Alaskan Grizzly

"Any given Sunday" holds true. Other factors that can skew that whole theory are how injuries figure in. Assume KC was still in the running for a postseason berth and the injury to Mahomes still occurred, they'd more than likely lose a lot of momentum in the last few weeks and who knows, be right back where they are now or 1 and done in the playoffs. A lot of the times it simply matters whose peaking at the right time. A few weeks ago I thought Dallas was one of those teams but then they lost to Minny. I wanna think Chicago is peaking now at the right time and with a win over GB this weekend it would better convince me they are ready to make a run this year into the postseason.

100% agree. The last time they met their injury report (the previous Wednesday) looked pretty significant (below). See that Tom was listed as limited back then. Must have some sort of malingering issue. Speaking of, hearing that Odunze is struggling to get over whatever he has going on with his foot. There's been talk of shutting him down for the rest of the year.

I saw that they deployed him a lot on receiving plays. I think even the commentator noted how he looked a lot like a receiver. This could be an issue if he’s paired up with our LBs or CJGJ All of which are bad at pass pro.

Not to belabor a point but was the SOS determined before or after the season? Reason I ask is whooda thought KC would be out of playoff contention at this point and NE would be in contention for the NFC East title this soon after Brady retired and current MVP holder Josh Allen was supposed to be peaking? Nix is on the edge of taking his team to the playoffs - again (in only his second year) and Maye is playing out of his mind good. (nod to Mongo for being right about this guy).

It seems the second time with Johnson has been better to him (overall yardage). From 2020-22 he averaged ~560 total rushing yards (4.7 avg) with never getting more than 617 in 2021. Last year although he did get 959 yards with us his average overall was 3.8 yards per carry. This year its 4.9.

I’m with you. I’d be over the moon if they can pull off a win this weekend—one without the strings attached of the last game of the season (in January), when there wasn’t as much on the line for them. Of course, GB fans are already making excuses with the latest round of injuries. Never mind that the Bears’ defense has been playing with 2nd- and 3rd-stringers for most of the season.

Really, it was more than just that. There was also the game against Washington, where they needed a last-second field goal by Moody to escape with a win, and the opening-week loss to a still-struggling Vikings team, 27–24. If you look at the combined record of the teams the Bears faced prior to the win against the Eagles—what I’d consider the second renaissance of the season (with the first coming the week after the bye)—those opponents were a combined 50–88. That figure even includes the 8–6 Lions, who beat us convincingly, 52–21. I'll be the first to say that I'm pretty happy (surprised) with how things are shaping up esp after that win against Philly. I'll say it again, IF they can win against GB this time around I'll really be impressed.

And he’s chasing the single season sack record currently sitting at 20. Hopefully he doesn’t get the 3 he needs to surpass the record tomorrow . 😬 https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/47100067/tracking-sacks-record-cleveland-browns-myles-garrett-denver-broncos-pace-nfl-single-season-player-team

For the sake of Chicago Bear nation I hope you’re right.

At the risk of being nit-picky: 62.5% in 2024 vs 57.8% 2025 - so far. Yes the seasons not over yet. Sure the less sack rate is a big improvement if for nothing else to prolong his playing career but on that plane alone, Justin did a pretty remarkable job in eluding tacklers too. What I do like is that Caleb makes a lot less mistakes when it comes to turnovers. And man does he throw a fastball. But not always the best thing every time.

Sure in that stat alone. The part of the OL playing better should translate to allowing him more time to survey the field and read his progressions. Im guessing this offense is a very similar version of what Johnson deployed in Detroit. And we all know besides Flacco and a slab of granite, Goff is one of the least mobile QBs and he still managed to keep his stats decent.

With the help of AI, the chart below reflects data pulled from multiple polls and raw performance metrics. What’s interesting is that, when viewed individually, some polls highlight specific strengths—like escapability and sack avoidance—where he ranks quite high. But when the focus shifts to accuracy and consistency, the ratings tend to drop. Still, if you average out around 10 different polls, the composite picture shows he’s roughly middle-of-the-pack as of now. (By the way - not sure how he's 'tied at 62nd and fewest' with only 6 INTs). I think the upcoming Cleveland game will be a strong indicator of how real this team is and how effective Caleb is in his role. Cleveland is normally a “whew we get a break” game, but right now they’re working to get better—and they did beat Green Bay earlier this year, even if Flacco was under center at the time. With the Bears at home, this feels like the perfect opportunity to reset and gear up for a late-season push. I’m hoping to see improvement from both Ben and Caleb. As for the defense… well, I’ve mostly lost hope there. At this point, I’m just wishing they can at least slow opponents down more often than not—even if it means sitting back in a prevent shell.

While perusing recent sports columns, one in particular caught my attention—it ranked all the current NFL quarterbacks, supposedly based on a list from Sportsnaut. I’m not too familiar with them or how reliable their rankings are, but they had Caleb Williams at 19th overall, behind journeyman Jacoby Brissett (18), former fellow overall No. 1 pick Bryce Young (17), and fellow second-year quarterbacks Bo Nix (14) and Drake Maye (2). Below was their reasoning for his ranking specifically. I was more curious about where current Cleveland starter Shedeur Sanders landed, since there’s been some positive buzz around his recent performances. They ranked him at No. 27 and pointed out that he’s coming off a 364-yard, 3-touchdown game against the Tennessee Titans. It’s worth noting that Tennessee’s defense is ranked in the bottom third of the league overall—roughly in the same territory as our own defense this season so maybe something for us to be concerned with?

I’ll be happy if the newer-new Bears show up. The ones that play four quarters of solid ball. Not this 1/2-come-from-behind-late-in-the-game stuff. I didn’t want to have to test out my new BP meds this early.

Not generally a fan of Cowherds but he does make some good observations here. https://youtube.com/shorts/gqbqWhqZ2YU?si=47VlMclpm_QklJPQ

Wasn't Bienemy technically the OC for most of those "yellow" times?

For what it’s worth, I may have mentioned before the ‘personal hell’ I live in surrounded by GB fans on either side of me. My one neighbor recently put up some annoyingly bright LED holiday lights. One thing he can do is change the colors of them remotely. It’s hard to see on the pic but the colors are green and yellow. The guy could land helicopters on his roof.

Agreed that we aren't out of the playoffs yet. Not by a long shot. I still believe the team can win against Cleveland, SF, Detroit and GB. Will they? Depends on what they've learned in their losses. The Detroit game earlier this year was a mass killing whereas yesterday's loss was much more palatable...but still sucks considering who it was. If for nothing else it does show some improvement over the season. And it really highlights how vulnerable our team was with only a +6 point winning differential going into yesterday's game, versus +36(?) for GB.

This. I agree that yesterday’s loss wasn’t all on Williams. I’d put it closer to an 80/20 split, with the defense carrying most of the blame. Aside from the early sack and INT, they really didn’t make any impact plays the rest of the game—even with several key starters back on the field. Williams did flash at times, especially late (why can't he do this the WHOLE game?). That second-to-last drive—where they chewed up a ton of clock—was a thing of beauty. The run game was wearing the defense down, and Williams’ passes were quicker and more controlled. Honestly, they should’ve stuck with more of that approach and leaned into the basic WCO concepts that worked so well against Philly. Also saw a GB fan point out on social media that the interception play was basically identical—in formation and personnel—to the Bears’ game-sealing score against Philly the week before. His comment was, “You don’t think we watch game film?” Hard to argue with that.

Yeah from what I saw today he and Brisker can be cut loose. Unfortunately JJ appears to be going backwards and getting into lazy mode. Or he’s more injured more than we know.

What I noticed today was whether by design or by Caleb ad-libbing, he’s cutting the field in half each time he rolls out (which was a lot). Early on there were a few plays where a lone receiver was one on one with a defender and relatively open for space on the opposite side. Later on the defenders were cheating to the side Caleb would roll out to because they knew he’d never look that way. Why they didn’t stick to the ‘game manager’ setting with the west coast offense is beyond me .

Yup. Right in his line of sight too. 🤬 oh well, try again in two weeks.

Not translating so well today. With a fair number of starters back in on defense they looked better when the backups were playing.

Johnson has been in the wrong place during two huge gains by the Pack. The Bears paid him big money for this?

Dennis Allen, “one of the greatest Defensive minds in the NFL” looking like Eberflus. 😖 And the offense being absolutely stagnant doesn’t help.