BEARS 10, Jets 0: Screw Soriano; It’s Football Season

You know what’s even more difficult to do while staying awake than watching that BEARS game today? That would be writing about it.

I got to the end of that game and felt like I was still waiting for it to begin. There were no statements, no season-defining moments, just a sprinking of pivotal plays, and they all happened to go the BEARS’ way.

One of them came on the Jets’ most impressive drive, when the went 70 yards between the first and second quarters. It ended with Brian Urlacher, supposedly the league’s second-most-overrated player, intercepting the truly overrated Chad Pennington in the end zone. Another was when the Jets tried to catch the BEARS sleeping with an onside kick to start the second half; the BEARS recovered and drove for a field goal. Another came when Mark Bradley made a defender slip and scampered untouched for roughly 50 yards of what went into the books as a 57-yard touchdown pass.

Were it not for those plays, we easily could have seen a 7-0 BEARS loss.

Incidentally, I would not include the Thomas Jones non-fumble toward the end of the first half on the list of pivotal plays. Sure, the outcome went the BEARS’ way, but the replay clearly showed that Jones’ knee was down. So it’s not like the BEARS were helped by a bad call.

Jones, by the way, had his best game this season, with 121 rushing yards on 23 carries. He had more combined yards against San Francisco, but 121 is his high mark for rushing.

And the bottom line is, it doesn’t matter how they beat the Jets. We’re in the part of the BEARS schedule that everybody agrees is the toughest. For these three weeks all that counts is wins and losses, not statements, and the BEARS are 2 for 2 in the W department. I don’t know that they’re going to beat the Patriots next week the way they played today, but considering that every NFC team except the Giants now has at least four losses, the BEARS No. 1 playoff seed is in no danger.

The Big News of the Day

Chicago sports fans had a rare non-BEARS big story on Sunday, with a hot rumor that the Cubs will sign All-Star Alfonso Soriano. With an average of 35 home runs per 162 games, he would join sluggers Aramis Ramirez (30 per 162) and Derrek Lee (28) in the lineup.

Considering that earlier this year he was ready to walk away from the Nationals because he wasn’t being used at second base, the signing would be a little curious in light of the three-year, $13 million contract given to Mark DeRosa last week. Of course, the Cubs do need a left fielder, where Soriano played for the Nationals. Then again, some would argue the Cubs still need an everyday second baseman, too.