Bears Upholding Tradition of Very Offensive Offenses

Since Monday night's prime-time offensive show of offense, several fans of other teams and some writers have asked "how can you watch that kind of offense?"

Without batting an eyelash, my response was "What was wrong with it?"

This was stated with all sincerity. This Bears offense is actually good compared to many years.

Early in the season the offense struggled and Nick Foles was asked what happened.

"It doesn't happen overnight," Foles said. "Offenses don’t get fixed overnight and sometimes they don’t get fixed throughout the course of years.

"You see that in the NFL. There has been teams that have been bad offensively for a very long time. We're not one of those teams."

Uh, son, that's exactly what the Chicago Bears have been.

To get two first downs in the second half and be unable to take that game against a mundane Minnesota defense is merely the tip of Bears football over the years.

For a person who has watched Bears games a long time, witnessing a totally feeble and anemic offense is an art form.

It's like an acquired taste, like sipping on motor oil. It's like sitting down to a hearty dinner of haggis and kale.

"Ah, that'll put hair on your chest laddie."

There have been plenty of games in Bears history that made their offense on Monday night look like a fireworks show.

You didn't like the fact Foles threw for 106 yards? Hah, you haven't lived if you failed to experience quarterbacks like Chad Hutchinson, Craig Krenzel, Rusty Lisch, Larry Rakestraw, Peter Tom Willis or Jonathan Quinn.

Bob Avellini was allowed to start 50 Bears games and threw more than twice as many interceptions (69) for his career as he did touchdown passes (33).

A 41-yard rushing effort and only two rushing first downs for the game? Big deal. Ross Montgomery once led the Bears in rushing for an entire season with 229 yards. This was for 14 games played. A few years after that Walter Payton put up one game where he had 46 more rushing yards than that. One game.

Offensive coordinator Bill Lazor didn't call plays very well in his Bears debut? Someone who lived through John Shoop, Aaron Kromer, Dowell Loggains and Terry Shea would think Mr. Lazor did just fine.

Didn't score an offensive touchdown in that game or against the Rams? Oh, boo hoo. In 1925 they got shut out six times. No wonder they went out and signed Red Grange near the end of that year.

Bears receiver Muhsin Muhammad said Chicago was where "receivers go to die."

He was right, of course, but it probably could be said about every other position on offense, too.

This is a town where they hired as their first offensive coordinator one of the great passing minds of NFL/AFL history, Sid Gillman. Then they forced him to hand off the ball to Payton 40 times in a game.

Coach Matt Nagy talks about getting his team calloused with tough training camps and practices. Bears fans who watch his 31st-ranked offense already have callouses on their eyeballs.

If you thought that loss to Minnesota was a poor offensive effort, here are the real games to remember:

5. Bears 17, Panthers 3

Oct. 22, 2017 at Soldier Field

There are plenty of instances of more anemic or sloppy offense in Bears history, but not too many where they just shut it down and quit trying. That's why this is one of my favorites. John Fox and Loggains in a modern-era game only let Mitchell Trubisky throw seven times. This was the game Eddie Jackson picked off Cam Newton and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown and took back a fumble 75 yards for a touchdown. What made it special was Fox bragging the next day that he'd actually coached a game with fewer completions than four, and still won. It was in Denver and Tim Tebow completed two passes in eight attempts. That's when everyone knew Fox had to go.

4. Broncos 6, Bears 3

Dec. 5, 1971 at Denver

The first-ever meeting between teams who started out in different leagues. After this, Denver probably thought about looking for a better league to play in. The Bears had 66 yards of total offense. Bobby Douglass lost more yards being sacked (70 yards on nine sacks) than the Bears gained in total yardage. He also fired off three interceptions for good measure.

3. Lions 42, Bears 0

Sept. 22, 1968 at Detroit

Rakestraw and Jack Concannon combined to throw eight interceptions. They did complete three more than that to their own receivers.

2. Lions 23, Bears 7

Nov. 21, 1981 at Soldier Field

Coach Neill Armstrong's final team had Walter Payton and still had only 44 team rushing yards in this, which says it all. But if you need more, how does 7 of 30 for 41 yards passing with three interceptions and seven sacks grab you? Vince Evans and Avellini authored that gem. The Bears had 85 yards of offense and only four first downs for the entire game. The chains on the sidelines probably rusted out from not being moved for so long. Because of the seven sacks, they had 24 yards of net offense. At least Bob Parsons got in a good workout. He punted 11 times. They did score, though. Todd Bell returned an interception for a touchdown.

1. 49ers 17, Bears 0

Dec. 17, 2000 at San Francisco

Everyone remembers this one because Greg Blache's defense focused on preventing Jerry Rice from having a big number in his final home game with the Niners, and in the process let Terrell Owens set the NFL record with 20 receptions.

However, the real story here for Bears fans was how quarterback Cade McNown carefully crafted four quarters of football without moving the ball anywhere.

The scoreboard says he didn't get to the end zone—he actually didn't even get the offense past the 50-yard line.

This game was the one when Skip Bayless, writing then for the Tribune and covering the Bears, ripped the offense and appropriately said of their putrid effort: "This one will stand for a long time, at least until next Sunday's finale."

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