Football is one of the most joyous and painful sports at the same time. Football is unforgiving, for a lot of football fans the pain of losing 10 years ago in the playoffs still stings to this day and the playoff wins don’t matter anymore. Although one of the most emotionally draining sports, its history is deep and rich with some of the most entertaining moments in sports. This year being no exception, in the first week the 2022 Superbowl champions L.A Rams lost to a team who lost in the 2nd round the Buffalo Bills 31-10 which had people questioning the validity of the Rams championship. 

The Chiefs had an impressive game, scoring 44 points (the highest in week 1) on the Arizona Cardinals. Patrick Mahomes threw for 360 yards with 5 touchdowns on 30/39 accuracy conjuring up an MVP stature performance in his first game of the season. Kyler Murray on the other hand, threw for 193 yards with 2 touchdowns on 22/34 accuracy, which for Kyler’s standards is a bad game. However, if your team isn’t scoring every time down the field against the chiefs, you are bound to lose. 

Another shocking game was the Giants v. Titans. Arguably the best running back in the NFL, Derrick Henry, only ran for 82 yards on 22 carries in a loss against a lackluster Giants defense. A defense which raised a couple of red flags considering on the other side of the field, Saquon Barkly ran for 164 yards on only 18 carries with a touchdown, in his first game with 100+ yards and a touchdown since week 16 of the 2019 season. 

I could go on and talk about the many great games that first week, but in reality the reason you are reading this is for the Bears. I’m a 49ers fan.  The pain I’ve endured in my 17 years of life is heavily tied to the 49ers and their shortcomings, so this loss to the Bears, a team that wasn’t in the playoffs the previous year, was a gut shot. Trey Lance’s starting debut was admirable considering the conditions on the field, throwing for 164 yards on 13/28 accuracy while scrambling for 54 yards. Most of Trey’s incomplete passes were because of receivers dropping the pass due to the weather, not because his pass was a bad read. On the other side of the field, Justin Fields threw for 121 with 8/17 completion and a touchdown. The Bears played a cleaner game than the 49ers I will admit, with the 49ers racking up 12 penalties for 99 yards in the Bears favor at an already soaked Soldier Field.  Bears fans surely welcomed a week 1 victory, but this doesn’t feel like the year for the Bears to make a playoff run.  It remains to be seen if Fields and the offense can figure things out.  Only time well tell.