No, Dick, it sure as hell isn’t anymore, not with what we’ve watched the past four weeks. But you’ll be on the show come Sunday, kind of like the guest boar at the luau.
Coming off that demolition of Professor Marvel and his troupe from The Emerald City last Sunday, it’s hard to generate the same kind of enthusiasm when faced with a visit from the Bills. You kind of think Las Vegas could generate more excitement for this game accepting wagers on whether former coach Dick Jauron will hang his cardigan in the visiting coach’s locker room or let owner Ralph Wilson use it as a shawl.
Watching the Bills last Sunday afternoon was a lot like watching the Bears when Jauron coached here. They got out to a lead, sat on it, got the benefit of several bonehead plays by their opponent down the stretch and hung on for a win as the Vikes were driving for the winning score while time expired. That’s always been Jauron’s calling card – try to keep things close until the end and hope for a chance to steal a win. It’s interesting to note that outside of the star-kissed 2001 season, the Bears only managed two wins of ten or more points during Jauron’s five-year tenure. Things haven’t changed in Buffalo this year, with the Bills hanging around in tough losses to the Jets and Patriots and eking out a victory like last Sunday. His teams still don’t show any evidence of a killer instinct.
But then you look at the point spread and see the Bears giving ten and you think, that’s a big number. Maybe it is, but when you consider the offensive line the Bills will be trotting out, the picture gets a whole lot clearer. Starting left tackle Mike Gandy moved like a weather vane when playing the same position for the Bears, and the likely loss of another ex-Bear, starting right guard Chris Villarrial, means they get to play second-year pro Duke Preston in the middle of the line. Look for Tommie Harris to slap Duke around like a disobedient page in Mark Foley’s office.
But that’s not all Jauron has to worry about. The current Bears are just the kind of team that forever gave Jauron fits on defense when he was here. He always had those plugger tackles that didn’t get upfield, hoping the ends would apply some pressure, giving the passer time to throw, letting the quarterback pick his team apart. You might think that the flip side of only having two 10+ point wins in Chicago would be a similar number of ten point losses, but you would be wrong, as the Bears wound up getting blown out (ten or more points) 24 times during Jauron’s stay.
As for the rest of those Buffalo soldiers on offense, another of Jauron’s infamous quotes comes to mind. “The offense played consistently in spurts,” he once said. I couldn’t have put it better myself, and I expect more of the same against the Bears defense this Sunday.
And that’s why, if I were a betting man, I’d be laying the points and looking for the Bears to win in another rout.
Fasten your seat belts.
LBF
10/6/2006