Chicago Bears Let Down Doc Rivers on His Birthday

Doc Rivers wanted a Bears win for his birthday. What he got was a loss and a bad viewing experience.

Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers turned 61 on Thursday. With the day off following his team’s preseason finale, which ended in a dominant win to finish 4-0, Rivers felt good he had the opportunity to celebrate his birthday by watching his favorite football team play.

The Chicago Bears hosted the Washington Commanders for this week’s installment of Thursday Night Football. Considering how last week’s matchup between the Denver Broncos and the Indianapolis Colts went, many football fans were hopeful the Bears and the Commanders could put on a better show.

Unfortunately, not many fans finished watching the Bears-Commanders matchup satisfied — including Rivers, who is a Bears fan.

Following a Friday morning practice session in Camden, New Jersey, Rivers addressed the state of his favorite football team before fielding questions about his basketball team. That’s when he revealed the Bears came short of giving him a good birthday present.

“The Bears. That was…Yeah,” said Rivers. “You know, I’m thinking, ‘It’s my birthday. Great. The Bears on, Al Michaels [on the commentary],’ and it still wasn’t good. It’s hard to make a game that Al Michaels does bad. Back-to-back games.”

With a 12-7 loss on Thursday Night Football, the Bears moved to 2-4 on the year. While Rivers isn’t swaying away from his Bears fandom, at least he’s happy to root for his current home team, the Philadelphia Eagles.

“Well, I am [an Eagles fan] because I’m here, and I cheer for them, and I know Nick (Sirianni), so I want them to do well,” Rivers said. “But then I have my other team. Right now, I have just one team this year. I have no comment on any of it. I mean, I’m just embarrassed. I grew up in Chicago, so you want them to do well, but that was tough.”

Fortunately for Rivers, at least one of his favorite teams has seen success so far through the 2022 NFL season. With a win on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys, the Eagles could advance to 6-0 on the year. Even with a loss, the Eagles would remain one of the top teams in the NFC. Meanwhile, the Bears have a lot of work to do.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.