The Chicago Bears mercifully take their bye this week, whereas the Cubs and White Sox try and fill gaping holes on their rosters on the winter conferences in San Diego.
The Bulls stumble alongside on the quarter-pole of the NBA season, whereas the Blackhawks proceed their prescheduled tank job.
By all accounts it has been a really, very unhealthy 12 months for Chicago’s legacy franchises, drawing comparisons to the darkest days of the Seventies.
“As an old guy nearing 80 this has got to be one of the worst years for Chicago teams in history,” Bob, a Bears fan, wrote in an electronic mail after Sunday’s loss to the Green Bay Packers. “Now of course we have had a lot of bad years …”
That goes with out saying. Fans of a sure age group have gone by means of loads of terrible years in Chicago with groups as unhealthy, or worse, than those we’ve watched flop in 2022.
Maybe this 12 months simply appears worse as a result of all 5 groups have received at the least one championship because the 1985 Bears ended a collective title drought that lasted 22 years. Or maybe the utter disappointment of the Sox, who had been touted as World Series contenders, and the sub-.500 begin by the Bulls, our greatest remaining postseason hope, make it really feel like one other low level in Chicago sports activities historical past.
Either method, 2022 has felt lots like 1978, a 12 months virtually each fan who grew up in Chicago would simply as quickly neglect.
There had been new coaches within the Bulls’ Larry Costello and the Bears’ Neill Armstrong and a bona fide new slugger within the Cubs’ Dave Kingman. Stars reminiscent of Walter Payton and Artis Gilmore made issues a bit extra palatable.
But like 2022, 4 groups missed out on the postseason altogether, whereas the one which made it — the 1977-78 Hawks — was instantly bounced.
Coincidentally, the 1978 sports activities 12 months additionally included speak of the Bears being sad with their stadium deal and a rumor of doming Soldier Field. Tribune structure critic Paul Gapp wrote in December {that a} stadium research committee was “leaning in favor” of saving the enduring columns and “adding more seats and putting a roof on top,” proving {that a} unhealthy concept in Chicago by no means actually dies.
It simply skips a technology or two.
The Bears began the 12 months by watching coach Jack Pardee flee to Washington. It was a shock to the system, even for the comical Bears. Pardee had been named NFC Coach of the Year in 1976 and led them to a 9-5 document in ‘77 for his or her first playoff look because the 1963 championship.
Pardee, surprisingly, pointed to the Bears’ shoddy services upon leaving city. The Bears held coaching camp at Lake Forest College, however as soon as faculty began they had been pressured to decorate in a girls’s dorm, then take a bus to a metropolis park to observe.
“The Bears at that point had a pretty good foundation laid to be a decent team,” Pardee later mentioned. “But they didn’t have any practice facility or a place to train.”
The Bears teaching search, so to talk, turned the speak of the city. General supervisor Jim Finks informed reporters he obtained greater than 100 functions, however he wound up hiring an outdated faculty pal in Armstrong, the longtime Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator.
Because he shared a reputation with the primary man to stroll on the moon, Armstrong shortly turned the butt of jokes. He was on nobody’s radar however the Bears’ after a earlier head teaching stint with Edmonton within the Canadian Football League, the place he compiled a 37-56-3 document over six seasons.
When launched to the Chicago media, Armstrong admitted he by no means had utilized for an NFL head teaching job.
“I guess any assistant has aspirations,” he mentioned. “But I didn’t sit around and wait for the phone to ring.”
The ‘78 Bears, led by Payton and quarterback Bob Avellini, began out 3-0, making Finks appear to be a genius. But they misplaced their subsequent eight video games and completed 7-9. Like Justin Fields, Payton and working again Roland Harper had been principally the whole offense. They completed 1-2 on the workforce in each speeding and receiving, accounting for 3,227 of the 4,459 whole yards the Bears gained from scrimmage.
Baseball fueled some early optimism in Chicago. The Cubs had signed Kingman, who was tailored for Wrigley Field, whereas the Sox returned many of the gamers from the beloved “South Side Hit Men” — though not the 2 finest, Richie Zisk and Oscar Gamble.
Hope was shortly vanquished on the South Side. When the Sox misplaced 8-7 to the Baltimore Orioles on April 30 — their eleventh defeat in 13 video games — they fell to 6-12 and 8½ video games out of first place.
“Oh, well, tomorrow is another month,” designated hitter Ron Blomberg mentioned after the loss.
“And indeed it is,” wrote Dave Nightingale, the Sox beat author for the Tribune. “But the Sox have been saying the same thing throughout April. To losers, every day seems like a month.”
The Sox wound up firing supervisor Bob Lemon midseason. Lemon went on to handle the New York Yankees, who received the World Series. The Sox completed 71-90 and in fifth place within the American League West.
On the North Side, the Cubs began out properly and had been 11 video games over .500 and in first place on June 19. But they completed 79-83 and 11 video games out.
By the time fall rolled round, there was cautious optimism concerning the Hawks and Bulls. The Hawks had received the Smythe Division in 1977-78 however had been promptly swept by the Boston Bruins within the first spherical.
The ‘78-79 season turned a protracted, sluggish march to mediocrity underneath coach Bob Pulford. While the Hawks would go on to win their lowly division despite a 29-36-15 document, they once more had been swept within the convention quarterfinals, this time by the New York Islanders.
Like Armstrong with the Bears, Costello — who had received an NBA title with the Milwaukee Bucks — was instantly underneath the microscope in his first 12 months in Chicago. After being employed to show round a workforce that went 40-42 in 1977-78, he turned out to be a minor blip in Bulls historical past.
Management had launched fashionable guard Norm Van Lier earlier than the season, and the Bulls had been 20-36 when Costello was fired late within the season and changed by Scotty Robertson. Costello blamed GM Rod Thorn for “panicking” to appease indignant followers, whom he in contrast unfavorably with these in Milwaukee.
“The fans in the cities are like night and day,” Costello mentioned. “It’s different than in Milwaukee. The fans in Chicago don’t give you a chance. They’re so hungry for a winner that it makes it tough for players to relax.”
Chicago followers stay hungry for a winner in 2022, however they’re not so certain the workforce homeowners really feel the identical method. That makes 2023 a prove-it 12 months for all 5 groups.
But unhealthy occasions don’t final endlessly. By the early Eighties the fog started to elevate for the Sox, Cubs and Bears, and the Michael Jordan period of the Bulls was quickly to comply with. The Hawks mini-dynasty within the 2010s was subsequent.
Still, the teachings discovered again in 1978 stay true immediately.
When a brand new 12 months begins in Chicago, at all times proceed with warning.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com