As I sit here typing this, only a few hours after the Bears beat the New Orleans Saints 39-14 to earn a spot in Super Bowl XLI, it still hasn't hit me.
I mean, can you believe it?
The Bears beat the Saints.The Saints!!
The greatest team of all damn time!!
There has never been a team as good as the New Orleans Saints this season. They went 10-6 during the regular season, man. The Bears only went 13-3.
There's no way the Bears should have been able to overcome that.
The Saints had the NFL's #1 offense. They scored 413 points in 16 games. The Bears only scored 427 points.
The Saints have the two greatest running backs to ever grace the gridiron in their backfield. Deuce McAllister rushed for 1,057 yards, while Reggie Bush had 565. The Bears on the other hand only have Thomas Jones who rushed for 1,210 yards, and Cedric Benson who managed 647.
How can the Bears compete with that!?
They couldn't. Just ask all the "experts," like the guys at ESPN. They all said the Saints would win. In fact, the only person who picked the Bears was a computer, and a computer is just a series of tubes. Unlike the ESPN guys, it knows nothing about football!!
But that's why they don't play these games in the pregame studios! No, sir. You have to give the underdog a chance to come out and play against Goliath.
Remember, this wasn't just a team the Bears were going against. This was America. Hell, it was God.
But the Bears didn't care. They're a bunch of Atheists who don't even realize there's a world outside the borders of Chicago.
So, sorry America, but it's time to discuss just how the Godless heathens pillaged and plundered their way to victory.
After Reggie Bush waved goodbye to Brian Urlacher and did a somersault into the end zone to make it 16-14 Bears, it seemed something awoke in the Bears.
In fact, the Reggie Bush wave was a perfect microcosm of the way the media had treated the Saints all week. The touchdown he scored didn't even give the Saints the lead, but Bush acted as though the game was over and the Saints were victorious. In reality, they hadn't done anything yet.
From that point on, the Saints were dead.
The snow started to fall, and Drew Brees threw a ball to nobody in particular from his end zone. It resulted in a safety that completely turned everything around.
Rex Grossman came out shortly after, and had the defining drive of his much maligned career.
On a five play, 85-yard drive, Rex went 4/4 for 78 yards and finished with a 33 yard touchdown pass to Bernard Berrian. Berrian made a fantastic catch while falling down at the one yard line, and neither of the Saints defensive backs touched him, so he stood up and walked into the end zone.
At the end of the day though, it was typical Chicago Bears football. Cold, wintry conditions, 196 yard rushing, and defense, defense, defense.
After hearing all week that they wouldn't be able to stop Deuce McAllister, the Bears held him to 18 yards on 6 carries. The defense also got back to its old turnover-causing ways. The Bears forced the Saints into four of 'em, while giving none away.
The Saints just didn't seem ready to play a game in the type of conditions they were forced to today, and a lot of that has to be placed at the feet of coach Sean Payton. Why he had them practicing indoors all week is a question he's probably going to have to answer a lot over the next few days.
Personally, I don't care why he did it, or what his reasons were. All I care about is that the Chicago Bears are going to the Super Bowl.
It's fun to say that, and not have it be a beer-induced prognostication.The Bears are going to the Super Bowl.
Seriously.
The team that many have claimed is the worst 13-3 team in history just beat everybody in their way."They can't win a playoff game."
They did.
"Rex Grossman can't get them to a Super Bowl."
He did.
"They can't stop the Saints."
They did.
Everything that everybody has told them they couldn't do, they've gone out and done.
So after all of this, after answering every challenge, the Chicago Bears have finally earned some damn respect, right?
Nope. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
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