Bears Just as Much To Blame For Family Night Debacle

Coming off the lockout, the last thing the NFL wants to do is anger the fans. The Bears must have missed the memo on that one. In what became a nation wide public relations nightmare Friday evening, the Bears came away with egg on their face after a last minute cancellation of family night.

All the blame from Friday's mess was directed at the Chicago Park District. This is somewhat warranted, because the CPD does take care of the turf at Soldier Field and the reason for the cancellation was problems with the grass. This could have easily been avoided if the Bears would just put in field turf.

This is where the Bears get the blame. The CPD would install field turf faster than a Todd Collins interception return for a touchdown. The problem is the Bears don't want it. Call it financial reasons or just plain stubborness, but the Bears are not willing to give in.

Yes the slop that is Soldier Field does give the Bears a homefield advantage. Could you imagine the bigger advantage of playing on a much faster field turf eight times a year. Speed guys like Urlacher and Hester would even be faster. Julius Peppers and Israel Idonije could gain footwork and get to the quarterback which is a key to the cover two defense. Matt Forte would be able to get to the limited hole his bad offensive line gives him and improve his numbers.

The only negative I see is you'd have to re-assign the 2,000 people you need to replace all the divots during each team timeout every Sunday. Unfortunately it will probably take a major injury or the league to step in to get this resolved. Whatever the case might be, it needs to be done. Then again now they will probably use money as an excuse because of all the free hot dogs and drinks they had to give out and refunds for all the family night tickets purchased. But hey, they were only seven points away from the Superbowl last year right? I have a feeling every excuse we hear this season will be given that answer.