Winners and losers from the Chicago Bears’ Week 4 loss: The Bear Raid siren, Rich Gannon’s unfortunate ‘contagious disease’ mention and Mitch Trubisky

To watch Sunday’s 19-11 Chicago Bears loss to the Indianapolis Colts was to be reminded how an ill-timed simile can evoke an ewww rather than an ahhh.

CBS analyst and former quarterback Rich Gannon was trying to describe what it’s like when one loses his starting job the way the Bears' Mitch Trubisky has.

Apparently, a demoted QB goes from being “the center of attention” with everything revolving around him “to running the scout team and no one’s even really looking at you — even the players don’t know how to treat you.”

And this is where Gannon dropped a bit of ordinarily imagery that unfortunately is tainted for now by what’s gone on the last few months — and especially the last few days.

“It’s almost as if he got a contagious disease,” Gannon said.

Now it’s easy to understand why that might be front-of-mind, especially over the course of a live telecast, but that’s why it was a mistake.

Just as news events render sports references to battles, bombs and getting torched at times inappropriate, a “contagious disease” isn’t a great go-to comparison amid the ongoing pandemic.

Not when the President is hospitalized, more than 200,000 Americans have died, many more have been infected and everyone’s life has been upended.

The empty stadium, masked coaches on the sidelines, plexiglass separating Gannon from play-by-play man Greg Gumbel and their spotter, and other safety protocols probably should have been a reminder.

It’s not that anyone was necessarily offended, but the awkwardness inevitably takes many viewers out of the moment, so they don’t really hear whatever else follows for a moment or two.

Even writers trying to be clever stumble into lines they wish they could take back. It happens. That doesn’t make it any less regrettable.

Other winners and losers from watching the Bears suffer their first loss on CBS-2.

Winner: Greg Gumbel

Sideline reporter Amanda Balionis took a moment to acknowledge play-by-play man Greg Gumbel graduated from Chicago’s De La Salle Institute, sharing four yearbook photos.

Gumbel’s high school hobbies, we learned, were athletics and chess, and his activities were honor roll, chorus and chemistry club. His ambition upon graduation: “To be a credit to my family.”

Loser: Bear Raid siren

Maybe there’s some point to blasting the so-called Bear Raid siren to rouse the crowd at Soldier Field. But the place is empty and all it does on TV is annoy viewers, upset house pets and wake babies. So, please, cut it out.

Winner: The Bears

Sure, they lost the game, but they didn’t get booed and they should be grateful for that. At least we think they didn’t get booed. That Bear Raid siren did a number our hearing.

Loser: Cordarrelle Patterson

The Bears' Cordarrelle Patterson, fined last season after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taking off his helmet to yell on the field during the Rams game, took off his helmet to talk to an official on the field during the Colts game and again was penalized.

You know the old saying: Do it once, shame on you. Do it twice, and shame on you again — only more so. Seriously, what is wrong with you?

Winner: The 1966 San Diego Chargers

Bet Steve Tensi and other surviving members of the 1966 San Diego Chargers didn’t expect to be mentioned on TV Sunday.

CBS said the Bears were the first team off to a 3-0 start or better to bench a healthy starting QB since Chargers coach Sid Gillman had Tensi take over for John Hadl in Week 4 of ’66.

Unlike Nick Foles' Bears, Tensi’s Chargers improved to 4-0. But Hadl eventually regained his starting job and San Diego missed the playoffs at 7-6-1.

It wasn’t referenced, but Tensi, a 1965-70 AFL quarterback, would later be a receivers coach for the short-lived World Football League’s Chicago Fire in 1974.

Loser: Bears heritage

The Bears, who love their heritage as much as any NFL organization, now have played two games since the death of Hall of Fame running back Gale Sayers. Shouldn’t there be a patch or helmet sticker or something to commemorate No. 40?

Winner: Mitch Trubisky

No matter how much trouble successor Nick Foles had with his timing, it would not have gone any better with Mitch Trubisky at quarterback with the Bears' offensive line against the Colts defense — and Trubisky has to know that.

Loser: Punt coverage

When the Bears' opening drive ended with Pat O’Donnell’s deflected punt only traveling 18 yards, someone missed an assignment: CBS.

Eschewing a traditional sideline shot that would have let viewers clearly see the rush, kick and the ball’s path, the network went with a low-angle perspective behind O’Donnell. It wasn’t great for seeing, well, much of anything.

Returning from a commercial, CBS showed a replay from its high end-zone camera. It was oddly framed but at least showed how the Colts’ Jordan Glasgow applied pressure.

Winner: Andy Masur

Who knew White Sox radio play-by-play man Andy Masur could get so salty? He definitely seemed unimpressed by what he saw from the Bears.

Responding to WGN-9 1/4 u2032s Jarrett Payton asking for responses to the Bears’ first-half play, Masur tweeted a GIF of Chris Farley choking in a “Saturday Night Live” superfans sketch.

“Complete ‘no show’ by the Bears today,” Masur later posted on Twitter. “No offense, no defense, no special teams and now, no chance to win.”

Loser: The Masters

CBS is promoting the Masters with its same old line about it being “a tradition unlike any other.” This year’s tournament is supposed to be held in November.

The network should be plugging it as “a Masters unlike any other.”

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