The Curse of the Chicago Bears

Another year, another season of optimism that has rapidly turned to disappointment for the Chicago Bears.

In my 8 or so years of being a Chicago Bears fan, it seems like every time things are going well and the team is looking like a  contender, it all rapidly falls apart. Ever since the 2010 NFC Championship run, the Bears appear to be cursed. I know it sounds like I'm just a bitter fan that's sick of my team losing but hear me out. Here's a rundown of the events of the last few seasons since that dreaded NFC Championship Game loss in 2010 that lead me to believe the Bears are cursed.

2010: All things are going well enough in the 2010 NFC Championship game against the Green Bay Packers. The Bears are able to recover from a 14-0 halftime deficit and the loss of quarterback Jay Cutler in the third quarter to make it a one-score game. The defense was making plays including a momentum-shifting pick 6 by Brian Urlacher and somehow quarterback Caleb Hanie has weathered the storm and brought the team back to life. The defense had made another huge stop and Hanie was driving them down the field and made two huge third-down conversions to keep the game-tying drive alive. Just when it looked like the Bears were going to tie things up, Hanie throws an absolute stinker right into the hands of Packers cornerback Sam Shields. Shields's interception clinched the Packers 21-14 victory and sent them to the Super Bowl. To make Bears fans feel even worse, the Packers went onto to defeat the Steelers to win their fourth Super Bowl in franchise history. It was absolutely sickening to watch the Bears arch-rival hoist the Lombardi when the Bears were so close to getting there themselves.

2011: Once again all is well with the Bears for most of the season. The team recovered from a 2-3 start to win five straight games and appeared on the cusp of a second straight NFC North title. Then Jay Cutler broke his hand at the end of a victory against the Chargers in Week 11 and missed the remainder of the season sending the team into disarray. Two weeks later, running back Matt Forte was also lost for the season with a severe knee sprain. With their top 2 offensive weapons gone and Caleb Hanie starting at quarterback, the team suffered immensely. The 4 games Hanie started in a Bears uniform were amongst the most painful games I've ever seen in my entire life. Not only did Hanie play awful and turn the ball over like crazy, the team caught some of the unluckiest breaks in recent football history when he was starting. The loss at the Chiefs was caused by a bad hail mary tip from Brian Urlacher that landed right into the hands of Chiefs wide receiver Dexter McCluster for the only touchdown of the game. That loss somehow got topped by their loss at the hands of the Broncos the following week. The Bears had the ball with under 2 minutes left and just had to kill the clock to win the game. For whatever reason, running back Marion Barber decided to run out of bounds with 1:55 left on 2nd down and long with the Broncos having no timeouts left. After failing to convert for a first down and being forced to punt, Tim Tebow makes a few nice plays to get the Broncos into Bears territory and Matt Prater somehow nails a 59-yard field goal to send the game into overtime. As an encore for his fourth-quarter mishap, Barber decided to fumble on a run that should've been a huge gain. Barber's second mistake led to another 50+ yard Matt Prater field goal for the Broncos to win the game. By the time the team inserted Josh McCown into the lineup to replace Hanie after 4 straight losses, it was too late to salvage the season. The Bears finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs.

2012: Out of all the Bears recent misfortunes, this one stung the most. The Bears lost six games to playoff teams including the NFC champion San Fransisco 49ers and miss the playoffs thanks to the Minnesota Vikings tiebreaker over them. There was really no excuse for missing the playoffs last season. The team was relatively healthy, they finally got a star receiver in Brandon Marshall and the defense had a +20 turnover margin. They just didn't finish games when they needed to against quality opponents and that ultimately led to their second straight promising season squandered. At the end of the season, they let go of head coach Lovie Smith after nine seasons, three playoff appearances and the second Super Bowl appearance in team history in 2006.

2013: The Bears went in a different direction with the hiring of new coach Marc Trestman. Trestman, who had spent the previous five years coaching in the Canadian Football League, was an offensive-minded coach brought into the fix the paltry Bears offense. Trestman has definitely succeeded in turning around the Bears offense, who are now the scariest they've been in a long time. Second-year wide receiver Alshon Jeffrey has emerged as an absolute star this season giving the Bears a deadly 1-2 wideout punch alongside Marshall, Matt Forte has been rock-solid per usual, the long-suffering offensive line is now incredibly effective thanks to new left tackle Jermon Bushrod and rookie guard Kyle Long and Josh McCown has been surprisingly lights-out replacing the injured Jay Cutler. Of course in typical Bears fashion now that the offense is clicking, the defense is in completely disarray. It's completely disheartening to watch a defense that had been dominant for so long under Lovie Smith fall to shambles the season after he is fired. The defense was perfectly fine for the first few games before the mighty injury bug struck in full force. Top contributors defensive tackle Henry Melton, inside linebacker D.J. Williams and cornerback Charles Tillman are out for the season and outside linebacker Lance Briggs has been out since late October with a shoulder injury and isn't expected to return until next week against the Browns at the earliest. The guys that are out there right now haven't really gotten the job done in the absence of their star players. The defense is 28th in sacks (14), 28th in points allowed per game (27.7) and worst of all, they have the dubious honor of having the weakest rushing defense in the entire league. The defensive woes are the main reason the team has dropped 6 of their last 9 games after their 3-0 start.

Not all is lost for the 2013 Bears going into the last 4 games. They are 6-6 and in second place in the NFC North and two games behind the 49ers for the final wild card spot going into this weekend's games. The problem is that recent history is entirely against them and more importantly, their defense can't stop anyone right now. If the team can outlast the Cowboys on Monday night and pick up a victory in two weeks over the rapidly-rising Philadelphia Eagles, I'll change my tune, but for now my outlook is pretty pessimistic. This whole phase they're going through where they start off so well then blow it down the stretch is getting really aggravating. They're so close to reaching the promised land and when they're about to get there, something goes wrong whether it be injuries or just failing to capitalize in key situations in big games or a combination of the two. The team certainly has the talent to reach the playoffs and I like a lot of the things Trestman has been doing this season (save for leaving Jay Cutler in for too long after he tweaked his ankle against the Lions in Week 10 and last week's kicking the field goal on second down and missing in overtime against the Vikings,) they just need to play more consistently and overcome their injuries on defense and makes some key stops when called upon. Please Bears, I beg you to prove me wrong in 2013 and put an end to this seemingly annual late-season disappointment.