After One Bashing, Bears Are Battered by Media, Too

LAKE FOREST, Ill. - The Chicago Bears are a source of civic pride with a tradition of playing hard-nosed, blue-collar football. Though they have won only a single Super Bowl - after the 1985 season - and have missed the playoffs six of the last seven seasons, they are still the Monsters of the Midway, the proud franchise of George Halas, Mike Ditka, Dick Butkus, Mike Singletary and Brian Urlacher.

That the Bears were humiliated by the Green Bay Packers on national television Sunday night at Lambeau Field to fall to 3-6 was not shocking. Two weeks ago, on national television, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots sprinted to a 38-7 halftime lead en route to a 51-23 whipping of the Bears. But as their bitter rival Packers grabbed a 42-0 halftime lead on their way to a 55-14 drubbing, the game quickly became more than a loss for a dispirited fan base. It was an insult.

Immediately following the game, two symbols of the Bears' rugged history began their weekly postgame show on a Chicago radio station, The Score.

'Discipline?' barked Ed O'Bradovich, a standout defensive end from 1962-71. 'Those morons don't even know how to spell the word.'

'It could have been maybe 80 points,' said Doug Buffone, a hard-hitting linebacker from 1966-79. 'They felt sorry for the little cubbie bears.'

For O'Bradovich and Buffone, there was plenty of ire to go around. They had words for the game plan ('We didn't run the ball!' O'Bradovich said); Coach Marc Trestman ('You're on the clock,' O'Bradovich said) and alternative programming ('I'd rather watch soccer,' Buffone said). The adjectives flew: pathetic, disgraceful, embarrassing.

Sometimes the pair can sound like the id of Bears fans, a bit hyperbolic and a little like parodies of the Super Fans from the famous 'Saturday Night Live' skit. They are prone to bellow in their thick Chicago accents - pronouncing t's like d's - for the glory days of Ditka and Halas, the team's founder. On Monday, though, they seemed lock-step with all of Chicago.

Newspaper columnists and radio hosts up and down the dial called for an organizational reboot and the jobs of Coach Trestman, General Manager Phil Emery and the defensive coordinator Mel Tucker. A multiple choice poll on the Chicago Tribune's website asked when - not if - Trestman should be fired. The leading answer late Sunday night was '30 minutes ago.'

The airwaves of Chicago's three sports talk radio stations on Monday were filled with ranting Bears fans. One caller suggested he was going to have his dog dig a hole in his backyard so he could bury all his Bears possessions.

'The players actually quit last night. They quit!' O'Bradovich said Monday in an interview. 'These last two games are the worst I've ever seen.'

The Bears were expected to be better - much better - this season, Trestman's second as head coach. Last year, they were second in the league in scoring and boasted three offensive Pro Bowlers - Matt Forte, Brandon Marshall and Alson Jeffrey. During the off-season, they signed Jay Cutler to an long expensive extension and invested in the free agents Jared Allen and Lamarr Houston to bolster the defensive line. This year, they are last in the league in scoring defense (30.8 points per game) and 22nd in offense (21.6). On Sunday, they became the second team in N.F.L. history to allow at least 50 points in back-to-back games, joining the Rochester Jeffersons. Houston is out for the year, after tearing his right A.C.L. while celebrating a sack of Brady's backup Jimmy Garoppolo while the Bears were trailing 48-23 in the fourth quarter.

In recent memory, Bears fans suffered through a quarterback carousel that included Cade McNown, Henry Burris, Kordell Stewart and Craig Krenzel. This season's struggles, though, have felt different.

'For years, you knew what the problem was - the quarterback - and what's different with this team is I don't think anyone truly understands what's wrong,' said Zach Zaidman, the sideline reporter for the Bears' radio network. 'People are scratching their heads because they see a team that should be better. You're just not seeing the fight we're accustomed to seeing.'

At a news conference Monday at their practice facility, Trestman did not fire anyone. He said Cutler would not be benched. He said he did not see players loafing against the Packers.

'We know our fans are disappointed,' Trestman said. 'They have a right to be. This has been a very disturbing stretch.'

He added: 'I stand by these guys and the job that they're doing. I really believe in them.'

Zaidman had perhaps the only words of comfort for Trestman anywhere in the Chicago area. He noted that Trestman's 11-14 record is identical to the way Ditka and Lovie Smith, who Trestman replaced, started their tenures in Chicago. Ditka coached for 11 seasons in Chicago; Smith for nine. Both led the Bears to the Super Bowl, with Ditka bringing home the Lombardi Trophy to Chicago.

Oh, how Bears fans long for those glory days.

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