At What Point Are You Done With The Bears?

[BNB]

I treat it the same why I do with the Bulls... When the Bulls were really bad, I was still a fan, I just didn't waste my time watching them all the time. Maybe had them on in the background.

Same with the Bears... When they are absolutely awful, I just watch them less. Good thing for me is that I'm a big fan of football overall.. So I can still enjoy watching other good matchups and ditch the Bears game.

 

[tgmxd]

Very close and I never thought I would be.

Our only hope if they screw this up once again is they could get it right by accident with Fields

Even if they bring back John Fox there’s a chance that Fields is just so good the Bears can’t even fuck him up.

That’s the only thing I’d be watching for.

 

[Sparks500]

“Jeremiah was a bullfrog”.

Really, the Bears are the team I’ve always rooted for, thick or thin, but, it’s always been sort of a slow moving train wreck. if you take the 80s out of their history, they’ve been a disaster since the mid 60s…
sometimes you just can’t take your eyes off the carnage….

 

[Brit In Chicago]

If you’re a true fan you don’t become “done” with a team. You follow them through thick and thin regardless of how successful they’re presently doing, and then when they succeed it feels that much more special. You take it how it comes because even though the lows feel extremely low the highs when they come feel magical.

 

[DC]

It has nothing to do with merch or anything.... it's the time invested. Those Sundays are time that isn't coming back.

3 hours on the couch beats yard work and honey do crap.

#Imprisonedforlife

 

[jive]

The 90s Bears were awful.
How bad you ask?

2 broke college students bought cheap tickets ($40) for a MNF football game, and were able to sneak all the way down to the 50 yard line and find seats for the entire game. It was and probably will be the only time I'll ever afford to sit right in front of the Bears bench. I took that opportunity to yell at whatever player was near Mike McCaskey to punch him in the mouth. Ironhead Heyward let me down big time.

 

[jive]

3 hours on the couch beats yard work and honey do crap.

#Imprisonedforlife

Amen.
I thank The Lord for football because it allows me to keep the Sabbath. My wife always tries to get me to sin by working on Sunday, but football is the heavenly gift to save us from such wretchedness.

 

[Nelly]

Yeah as bad as this year was I still had fun watching this defense play

Wrapping up your own happiness/contentment/pleasure/validation in something outside yourself and thus out of your control is just inviting misery into your life. If you like the Bears and like watching football then watch them and pay attention to them without expectation and be pleasantly surprised/delighted if they manage to put a team together that can make a run. If the Bears' performance is ruins your day/week/month/year/life then what kind of day/week/month/year/life are you living anyway?

 

[Bearcub13]

At what point is enough enough? Or are you planning on spending the rest of your days praying the McCaskey family gets a clue?

Honest question.

Serious question, how old are you?

 

[Zvbxrpl]

I just don’t invest enough emotionally in them to “be done.”

I find more productive things to do with my Sunday afternoons.

 

[BaBaBlacksheep]

Serious question, how old are you?

44

 

[botfly10]

personally, I have reached a point where I will no longer expend energy being mad or sad about the bears. I will not sit through games with hopeless, shit play.

So I have found a place where I can follow the offseason hype cycle and get excited. Then if it turns out the bears are shit, I just turn it off. And if it's real bad, I just stop watching games, then look at the box score after. If it looks worth my time, I will go back and watch.

But I am over the super aggravated Sundays. Fuck that. Too much strife in the real world to be getting worked up about football.

 

[Bearin' Down]

Probably never. I use the Bears as an outlet for entertainment. The notion that I'd just randomly be done supporting them, when I seek out message boards for the Bears and post on them as well as seek out Bears content is silly.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

The 90s Bears were awful.
How bad you ask?

2 broke college students bought cheap tickets ($40) for a MNF football game, and were able to sneak all the way down to the 50 yard line and find seats for the entire game. It was and probably will be the only time I'll ever afford to sit right in front of the Bears bench. I took that opportunity to yell at whatever player was near Mike McCaskey to punch him in the mouth. Ironhead Heyward let me down big time.

Agreed.

It was so bad the Bears fans had to make their own fun.

Like all of us laughing whenever the Bears were at third and three or fourth and three, and knowing a Jason McKie fullback dive was about to commence.

Every single Bears fan would call their shot and 99% of the time would be right. McKie would dive for a yard and be two yards short every time, and we would all laugh at John Shoop calling a play designed to get one yard when the Bears needed more than one yard...

 

[Bearcub13]

44

Thanx...

 

[Penny Traitor]

The 90s Bears were awful.

Fortunately, I spent the bulk of the 90s on the west coast...so I while I did not "quit" on the Bears, I seemed to only catch their games against teams like the Niners who would just trounce the Bears everytime.

I did come back to Chicago in the Eric Kramer days and bought myself a ticket to Green Bay at Solider Field, but Favre threw 4 TDs and broke my heart.

By the time I moved back to Chicago for good, the Bears hired Lovie Smith and hooked me back in.

 

[jive]

If you’re a true fan you don’t become “done” with a team. You follow them through thick and thin regardless of how successful they’re presently doing, and then when they succeed it feels that much more special. You take it how it comes because even though the lows feel extremely low the highs when they come feel magical.

I'm not done with the team by a long shot, but I'm done with the ownership. I feel like they have taken something beloved of mine, locked it up in a cage, and forced us to painfully watch it getting tortured. I don't really want to fill their coffers so they can continue to torment us.

There is a point where the fans can initiate changes. The empty seats at Soldier Field in the 90s, led to decent teams in the 2000s. The empty seats at Comiskey Park, led to a new stadium and eventual World Series champions. Because the Cubs were lovable losers, they could still fill Wrigley with folks playing hooky from work and not have to field a good team until people stopped going to the games.

I love this team, and I know what this team can do for the city and it's expatriates around the world. I've been there when this team was dominant and lit up the town. I grew up with us regularly beating the Packers, and easily shutthing down any cheesehead's smack talk. I remember when we were the dominant team in the division. I remember what it's like to feel awesome most mondays, and confident in a bounce back the week following a loss. Because I know how magical that high is, I know what I have been missing out on the last few decades. I want that again.

 

[PrideisBears]

The Stockholm syndrome is already on n full effect

 

[ThatGuyRyan]

Had they kept Nagy on I wouldn't have watched next year. Would still follow, but yeah. I think interest level would have been all time low.

 

[KennyH]

Is switching a team a thing in the US, especially based on them not winning for a bit???

Certainly in Europe, you are generally born into supporting a club, and you die supporting the same one - how seriously you take the highs and lows is up to you, but I've never really entertained the thought that there was a choice??

I randomly picked the Bears when the NFL came to UK TV in the eighties - it subsequently led me to visit the States to watch them, ended up living in Chicago for a year and continue to tune in every week.

I certainly don't have the same passion that I do for my local football (soccer) club, where I've had the same season ticket for 30 odd years, but can't think why I would change from following the Bears.

It definitely wouldn't be to chase after a winning team