Chicago Bears: Your Week 12 awards that are totally real and sincere

It was all set up for the Chicago Bears balloon to deflate on Thanksgiving afternoon. But they’re not about that this time.

You knew what was stacked against the Chicago Bears. They had played on Sunday night. They had to turn it around again on Thursday morning, a mere 80 hours later. They were without their starting quarterback. They were facing a team they had seen just 11 days before, and with a short week, it would barely be possible to spring any surprises on them.

The Bears don’t care.

While it may only be the Lions, whose entire raison d’etre is to throw up on themselves and play the jobber for teams that have real aspirations, you’ve seen other good teams whiff on this. The Thanksgiving game is all the Lions have most years, and they can get spiky on that day. The Bears were clearly banged up and tired from an emotional coming out party on Sunday night.

Was it a Rembrandt? Hardly. It was mostly about the Bears making just enough plays to get a win. But they don’t have to be art. There aren’t style points, and this is where that tired cliche of good teams finding a way when not everything is working goes.

Their backup quarterback made just enough throws. The defense got the two turnovers that were required. And when the Lions are ready to do a face-plant, you just have to make sure you’ve stepped back far enough to let them without contacting you. Sure enough, the Lions racked up enough penalties to keep Bears drives alive and harm themselves.

Let’s hand out some fake awards…