The Bears defense is a wretched, flaming mess.  They’ve got a defensive tackle with a host of seemingly incurable mental disorders.  They’ve got Alex Brown trying to generate a pass rush on his own, excepting Adewale Ogunelye’s twice-yearly dominance against Detroit.  They’ve got second-stringers starting at linebacker, third-stringers starting at cornerback and Vivian Stringer starting at safety.  They do all the little things right as long as tackling, gap discipline, communication and coverage are not considered “little things”.  The head coach took over the play-calling and instead of instilling a sense of urgency, instilled a sense of complacency.  An argument could (and should) be made that this is the worst defensive output in over a decade.

And still they’re 4-4.  They’ve won as many games as they’ve lost.  They beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.  It just doesn’t make sense.  I looked at the standings this morning and the Bears are only chasing Atlanta (5-3), Philadelphia (5-3) and the Giants (5-4) in the wildcard race.  Maybe that says more about the mediocrity of the conference than anything else, but it also says that the Bears will have an opportunity to make something of the 2009 season. 

Will they?  There’s no way a realistic football fan can look at this team and answer “yes”.  Can they?  Is it worth being a fan of the team if you don’t wanna believe so?  Hypothetical.  The Bears win Thursday night in San Francisco.  5-4.  The Eagles lose a game they’ll be favored to lose in San Diego.  5-4.  Giants are 5-4.  The Bears – your shitty 2009 Chicago Bears – will be tied for the final wildcard spot nine weeks into the season.

So I’m leading the Lower Your Expectations Campaign and carrying the “Just Get In!” banner.  We don’t have a first round pick.  We’ve got nothing to lose for.  It’s time for the Bears to play violent and angry on Sundays and if they’re going to lose, lose in a rage.  Leave everything on the field.  The Bears don’t need the league to crumble to make the postseason.  They need to win football games.  And they need to start Thursday night.