Shields Down

I guess it is accurate to say that the Fire's overall home form has probably cost them a realistic shot at the Supporters' Shield, but the lead in Nick's game summary for the AP almost comes across as if Saturday night's draw was what blew it. To be fair, even a win against Toronto wouldn't have done much, as Columbus still needs to drop two matches of their final four for Chicago to draw level on points. Not gonna happen.

And while it's easy to grouse about how the Fire have come up short, they're still solidly in second place in the Eastern Conference, because a whole bunch of other teams are suddenly coming up a whole lot shorter, particularly D.C. United on Sunday against San Jose. Quality in the final third and clutch performances just aren't in abundance throughout the league, so it's not like we're special in that regard.

Getting back to Saturday, both Jon Busch and Denis Hamlett showed clear frustration in their post-game comments at the easy goals given up early in each half to Toronto. One voice struck me by its absence after the match, though, and that was captain C.J. Brown. I have to wonder if he ducked the press after being far too involved in the two mistakes that led to those tallies. After the Chad Barrett header, he looked absolutely furious, but from my vantage point, I couldn't tell if he was mad at himself or if he had called in for backup that didn't arrive.

The home record is obviously still a big concern, but the big picture is still the playoff run, and nothing has changed there for quite some time. Unless there's some spectacular flameout over the last three matches, I'm not inclined to panic until/unless we're down in the second half of the second leg of the first round of the playoffs.