Stay the Course: Even Football Fans Suffer

The Chicago Bears have a record of 10 wins and 2 losses. They have the best record in the NFC and are tied with the Indiannapolis Colts for the best in the NFL. They have a great defense and special teams. They have very good personnel on the offense except for 1, their QB Rex Grossman. Yesterday he had a dismal QB rating of 1.5 which is almost impossible and the team won. In the last 7 games he has been responsible for 18 turnovers and has forced the team to win by scoring with defense and special teams.

In response to all of this, coach Lovie Smith was adamant that a change is not in the works and became agitated by questions about the quarterback situation. "There's a difference between perception and reality," Smith said. "The reality is we're 10-2 right now. We just won the division with Rex at quarterback, so that's what I go on." This is despite the fact that they have a backup QB named Brian Griese who was signed to a multi-million dollar contract to back up Grossman before the season started. Griese's statistics for his multi-year career make him the best Bear QB in their history statistically and he has never started a game for the Bears.

Those of us in Chicago and in the MSM all are painfully aware of the fact that Grossman is not the man to lead this team, but Lovie Smith has a different reality than most others who observe and analyze the NFL. Many have said that Grossman's performance in the last seven games is the worst ever for a team that had a record of 5 out of seven wins during that period, a testimonial to the strenth of the defense and the special teams. But, Lovey lives in his own reality. Presumably he believes that Grossman's ineptiture creates the chemistry to win or that he is good luck despite his miserable performance. The Bears just won the NFL North Division and Lovey is ready to celebrate "mission accomplished." Perhaps Chicago should have a victory parade or perhaps the coach can have a "mission accomplished" landing in Soldiers Field for winning the division championship. Unfortunately, that is a long way from winning the Superbowl.

In many ways the nature of Smith's behavior is a metaphor for Bush and many of our political leaders. Lovey Smith and George Bush seem to be in the same reality. Do not confuse them with facts. They keep dreaming and leading by hunches and stubborn feelings in which they are certain that they are right. As it was with Bush, that kind of thinking will lead to a failed policy for victory. The future of the Bears in the playoffs is as bleak as it is for Bush in Iraq unless some changes are made. Perhaps this rather trivial analogy of a coach and a football team is what happens too frequently in life. Leadership based on superstition, ritual, and fuzzy thinking is too common in our lives and leaves many of us with a horrible feelings of powerlessness. I wonder if Lovey Smith is a Republican.