Playoff Preview - An Ode to Belief, Rage, and the Forest That Remembers

Opening Invocation. The Forest Does Not Forget

I return to the deepest part of the Cook County forest preserve. Snow blankets the mighty Des Plaines River. The trees stand like elders who have seen everything and judged most of it harshly. The playoffs have arrived.

Round three of Bears versus Packers. This is not coincidence. This is not scheduling luck. This is inevitability pulling both teams toward judgment.

Breathe in. Hold. Exhale slowly. Belief is not optimism. Belief is memory. Whatever that means.

The Illusion Finally Shattered

The Packers have ruled this rivalry for a generational eternity. That is history. It is real. It is painful.

But in the regular season match-up at Soldier Field, the illusion cracked. The Packers were caught. The myth dissolved. Now they limp into the postseason, somehow still favored on paper, yet broken in spirit.

Favored teams still bleed.

The Packers are battered. Bruised. Holding themselves together with legacy and first-half success. Injuries. Fatigue. Seeds of doubt now planted deeply into their psyche. They carry the weight of expectation. The Bears carry momentum. One of these things breaks under pressure.

The Path Forward Is Simple and Violent

This game will not be won with trickery. It will not be won with finesse. It will be won in the oldest way football understands. Through the offensive line. Lean on them. Trust them. Let them move earth. Run the ball. Again. And again. And again.

Make Green Bay tackle until their legs forget how. Inside runs right down their throat. Make the cold feel heavier. Make the first quarter arrive like a storm they cannot outrun. Let’s not wait until the fourth quarter for the magic. Maybe play a full practice game in the parking lot so the first quarter feels like the fourth?

This is not finesse football. This is Bears football. The forest approves. Also, and most importantly, it keeps the Bears defense rested, and off the field.

Zen Rage Explained

Zen rage is not wild. It is controlled. Focused. Relentless. It is the calm decision to keep pounding when the opponent begs for variety. It is knowing exactly who you are and refusing to apologize for it.

The Bears do not need to be perfect. They need to be present. They need to believe that this moment belongs to them. Because belief is contagious.

A Note to Bears Fans

Do not whisper this week. Do not hedge. Do not say house money. Do not apologize for wanting more. You have endured enough. You have waited long enough. Believe loudly. Believe stubbornly. Believe as if the forest itself is watching. Because it is.

There are inflection points with Bears teams or “chapters” in the franchise history, when team performance vastly exceeds fan expectations. These moments have been few and far between. But when they do occur, as this magical season has proven, then all Chicago sports fan energy from within the stadium, throughout the Chicago land area, expanding across the great plains of the Midwest, globally networked across the globe, and transmitted via radio waves across the galaxy… must be channeled into the team on the field.

Final Zen Manifestation

Close your eyes. See the line surge forward. Hear the crowd rise. Feel the weight of decades lift.

This is not the underdog moment. This is the reckoning. On the ground. In the cold. With authority.

Bears 42. Packers 20.

The forest roars. The river carries the doubt away. The belief remains. Bear Down.