NEWSLETTER
I’ve been called ugly, pug ugly, ugly, pug ugly, but never ugly ugly.
Moe Szyslak slings suds at Moe’s Tavern on FOX’s The Simpsons. More than that, he has been the butt of jokes for the better part of 30 years. So much so, I’ve lost count. And at some level, I think the 2020 Chicago Bears can relate.
Because the words from Ed Salmons, the Vice President of Risk Management at the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, are on par with the worst insults Moe has heard.
“I was talking to a guy who works here, and we were basically looking for a team we think is the equal of the Bears and we both agreed on the same team. It’s Detroit,” Salmons said, via the Chicago Tribune. “Obviously they have different records. In our opinion, they are power rated identically.
“It’s not that we don’t respect the Bears. This is our opinion of the Bears. We think the Bears are the Lions.”
Ouch! Words hurt, man.
Some prognosticators predicted they would be bad. Really bad. They were viewed as being in the worst spot of any team in the NFL. Bad enough to finish 3-13. Even bad enough to be worse than the Jets. It was an offseason of disrespect that Bears fans kept receipts to share at a later date. And I imagine they’ll be bookmarking this one, too.
Don’t get me wrong. I understand the skepticism. There is reason to doubt the sustainability of the Bears’ early season success. But the Lions … really? That franchise so inept, two stars retired in the primes of their careers during my lifetime. How are they on par with the Bears? We’re talking about a team that hasn’t put together a winning season since it fired Jim Caldwell in 2017 because back-to-back 9-7 seasons weren’t good enough. Chicago has its issues, but they’re nowhere on Detroit’s level.
I don’t know if oddsmakers will ever come around on the Bears. A lot of stuff goes into making a line, creating a total, and getting action from both sides. But the Lions comp? Come on, man. This is outrageous. It’s unfair. Simply put, this isn’t right at all.
