My Friends,

 

Pass the poi.

 

In the stands before the kickoff, somebody told me they thought Buffalo, being an AFC team, would keep the game close.

 

Yeah. Until the coin flip. That’s the only thing the Bills won, and I’m kind of surprised Dick Jauron didn’t elect to take the wind. I guess the reason the game was so lopsided is that Chris Villarrial was hurt, much like Shaun Alexander not playing was the excuse last week. I mean, how bad is your opponent when you hear the Bears’ best defensive end is inactive and you shrug? But I will give Jauron this: at least he’s fielding a team with names that sound like football players. You see Roscoe Parrish and Terrence McGee on the Bills roster and you just want to hear Pat Summerall say “Dalton Hilliard.”

 

I can’t remember the last time I hung around a tailgate when the discussion was unanimous about the pending game being a rout, and this was the same Bills team that lost 19-17 at New England. Look, nobody goes undefeated (right?), but is there any opponent on the Bears schedule that scares you? I heard the Rams mentioned, but anybody who is worrying about the Bears’ chances in St. Louis later this season need only consider that the packers were trailing by a field goal and on the Rams 11 yard line today, driving for the winning score with less than a minute to play when their veteran quarterback coughed up the ball. If you think losing a shutout on Cedric Benson’s late fumble was painful, chewing on that through your bye week would give you a whole new perspective.

 

Benson’s fumble was unfortunate, leading directly to the Bills only score, but the focus has to be on the hardware. The ring is the thing, and at the end of the day wouldn’t you rather have a bookend for that Super Bowl trophy the Bears trot out every five or ten years than another line in the media guide?

 

So who gets a game ball? Do you give it to the defensive line for sacking J.P.Losman (appropriately pronounced loss-man) three times and never giving him time to throw? Or how about Robbie Gould, who again was perfect on four field goal attempts and nailed two 40+ yarders in the first quarter to start the rampage? Maybe Lance Briggs, for being everywhere, as well as his pick?

 

For my money, I hand it to Ron Turner. In five weeks, he has repeatedly shown us how to eviscerate opposing defenses. Rex Grossman puts up a pedestrian 182 yards passing and he’s not even in the photo for post game honors, but his passer rating is again over 100. Benson and Thomas Jones combine for 157 yards on the ground, and we yawn. Eight different guys catch passes. Brian Griese plays the entire fourth quarter, and is a perfect 4-4. And Jason McKie doesn’t even touch the ball, so you just know Turner is holding that back for some future victim. Every time you glance at the scoreboard, it looks like your electric meter on a hot summer day. The number on the Bears side of the ledger gets bigger so fast it makes you dizzy.

 

When Ted Phillips finally decides to redo Lovie Smith’s contract, he should think real hard about giving Turner the same kind of money, because that’s the only way he’ll stick around. The Bears have shown they’ll pay their players; now they have to do whatever it takes to keep the coaches.

 

And when was the last time we pleaded for that? 1986, when Buddy Ryan left?

 

This is getting scary.

 

LBF

10/8/2006