The last time the Chicago Bears visited St. Louis, they were in the middle of a Super Bowl run. According to several reports, the Rams had to use a silent count -- again, at home -- because the Bears fans were overrunning the Edward Jones Dome. Considering the fact that the Bears are tied for first and the Rams are quite embarrassing right now, expect a repeat in the spectator department. I know Richie Incognito does:
"It seems like our fans aren't coming to the game, so it's fun when the other fans come in and start hooting and hollering - you know what I mean?" Incognito said Thursday. "At least someone is in the dome yelling. We don't worry about noise. (Bears fans) can be as loud as they want. We deal with noise on the road; we deal with noise at home."
So he's jabbing at the St. Louis fans for not attending games, and not making noise when they do. It didn't stop there.
"We know how our fans feel about us, that's fine," Incognito said. "It's nice to have the other fans here. At least they cheer. Our fans get in their seats, they don't know how to cheer, when to cheer. We get the other team's fans coming in, and they cheer real nice for us. It provides for a good football atmosphere having the Chicago fans down here."
Wow. I mean, just, wow.
I've heard players complain about their team's fan-base before, but I can't remember anything so explicitly harsh -- and it's before the game even happens. It's a preemptive strike. Though I agree that he's going to be right, this is just a huge, sweeping blow against Rams fans from an offensive lineman who has really been nothing short of disappointing himself. He's the one getting paid to play, while he's expecting people to be excited about paying to watch him play poorly.
To be fair, Incognito did qualify his statements by saying the reason the fans weren't cheering is because the team has provided them with little to cheer about. Still, he probably would have looked a tad bit better in this situation if he just said, "no comment."
Richie Incognito Excited for Bears Fans, Because They Actually Make Noise originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.