adam

Puka accounts for 28% of the target share but 34% of the Passing 1st Downs. He averages 107 yds per game and had 111 against CAR. The Bears can't play soft coverage against him. LAR is traveling on Saturday, getting into Chicago around dinner time, so they will be in town approximately 24 hours before kickoff. I know they are trying to not make the weather a big deal, but there is no way it won't be a factor. I am so much more relaxed for this game, the Bears are playing with the house's money. They can win this as easy as they can lose this one. Hopefully they play loose. The Rams are the ones expected to win, Super Bowl contenders, MVP, the pressure is on them, in a hostile environment, with bad weather.

Why was the game so close, officials missing a blatant block in the back on Jackson on Golden's TD. Harder to see from the TV view, but in this view, the official is in perfect position to see that penalty, it is literally between him and Golden, yet no call, easy TD. Also a hold on Johnson who doesn't sell it enough. Could've been called as well.

Great perspective on the game, highly recommend.

With the WC Win, the Bears are locked into one of the picks 25-32 in the 2026 Draft, that will be the latest they have drafted in the 1st round since 2011 (Gabe Carimi - 29th pick) which obviously corresponds with the Conf Championship loss in 2010 to GB (Caleb Hanie game).

This is one of the best injury reports I can remember. If McCloud is the only one that can't go, that is actually a benefit to the Bears because he is absolutely torched on every play he is on the field. The worst 3 coverage players: McCloud, Sewell, Edwards would all be out.

I honestly don't think they will make any sweeping changes this offseason. The longer you can ride out contracts, the less chance at dead money near the end. Caleb is in Year 3 in 2026, 4 in 2027, and they will either go the 5th Year Option route or extend him after Year 4 which makes Year 5 payout more than it would've but lessens the cap hit for the remainder of the deal. Assuming they extend him early, 2027 seems to be the year that you would start cutting dudes to accelerate the dead money into 2027 protecting 2028 for Caleb's pay raise.

If it was 4th down, the game is over anyway. It is sort of a loop hole to save a down if you were going to spike the ball anyway. Just say there are 30 secs left, and it's 2nd down, you gain 7 yards. You can quickly go up and spike it, stop the clock, and give yourself another shot. Around 20 secs left, balled spiked on 3rd down, now 4th and 3 but the clock is stopped. OR player gets hurt on the 2nd down play, 10-second runoff, now only 3rd and 3 with 20 secs left. Utlimately this could be applied to any down or distance when you have a chance to spike the ball. If you watch that play sequence over, GB basically got a free timeout for 10 seconds without wasting a down for a spike, which they were going to do without the injury.

In the Wild Card game, there was a play when the Packers no longer had timeouts and there was an injured player. It was after a long pass where the player was tackled in the field of play. Since the Packers did not have any timeouts there was a 10-second runoff. However, that actually benefitted them because they would've taken the same amount of time to get down the field, get set, then spike the ball. So they basically gained a down by that entire sequence. To me, it should be a 10-second run off AND loss of down because if there was no injury, they would've lost the time and the down. This would only apply to a play where the clock was not stopped the play prior. What do you think?

I agree, Swift seems to excel in those situations. I am surprised that they don't run those more often.

The good thing is, this is still the low end of this. The roster can still improve and players will become more familiar with the system. So if they need to move on from a key contributor to make the overall team better, I totally understand it. If you are weighing contract value to team value, you can't have too many losing propositions, otherwise the team can fall apart with 1 or 2 key injuries. That does make several of the higher paid guys expendable unless they are willing to rework their contracts get more guaranteed money with less AAV.

One frustrating thing on this, Poona Ford was a free agent DT this offseason, the Bears signed Jarrett for 3/42 and the Rams signed Ford for 3/29. Ford is the Rams top rated defensive player. Their D-Line is legit across the board, Byron Young and Kobie Turner are both really good as well. The Bears will have to utilize the quick game more and not leave Caleb back there too long, he won't have time.

Paramount and Peacock have as well, maybe even Netflix. No it is impressive for a Wild Card game as well.

https://foampartyhats.com/products/graterhead-hat

So much love from national media lately.

That was before Urlacher's time, that was 98.