WAS IT THE GRATEFUL DEAD OR MATT NAGY who reminded, “When life looks like Easy Street, there is danger at the door?”
To hear the media fanboys chirp it, that Comfort & Easy is all but certain to run through Soldier Field Sunday as the Bears are expected to roll over visiting Carolina (noon, Fox; Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma).
The Panthers are the franchise that made Ryan Poles and his sharp trade wins famous, aren’t they?
The homies have Caleb Williams, easily the second-best rookie QB in the NFL today, correct?
(Washington’s electric-avenued Jayden Daniels remains an uncontested No. 1. The Bears are slated to chase him on Oct. 27.)
Carolina Panthers quarterback Andy Dalton celebrates after their win against the Las Vegas Raiders in an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
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ALL CAROLINA CAN COUNTER WITH is pending discard Bryce Young and the carbon-dated Andy Dalton. He’s the Andy Griffith look-alike who’s been in the league long enough to remember John Madden, missed field goals and non-dynamic kickoffs.
The Bears were only 4-point favorites entering the weekend. But that’s par for the pixies in an NFL season during which close finishes, tide-flipping Jack Ruby flags and competitive underdogs already are being presented with all the static predictability of a da Vinci at The Louvre.
Next weekend, the Bears will glide into London to face teetering Trevor Lawrence and Jacksonville. After that Matt Eberflus and hard knockers can presumptively take a 4-2 mark into their bye week.
BUT BACK TO MATT NAGY for a moment.
Five years ago to the week, his Bears were a robust 3-1 and at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for a trans-Atlantic match vs. Jon Gruden and the Raiders.
Of even greater import, Nagy was 15-5 during his ascending tenure as head coach of the McUptickers. That mark wrapped around the excruciating double-doink loss to the Eagles in the 2018 playoffs.
SO DEREK CARR AND JOSH JACOBS manufactured a late TD under the gathering British gloom that downed Chicago 24-21.
But that was a mere blip on the trans-Atlantic ship, right?
In retrospect, no. If any single game signaled the beginning of the end of the Nagy era at Halas Hall, that was the one. His ’19 edition stumbled home 8-8 and finished a 19-25 run with a 6-11 season in 2021.
Bye-bye, K.C. Matt, hello, Toledo Matt.
Ryan Pace gave way to Ryan Poles and the one-headlight pursuit of Caleb Williams became an even bigger goal at Halas Hall than the no-brain construction of a new stadium at Arlington Park.
SO THE LESSON TO BE RECALLED is that when life looks like Easy Street, there is an Andy Dalton — or a Derek Carr or a Trevor Lawrence — at the door.
With the woe-tide McCaskey Bears, it never seems to be a question of “If?”
Merely one of “When?”
STREET-BEATIN’:
Hottest mic in American sportscasting right now belongs to Jason Benetti. Less than a year after telling Jerry Reinsdorf and Brooks Boyer to take their White Sox job and shove it, Benetti will work Fox’s No. 2 team Sunday alongside Greg Olsen for the Browns-Commanders game (not available over-the-air in Chicago). The young climber just finished calling a playoff season for the Tigers. (He’s happening.) …
Adam Amin is handling the Mets-Phillies NLDS for Fox alongside A.J. Pierzynski and Adam Wainwright (Game 2, 3 p.m., Sunday, FS1). That assignment loosened the Fox/NFL vertical for Benetti’s temporary jump-up. (Amin is also happening, especially if he figures a graceful way to leave the stilted Bulls broadcast scheme.) …
The MLB postseason got a tremendous first-phase juicer with Pete Alonso’s remarkable ninth-inning home run that enabled the Mets to close out the Brewers in a winner-take-all Wild Carder at Milwaukee. Alonso is on the threshold of free agency, prompting Mets/WCBS-AM staple Howie Rose to wake up the soothsayers as the slugger approached the plate by saying, “This could be his last Mets at-bat. … It could be his most memorable.” (Choice “B” won.) …
Michael Jordan’s lawsuit against NASCAR and the entrenched France ownership family is notable in part because it’s more of his autumnal no-more-Mr.-Nice-Guy reimaging. He was a very well-compensated prisoner to that brand mask for almost all of his time with the Bulls. Jordan and fellow plaintiffs also have a phenomenal lead litigator in Jeff Kessler, co-executive chair of Winston & Strawn. (Bet on a settlement; the France organization owns or controls 20 primary speedways in America.) …
Great note from Gary Duch, a frequent host to Pete Rose at Chicago-area thoroughbred tracks, including Hawthorne and the late Sportsman’s Park: Ol’ No. 14 never asked for a program or Daily Racing Form. “He was either handicapping by horses’ appearances or betting numbers or names or wind direction,” Duch said. “He loved the action and was never anything but a very pleasant guy.” …
And eastward Eddie Pryor, on Justin Field’s “Sunday Night Football” appearance vs. Dallas tonight (7:20 p.m., NBC): “For three hours or so, a whole lot of Chicago is going to be a Steelers town.”
Jim O’Donnell’s Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.