This was a depressing set of Reacts survey results this week.
If I had a working flux capacitor and a DeLorean, I’d make like a tree and get out of here just like Biff. I’d take my Sports’ Almanac and make a boatload of money with a bookie or two.
But would I also stop off in Carpentersville, Illinois, to speak to my younger self and convince little Lester to stay far away from the Chicago Bears?
After all, I wasn’t always a Bears fan. In my early years, my NFL fandom began with America’s Team before realizing my cousin was also a Dallas Cowboys fan. I needed to root against him, so I changed my allegiance to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Living in Illinois, I quickly realized that I couldn’t see the Steelers every week, so I started watching the local team every Sunday.
And that’s when I saw Walter Payton.
This guy was phenomenal. He was a dynamo with the football. He could do it all. And he had to do it all because the Bears were bad.
But Sweetness made me 100% into a Bears fan, and I haven’t looked back.
Since I’m old enough to have experienced the Bears of the 80s, and I would not want to give that up, I voted no in this week’s Reacts question: Would you convince your younger self to cheer for a different team?
But 54% of our fans voted yes.
That’s much higher than I thought it’d be. I can only guess it’s coming from younger fans who may not get the reference I dropped in my first paragraph.
We have a disgruntled fanbase, and this week’s confidence poll is the lowest it’s been all season.
Only 11% of us believe the Bears are on the right path.
Firing offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was the obvious move, but what will this franchise do if they are embarrassed on Sunday?
The Green Bay Packers come to town, and our partners at FanDuel Sportsbook have the Bears as a 5.5-point home underdog, and I hate to say it, but I don’t see any way the Bears will cover.
When the poll question went out to the Reacts voters earlier this week, the Packers were favored by 6.5 points. Even with the larger spread, 78% of voters were still picking the Packers.
SB Nation Reacts is a survey of fans across the NFL, and you can sign up here to participate in them each week.