There was a lot to digest in the Chicago Fire’s 2-1 loss to the New England Revolution, from small consequences to big ones. Here’s what we learned.

Francisco Calvo Lives Up to His Billing

When the Fire signed Francisco Calvo from Minnesota United earlier in the year, people told us that the Fire were getting a talented player, but also a loose cannon capable of both high highs and low lows. In the span of around 90 minutes, we saw both the good and bad of Calvo. Unfortunately for Chicago, there was more bad than good.

The good, obviously, was his goal. It was a sublime piece of football off of a Nico Gaitán free kick delivery that fooled everyone, and New England goalkeeper Matt Turner could only stand there in disgust at how dirty those two did his team.

The bad— the second New England goal, where he should be given an assist for Gustavo Bou’s goal. At the top of the 18 yard box he made what could only be described as a weak sauce attempt pass the ball to Michael Azira that was pounced on by Bou. To Bou’s credit, the actual finish was an absolute banger, however Calvo’s limp pass was literally the only reason that they had that opportunity in the first place.

After watching Calvo in his first few games, I came to the conclusion that he’s just not good enough to play in this league. I was slammed for it by certain members of the fanbase and told that I was wrong. Calvo’s performances have gotten better the more time he’s been with the club, and he has had some genuinely good games in a Fire shirt. However, this makes it all the more glaring when he does blow a game.

Calvo is good enough, just not all the time. And in some ways, that’s worse.

This Is A Failed Season

The Chicago Fire got extremely lucky. They did lose to the Revs, but other than that and TFC’s win, Everyone else, From DC United on down, lost. The Fire are still in mathematical playoff contention with games against Orlando and Toronto coming up. However, even if they make a miracle run and finish 7th, this is still a failed season.

The 2019 season should go down in history as one of the worst season long performances in sports history, not because they were objectively awful, but because of how they blew all their chances and didn’t take advantage of their opportunities. This team was unquestionably good at putting themselves in positions to succeed and at the last possible moment falling flat on their face.

During the middle of the season, I kept going to the Charlie Brown football metaphor, maybe a little too often, because even then, it fit so well. However, It feels inefficient now. Charlie Brown was so much more an active force in his participation of that particular farce. The Fire don’t feel like an active participant in anything. Opportunities keep knocking on their door, and they don’t reach out and grab them, and when they finally make the effort to do so, it’s a day late and a dollar short.

The Fire aren’t Charlie Brown trying to kick a football. The Chicago fire are me in high school.

Those were my thoughts on the match. What were your takeaways? Let us know in the comments below!