Seahawks Think They're Better Than They Are and "Cute" In Chicago Papers

Editor Dan loves you, Seattle. City, people, land, water and professional sports franchises; all of it. However, he cannot back you on the issue of the Seattle Seahawks vs. the Chicago Bears. If you're looking for calming words of compassion or hilarious Seahawks histrionics Seattlest will take care of you there, too, but one of us grew up with a Bears helmet painted on our neighbor's garage door and didn't appear in a photograph without any Bears paraphernalia until he was about 15, and that kind of indoctrination just doesn't wash away in half a decade of Seattle drizzle. In fact, to this day we maintain a close relationship with a few Chicago-based RSS feeds and we'll check in on them throughout the week.

From the Chicago Tribune:

When the Seattle Seahawks come to Soldier Field, they will be underdogs to a team that demolished them in the regular season. They came within a fumbled snap of being eliminated from the playoffs Saturday night.

But they are a serious universal sports problem: a team that survives and thinks it might be better than it is. A team of destiny?

"We'd like to think so," Pro Bowl middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu said.

Also from the Tribune, subheaded "Seahawks may appear inferior, but Bears can't game-plan for fate":

Amid the celebration after Seattle's 21-20 NFC playoff escape Saturday night over the Dallas Cowboys, two of the defensive backs the Seahawks signed the last week out of desperation thanked coach Mike Holmgren.

Holmgren called the gesture "kind of cute."

Therein lies the biggest mismatch for the Bears as they prepare to play the Seahawks on Sunday at Soldier Field.

Cute cannot be defended in the playoffs.

Any team with a surplus of cute usually also possesses ample supplies of luck and fate and other inexplicable factors such as those that contributed to the fall of the Romo Empire at Qwest Field.

Here's the Sun Times looking back fondly on the Seahawks and Bears last meeting and here's the Daily Herald looking back not so fondly on the way the Bears beat Carolina during the regular season last year and then got killed by them in the playoffs.