Invincible Bears Predictably Exposed

So the Bears aren't going 16-0. Were we really having that conversation last week? The same team that is led by Rex Grossman? Those Chicago Bears?

The same Bears who needed a miracle — that was a direct intervention from God — to avoid losing to the Arizona Cardinals? Those Bears? Undefeated for the entire season? Has everyone gone completely insane?

I know it was last year, but doesn't anyone remember the Bears getting absolutely dominated in the playoffs, at home, to Carolina?

And if it's non-competitive losses you like, look no further than 2002, when the same Bears more or less (self challenge — see if you can pick out who's who in a lineup of Jim Miller, Rex Grossman and three average looking, non-descript white guys) were thumped at home by the Philadelphia Eagles.

I feel like that guy in Walk the Line who tells Johnny Cash "we've already heard that song before, just like that, just like how you sang it." I've already seen this Bears team before, playing just like that, just like how they play, and I have a feeling I know how it will end.

Is their defense good? Sure, at least statistically — and it better be considering the division they've played in over the years. The Vikings, Packers, and Lions — oh my.

Seriously, how many times in the millennium have we seen Joey Harrington, head in hands, with a Bears defender dancing in the end zone?

Shockingly enough, one of those times wasn't Sunday — can't wait to hear that Joey Harrington is maturing talk, even though his completion percentage was 50% and he still threw two picks.

The Bears' problem, though, as it seems every year, is their lack of offense. They need someone more threatening than Thomas Jones and Rex Grossman. True, that formula worked for Baltimore in 2001, but that defense was an all-time great. The Bears defense let the Arizona Cardinals move the ball against them — at will.

And if Minnesota's Chester Taylor hadn't fumbled, and if the worst team in the league hadn't succumbed to the largest fourth quarter collapse ever, the Bears would be 5-3, and all this nonsensical discussion would have been quashed long ago.

But this is the NFL, and people are always fond of believing that something, no matter how many times we have seen it before, may change. For instance the Denver Broncos, who's defense was being compared with the Ravens' — that is until the last two games, where they've given up a combined 1,000 yards and 54 points.

That, coupled with Jake Plummer being their quarterback, makes me think they will be just as unsuccessful in the playoffs as they have been in recent years. Does anyone truly believe the Broncos are a legitimate Super Bowl contender? Are we supposed to believe that Marty Schottenheimer has learned the error of his ways, too, and won't play to lose in a big spot?

So the Bears will probably win the division, and more than likely host a playoff game, where they will be totally exposed, again. Maybe this time the rest of America will be a little more prepared for it.