550 days. That's how long
we've waited for this moment, the moment where Derrick Rose returns to play in a
game that counts. All of the drama, hearsay, and sports media buffoonery can
now, finally, be put to rest. Sure, there will be the questions about how his
knee is holding up, and whether missing a game here and there is really that
important (or for the PTI talking head morons of the world - "what does
this mean big picture-wise?"). But for the most part, he's back. We have the
pleasure of getting to watch Derrick Rose play basketball for OUR team again,
and as this preseason has attested, just how amazing he is at that particular
thing. Because when you think about it, his supposed lack of public relations
skills, his overreliance on his family for their bad advice, and his
to-a-default humility don't matter at all. He's a basketball player, and one of
the best in the world at it.
Henry Melton, Nate Collins, D.J. Williams, and Kelvin Hayden, lost for the year. Charles Tillman, Stephen Paea, Martellus Bennett, and Alshon Jeffery battling nagging injuries nearly all season long. And now, in a bad loss to a bad Redskins team yesterday, the Bears lose Jay Cutler for a minimum of four weeks and Lance Briggs for at least six. The bye week couldn't come at a more perfect time for this Bears team, not merely to rest the players they actually do have still in uniform but to desperately try to figure out to patch up the holes in the sinking ship that is the Bears defense. At this point, though, it is hard to see which direction the Bears go to fix the plaguing issues on that side of the ball, and might have to resign themselves to the fact that the Bears defense as we know it is done.
What a strange year for football 2013 is turning out to be. The Giants are a woeful shell of their two-time Super Bowl winning selves. The Falcons, considered a favorite in the NFC this year, are terrible and lost to the Jets (yes, the Jets) at home last week. The Steelers, a team that contends nearly every year, are in last place in a division that the Browns call home. The Chiefs, with the first pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, are tied with the Broncos for first in the AFC West and remain undefeated. The Texans are a blazing dumpster fire, with Philadelphia-esque cheers for Matt Schaub's injury resonating throughout Reliant Stadium in the shellacking they took from St. Louis yesterday. But in our local, micro-sports world, perhaps the most alarming surprise has been with the Chicago Bears defense.
