By the Numbers: How the Fire have fared without their captain

The news that Fire captain Logan Pause will be out of action for four-to-six weeks after breaking two ribs and suffering pneumothorax in Sunday’s 3-1 win at Philadelphia wasn’t welcome this week. In this edition of By The Numbers (at least the first part), I take a statistical look at the occurrence and a historic look back at the club’s play without it’s captain…
Taking the Lead: Logan Pause




15 – The number of minutes Logan Pause played with the above condition. The Fire captain left the field following the collision with former teammate Bakary Soumare in the 26^th minute. He re-entered in the 29^th and continued to play with two broken ribs and a partially collapsed lung until making way for Patrick Nyarko in the 44^th.
I know who I want as my captain…
5 – The number of games the Fire have gone unbeaten in Logan Pause’s absence as captain. To this point in the season, the 10-year Fire veteran has appeared in every regular season match but Pause did miss five games last year (his first as club captain). While the team was unbeaten all five games were draws.
48-44-20 – The Chicago Fire’s all-time regular season record when the club’s registered captain hasn’t been available. Between the likes of Peter Nowak, Chris Armas, C.J. Brown, Brian McBride and Pause, it was likely Armas whose absence was felt the most.
The team went 12-17-5 when the U.S. international was absent as captain from 2003-2007, with the worst stretch coming with an 0-6-4 mark in his last two seasons with the Fire.  
2 – Chris Rolfe’s brace in Sunday’s win over Philadelphia was the first for a Fire player since Jalil Anibaba’s two-goal first half effort in a 3-2 win over Columbus on the final day of the season last year. That also means it’s the first time a Fire player has found the back of the net twice this season.
40 – The two goals also moved Rolfe’s career total to 40 in regular season play, keeping him firmly planted as number two on the club’s all-time goal scoring list.
4 – The amount of save Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson needs to make in order to tie his career high single season save total of 72 set last year. The mark was attained in 28 matches, while Johnson sits on the precipice as he enters his 21^st match of the season.
If he does, all fans in attendance will receive another gallon of milk from Aldi, something that’s become quite a common occurrence at Toyota Park this season.