Home, sweet groan: Bears know it’s time to win at Soldier Field

How long has it been since the Bears won a regular-season home game?

How much time ya got?

Let’s start here: A couple could have left the last win, dizzy with excitement, conceived and given birth to a child, and could then — were they sick enough to expose an infant to the elements or a 3-6 team — take the baby to Sunday’s game against the Vikings.

The Bears’ last home win came Dec. 9 — a 45-28 victory against the Cowboys on a frigid Monday night. Only one NFL team has gone winless at home since before Week 14 of last year, and that was the Raiders, and, really, should they even count at this point?

Every NFL team has won a home game since Jay Cutler last did, on Oct. 10, 2013. Shoot, the Cubs have hired two managers since then.

Since the last time the Bears won at Soldier Field, the Blackhawks have won at Soldier Field. So, too, did the New Zealand All Blacks, Morehouse College and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national soccer team.

“Been a while, that’s for sure,” linebacker Shea McClellin said. “Been a while since we won a game, period.”

Doing so Sunday would go a long ways toward pacifying the natives, even as the Bears’ season is becoming a lost mission.

The team will play five games of their last seven at Soldier Field; lose Sunday, and the next four would be attractive only to those who have already painted their Lovie Smith banners or who want to sell their tickets to Cowboys fans.

The Bears, to their credit, know that.

“We’re looking forward to obviously having some support because crowd noise does help, especially when our defense is on the field,” running back Matt Forte said. “If they’re the opposite way around and they’re making boos against us, then that’s not going to help us out.

“We haven’t given the fans much to cheer about this year. Hopefully, this home game, we do.”

Cutler knows the Bears need to score early to keep the groans from coming in the first quarter.

”We can’t blame them if we don’t start fast and we get some unfavorable, some boos there,” he said. “Guys understand that. We know we haven’t played as well as we should play, especially at home. So we’ve got to do better for our fans.”

Marc Trestman has gone 5-6 at home in his season-and-a-half, the worst mark of the four NFC North teams; the other three are a combined 23-13-1.

They’ve disappointed a certain populous even in victory. According to Odds Shark, the Bears have covered the point spread exactly once in their last 13 home games, dating to the final two of the Smith era.

“When you get that first win, you gotta get things rolling, back on track,” McClellin said. “It would be great to lighten the mood.”

A home win, defensive tackle Stephen Paea said, would “get some fire in this team.” And in the fans, too.

“It means everything,” linebacker Jon Bostic said. “Any time we step on the field, we need to put on a show. We need to put stuff out there that we’re proud of.”

A win would be a first for the team’s rookies.

“Unfortunately, it’s a feeling that I haven’t experienced yet,” safety Brock Vereen said. “But we owe it to ourselves and we owe it to our fans. You naturally take a sense of pride in defending your home field. That’s something we haven’t done yet.”

If not now, when?

“I’m too excited,” rookie running back Ka’Deem Carey said. “God-dang. I’m excited to go into that stadium and see what it sounds like after a win. “

Email: pfinley@suntimes.com

Twitter: @patrickfinley