The Fire's Best Night

The Lakeside 11 (the other one) clinch a spot in the MLS Playoffs proper.

The last time I was fully invested in the Chicago Fire, it was during the Great Bettman Lockout III, which knocked out half the 2012-2013 NHL season and left me with not much to do. Right about the time I should have been prepping for the season or even standing out on Madison at my normal post outside Gate 3, the Fire ripped off seven wins in eight matches and vaulted themselves near the top of the Eastern Conference. Frank Klopas, in the first of 12 stints as Fire manager or whatever it's turned out to be, didn't have the boys playing the most effervescent footy, but it worked. Chris Rolfe couldn't miss.

Of course, that season fell into disrepair immediately after that, as the league worked out Klopas's pretty simple tactics, as they would the next 11 times he took the job. I (and Killion) headed out to Bridgeview for the last game of the season, where a Fire win would see them escape the play-in and skip to the playoffs proper. They huffed and they puffed after surrendering a 50th minute equalizer, but never blew D.C. United's house down, and had to settle for hosting the play-in three days later after a pretty frustrating 1-1 draw.

Due to the quick turnaround, some pretty horrible weather (if I recall), that play-in game took place in front of like 17 people in Bridgeview. Not even sure all of them were there on purpose. Houston ran out 2-1 winners over a very limited Fire team, and just like that the season was over. If you stopped paying attention altogether to the Fire from that moment to this season, you really wouldn't have missed anything in the intervening 13 years.

Funny enough, on the last day of this MLS season, the Fire could have escaped the play-in game. Just like 2012, they had to suffer through a pretty frustrating draw to a wretched Revolution last Saturday, sentencing them to hosting the play-in game. I'm assuming due to the turnaround, they couldn't play at Soldier Field, and had to decamp to Bridgeview again.

However, this time, a pretty boisterous 13,000 on a crisp night watched the Fire paddle Orlando 3-0, returning to the proper MLS playoffs for the first time in 16 years. A feat that should be impossible in the you-get-a-car MLS, but one they managed anyway.

Wanna see what an ass-kicking looks like in soccer?

Still, the Fire didn't score in the first half, and there was no little angst about it. If any team was going to give up a sucker-punch, it was this Fire outfit. They had spent the whole season giving up goals from anywhere and everywhere, even if they've scored in the same fashion. One poorly defending counter, and it would be 2012 all over again. Fire fans couldn't be blamed for thinking that dumbass counter was just around the corner, just like a merciless Chicago winter wind.

Tell me you can't feel the catharsis coming through the screen when watching this:

Hugo Cuypers would add two more, and the Fire's season will continue for at least another 10 days. They may well get smacked by Philadelphia, but it really doesn't matter. Gregg Berhalter did what he set out to do this season, which was to make the Fire relevant again, to instill some sort of standard and style. He's done that, and everything on every level for the Fire feels like it's moving forward. Just like the entire team on the field does, which might help explain the ease with which opponents work through them at times. But let's leave that.

The biggest reasons the Fire are now officially BACK are easy to point out. Philip Zickernagel became the attacking fulcrum that are so common among the good teams in MLS, usurping Jonathan Bamba into that role. Finally getting any kind of service, Cuypers turned into a pretty deadly striker. Throw in some bangers from Brian Gutiérrez throughout the season, and the Fire were able to outrun their defensive helplessness into the playoffs through those four, for the most part.

But I want to turn to Berhalter's work with Dje D'Avilla. For the first half of this season, I was surprised when this guy managed to tie his shoes correctly. His touch could only be described as "tractor-like." It wasn't clear he knew what color jersey his teammates were wearing, if judged by his passing. MLS looked too fast for him, which is saying something.

Now, he's the midfield metronome. He is where the ball goes first out of defense, and he connects to Zickernagel and Cuypers. He completed 44 of 49 passes last night. with seven passes into the final third and seven ball recoveries. He runs the midfield now, and perhaps the biggest reason the Fire are on a six-game unbeaten streak (we'll just ignore that little mishap against New England that sentenced the Fire to play last night).

The masses noticed, The Fire averaged 23,000 this season, a boost of 2,000 per game on last season. Should they continue to get better, there's no reason to think that number won't go up. It feels like there could be some real momentum before they open their own place west on Roosevelt in 2028. There's a soccer town waiting to bust out, I've always thought so. Maybe not Seattle or Portland. But maybe?

Some arcs take far too long. 13 years ago, the Fire lost the play-in game, and then descended into footy hell. Last night, they won it, and feels like they're walking into the light for good.