Silvy: Can the Bears save us from a miserable Chicago sports year?

They’re baaaaaack. And not a moment too soon.

Just don’t haunt us like seasons past.

Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze are signed and so much for all the drama Williams would bring to the negotiating table. The Bears rookies are beginning their training camp introductions this week followed by a veteran “ramp-up” period next week.

But if you’re expecting the fan base to slowly ramp up its enthusiasm, think again. We’re not just excited the Bears are back in our lives after summer break, we need them to be BACK.

No pressure, guys.

We’re not simply asking this year’s team to be good, but to save us all from the worst Chicago sports year of the modern era. That’s not hyperbole. That’s not being a prisoner of the moment. That’s a statistical fact.

Before I left the country for a European vacation and after watching another draining Cubs loss, I emailed my friends at ESPN stats and info asking where this past year ranks with our big five teams. When you take the 2023 Bears season, the Bulls and Blackhawks 2023-24 seasons, and the current Cubs and White Sox years in progress, you get a combined .381 win percentage. That’s the worst since all five teams began playing at the same time in the Bulls’ inaugural year of 1966-67. The previous worst was 1998-99 when Chicago teams owned a .412 win percentage. So it’s not close.

Not only have we experienced the bottom this year, but I believe we’ve been living in the worst period in Chicago sports. The past five years have been a dumpster fire. Chicago stinkage. No analytics here except for my two eyes.

Since 2021, every Chicago team has gone through a full-scale rebuild. The Bulls are just entering one, the Hawks are still in the midst of theirs, the White Sox are one of the worst teams in MLB history, and the Cubs have underachieved after they thought they were ready to contend after blowing up their World Series core. In four years, we’ve experienced five rebuilds. Can another city claim that?

Now it’s up to the Bears to lead Chicago out of its sports sickness.

Is it fair to put all of that weight on a franchise that has won just 10 games in the past two seasons? A franchise that hasn’t won a division since 2018? A franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2011? A franchise that hasn’t been to a Super Bowl since 2007? And a franchise that hasn’t won it all since the 1985 season?

Fair?! More like, it’s about time.

Again, no pressure boys. And with that, the stage is set, literally. The Hard Knocks stage.

The Bears will be walking into a building filled with lights and cameras and they must provide the action. The NFL world has hyped the Bears’ progress with good reason all offseason, there will be skepticism not only locally but nationally. There will be no way to turn off the TVs inside Halas Hall like Mitch Trubisky once requested because things get too hot to handle. HBO ain’t going away.

• Is it fair that most expect Caleb Williams to be better in game one of his rookie season than Justin Fields was in the last game of his third season?

• Is it fair that most expect Williams to lead the Bears’ to at least wins and the postseason immediately?

• Is it fair that many expect Williams to break the Bears 100+ year passing records in his rookie season?

• Is it fair that Williams’s bar is set at CJ Stroud after years of preaching patience with rookie QBs?

You can answer the above questions in any way you’d like, but I believe we must embrace the expectations and not run from them. While there will be growing pains, it’s not unrealistic to demand success now.

I’m tired of the losing in Chicago sports. I’m tired of wishing away time so we can hurry to the next season for new hope. I’m tired of setting the bar low because we’ve been so scarred by prior disappointments.

It’s time to discard our previous hard-knock sports life and begin a new Bears era. A winning era.

No pressure, boys.

• Marc Silverman shares his opinions on the Bears weekly for Shaw Local. Tune in and listen to the “Waddle & Silvy” show weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m. on ESPN 1000.