Matt Forte
Chicago Sports Teams – Downright Bad – Cubs, White Sox, Bears, Bulls…
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 | Chicago 2016 Olympics, Chicago Bears, Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Bulls, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, Rio de Janeiro, Sports | 1 Comment
WOW – it has been a rough year for Chicago sports teams. The Bears and Bulls are just continuing the downward trend for Chicago sports teams. Throw in the fact that the City lost out on the bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics this past October, and you wonder why they even field teams in the “Second City.”
Both MLB teams allowed August collapses to dictate disappointing finishes in 2009. The White Sox (79-83; .488 winning percentage) finished 7.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central Division, while the Cubs (83-78; .516 winning percentage) finished 7.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the American League Central Division. Obviously neither team qualified for the playoffs.
While the Bears and Bulls had promising starts to their respective seasons, things have quickly turned for the worse for each team.
The Bears started off by winning 3 of their first 4 games, but a current 4-game losing streak has the Bears sitting at 4-7. With games against the Vikings, Ravens and Packers (teams with winning records) still on the schedule, a 6-10 finish looks like a best-case scenario. A Bears loss to either the Rams (1 win) or Lions (2 wins) could end up costing Head Coach Lovie Smith his job. While the defense has been pretty awful all season long, the biggest disappointments come on the offensive side of the ball. During the off-season preceding the season, the Bears traded 2 1st round draft picks and then-starting QB Kyle Orton to acquire “franchise player” Jay Cutler from the Denver Broncos. Cutler has been a huge enigma in 2009 – while he has thrown for 2671 yards and 16 TD’s and completed over 62% of his passes, he has also thrown a league-high 20 interceptions. His 74.4 passer rating is well below his career 83.9 passer rating. Coupled with Matt Forte’s sophomore slump (1,238 yards rushing with 8 TD’s in 2008 v. 543 yards rushing with 3 TD’s in 2009), it looks like the Bears have a lot of work to do if they want to turn this thing around.
The same could be said for the Bulls. The Bulls started the season with a 6-4 record through their 1st 10 games. But their annual “Circus Road Trip” away from the United Center proved costly. They lost the last 5 games of the trip and now sit at a dismal 6-9. Kirk Hinrich and Tyrus Thomas are both injured, and Derrick Rose is still trying to get back to his top form after dealing with an ankle injury during the pre-season which limited his play. There are a few bright spots for the Bulls. #1 – the Eastern Conference is just awful – even at 3 games under .500 the Bulls would still qualify for the playoffs if the season ended today. #2 – Luol Deng (18.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game) and Joakim Noah (11.5 points and 12.1 rebounds per game) have looked great early on. #3 – the Bulls are set up well salary-cap-wise for the 2010 free agent feeding frenzy – which will include the likes of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Amari Stoudamire and Chris Bosh.
Sorry Chicago sports fans – looks like you better root real hard for the Blackhawks to win the Stanley Cup in 2010…
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