Ye gads - I hope not!
Would that make me a cultist? Again: Ye gads, I hope not!
The fact that he's still around with the Bears speaks to his upside. And while Chicago has its share of cult heroes, I'm fairly certain Hardy isn't one of those. He isn't even in music - or politics.
The league is full of late-round guys from low-end schools who flashed high-end athletic potential and took some time to learn and do well in the NFL. Those who made it seemed to share the smarts, attitude, motivation, and perserverance to absorb and apply good NFL coaching. Hardy still appears to be one of those.
Hardy arrived with the intangibles. I had high hopes for that Montana boy who didn't go unnoticed in his hometown league. But when I watched him in preseason games he looked raw - real raw. He couldn't get off the line to put those athletic attributes to work. He showed noticeable improvement in his last few games. If NFL Europe were still around he might have been able to pull off a surprise comeback after a yearthere. Unfortunately, the Bears ain't our farm team.