Why We Carp

Fans of Philadelphia sports’ teams complain about their teams’ performance in the postseason. Fans in Chicago complain that their teams don’t make the postseason. This is how sad things are in Chicago—the White Sox are getting good press over front-office hires; just the fact that new blood is being pumped into a moribund organization qualifies as news. None of which is to be confused with the Munsters of the Midway. Has an NFL team ever fired or forced out two assistant coaches over the course of six weeks in a season? Well, the Bears have, axing running-backs’ coach David Walker on Wednesday, with head coach Matt Eberflus and GM Ryan Poles doing their best not to explain why. Something about a failure to meet “standards,” the exact nature of which have yet to be laid out. Walker joins defensive coordinator Alan Williams, who resigned for reasons still unknown. Not to worry, though. Eberflus says, “Our [team] culture is awesome,” and a 2-6 team going 2-2 over its last four games means, wait for it, “We really feel we’re turning the corner there.” [both quotes in yesterday’s Sun-Times] Where, exactly? The Munsters are last in the NFL North. The Blackhawks are last in the NHL Central. The Bulls are fourth out of five in the NBA Central. The good news? It’s been a month since the Cubs or Sox have lost a game.