adam

They technically only left a few hours later than they have in the past few years. They normally leave on Thursday and arrive on Friday for London games. I don't think that was the issue. They are just a poorly coached team. Bigsby had been dominating and they still gave Etienne and Johnson carries over him. They had 8 penalties for 43 yards compared to the Bears had 2 for 10 and 1 of the penalties was on the opening kickoff.

Due to the Hutchinson injury, I am sure Detroit is looking for an Edge. The Bears need to get someone like Maxx Crosby or Trey Hendrickson because it would put the defense over the top, but also to prevent the Lions from adding them. Some other options are Chase Young (NO - reunite with Sweat), Josh Allen (JAX-the Bears just saw him firsthand), or Brian Burns (who Poles wanted in the CAR trade initially). With the PIT pick coming, they can safely give up a 4th-6th knowing they would get one from PIT.

According to PFF, these are the lowest guys with the worst grades according to PFF (with 50+ snaps): Cowart, DL - 47.9 with 60 snaps Booker, Edge - 53.1 with 89 snaps Williams, DL - 57.7 with 109 snaps Everett, TE - 46.0 with 149 snaps Lewis, TE - 50.4 with 89 snaps Carter, WR - 53.4 with 124 snaps Davis, OG - 53.6 with 142 snaps By snap count: TE - 238 snaps below 51.0 DL - 169 snaps below 58.0 OG - 142 snaps below 54.0 WR - 124 snaps below 54.0 Surprisingly, backup TE is the biggest need based on snap count. Then DT, then OG. Honestly, I could see the Bears picking up a DT, Edge, OG, or WR. I don't think they will fix TE even though the backup options are underperforming.

Wilson is still a decent passer, and even his worst passing performance is an above average day for Fields. It's the escapability and intangibles where Fields shines. However, if Wilson can improve their passing game, that is going to be a net positive for the team. The current offense is not sustainable and if not for some terrible opponents, they would be lucky to have 1 or 2 wins. In their first 3 wins, they held opponents to 10 and under. They are 0-2 when the opponent scores 17 pts or more. That team is not QB dependent.

<insert eyeballs> he had the 2nd most snaps for a DT, duo with Payne. Now the Commanders have to use Phidarian Mathis or rookie Newton (who has looked terrible). Both of guys are playing below replacement level players, so this is a huge loss for the WAS defense.

CAR is currently 4th, but tied with 3 other teams at 1-5. So they would pick 3rd in the 2nd round, currently pick #35. The Bears are currently pick #24 as WC2, 6th Seed. In the 2nd, that is pick #56. So if the season ended today, the Bears would have the 24th, 35th, and 56th pick in the 2025 draft. Obviously things can change, but I don't foresee the Bears getting a pick lower than 18, so pick 50 in the 2nd seems like the lowest there. I can't see CAR breaking out of the bottom 5, so that 2nd rounder is going to be great for the Bears. Fill the trenches.

From the original projected bottom 10, MIN is the only team completely blowing away projections. On the flip side, JAX has completely underperformed thru 6 weeks. 1. NYG (1-3 wins) 2-4 - playing slightly better than expected 2. LVR (1-3 wins) 2-4 - playing slightly better than expected 3. CAR (2-4 wins) 1-5 - right on track 4. NE (2-4 wins) 1-5 - right on track 5. MIN (2-4 wins) 5-0 - exceeding projections by 1000% 6. TEN (4-6 wins) 1-4 - right on track 7. ARZ (4-6 wins) 2-4 - right on track 8. SEA (5-7 wins) 3-3 - playing slightly better than expected 9. IND (5-7 wins) 3-3 - playing slightly better than expected 10. CLE (6-8 wins) 1-5 - playing worse than expected JAX 1-5 replaces MIN in bottom 10 LAR 1-4 replaces SEA in bottom 10 NO 2-4 replaces IND in bottom 10 CIN 2-4 - 11th NYJ 2-4 - 12th

Bears now 4-2 at the bye. The next 3 games are huge before the gauntlet of death starts with GB in Week 11. Week 8 - @ WAS 4-2 (19th - Sagarin Ratings) / 12th DVOA / 8th EPA/P - AVG Rating=13th (DraftKings have Bears -2) Week 9 - @ ARZ 2-4 (23rd - Sagarin Ratings) / 22nd DVOA / 24th EPA/P - AVG Rating=23rd (DraftKings have Bears -1.5) Week 10 - vs NE 1-5 (30th - Sagarin Ratings) / 29th DVOA / 30th EPA/P - AVG Rating=30th (DraftKings have Bears -5.5) The Bears are currently favored in the next 3 games and based on all metrics are the best overall team. WAS's offense is the only elite unit the Bears will face in the next 3 games. WAS defense is 28th. 2-1 or 3-0 should be the outcome of these games and the Bears should go into the GB game at 6-3 or 7-2. MIN x2 (hard to gauge these games, but they should be close, especially if Bears offense continues to improve) W / L GB x2 (always a challenge, but I feel much better about this matchup than before) W / L DET x2 (Without Hutchinson, this defense is nowhere near as intimidating, feels like splitting at a minimum here) W / L SF (Depends on injuries but in SF, I will give it to the 49ers) - L SEA (This feels like a win, especially at home and not having to travel to the PNW). W I am counting 4-4 thru the gauntlet for a 10-7 or 11-6 record depending on how the next 3 games go. That record should get at least a WC spot.

FML:

The @ChicagoBears current streak of 12 games holding an opponent to 21 pts or less dating back to last year is tied for the 9th longest streak since the SB era. There have only been 3 teams in the last 25 years to have a longer streak: 00-01 PHI - 17 games 19-20 BAL - 13 games 07-08 TEN - 13 games Bears Team Record: 16 games from 1993-09-12 to 1994-09-04 It is going to be super challenging to keep this streak going, but 12 games is already in some pretty rare air.

Team Ratings thru 6 weeks: DVOA - 17th (OFF-24th, DEF-6th, ST-12th) Sagarin Ratings - 10th EPA/Diff - 9th (OFF-21st, DEF-2nd) PFF Team Grades - 12th (OFF-22nd, DEF-3rd, ST-25th) Pts Differential - 3rd Some crazy underlying numbers for the Bears team as a whole. Between 9th and 17th with the advanced metrics, average of 12th, which feels about right to me. If you remove the first two weeks (oldest games), they are basically top 5 in every category.

The Keenan Effect - Bears are 4-0 when he plays and 0-2 when he is out. Could be the opponents, but the offense really popped when he got back in the lineup after missing the 2 games.

He is on the Adam Rank Podcast every week, lol. So we get to see him talk about the game. Feels kind of weird now talking weekly to the guy who is either a healthy scratch or dresses but never sees the field. Scott has dressed in every game since Week 2 and has a total of 13 snaps. In comparison, Carter has 124. You would think that Scott would be used in those situations, but I guess he showed last year that if he is thrown the ball, he can't catch it anyway. It is hard for me to believe that him and Mooney are the same size. Whatever it is, Mooney looks taller and stronger.

The teams can choose their bye weeks? I thought this was all done by computers and schedule makers?

PFF Leaders for Week 6: Offense: 1. Williams 87.9 < hello QB1 2. Wright 78.2 < nice to see OL 3. Allen 77.2 4. Jenkins 76.0 < more OL 5. Kmet 74.9 < what does this guy need to do lol Defense: 1. Byard 85.3 < one of the best FA acquisitions this year 2. Sweat 81.5 3. Hicks 78.1 < this is a pleasant surprise 4. Gordon 77.2 5. Edwards 70.5 Only player under 50: Billings 38.0

Bears are 4-2 at the bye.

I agree, they probably had Velus and Scott in that role, but neither of them have very many snaps.

But he was top 3 in rushing for a QB? One other little cool thing I noticed about Caleb, he actually throws the ball away instead of taking a random sack or running out of bounds behind the LOS like Fields used to do. Out of all the frustrating things that Fields did, taking the sack or running out of bounds (for a sack) instead of just tossing it out of bounds always puzzled me.

I would not put it past the Steelers to give Fields the last 2 games before the bye, a total of 8 games, then come out of the bye and give Wilson the next 9 so Fields would just miss playing over 51% of the snaps.

Even with that terrible first game with low raw stats, Williams is still top 15 in most QB categories and hitting the top 10 in a few: 13th Passing Yards 7th Passing TDs 8th Completions 12th First Downs

Williams is the first rookie QB in NFL history to have over 1,300 passing yards, over 8 passing TDs, and over 150 rushing yards in his first 6 games. He has 1,317, 9, and 169. https://stathead.com/tiny/KiDps

I don't think so either, but in Fields last two games he passed for 145 yds and 131 yds. 4 of his 6 starts he has less than 160 passing yards. That is not sustainable. The defense is going to be so burnt out by the end of the year. They have a top 10 drive time but bottom 10 pts off a drive, super inefficient. If not for Fields scrambling and rushing TDs, they would be the worst offense in the league. On paper, they look like a lot like the Giants offense. I think they will give him to the bye with 2 winnable games against the Jets and Giants before the bye. If they lose either of those games, they may consider a change because their schedule gets much harder after the bye. After the bye they have WAS, BALx2, CINx2, KC, and PHI.

If the Bears can beat the Commanders, they then have ARZ and NE, two more games they should be favored in. They could potentially go into the GB game, at home at 7-2, on a 6 game win streak. That would be wild.

Absolutely, with the Division Winner getting the bye, the other 3 North teams could all get a WC slot and would be on the road against the other Division winners. They could all win on the road then we would have GB at MIN and CHI at DET with the current seeding in the Divisional Round. WAS and maybe a healthy SF team seem like the only two teams that could upset that from happening. TB seems like the only team threatening for a WC spot, but they also would be battling it out with ATL for the Division.

Just an underthrow, was supposed to be to the pylon, it looked like he put too much air underneath it.