Ron Rivera was a member of those great Bears teams, so he understands what respect is. His 10-0 Panthers being underdogs to the Cowboys on Thanksgiving day doesn’t fit in that category.
Rivera said “it is a little disrespectful’’ that undefeated Carolina opened as a 1-point underdog against a three-win Dallas team.
“Apparently, they know something we don’t, so we’re just going to prepare and get ourselves ready to play on Thursday,’’ Rivera said of the Las Vegas odds-makers establishing the early odds on the Thanksgiving Day game in Dallas.
“We’ll show up.’’
Ironically, according to ESPN.com, this has happened to Rivera before, in 85′ the Bears went into Dallas as underdogs despite being a defensive juggernaut.
“We all know how it turned out,’’ Rivera said. “So we’ll hopefully think about that and get ourselves ready to go.’’
Chicago won 44-0 in a season that ended with an 18-1 record and Super Bowl victory.
We’ll see what Thursday brings, but with Tony Romo back, I can understand why Vegas is hot for the Cowboys.