Should fans continue booing the Bears at home?

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The Bears have dropped five of their last six games, culminating in a fall from grace as the No. 2 seed in the NFC to currently on the outside looking in at the conference's playoff race.

And Bears fans are none too happy about it, as evidenced by the loud boos cascading from all corners of Soldier Field during Sunday's loss to heated rival Packers.

Many in Chicago took to Twitter or Facebook or the nearest water cooler in calling for head coach Lovie Smith's head, demanding the mild-mannered field general be fired and replaced with the likes of Bill Cowher or Jon Gruden.

And while fans are certainly justified in their despair and frustration, is booing the team at home really something that should continue?

Brian Urlacher, who has spent his entire career in Chicago, was visibly miffed after the game at the fans' reaction.

"Two of the people I don't care about -- fans or media," Urlacher told Lou Canellis on WFLD after the game Sunday night before defending Smith for a while.

"Our crowd was pretty good today for the most part. They were loud for a minute there -- the boos were really loud -- which is always nice. The only team in our division that gets booed at home is us. It's unbelievable to me."

Urlacher has a point. And this isn't the first time a member of the Bears has had an issue with the Soldier Field faithful this season. Just ask Jay Cutler.

But there's also the opposite side of the coin.

Chicago is a city divided in the summer, but united in the fall and winter. It's always Cubs-Sox in June and July, but when the Bears start getting into the thick of their season, it brings Chicagoans together.

This is a city that has grown weary with disappointment by the sports teams over the past year.

The Cubs may have a brand new front office, but they still approached the franchise record for losses in a season with 101 defeats in 2012.

The White Sox led the AL Central for most of the '12 season before collapsing down the stretch and giving way to the Detroit Tigers.

The Bulls held the best record in the NBA during the 2011-12 regular season, but saw superstar Derrick Rose go down to a torn ACL in the first playoff game at the United Center.

The Blackhawks are in the midst of a nasty NHL lockout that has extended more than 90 days and has hockey fans legitimately concerned that there may, in fact, not be a season at all.

And then there's the Bears. They rode a five-game win streak to a 7-3 record last season before an injury to Cutler knocked them all the way out of the playoff race. A similar occurrence is taking place this year, as the Bears have fallen to 8-6 after a 7-1 start.

But it still begs the question, should fans continue to boo the Bears at home, or should they be more like the home crowd at Lambeau Field for Packers games or at Mall of America Field for Vikings games? (I find it hard to believe the Lions are not booed at home given the struggles of that franchise over the past decade or so.)

Or are the fans in the right, especially considering the Bears have dropped six straight games to the Packers, their heated rivals?

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