With a strong relationship with God through Jesus Christ, perfect family, beautiful and loving wife, and the best possible friends…  My life is so close to pure bliss I had to wonder at times if I wasn’t experiencing the after life.

However, the Bears always were able to keep me grounded (pun, pun)…

I mean, a stinky-poo-poo Bears team is no fun at all.  Sure, it doesn’t even put a small dent in the other great stuff…  But, it certainly makes the air smell a little foul.

Now the Bears are 2-0 for the first time since 2006, you know the year they went to the Super Bowl, and the just beat the famed Dallas Cowboys….  WHAT?!?  This Bears team?  The Bears team that went 0-4 during the preseason and looked like they would be better off playing in a poker tournament?  The Bears team that BEARly squeaked by a Lions team that has one 2 games in their last 34?

Yep.  Those Bears.

So, there are now only one of three conclusions I can come to:

1. The Bears are Much Better than Expected
2. The Bears are Getting Lucky and are About to Start a Downward Spiral
3. I Have Died and am in Heaven which is Perfect, but Nothing Like Described in Scripture

For now, I will go with #2 but another win (next week against GB on Monday night!!!) and I may have to start considering #1…  Another few wins and I better start checking my Bible!

GO BEARS!

Well, the Bears killed the pitiful Detroit Lions 48 to 24…  But I might be more excited even that my dear friend John may get to see his Detroit Tigers get into the playoffs.  The Tigers, also playing Chicago (the White Sux), won their game propelling them into a 1-game playoff vs. the Minesota Twins this Tuesday.  Lisa and I will have to watch that and root for John’s Tigers!

But, even more exciting than the Bears and Tigers winning and even more amazing than Detroit playing both baseball and football against Chicago at the same time — BEEBER STARTED WALKING!

Now he has been holding-on-to-stuff and walking for months.  More recently he had been pushing things around the house — like mini-walkers.  But on Sunday, he started WALKING.  This means unassassisted and when he falls down, he gets back on his feet.  WOW!  Another child reaches another milestone.  Life is truely a miracle!

More good news…  Superfriend extraordinaire (and Best Man at my wedding) Derek has just let me know that he WILL be attending out haunted house outing in IL on October 23.  YEAH!  This means our other friends must join us — it can be a true TANGENTS event.

Jamy, John, Mary, etc — that means you! (Hey, WHERE has CAROL been?  Carol, if you’re reading this – WE MISS YOU!)

** LISA I LOVE YOU **

The Chicago Bears did it again!  Another 4th quarter comeback!

Next week we face the Detroit Lions which, with one win in the past two seasons, should be a cakewalk.  However, if I know anything about the NFL (do I?) I know that on any given Sunday either team can win the game.  So, I will not get too confident!

Jay Cutler, the Bears shiny new QB, looked sharp again helping to fade my memory of that terrible start in Green Bay.  At first, I was not very happy…  The Bears started down 13-0 and it wasn’t looking very positive.  I even had to turn down a friend’s invite for dinner (sorry Cathy!) because I was not feeling very social.

But just before the half the Bears scored a touchdown and provided some tension relief.  The rest of the game remained an exciting affiar and it ended the best possible way — with a Bears win.

So, there you have it.

It wasn’t always pretty and I have to be honest, I am still not sure about this Bears team…  BUT WE BEAT THE STEELERS and avoided going 0-2.  0-2 might not sound like too big of a deal to you baseball fans, but in NFL world and 0-2 start often means a long and painful season.

Bears new superstar QB, Jay Cutler, rebounded from his terrible 4-interception performance last week to have a very solid game.  No interceptions and two touchdown passes!

The Bears defense looked soft at times but, in the end, was able to keep the Steelers to 14 points — thanks especially to Jeff Reed (the Steeler’s kicker) missing 2 “easy” field goals.

It was an exciting game and a Bears win.  Have I mentioned how much fun the NFL is?  Next week, the Seattle Seahawks…  A team I personally hate.  Don’t know why, but I do!  Hoping to be 2-1 after next Sunday — a winning record would be awesome after that putrid start against Green Bay.

• We lost our most celebrated player…  FOR THE SEASON.
• Our new pro-bowl quarterback had the [statistically] worst game…  OF HIS CAREER
• We had other key injuries…  THREE OF THEM (yes, three MORE)
• Our consistently amazing special teams unit made a huge error…  THAT MAY HAVE BEEN FATAL
• Our defense looked good all game, but when it mattered most…  THEY CHOKED
• They were not playing a normal Sunday day game, it was a night game…  ON NATIONAL TV
• It was not any game, it was against the Packers…  PUBLIC ENEMY ONE

I’m going to try and answer some common questions often asked after a game like this…

Q: What positives can you take out of a game like this?
A: Well, I didn’t die while watching it, and that’s always a good thing.  (Good for me anyhow)

Q: Can the team bounce back next week and win big in their home opener?
A: Nope.  They play the Superbowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.  The only thing the Bears can hope for is a Steelers team that gets arrogant and fails to come ready-to-play.  But, hey, this is not just a good team — these are the Superbowl champs!

Q: How big is the loss of Brian Urlacher?
A: Brian who?  Never heard of him.

Q: Should Offensive Coordinator Ron Turner be fired?
A: Football is about the fans, and I’ll tell you — the fans do know the sport.  I personally think Ron is just plain boring for our offense.  If we’re not going to win I at least want us to be exciting…  We have some speed, we have a top running back, and we have a [supposedly?] pro bowl QB.  Lets roll!

Q: Want to make a season record prediction for the Bears this season?
A: No, but I will anyway…  I predict they will start 0-1.  The only noble thing to do is predict that they will go 18-1.  Fifteen wins during the season, 2 wins in the playoffs, and one in the Superbowl!  The only loss being that abomination in Green Bay at the start of the year.  (But if they went 8-8 I wouldn’t say I was surprised)

Q: Would you trade Jay Cutler back to the Denver Broncos for Kyle Orton and some dog food coupons?
A: No.  That is a ridiculous question…  Well…  How much coupon savings are we talking here?

……end of my self interview…… wait, one more thing…..  no, wait, the self interview portion of this blog post is over……

I am doing the rest in bold.  Why, because the Bears lost and I am pouting so I can do what I want!

Oh man, I just remembered…  I am trying to work on being less obnoxious, so off with the bold!

Well folks, the bottom line is that my beloved NFL team the Chicago Bears lost this September 13, 2009 to the Green Bay Packers (see what I did there – all the keywording, it is so Google (Hi Google!) will know my blog post has info about that exact game).  We lost the game, we lost good players, we lost confidence, and I lost my mind…  Oh boy…  Another NFL season is upon us!