A deafening silence enveloped the Chicago area Sunday afternoon. It was the sound of Bears fans staring into their souls and thinking, ‘‘Good God, we’re never going to beat the Packers again.’’
Justin Fields or Caleb Williams? Keep the No. 1 overall draft pick or trade it? Bash our heads against a wall or knock out our own teeth with a tire iron?
It figures the foulest thing about the weekend wasn’t the miserable weather, but rather our collective mood after watching Packers quarterback Jordan Love go from promising first-year starter to budding superstar in a 48-32 dismantling of the Cowboys.
Was Love perfect? Close enough.
Is he going to be better than whoever plays quarterback for the Bears in the next 10 or 20 games of the most lopsided sports rivalry on the planet? Probably.
Will Love — who was 42-for-59 (71.2%) for 561 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions in bookend victories against the Bears to start and finish the regular season — make the Bears and all of us feel like Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers did? Bruised and abused? Dissed and endlessly dismissed? Look, maybe it won’t be so bad. But if you watched the 25-year-old Love dance on the Cowboys’ graves, you’re plenty worried.
Starting with the first postseason pass of his career, he was magnificent. He took a seven-step drop, kept his eyes downfield despite defensive lineman Osa Odighizuwa tearing right up the middle of the pocket to blast him and slung a 22-yard rocket to Romeo Doubs. Love scrambled to his right on his second completion, delivered a ball quickly and cleanly out of the shotgun for his third and hit his fourth off a play-action fake. He was only 4-for-4 — to four different receivers — on the first drive of the game, yet it instantly felt as though he was brandishing all the tools.
Love’s first touchdown pass, which put the Packers ahead by a shocking score of 20-0, likely sent shivers down Bears fans’ spines. Off his back foot, he flicked his right arm forward and sent an absolute screamer 35 yards through the air to Dontayvion Wicks in the end zone. Has Rodgers ever thrown one better? Did Favre? It has to be a ‘‘yes’’ on both — has to, right? — but the effortlessness of this difficult throw was sensational.
‘‘J Love doin’ what he’s done . . . wheelin’ & dealin’,’’ Bears tight end Marcedes Lewis, a former teammate of Love’s with the Packers, tweeted.
Can you picture Fields going 16-for-21 for 272 yards and three touchdowns without an interception in a playoff game? Because Love has done it.
It was the Packers’ first postseason victory on the road since the divisional round seven years ago, also against the Cowboys. Rodgers then was in his ninth season as a starter and at the height of his powers, having set career highs in completions (401) and attempts (610) and leading the NFL in touchdown passes (40).
Let’s not go overboard: Anyone would take 2016 Rodgers over 2023 Love without even having to think about it.
But this was Love’s first playoff rodeo, and he did every stinkin’ thing right. For Bears fans, that’s just so very wrong. …
Do you know what’s not quite as upbeat and peppy as a camera shot of Taylor Swift dancing and singing in a suite during a playoff game? A camera shot of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones watching in horror during a playoff game as his team’s streak of falling short of the NFC Championship Game every season since 1995 continues. And yet, somehow, the latter shot is even more entertaining. Go figure. …
‘‘I haven’t thought about that,’’ Jones told reporters when asked about the status of Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy.
Translation: Sure, a coaching triumvirate of Bill Belichick, Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh will be a little unusual, but that’s why I’ve got the big bucks. …
College basketball is drunk. And it’s wonderful.
Everybody who’s anybody lost — to an unranked opponent — in the last week. No. 1 Purdue went down 88-72 at Nebraska. No. 2 Houston lost 57-53 at Iowa State and 68-67 at TCU, going from unbeaten on the season to 0-2 on the road as a member of the Big 12. No. 3 Kansas was unable to win at UCF, of all places, getting dumped 65-60.
In all, nine of the top 11 teams in the country lost to at least one unranked foe. No. 10 Illinois did its part Sunday with a 76-67 no-show against Maryland at the State Farm Center.
If there’s a great team this season, it hasn’t revealed itself yet. …
On Friday in Springfield, a federal judge heard Illinois star Terrence Shannon Jr.’s request to undo his school-imposed suspension after a rape charge that has kept him away from the team since Dec. 27. Shannon’s attorneys argued, essentially, that the school considered potential harm to its reputation only, not to Shannon’s reputation or his career prospects. The judge has promised an ‘‘expedient’’ ruling on the request.
Five teammates — key members of the Illini squad — were at the courthouse in support of Shannon; coach Brad Underwood was not. Two days later, Underwood bemoaned the team’s performance against Maryland, calling it ‘‘flat’’ and ‘‘dead,’’ and indicated that a ‘‘really disjointed’’ Friday was part of the reason. Being without Shannon is complicated from more than an X’s and O’s standpoint. …
Yes, it was sad and terrible that Bulls fans made Jerry Krause’s widow, Thelma, cry Friday during a Ring of Honor ceremony at the United Center.
No, Bulls fans didn’t boo Thelma Krause.
People can express all the outrage they want, but would it kill them to be accurate about it? That goes triple for media. There were way too many ‘‘Bulls fans boo Krause’s widow’’ headlines and references going around. That’s amateurish. …
My ballot for the new AP Top 25, which comes out Monday: 1. UConn, 2. Purdue, 3. Kansas, 4. North Carolina, 5. Duke, 6. Memphis, 7. Baylor, 8. Houston, 9. Kentucky, 10. Tennessee, 11. Auburn, 12. Wisconsin, 13. Arizona, 14. Ole Miss, 15. Texas Tech, 16. Oklahoma, 17. Illinois, 18. Creighton, 19. Utah State, 20. San Diego State, 21. Seton Hall, 22. TCU, 23. Iowa State, 24. Florida Atlantic, 25. Oregon.
