Welcome to the Shame, 2014 Chicago Bears

History is made as the 2014 Chicago Bears becomes the first sports team ever to make the hollowed, smelly halls of The T Dog Media TV Hall Of Shame

Usually, The T Dog Media TV Hall Of Shame is reserved for television’s worst comedies, dramas, reality and talk shows so bad, you have to see it to believe it to believe it (yes, I said it twice.)

But over the years, the Shame has expanded to accept non-traditional programs such as Monsters and Money In The Morning and Mancow Mueller’s Channel 50 show.

Enter the 2014 Chicago Bears.

After several major blowouts – some of them in primetime – your 2014 Chicago Bears have earned their right to enter the Shame, becoming the first sports team to do so. Led by the Jim Belushi of the NFL – quarterback Jay Cutler – who leads the league in interceptions, these guys couldn’t play any defense…or offense…or special teams.

The Bears are so bad, their play makes most of the programs on the list watchable by comparison. The monkey from Animal Practice is already a better quarterback than Cutler and Vicki from Small Wonder can tackle better than anybody on the team.

All of this while the audience continues to flee for the exits. According to Nielsen, Monday night’s game between the Bears and the New Orleans Saints was the second lowest-rated game of the season on ESPN, drawing 11.1 million viewers. While that’s good, it’s still down 22 percent from last year’s Ravens-Lions game from last year. Saints-Bears drew a 3.8 adults 18-49 rating, down 21 percent from last year.

Locally, Saints-Bears hit another season low with a 23 household rating – a 16.2 for ABC-owned WLS-TV with ESPN contributing a 6.8. The WLS rating is another season low on broadcast, though more people watched on ESPN than they did on NFL Network when the Bears played the Dallas Cowboys, which was also televised by WBBM-TV.

Despite the Bears poor play, the game is still Chicago’s most-watched program of the week, which has been the case all season. Not sure if this reflects the power of the NFL or how pathetic broadcast network prime-time television is these days.

Even worse, Bears talk has dominated the news this week – even becoming the top story on several local newscasts and the front-page stories on both Chicago newspapers as Cutler was recently benched as the starting quarterback. Given the local media’s obsessive nature of the team – bumping other more important issues out of the spotlight – it seems the Bears are not the only ones who needs a management overhaul.

Here’s the official Shame entry. This is history, baby!

The 2014 Chicago Bears (various networks). This team was so bad, it became the first sports team to enter the Shame. Led by Jay Cutler, watching this squad week in and week out makes most of these shows on this list Emmy winners by comparison.

See you next time on My Mother, the Cutler.