Week 10 - What to Watch

MIN @ GB (MIN/GB - Division + Wild Card + Upcoming Opponents)
Biggest game of the week for the Bears. GB favored by 3 at home. Cousins back for MIN. I am leaning towards wanting MIN to win, since GB still has Parsons coming back so they need to stack some losses before that occurs.

NE @ DET (DET - Division + Wild Card + Upcoming Opponent)
Detroit only favored by 2.5 but Pats defense looked terrible last week against GB.

SF @ DAL (SF - Conference Bye, DAL - Wild Card)
SF favored on the road by 4.5. A DAL win would be massive for the potential #1 seed.

CAR @ NO (Wild Card + Next Opponent)
NO is the next opponent, and the winner could be the South Division Winner.

SEA @ LVR (SEA - Wild Card)
With Cousins going to MIN, hard to see LVR winning this one.

LAR @ ARZ (LAR - Wild Card)
LAR is hit hard with injuries, but ARZ is also thin and injured (Wilson out for season).

I feel like winning the division comes down to getting our running game going. Minnesota will likely play us the same way they did the first game maybe with some tweaks. To beat them we must be able to run the ball or all that LOS stuff plays into their hands. To win the LOS I think we need to see Logan Jones on the field since he's stronger, quicker, and faster. Bradbury is getting beat too often and inside pressure is not good for either running game nor passing. I've seen some videos of pundits saying we should stick with the veteran because he makes the right calls. Jones is 25 and was coached well at Iowa and now has half a season to learn. In his limited snaps he played well enough to see the future and I think his skillset fits better with the blocking schemes we were doing last year with Dalman that gave us more creativity in the running game. While I understand not wanting to throw him out there against the top defenses in the NFL, especially Seattle on the road, things are different going forward.

I don't look at it like what is the best option on the next game or two rather what gives us the best chance to win games in the playoffs. That answer IMO is Jones if we can get him some good game experience before the playoffs. RIght now is the perfect start going against NO and if we don't do it now then it's not likely we will anytime afterward. I also don't think the sky will fall down if we reverted back to Bradbury if Jones struggles.

6 hours ago, AZ54 said:

I feel like winning the division comes down to getting our running game going. Minnesota will likely play us the same way they did the first game maybe with some tweaks. To beat them we must be able to run the ball or all that LOS stuff plays into their hands. To win the LOS I think we need to see Logan Jones on the field since he's stronger, quicker, and faster. Bradbury is getting beat too often and inside pressure is not good for either running game nor passing. I've seen some videos of pundits saying we should stick with the veteran because he makes the right calls. Jones is 25 and was coached well at Iowa and now has half a season to learn. In his limited snaps he played well enough to see the future and I think his skillset fits better with the blocking schemes we were doing last year with Dalman that gave us more creativity in the running game. While I understand not wanting to throw him out there against the top defenses in the NFL, especially Seattle on the road, things are different going forward.

I don't look at it like what is the best option on the next game or two rather what gives us the best chance to win games in the playoffs. That answer IMO is Jones if we can get him some good game experience before the playoffs. RIght now is the perfect start going against NO and if we don't do it now then it's not likely we will anytime afterward. I also don't think the sky will fall down if we reverted back to Bradbury if Jones struggles.

That first MIN game was so fluky. Swift fumbled on the 1-yd line. Caleb got hurt, then Santos has his FG blocked, and even after all of that, they had 3 plays from the 12 to win it and Bagent shit the bed. I know the result is the result, but that was at least 10 pts off the board, if not more. For the next matchup, the Bears will have Simmons who would cancel out any benefit from Cousins. So it feels like the Bears will have the edge in Week 18.

Not that you mentioned it, but in the other loss against GB, the Bears were without Caleb, Monangai, and Sweat, and obviously didn't have Simmons yet. Can you imagine how Cincy would look without Burrow and Lawrence? They probably wouldn't win a single game.

The Bradbury thing will be interesting to watch. I think it will come down to if Caleb is comfortable with Jones or Bradbury more.

3 hours ago, adam said:

For the next matchup, the Bears will have Simmons

I wonder if Minny having Cousins back will be a factor?

8 hours ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

I wonder if Minny having Cousins back will be a factor?

It feels like Simmons negates any benefit Cousins provides. With it being Week 18, there is a chance that Bryant is playing by then as well. I still think the monsoon game was completely weather-related.

I wanted to see NEP beat DET to keep them from tying for 1st with the Bears. Ain't going to happen. NEP "are not" what many thought they were. However, this seems like a bad one for both winner and loser. NEP has Maye injured on a sack, limping to the locker room. Out for the remainder of the game. Detroit's best defensive player (on a team with a questionable defense) is in the locker room. Hutchinson jumped into the air after sacking Maye and injured his knee when he landed. And all of this in just the first half of the game. LOL

57 minutes ago, Pixote said:

I wanted to see NEP beat DET to keep them from tying for 1st with the Bears. Ain't going to happen. NEP "are not" what many thought they were. However, this seems like a bad one for both winner and loser. NEP has Maye injured on a sack, limping to the locker room. Out for the remainder of the game. Detroit's best defensive player (on a team with a questionable defense) is in the locker room. Hutchinson jumped into the air after sacking Maye and injured his knee when he landed. And all of this in just the first half of the game. LOL

NE played the easiest schedule in NFL history last year and somehow lucked into the easiest path to a Super Bowl as well (home against LAC and HOU, and then DEN w/o Nix). So them about to be 5-5 is not surprising at all. I would say they are probably a fringe playoff team, but get 4 automatic wins a year against NYJ and MIA.

The Hutchinson injury is huge. He was one of the best Edge in the NFL, yet the DET defense was 30th in yards and 17th in pts. I would suspect both of those get worse with Hutchinson out. They were one of the best in sacks and pressures with most coming from Hutchinson.

1 hour ago, adam said:

NE played the easiest schedule in NFL history last year and somehow lucked into the easiest path to a Super Bowl as well (home against LAC and HOU, and then DEN w/o Nix). So them about to be 5-5 is not surprising at all. I would say they are probably a fringe playoff team, but get 4 automatic wins a year against NYJ and MIA.

The Hutchinson injury is huge. He was one of the best Edge in the NFL, yet the DET defense was 30th in yards and 17th in pts. I would suspect both of those get worse with Hutchinson out. They were one of the best in sacks and pressures with most coming from Hutchinson.

I just watched the video of both the Maye sack, which was an illegal hip drop tackle from behind (no flag), and then the Hutchinson celebration. I assume Maye had his ankle rolled up on. With Hutchinson you can see his right knee buckle laterally as he lands after the jump. To my uneducated medical opinion that lateral movement of the knee looks like a classic torn ACL.

11 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

I just watched the video of both the Maye sack, which was an illegal hip drop tackle from behind (no flag), and then the Hutchinson celebration. I assume Maye had his ankle rolled up on. With Hutchinson you can see his right knee buckle laterally as he lands after the jump. To my uneducated medical opinion that lateral movement of the knee looks like a classic torn ACL.

Flashback to Lamarr Houston's celebration sack. Hate to see great players injured, but Bears can use the help.