Part VI, December 14-December 20

Much to my delight, Ben came to visit me and Meghan this weekend. He finished his last final on Thursday, meaning he is finally done with college. But before all of that “welcome to the real world” nonsense could drag him (and me) down, we decided to have an old-fashioned Jack and Ben hang out weekend.

“Ben kinda annoys me,” he continues. “I’m not sure. At the same time, I love him, and I feel like the future is going to be Duhon and Gordon with Hinrich gone so they can concentrate on other areas.”

“I guess. Yeah.” He stops. “Yeah, probably. I guess I’m just scared of losing Ben. I like Kirk more, but I’m not worried that he’d go to another team and become Steve Nash or somebody. But you know how we always used to say that if we traded Tyson or Eddy, they’d go crazy? And yeah, it hasn’t happened, but I think with Ben, it would happen. I’m just afraid that something would Happen, like Gordon ending up with the Lakers and him and Kobe combining for like eighty a game. Plus I think we can get a lot more for Kirk than for Duhon, and Duhon’s a better pure point guard and cheaper.”

“I mean, I like all of them. I like Kirk and Ben and Duhon and Luol and Noce and Tyson. I don’t want any of them to go. I want it to work. Particularly with the guards. But really, how many guards can you play? You know?”

“Look, I’m not saying that I want to get rid of any of them. I’m just trying to figure out what is in the best interest of the team. That’s all. And just, you know, trying to figure out what our realistic options are in the event that we cannot keep all three guards. Even though, I’d like to keep them all.”

“Fine,” I say. I’m not agreeing; I’m simply accepting his scenario for the purposes of this conversation. And now I set the plate: “So Bulls of the future…point guard…Kirk Hinrich or the field?”

“No. Ben’s the two. Listen: the answer to any question ‘Kirk Hinrich or the field’ is going to be the field because the only two spots he can reasonably play are both filled. Duhon and Gordon. Maybe Kirk off the bench, but if we have to lose him to get bigger then that’s the way it is.”

“Luol.” Ben is very confident on this one. “Definitely. He’ll be our best player.”

“The field. Sweetney and Chandler could be backups, but not starters. We have four picks coming from the Knicks with two first rounders, plus a buttload of money for one of the best free agent classes in a while. This is going to be like the opposite of the whole Duncan/Hill/T-Mac nightmare.”

“True, but I’m much more excited about our guys. They all need to stay. Sweetney’s phat. Ben needs to go back to the bench…he just seems like that type of guy…but he should stay. Du, Kirk, and Luol should all start, along with probably Sweetney and Tyson. I love Tyson, but I think I love him off the bench. If only we hadn’t shipped A.D.”

During the day, we watch football. The big news in the NFL is the big news in Indy: the Colts’ undefeated season ending at 13-1 with a 26-17 loss to the Chargers at the RCA Dome. It was amazing. San Diego got a first quarter TD from Brees to McCardall, and they followed that up with field goals in the first, second, and third quarters, respectively. 16-0 Chargers.

Back came the Colts: Vanderjagt FG makes it 16-3…interception…two plays later, Edgerrin goes in from one yard out, and now it’s 16-10…fumble…three plays later, Manning to Dallas Clark for a yard. And now it’s 17-16 Colts at the end of three. The perfect season in tact. One quarter left…

A field goal by Nate Kaeding put the Chargers back up 19-17, and after an 11-play Colts drive stalled at the San Diego 38, Indy punted. Into the endzone; touchback. First and ten from the twenty: Michael Turner gets stuffed for a loss of three. Second and thirteen from the seventeen: Michael Turner goes right tackle for 83 yards. Touchdown Chargers. 26-17. Thirteen wins, one loss.

That was the big news. There was also serious news, and that was Washington guard Randy Thomas leaving the Skins’ blowout of Dallas with a broken bone in his leg during the fourth. Thomas came over from the Jets in 2003; he has started every game but one for the Redskins over the past three seasons. Now he was being carted off the field, his team possibly headed to the playoffs, him definitely headed for the hospital. The D.C. crowd chanted his name—“Randy! Randy!”—and he rode off on the cart, head up, totally connected, and you got the feeling that if you had to go down, this was not such a bad way to go.

Later that night we go to the apartment of one of Meg’s Union Jack co-workers to watch the Bears-Falcons game. His name is Adam, and I met him at Union Jack during the second half of the second Bears-Lions game, the one that Peanut won in OT. The Grossman-Orton talk is raging during the pregame show, and when Adam opens the door, he is grinning, and with good reason: he is wearing a home-made t-shirt, orange with blue letters reading “suppORTON.”

The broadcast begins, and ESPN is going nuts showing Rex in uniform on the sideline. It is a cold night at Soldier Field, and just before kickoff I get a call from “Dee For Three,” AKA Brian Glickman.

The Bears are slow in the early going, failing to pick up a first down until the second quarter. But the defense is terrific, particularly against the run, which, with Vick, Dunn, and T.J. Duckett, is Atlanta’s specialty. The Falcons score first on a 30-yard field goal in the second, capping off the game’s first sustained drive. The Bears answer with a nifty drive of their own. Orton starts it by hitting Bernard Berrian for 12 yards and a first down (his first complete pass of the game after starting 0-5 with a sack), and then two plays later Berrian takes an end around and goes 37 yards to put the Bears at Atlanta’s 18. But that is that, with Orton and the offense failing to move the ball. A Gould field goal ties the game at three. The Bears get a stop, and a pass interference call against DeAngelo Hall, and move to the Falcons’ 19. TJ gains eight on three carries, and on fourth and two the Bears go back to Gould, who delivers with a 29-yarder. 6-3 Bears, and the teams trade punts to end the half.

Perhaps the biggest delight of the game is watching Urlacher defend against Vick. This is the third time that Urlacher has played Vick, with the Bears beating Atlanta in 2001 and 2002. The speed that Vick and Urlacher bring to their respective positions is nearly incomprehensible. Urlacher always plays well against Vick. He plays the “spy” role, or whatever…basically, he just chases Vick around the field. Watching Urlacher on a regular basis, you’re always reminded of just how fast he is. Then he squares off against the fastest quarterback in NFL history, and hot damn! That’s athleticism! Just amazing the capabilities of these guys, particularly Urlacher. He’s Butkus with Deion’s speed. At least that’s what it seems like. And of course, even when Vick isn’t playing well, he’s still a hoot. These guys should play each other every year.

As for Orton, he goes two for 10 for 12 yards in the first half, getting sacked once. Not good. The fans are growing antsy. Atlanta gets the ball to start the half, and on first down Alex Brown bats a Vick ball into the air. Vick catches it and then is tackled by Urlacher for a loss of 14. Three plays later the Falcons are punting, and then…

“I don’t know.” He laughs. “Look at how he’s walking on the field. Is that the walk of a Super Bowl quarterback? Would Kyle Orton have walked like that? Could be trouble.”

When Grossman comes out onto the field for the Bears’ first drive of the third, the crowd at Soldier Field goes absolutely loco. It’s like Willis Reed or something. The Bears start at their own 49, and on first down Rex drops back to throw, looks, and fires complete to Moose for 22 yards. The crowd erupts. Meg, Ben, Adam and I high-five and cheer. On third and six from the Atlanta 25, Rex goes to Gage for 10 and a first down, and then he picks up another on second and seven on an eight-yard pass to Moose. First and goal from the four. The Bears get backed up to the eight on an illegal formation penalty on Fred Miller, and then it’s Rex to Moose at the one, but Keion Carpenter picks it off.

Carpenter fumbles the pick, and Gage recovers it on the one. TJ goes one yard on the next play for a touchdown. 13-3 Bears, and the first Rex Grossman-led drive of the regular season is a success. Kind of.

Mike Green picks off a Vick pass on the next drive, and the Bears move the ball down to the Atlanta 21 before Gould hits his third field goal of the game. 16-3 Bears, and our defense throttled Atlanta the rest of the game. Of course, our offense didn’t do much either, and that was that. The Bears left the field winners, and Rex left the field a starting quarterback in the NFL. His final line: 9 of 16 for 93 yards, 1 INT and a rating of 47.1.

I’m a little concerned. Can you really make a quarterback switch in Week 15 and expect to win in the playoffs? It’d be a hard task for anyone, particularly a third-year player with a career six games and 156 pass attempts under his cleats. Rex may be more talented than Orton, but they are two different quarterbacks with two different styles. This team will now have to adjust to a new QB. How they handle that adjustment will determine to a great extent how the team performs during the next two weeks and into the postseason.

So yes, I’m concerned, and yet I have to admit that seeing Rex take the field and mobilize the offense was a thrill. He gave them a spark, which was no surprise. They looked excited with number 8 in the game. Again, no surprise. But I fear that the first drive will be a microcosm for the remainder of the season with Rex: some real nice passes mixed with some real risky passes. The Jones touchdown seemed to be the exclamation point, yet people forgot that Rex had just thrown an interception. The touchdown drive seemed like the in-game equivalent of an NBA team changing coaches in mid-season. Everybody is amped to have the new guy in; the burst from the change is usually good for about seven or eight wins in the first ten games. But then things even out, and the team becomes what it is, whatever that might be.

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[1] “My eyes! Ze goggles do nutzing!”