And then I saw that win. Now I’m a believer.

The thing about being a Chicago fan, is that you’re so used to disappointment that it’s hard to ever let your guard down and really believe in your team. For example, every White Sox fan out there was cheering like crazy, and possibly enjoying themselves watch their team dominate, but all of them (at least the true fans) had that little seed in the back of their mind going “Okay, well, when is this going to all crash around us.” Now lousy White Sox fans actually got to see their dreams come true, whereas I’m still waiting. But that’s a different story.

However, like I said last week, the Lions and Bears had a couple litmus test games. The Bears proved that they really do belong, and they may have even proven that they could be the team to beat in the NFC. Lions proved that they stink. But more on this later.

Now unfortunately, I had a lousy play rehearsal at 2:00 on Sunday, so I was not able to catch most of the early or late afternoon games. So when I checked the scores later, I was shocked to see that Oakland had beaten Washington, and Baltimore had beaten Pittsburgh (by the way, what’s it going to take for Baltimore to start Chester Taylor? I mean, come on!). Just what we needed, the convict teams to think they can win. Oh well, we’ll see their spirits crushed soon enough. Can the Texans just forfeit the rest of the games this year? No wait, they can’t do that because I have Dominick Davis on my fantasy team, but seriously, have you ever seen a team that’s just not even trying anymore? It’s kind of sad. But at the same time, if they just lose the rest and get the first pick, who are they taking? David Carr should be good, and Dominick Davis should be good too, so will they trade down and pick up a couple first round picks? And if they do, who’s gonna trade up to get Reggie Bush or Matt Leinart? We’re not even close to the draft yet, but that’s already kind of exciting to think about. I hate seeing the Vikings win, but maybe if they end up doing okay, the management will still inexplicably think Mike Tyce is a good coach, and they can continue to suck.

Speaking of bad management, the Lions! So the Lions lose to a very good Dallas team, rather soundly, and are looking more miserable than ever. So what does the front office do to alleviate this? Maybe try some new things, start some new talent, see what you’ve got on the bench? No. Instead, let’s go ahead and file greivance against Charles Rogers. Unbelievable. The thing is, this has nothing to do with the players nor the coaches. It has everything to do with Millen. Can this not wait until the end of the season? What little chemistry this team had is now completely destroyed thanks to this. Brilliant, Millen, well done. The only prayer that Lions fans (and I’m in this category) is if the Lions lose the rest of the games this year, landing them a decent draft pick (maybe they could be the ones to trade up?), and with yet another miserable season, the Ford’s are finally convinced that Millen is just not working out, and dump him, despite the contract they gave him. That’s about the only hope. The Lions are the one exception to the standard NFL parity, and it is well past time that something changes.

Now on the far brighter side. I’ve been treating the Bears all year with a lot of sarcasm and negativity, though I have of course been cheering for them, and have even made comments like “I’m pretty confident in our defense.” Well, they made me a believer this week. I seriously thought of this game as the “There’s no way we can win this, but let’s at least keep it close” game. And we man-handled them. The final score was 13-3, but it may as well have been 35-3, they weren’t getting more than a field goal on that defense. We are not flying under the radar anymore, the word’s out. The Bears are for real.

Here’s the thing. The Bears are the best smash mouth team in the NFL. Jonathan will comment and say “No, Pittsburgh is” but he’s wrong. (of course, if the Bears lose to Pittsburgh in a few weeks, then I was wrong. I reserve that right) So the question is, can that win it all? Looking at the 2001 season when we went 13-3, we are a better team this year than we were then. We went 13-3 that year because we had some miracles. This year, we’re just winning games, no miracles necessary. Is Orton the next Dilfer? The guy who you say “He won a super bowl?” Why not us?

That front four was something else on Sunday. We have 7 DL/DE that could starts for any team.

8 sacks, all by the front four. We’ve held opponents to 110 points this season. Next closest? 152 by the Colts. Man it feels good to be a Bears fan right now. Almost to the point that I don’t have the instinct to add “Yeah, but how long will it last?” Tampa Bay coming up. One game at a time. Whew, I don’t want to lose this feeling.