bad news bears

slang Derived from the name of the film franchise The Bad News Bears.

1. Said of someone or something that will bring disaster or bad fortune to one. I could tell by looking at him that he was bad news bears, so I avoided him for the rest of the school year. A: "So, can you tell what's wrong with my computer?" B: "Yeah, your hard drive has become corrupted. That's bad news bears, I'm afraid." Listen, any so-called "friends" that encourage you to shoplift are bad news bears.

2. A sports team that is playing especially poorly. In this usage, the phrase is typically capitalized. Based on their, uh, illustrious 0–6 record so far, it looks like the Panthers are shaping up to be the Bad News Bears this season. Collectively, they made five errors in that game? Yikes, talk about the Bad News Bears. Good grief, they look like the Bad News Bears out there! Can anyone catch the ball today?