POV: You Witnessed The Bears Season End Live In Person At Soldier Field

I've always had this weird infatuation with Soldier Field. I don't know if it's the history, that it has the coolest name of any stadium in sports, or the fact that it's lined with Roman-style pillars that make you feel like you're entering the Colosseum to watch an actual bear maul a Gladiator.

I mean look at that. That's a football stadium. I've always wanted to go to a game, and after living in Chicago for four and a half years, I finally purchased the extraordinarily overpriced Bears ticket when my hometown Pats visited the Chi.

Before we talk the game, anyone who says that Soldier Field sucks is a moron.

I've been to a handful of stadiums, college and pro, and while some may outdo Soldier in terms of environment (I went to 19-3 Bears loss so vibes were low), ease of access, overpriced food or whatever other gripes Chicagoans spew out at this sanctuary, no other stadium matches it uniqueness and awesomeness.

It's so cool. The glass box suites that line the east sideline, to the spacecraft looking grandstands that back the city skyline, or the fact it's just small and compact enough to where I don't think there's a truly bad seat in the place, it all around rocks. And it's called Soldier Field.

There's constant talk about whether the Bears should move to the Suburbs to build a new mega-stadium cool and hip enough to host Super Bowls and Final Fours. For what it's worth, my vote is a resounding no. Keep playing at the coolest stadium in football.

Ok, had to get that off my chest. Now let's talk game.

As much as I want to make this about the Patriots, no one with a brain can think the now 3-7 Pats are the storyline coming out of this game.

The Bears, a hail mary stop away from being 5-2, have faceplanted into hell and have lost three straight including that hail mary game, with the last two up there with the worst performances of any team in the NFL all year.

This was the year the Bears were back. They had an offense loaded with talent, a defense who was one of the best in football last year (and currently is this year), and a number 1 overall pick QB who was deemed the best QB to ever wear the uniform before ever playing a snap.

Turns out, great offensive weapons, including QB, don't matter much if you don't have an offensive line to protect and allow anything to develop. Who'd a thought?

I didn’t get the Rome Odunze pick from the Bears. And it has nothing to do with how much I love Rome, I think he’ll be the best WR on this team by the end of his rookie deal. I just didn’t see it as the biggest need for Chicago. I listened to idiotic Bears fans all week talk about linking Caleb and Rome, which I agree sounds great, but they already have two WR1s. I guess three is better than two, but three WRs aren’t on the field every play. Are they just getting rid of 12 and 21 personnel?

Was I imagining the Bears O line being one of their weaknesses last year? I thought I might’ve been, so I looked it up. Different football rankings had Chicago’s line ranked 19th, 22nd, and “Tier 5: The Walking Wounded” last year. They had injuries, but with injuries comes the exposure of lack of depth. In a draft with such top end OL talent, I thought it’d make most sense to go that route.

Maybe they had a big dropoff on their draft board from the two OL taken ahead of them and the third. Maybe they had Rome as a far superior player than whoever they’d take at OL at that spot. Or maybe they aren’t expecting to resign Keenan Allen after his contract expires next year. The pick makes sense if any of those are true. It just seemed very on brand for Chicago fans and the Bears to want another flashy new toy instead of more appropriately rounding out their roster. With no pick until 75, the OL room will likely be joined by a shot in the dark rather than sure thing.

Oh yeah, I did, back in my Round 1 Draft Roundup I wrote the Friday immediately following the first round.

Is anyone surprised the Bears O Line sucks? I'll admit they've been plagued with injuries again, but that just reiterates my point I made in April.

Every week Caleb is in the midst of a pocket collapse 1.5 seconds after the ball's been hiked. He's been sacked more than any QB in the league this year, punctuated Sunday against the injury-riddled Patriots front seven who sacked poor Caleb NINE TIMES.

Nine?! That's insane no matter who did it, but the fact it was a Patriots unit who had 16 sacks all season, fourth worst in the league going into Sunday, is inexcusable.

What else is inexcusable is throwing up a complete dud in your first home game in five weeks while riding the longest home winning streak in the NFL.

If you were unfortunate enough to watch this game on TV, I can promise you how ever bad it looked wasn't as bad as it looked in person. It couldn't have been. The Bears had one drive that went for more than 21 yards, and six that went for less than 10. They had 73 yards rushing...four more than their passing total. They were 1-14 on third down. They averaged 2.4 yards per play, and were outgained by nearly 200 yards. By the Patriots!!

It was as embarassing as it gets. The offense is completely lost, arguably the worst in the league right now, with no reason to believe there'll be a turnaround. They haven't scored an offensive touchdown in 23 drives, two full games, and appear less than eager to make any personnel or coaching changes. *Update - they fired Shane Waldron this morning*

I don't, but I almost feel bad for Bears fans. Living in Chicago has made me relish in the pain and suffering these meatheads experience on a yearly basis, but that's because they manufacture unrealistic expectations when they have no business doing so. This year, even I was fooled. I thought this team had something. I knew the offense was loaded, but also knew they didn't need to be great for the team to have success. I bought Bears stock because of the defense, who as expected has been great this year; four of Chicago's five losses have come with the defense allowing 21 points or less. All they need is a competent offense to win games, but they don't have anything close to that.

As is tradition, it's dark times in Chicago. And on Sunday in particular, listening to the boo birds rain in from the stands for three hours and watching fans funnel out of Soldier Field by the thousands with 7 minutes left in the game, I loved it.

P.S. Shoutout to the Patriots defense. Keion White stuck out in person, but no matter how inept the opposing team is, three points, nine sacks, and less than 150 yards is hard to do in this league. Like Drake said, clap it up for them.