Why It’s All Going to be Fine (A Chicago Bears Fan Guide)

The Chicago Bears are definitely not winning that many football games, and while true Chicago fans are content with memories of Ditka and Payton, some Bears fans unreasonably want to see a playoff win more often than once every other decade. For that reason, here is a practical guide to how to address such worries.

Step 1: Identify who is not at fault

Who is it that we are excusing? It helps to know this, because the reasons that they might be struggling can vary a lot. Make sure that you confirm who you are making excuses for before you read to the next section. Okay, so here are some candidates for which guy in question is not at fault.

• Jay Cutler Mitchell Trubisky Justin Fields
• Ryan Pace Ryan Poles/Matt Eberflus

Step 2: Identify the real problem

So, it’s obviously not __________’s fault. However, in order to make it clear that it’s not that guy’s fault, we need to explain the real problem. Why isn’t it his fault he’s not getting results?

• Because he didn’t have enough to work with when he first got to Chicago.
• Because learning and/or implementing a new system sometimes means taking a step back in order to have sustainable success.

Step 3: Mitigate failures

Some people just won’t let go, though, and they will insist on pointing out mistakes that _________ made independent of the rationale provided in Step 2. Thus, it’s worth taking a moment to explain why those failures are not as big of a deal as the critics sometimes make out. Here are some options.

• You can’t expect perfection right away, and it’s worth it because he’s learning from those mistakes.
• Risk is part of the game, and if you look back a few decades, you can find Hall of Famers who made very similar mistakes and imagine if their teams had moved on from them!

Step 4: Focus on the positives

Now that you have offered unique and insightful analysis about why ______________ is not at fault for his current struggles, and explained that any current struggles are minor, it’s important to offer an optimistic worldview and explain why fans should continue to believe in him.

• Because some of the things he does are really exciting (it helps to list a specific example if you can think of one).
• Because there’s at least one example of someone who struggled just as badly who then did pretty well, and there’s at least one way the successful guy did things that reminds you of the current guy.

Step 5: Look to the future

Obviously, some people will be impatient and talk about results. In a few cases, fans will even want tangible results like wins and losses. They will ask when ______________ is finally going to put it all together and help the Bears win football games. Here are the best two answers for this guy (and very specific to Jay Cutler or Mitchell Trubisky or Ryan Pace or Justin Fields or Ryan Poles or Matt Eberflus).

• It depends. What matters is that we see progress. Soon.
• Next year. Definitely next year.