Week 18 of the NFL aka I’ve had enough of the NFL thank you very much, afforded me the opportunity to look at some coincidental similarities between the Sox, Bears and lesser extent the Cubs.
Because there is a salary cap in the NFL, nobody talks about big market v. small market teams. Nobody can outspend anyone else and having miserly owners shouldn’t hold any GM or fanbase back from dreaming big. This isn’t to say that there aren’t topflight NFL teams, it’s just not like baseball where aggressive owners can spend billions on players. However, there are big market franchises in the NFL, as determined by population and TV markets. The NFL talks more about legacy franchises like the Bears, Packers and Steelers. There are also historically dysfunctional franchises like the Rams, Bears and Cardinals (to name a few). Fans of legacy teams have different, if unrealistic expectations of their teams each season.
In no world would anyone consider Kansas City a large market, but they might be considered an AFL legacy team considering their early Super Bowl history and their current run ranks among the best in the league.
Back to week 18 and the NFL’s scheduling genius that has nothing but games between division rivals. I won’t suggest that any team has just started self-scouting, but in some cases, this weekend should serve as a wakeup call. One doesn’t have to have a 4-12 record heading into today’s game to realize something has gone drastically wrong, See Bears. Even though they beat the playoff bound Packers today, Bears management has to see that they aren’t ready to compete in this NFC North. The other three teams are miles ahead of them and not just in the standings. Along with their 5-12 record, they were 1-5 against NFC north foes. Take the north and keep it sounds as foolish as me winning a spot on The Voice.
If this blather sounds familiar, it should. For the past few years, the local sports media and the Sox and Cubs have repeatedly talked about how their divisions (AL Central and NL Central) are theirs for the taking. Yet it hasn’t and because it’s baseball where teams can outspend other teams, neither team in town has.
Since Bears fans are split between Cubs and Sox fans, I don’t think most Cub fans see the connection, but both the Tigers and Lions are on the rise. The Chiefs don’t count because they are in the AFC West and the Bears are NFC all the way. But for argument’s sake, the small market Royals leap-frogged the Sox and made the playoffs in 2024 (after a 56-106 record in 2023) and the Chiefs have won back-to-back Super Bowls.
Maybe more aggravating, the Lions have been Super Bowl favorites most of this season. Tonight, they are playing the Minnesota Vikings for the #1 seed in the NFC. And despite their last second loss to the Bears today, Green Bay is also in the playoffs.
To recap, every other team in the NFC is in the postseason this year. Only the Bears, who were tasked with taking and keeping the north are sitting out this postseason. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
I’m not going to chronicle the past four years of White Sox baseball, but I’m willing to if anyone is up for an argument. In 2023, the only AL Central team to make the playoffs were the 87-75 Twins. Detroit finished 78-84, Cleveland 75-86, and Kansas City 56-106. The Sox edged out the Royals with a 61-101 record (twenty losses worse than 2022).
Baseball being baseball, and experts being experts, the preseason favorites in the Central AL and NL were the Twins and the Cubs. The Cubs finished a respectable 83-79 for the second straight season and Minnesota finished out of the money at 82-80.
Can anyone see where this is headed? Everyone in the AL Central but the Sox flipped the script in 2024. The Guardians 92-69 record was good enough to win the division, but more remarkably, the Royals and Tigers earned wildcard spots with identical 86-76 records. Note: Kansas City won 30 more games than they did in 2023. Zoiks! The Sox exceeded their own ignominy by losing 20 more games than they did in 2023.
I’ll concede that two years is a very small sample size, but as Shakira says, “The numbers and standings don’t lie”. Neither the Bears nor the White Sox appear to feel any pressure to compete with teams in their own divisions. While the Sox pretend not to be a big market team, they play in one of the biggest markets and are a legacy franchise, but act like small town hicks. With the recent trade of Garrett Crochet, they’ve given away the three best starting pitchers in the past 10 years-because they weren’t going to pay them.
The Cubs don’t fall within this particular narrative, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t suffering from small market envy. Like the Bears, they have issues with the team north of the border. The financially confused Brewers have won the NL Central the past two seasons with a 185-139 record. The Cubs were 166-158 and fell short of the postseason both years. However, they poached the Brewers manager Craig Counsell in an effort to gain an edge and hopefully the secret to Milwaukee’s success.
Because the Brewers have already lost two of their key components because of their inability to pay them, the Cubs are the obvious favorites to win the NL Central. Things would look better for the Cubs if they took a more aggressive approach in the free agent market and considered moving more of their highly touted prospects for ML-ready talent. The Cardinals are definitely at a crossroad, the Reds are infinitely better because Terry Francona is their new manager, the Pirates are caught betwixt and between with their excellent young starting pitching and multiple question marks everywhere else. At least the Cubs recognize that Milwaukee remains a threat and have taken action in a passive aggressive way. Whereas the Bears and Sox don’t seem to realize that their biggest foes are trending upwards.
As I stated initially, it’s purely coincidental that the Sox and Bears are looking up at the same cities, Detroit, Minnesota and Kansas City.
