensive toothpicks.  Honestly.

Fair Market Value

This was a long time coming....but they ought to triple the price reduction:

• The Cubs said Tuesday their overall average ticket price will decrease by 2 percent in 2013, most of which stems from a 10 percent reduction in the average price of a bleacher ticket.
  
  After a 101-loss season in which they drew more than 2.6 million fans, the Cubs had to determine whether prices needed to be reduced drastically, or if fans still would flock to Wrigley Field in 2013 no matter the price.

2.6 million people spending how many billions in a ballpark rated below most stairwells in the Robert Taylor Homes.

Bears Manhandle Jax

So what was the deal with the first half?  Three to three?  Are they luring the NFC into a false sense of mediocrity?

Bears by 5.5

After last week's showing, we're more confident backing the Bears.  If they can maintain the same level of intensity and focus, 5.5 is easily covered, regardless of whether Cutler whines or not.

Don't Expect a Quick Fix

Since it has only been a hundred years or so since they won anything:

• The Chicago Cubs' 101-loss season is over, and it definitely was one for the books.
  
  In a post-mortem in the media room known as the “dungeon” Thursday, baseball president Theo Epstein conceded the Cubs “buried ourselves right out of the chute and didn’t have the talent to overcome that.”
  
• “There’s no getting around the fact that as far as the ultimate return on investment for the fans’ dollar, which is seeing a winning team, they going to get better value down the road than they’re getting right now,” he said. “It’s our job to make sure the debt value, and experience of watching a baseball team down the stretch and into October and celebrating with that team is priceless, and that’s ultimately how we can reward the fans’ support.”

Wow. That's some unmitigated bullshit all right.

How about trying this on for size northsiders - stop going to games.  Stop buying Cubs stuff.  Spend your money somewhere else.  When the Blackhawks sucked, and they sucked for a long time under Old Man Wirtz, a lot of people stopped going to games, refusing to spend top dollar on a half-assed product.  Wirtz had to die and leave the team to his son for them to turn it around, win a Stanley Cup and make the tickets worth something again. 

The Bears spent some god-awful years in the wilderness before fielding a decent product and history appears to be repeating itself over by the lake.  The Bulls, too. The Sox seem to defy conventional wisdom for some reason - can't quite figure that one out.

Go Cubs

The ball club isn't the only embarrassment it seems:

• Finally, the Cubs can say they’re No. 1.
  
  Our lovable losers have gained the distinction of having MLB’s least clean park, as voted by ufe.com, an upstart website that stands for “urine feces everywhere."
  
  The ratings are the brainchild of Bourbonnais dentist John Vallone, who — along with his wife and six others — rated every major-league park based on 79 health-related criteria. Much of their focus was on rest-room hygiene. 

The Cubs are going for loss number 101 tonight.  Best of luck to them.

Sox finished ahead of where everyone picked them to end up, and still can't fill their park.

And the NHL continues to dig its own grave.

Dallas Favored by 3.5

Take Dallas anyway. The Bears' inconsistency so far doesn't inspire confidence.

Epic Fail on Tap

Not good boys - you're giving the northsiders something to beat southsiders with:

• After dropping seven of their past eight, the Chicago White Sox need just to simply play better and not be consumed with the success of American League Central leader Detroit, which extended its lead to 1 1/2 games earlier Thursday.
  
  “If you need to be told what to do, or you need a pep talk right now, then you might as well walk out that door and ‘see ya,’ " Sox designated hitter Adam Dunn said before the Sox opened a four-game series against Tampa Bay.

In other sporting news, the entire NHL preseason has been canceled.