Can "Bear Weather" still be a thing for the 2010 Chicago Bears?
by Kev H on Jun 11, 2010 3:59 PM CDT
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Bear Weather. A long-storied, often touted theme for the Chicago Bears. They're from the "Windy City", their stadium is on the lake. The cold and the snow and all of the accompanying weather oddities always factors as a plus for the Chicago Bears, making their opponents tremble in fear. These conditions are supposed to be the key for the Chicago Bears, especially as they try to clinch those always important late-season victories.
But is the idea of "Bear Weather" still relevant for the 2010 Chicago Bears? As disappointing as it may be for you to hear, fellow Bears enthusiasts, the answer is "No."
From their inception, the Bears have always maintained the image of a hard-nosed, tough-playing, always-fighting cold weather team. With a gameplan typically predicated on staunch defense, and a punishing, pounding defense, Adverse weather conditions often played right into the (sometimes) well-laid plans of various coaching staffs.
The "Bear Weather" sensibility is one of those mantras that is continually repeated by coaches, players, and fans alike. Much like making sure your favorite jersey is on, and you're sitting in your favorite chair with the remote in the exact right spot, it is, for lack of a better term, sports-meatball type of thinking that just doesn't jive with where the organization is at this point.
The Chicago Bears are no longer really built for this style of play.The defensive scheme they have in place is predicated on smaller, quicker guys with quick feet getting to ball carriers and making plays. Rain, sleet, and snow do not lend well to this mantra. While the conditions affect both teams, it's particularly tough for an undersized defensive end to gain leverage and and edge on a guard or tackle who is much larger than they.
Even more concerning...the offense isn't built for this style of play any more. The Martzfense (which I plan on making stick), historically, is constructed around quick, crisp route running, and an awful lot of passing. This simply doesn't gel with the idea of smash-mouth, between the tackles running that "Bear Weather" typically required
In short...the speed and athleticism of this team is its biggest strength, and old notions and silly phrases aren't going to help them succeed. So let's melt the idea of "Bear Weather" once and for all.
(Though it never hurts to be able to play in the cold. Those late-season Lambeau games can be brutal...just ask Tom Coughlin.)
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I understand the point
and have considered it before, but I can’t help but feel that “Bear-weather” is good and will never die… at least that’s what I like to hope. :]
"A lot of fans were drawn to me because they knew that whatever the score was, I was going to run as hard as I could on every play. You don't have that now, you have guys waiting for next week or even next year." - Walter Payton
Editor/Writer for WindyCityGridiron.com
Agreed
“Bear-weather” is great and will never die. I’d much rather be at a game where it’s 18 degrees and snow is everywhere than in a dome.
Aw man I shot Marvin in the face.
Didn't say it wasn't a good time
said it wasn’t the ideal conditions for the team that is built.
If I did what I love for a living, what would I do in my free time?
Writer at windycitygridiron.com {-/-} http://www.twitter.com/kdoggers
Wet get off the bus running
a pass-happy offense.
There, fixed that for you.
If I did what I love for a living, what would I do in my free time?
Writer at windycitygridiron.com {-/-} http://www.twitter.com/kdoggers
Wet? wtf.
I need to pay more attention.
If I did what I love for a living, what would I do in my free time?
Writer at windycitygridiron.com {-/-} http://www.twitter.com/kdoggers
We get off the bus wet
"When I played pro football, I never set out to hurt anyone deliberately - unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something." ~ Dick Butkus
by Lester A. Wiltfong Jr. on Jun 15, 2010 11:59 AM CDT up reply actions
We get off the bus running
But we get stuffed for no gain.
Lifelong Arizona Cardinals/Chicago Bears fan [I have always lived in Arizona, dad is from Chicago].
I can't stand fair-weather/bandwagon fans, stick with your team, throughout the good and the bad. And don't switch to whichever team wins the Super Bowl each year.
a cliche that is as meaningful these days as Bear weather
I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures.
~Earl Warren
by lookingdeadred on Jun 16, 2010 8:29 AM CDT up reply actions
The ....
Weather outside is frightful.
by Dozjah on Jun 11, 2010 4:47 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
I think it's the "used-to-it" factor that weighs heavily here
IF you aren’t from Chicago, if you’ve never been in that bone-chilling type of cold it can just about knock you down physically. The first time I took my wife to the Navy Pier and the wind hit us (It was September), I thought she was going to pass out. My Mom (Chicago native) didn’t flinch. If you can adjust to it like the locals, then I think it becomes a weapon to use against other teams.
Understandable
but it’s not like they practice in it, or they’re even from the same region. Many of the players come from schools that aren’t part of any frozen tundra…they’re really no more acclimated to it than anyone else.
As I mentioned above, I fully enjoy games like that, it’s a fun atmosphere. I just don’t think it’s an advantage.
If I did what I love for a living, what would I do in my free time?
Writer at windycitygridiron.com {-/-} http://www.twitter.com/kdoggers
But they live in it.
I grew up in the mid-west. Every spring when the temperature got above 40 degrees we’d all get our shorts on and walk around in t-shirts. In the fall when the temperature turned 40 degrees you might break out a heavy sweat shirt or a jacket. You acclimated to it because you lived in it daily. I know many players keep homes in other regions but during the mid to late summer until January (hopefully later) they live in Chicago. As the season changes so does your perception of it. That 45 that felt cold in mid September hits 35 in late October and you say “meh, no big deal.” I think its a mental edge. And a big one. Ask the Saints.
If you can't laugh at yourself you must not be very funny.
Although I agree this isn't a team built to thrive in those conditions.
But it gives us a psychological advantage over teams from other geographic regions.
If you can't laugh at yourself you must not be very funny.
Fair
I’ve lived in it my entire 28 years. Yes, you get used to it, but I don’t think they stand around in freezing weather without proper attire for anytime except gametime.
Agree to disagree, fellow fan that I respect.
If I did what I love for a living, what would I do in my free time?
Writer at windycitygridiron.com {-/-} http://www.twitter.com/kdoggers
by Kev H on Jun 12, 2010 11:01 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
"Bear weather" it is an urban myth of sorts
I think you would be hard pressed to prove the Bears’ players have a mental edge in cold weather.
I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures.
~Earl Warren
by lookingdeadred on Jun 13, 2010 9:26 AM CDT up reply actions
Not scientific proof, I know, but
I love the bit in the Bears edition of America’s Game where the Rams’ kicker is complaining “Why don’t they put a dome over this place?” before the NFC championship game – and, of course, the last TD where the snow was falling and Wilber Marshall was running the fumble back for a score and, in the words of Ditka, “the fans went absolutely crazy.” That, to me, is good enough.
"44 years of football history and nothing to show for it. I wish I wasn’t banned at the Norseman.." - tfrabotta
"Fellas, what are they, unblockable? Is that the '85 Bears over there?" - overheard at Giants' '06 training camp
~~~ Check my profile for links for SB20 and America's Game: '85 Bears ~~~
How about the 06 NFC Championship
you can’t tell me that New Orleans wasn’t cold and feeling it in the second half.
We’re gonna be a pretty violent bunch. ~Lance Briggs
by BearNecessities on Jun 14, 2010 4:11 AM CDT up reply actions
Didn't Tampa Bay finally break their streak of losing games on days
where the weather was below 40 degrees at Soldier Field also?
If the Saints were playing better
they would not have noticed the cold.
I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures.
~Earl Warren
by lookingdeadred on Jun 14, 2010 9:14 AM CDT up reply actions
If my Aunt had a penis she'd be my Uncle....
If you can't laugh at yourself you must not be very funny.
if your aunt had a penis your uncle would be gay
I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures.
~Earl Warren
by lookingdeadred on Jun 15, 2010 8:39 AM CDT up reply actions
that picture
of mr. mccaskey always make me shiver. he looks like he’s making an amazonian war yell.
Well lets see
Obviously the weather isn’t going to change for us, so that would either mean we struggle to play in the cold or we change, cause either way, the weather will, hopefully, always be a factor in Chicago.
I am a bear of very little brains and big words bother me.
Even back to the Ditka days that saying always put a chill through me...
and not in a good way. I remember the 49’ers coming in here on Monday night and kicking our asses and for years it seemed like every meaningful game we had and the fans, media, coaches, and players started spouting off about Bear Weather, you could make book on us having our heads handed to us. Everytime I hear that phrase during a season, I’d like to grab the person who says it by the throat because it always seems to come back to bite us.
The only way it consistantly helps us is Robbie Gold practicing his kicks in the cold and wind. He generally can outperform any other kicker in those conditions and can mean the difference in a close game.
As far as I’m concerned uttering the phrase “Bear Weather” is as bad as saying the Packers’ game is “just another game”…..it’s the kiss of death.
the game that should have ended the idea of "Bear weather" once and for all
was the NFC championship game in Jan 1989. The wimpy west coast 49ers were supposed to crumble in the arctic conditions in Chicago that day. Any Bear fan who blathers on about Bear weather after that just looks like a fool.
I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures.
~Earl Warren
by lookingdeadred on Jun 12, 2010 9:30 AM CDT up reply actions
Bear weather ahs not mattered for years, decades really
the game changed and the Bears, hopefully, have finally changed, too.
I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures.
~Earl Warren
bear weather
Don’t think it has a place anymore. I, too, think it ended with the 88 NFC title game. When a warm-weather team comes here and plays like that the weather isn’t really a factor.
I don't know
it’s definitely not the presence it used to be, and I agree that it is meathead thinking.
But still…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x30zecUWhMc
The Windy City was as responsible for that win as Robbie Gould or Alex Brown.
"I want people to fear me"- Derrick Rose.
"That boy is BAD"- Stacey King.
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