Alaskan Grizzly

I’m doing a dangerously hot take . Bears win by a slim margin. They did some amazing work (adjustment wise) after the mini-bye (blew out Pats if I remember). Looking forward to see how they do after a full bye…at home. Brisker and Gordon will be back and I’m sure Justin will be playing to win.

Overall I’d think Poles had done a pretty good job. Most everyone here picked the Bears to have the schedule they have currently ( I was not one of them - oddly enough, they’re only about two games out of contenting for the playoffs). Anyhow, if you consider all the money he saved in trading away some of the star players and replaced them with lesser known, less expensive players (like Roquan for Sanborn) that’s a huge success. Even your list of hits and misses from the draft are in our favor 4:2. I especially like his trying to bring in former 1st rounders (Leatherwood, Harry, Reiff, Charlton) at a discount rate to see how they pan out.

Here’s another ‘how bout that’ story for the bye week. (From FB / Chicago Sun Times).

A quick little bye-week anecdote about Fields. He’s got the most 20+mph runs than any player since 2018. In the story this came from he said he felt it in his legs (this late in the season) and when they told him his last run of 50+ against GB was in the ‘low 20 mph’ range he said he’s going to need to do more wind sprints. Says he likes to be in the 21-21.5 mph range. Meanwhile Claypool holds the current speed record for this season at 21.46 mph from week one.

Stolen from Twitter. But shows, I think, how close the Bears really are…to being really good. And where the Vikings are close to being really bad. At least GB sucks both in reality and the alt-universe.

Exchange Pettis for Harry and you’ve got yourself a deal. ??

Not really a roster item for the Bears but, Robert Quinn enters IR with a (relatively) minor knee injury. Could be back for playoffs. Bears still hold a 4th round pick in exchange…and some money on his contract (?) but still…

When the Bears got EQSB I liked it. Big body WR with familiarly to the Getsy offense…yadda yadda. But he’s more a liability than commodity for the team right now. Somewhere else I read that on nearly every catch thins season, dropped or possessed, he’s managed to bobble it. Even on that big gain yesterday. Time for more more Harry and Claypool. And then there’s this from Jairire Alexander on St Brown.

Overall I agree. Early on what I saw was a guy who was playing confidently with scripted plays. As the game wore on he was having to throw more on the fly and decide on his own where the best read is. He is overly cautious to a point and stared down both receivers on the INTs. As time wears on he’ll get more confident and sure where to throw. He’s shown immense growth this season, I’m not worried how he’ll do going forward. And if the Pack thinks they’ll make the playoffs, or at least last long into them, they’re fooling themselves. Rodgers was barely able to pull out a win against a decimated Bears defense and was gifted two turnovers from a second year QB.

I’m in with the idea of more Claypool for sure . And Harry. Still wondering how he’s lost position to ESB and Pettis. All he’s done so far is make it catches.

It was?

Something tells me Josh Blackwell is a player to keep tabs on. Formerly a castoff from the Eagles earlier this year (after going undrafted). Intriguing given where he came from and having co-GM Ian Cunningham in the mix.

I read elsewhere that Blasingame is out due to illness. So instead the Bears have 6 WRs today. I’m predicting big things for Harry. I’d like him to stick around for next year.

Explains why they signed another QB this week. And hearing more and more like Justin will start Sunday.

Flus gives a vague response to whether Leatherwood plays this weekend. But a guy who is not Coach Flus suggests a good reason to start him.

And in typical Rodgers d-bag fashion. Gawd it would be so nice to beat him. Alas I don’t think it’s in the cards.

The Boyle signing sorta makes sense (with his familiarity with Getsy) but the signing of Brown (a DE) with all the injuries in the defensive backfield, to include now backup Safety Cruckinshank(sp?)?? ??‍♂️

Saw somewhere else that claimed both Jackson and Mooney on IR:

And down goes Jackson and up goes Jets.

Wife and I were just discussing this. If Simien and Justin could stand on the field together and Simien could tell Justin when to throw the call, he’d be golden. Justin just needs more time to ‘see the field’ and have things slow down for him. He also needs to trust his throws. Most of the passes Simien has thrown have been contested. For Justin, it’ll come. Remember Simien was drafted to replace Payton Manning. And has been with four other teams since before coming to Chicago.

And just like that…Simien starts.

This is all you need to know about Nathan Peterman.

Yup. And Montgomery is the “emergency QB”. This will be interesting.

Another “clue”

Gordon and Brisker out. Fields still “questionable”.