Follow the Bears through the rankings

To follow the Bears as they ascend the rankings:

After Week 9 loss to the lowly Dolphins:

ESPN's NFL Power Ranking: Bears at Number 3:
No doubt it's painful, but come on, it's a sprained big toe. Who knew you could even sprain your big toe? No way that keeps Brian Urlacher from playing this week.

CBS Sportsline NFL Power Ranking: Bears at Number 2: We'll call what happened a mulligan. The word is they got a little too full of themselves. That's how you lose games in this league.

Fox Sports NFL Power Ranking: Bears at Number 4: Did you hear that massive clunk shake the world at roughly 4 p.m. on Sunday? Yeah, that was the entire country -- including me -- jumping off the Bears bandwagon. The Dolphins ruined yet another flawless Bears season Sunday afternoon, winning at Soldier Field in convincing fashion. Suddenly, the Bears' accomplishments thus far look a bit less glamorous than they did a week ago. Their opponents this year? Green Bay, Detroit, Minnesota, Seattle, Buffalo, Arizona, and Miami. There may not be a playoff squad amongst that seven. Aside from Seattle, none of those teams are even above .500. Things don't get any easier for Chicago, either. The Giants, Jets and Patriots are up ahead.


Dr. Z's Power Ranking: Bears are still listed at number 3!!! Damn double-crossers. I was going to call up Gary Fencik, the all-pro safetyman on the '85 Bears and do a player by player comparison, those against these. Then I was going to back it up even farther and compare the current team to the 1940 Monsters of the Midway. Still back ... the Sneakers Game, Nagurski and Grange and Beattie Feathers ... way, way back, the Decatur Staleys and Halas and the great battles with the Nesser Brothers. It was going to be an all-time orgy of comparing, one of the great memory lane pieces this Web site has ever seen. The Dolphins ruined all that.

- Slim Tim