By the end of the first half, I was worried.  Mitch Trubisky looked shaky and the entire offense seemed out of sync.  The defense limited and battered Aaron Rodgers, but there’s only so much you can do against a future Hall-of-Famer.  Rodgers never looked concerned.  Maybe, I thought, they’ll get it straightened out in the halftime locker room.  They did not.  An embarrassment of epic proportions with the eyes of the nation upon us.  Super Bowl dreams were swept away in one dreadful night at Soldier Field.  Against the Packers, of all teams.  This was more devastating than Ted Stroemann’s prom night.

All day Thursday felt like Christmas.  Then Thursday night we found out Santa was killed when a shelf full of harvest cheddar fell on him at the North Pole Costco.

My buddy Bob, his co-worker & I downed multiple shots of Rumple Minze at Benchmark as the 2nd half, and hope, ticked away.  Drowning our sorrows in minty alcohol.  We all cope in our own ways.

What do we do now?  That’s the question.  Did we set ourselves up for this dejection?  That’s the other question.  Let’s tackle the latter first.

Since Cody Parkey double-doinked, the entire city has been certain that we’re one decent kicker away from Super Bowl victory.  Eddie Piniero hit on his only opportunity Thursday night.  Silver lining, I guess.  The entire offseason fed us stories of Mitch grasping Matt Nagy’s scheme with tremendous understanding and instinct.  Allen Robinson (who did play well Thursday, racking up 102 yards receiving) was another year removed from ACL surgery.  The entire offensive line was back.  David Montgomery had skills Jordan Howard didn’t possess.  The pressure was off Tarik Cohen, thanks to acquisitions like Cordarrelle Patterson.  Many of those things are true, but didn’t add up to good offense. Methinks if you have Tarik Cohen, you should use Tarik Cohen.  All the time.

Sports radio has questioned the lack of preseason reps for Trubisky.  Players dismissed the notion preseason snaps would’ve helped.  No one knows for sure.

Did we just work ourselves into a tizzy, believing this was a team of destiny?  Or is there still hope?  I mean, we still have Khalil Mack, right?  And Akiem Hicks?  And Roquan Smith?

What do we do now?

We pick our asses off the ground and try to forget Week 1.  Try Rumple Minze, if necessary.  Trust that the defense will keep the Bears in games and that Trubisky is better than he showed in the season opener.  Please God, let him be better.  He threw 6 touchdowns in a game last season, remember?  Finally, hope that Matt Nagy’s playbook isn’t as predictable as former Bear Adrian Amos made it seem on that interception.  Because if it is, Vic Fangio might give out some hints to Von Miller and crew next week in Denver.  Don’t want to start 0-2.  Now is the time, as we often say to one another, to really Bear Down.

Or, whatever, maybe the Bulls will be decent.