This is what a death spiral looks like. It sounds so defeatist and gloomy, but losing to Minnesota at home is an absolutely disgraceful thing to do. Really, we should just forfeit the rest of the season. If we can’t get up to work that night, I don’t know how we survive the rest of the season. But the players woke up that next Monday and went back to the training pitch, because each of them knew that they all need to do something to stop the bleeding. But it’s not going to be easy.

Although Montreal is struggling around the red line and just took a massive home loss to Toronto, they are a scorching hot team right now. We helped them along with giving them a 3-0 win before a 3-1 win against RSL. Really, there seems to be no way to stop them. Everything says that this game will most likely be a study in futility, but I did say the same thing about Minnesota against us. So I really don’t know at this point, but it still doesn’t look good anyway.

Vs. Fire 8/16

Vs. RSL 8/19

Vs. Toronto FC 8/27

Three Keys

Early and Dirty

Something I forgot to mention in my last preview against them that kind of backfired was that they got a lot of their goals from very dirty situations. Just the ball bouncing around weirdly or a player just stumbling into the right spots. Also, in their two winning games, they scored pretty dang early in the game and just controlled it from there. If we can fend them off for about 15 minutes, maybe they’ll be a bit easier to handle the rest of the game.

International Duties

In better news for the Fire, there are international games being played this weekend. Sure, it’s bad news because Dax will be out (made an oopsie on the predicted line-up), but Montreal will be missing a lot of there core consistency. Laurent Ciman will be with Belgium and much more with Canada. Although they’re going to be missing some keys, Montreal comes with some pretty decent depth. So this should only be marginally easier.

Emotional Consequences of Locker Room Unrest and How To Handle It

There is no pun here. This is a genuine attempt at a guide to dealing with this stuff, at least as a fan. There have been rumors from some credible sources about what sort of stuff is happening with this team on the inside. What we as fans can only do is support everyone. Seriously. Through whatever is said about the dynamic in that locker room, our job is to be there to always say, “We love all of you.” It’s just what we do.

Projected Lineups

Chicago Fire

Montreal Impact

How To Watch

Kickoff: Saturday September 2nd, 7:00PM EDT/6:00PM CDT

TV/Streaming: CSN-Chicago, MLS Live

So what makes you sad about the Fire? Also, can we work our way out of this funk and get our groove back? Please tell us what you think in the comments.