My excitement level for this game, illustrated to perfection by Bear the cat. (His sister Bea equally excited in background.)

On this longish episode of the Weekend Show:

• Jeff breaks down the issues the Bears face in finding the “quarterback of the future” this spring, with a little help from his well-placed scout friend.
• Adam Jahns tells you Pernell McPhee is playing at 60%, Kyle Fuller isn’t doing enough off the field to impress the coaching staff and confirms Jeff’s belief that Jeffery is headed for another tag and Hoyer to the starting lineup.
• Reverend Dave mails in his sermon on crab racing. (And I mean mails in!)
• Jeff picks the Bears out of tradition. He really believes the injuries at linebacker and inability to keep contain will lead to Kaepernick running wild Sunday.

The following piece originally ran on DBB on May 19, 2014. Two years later the NFL is finally allowing players to showcase their personal causes on the field. It’s probably the best thing ever published in this space, non-game related.

Josh Marks liked to cook. He was good enough at cooking and handsome enough to land a spot on the television program MasterChef. He finished second. At twenty-six years old and with a seemingly limitless future before him, Marks took his own life Friday. In a CNN article Marks’ family recount the young man’s struggles with mental health issues, with the family lawyer going so far as to say “It is overwhelming to think that with proper, intensive treatment, Joshua may still be with us.”

He was found dead by his mother in an alleyway on Chicago’s south side.

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For those of you new to DBB, I do most of my “work” in the theatre as a playwright and musical theatre lyricist/librettist. In the last ten years I have been in countless audition rooms, sitting on one side of a long table as a stream of young actors parade in, sing a song, listen to our tepid “thank yous” and walk out. There’s a little secret in the theatre most actors don’t know: we hate the process as much as they do. But since Actor’s Equity requires we do it, we do.

Matt Barkley walked into the room.

Our expectations were he’d get his three and a half minutes and then we’d move on to the next one. He handed his sheet music over the pianist – the boring choice of “Being Alive” from Stephen Sondheim’s Company. It takes a brilliant performance for somebody to stand out with that tune and we don’t expect Barkley to be the one to do it. (Here’s Raul Esparza singing the track. I don’t want to embed the video here.)

          Somebody hold me too close…

          Somebody hurt me too deep…

No emotion. No intensity. Off-key.

          Somebody sit in my chair, and ruin my sleep...

I’ve starting drawing cubes on the back of Barkley’s resume. Three-quarters of the song are over and I’ve not only stopped evaluating the performance, I’ve stopped listening altogether.

Then something happens that occurs in the rarest of auditions. A moment makes your ears perk up. You find yourself suddenly transfixed by the performer. It’s usually the result of the actor’s deep connection to the material and their ability to project that connection across the table. If you’ve never been in the room, you’ll never understand how powerful a moment this can be.

          Somebody crowd me with love…

          Somebody force me to care…

          Somebody let me come through, I’ll always be there…

          As frightened as you, to help us survive…

          Being alive…

          Being alive…

          Being alive!

By the end of Barkley’s song, we’re in tears.

Barkley leaves the room. We look at each other on the other side of the table, perplexed. I turn to the composer and director and ask, “what the fuck just happened?” Nobody has an answer. But one thing is certain.

We’re inviting Barkley back into the room to see if it happens again. Because if it does, a star is born.

I have never seen anything like it. It didn’t matter which Chicago Bear Matt Barkley threw the football to, the ball was going to be dropped. And with the game there to be won, Barkley delivered not one or two but THREE touchdown passes that went through the hands of his pass “catchers”. Josh Bellamy’s drop on first-and-goal drop will be the poster image for this entire, painful 2016 campaign.

More thoughts:

• Someone needs to explain to me how Matt Barkley went from looking nervous and unprepared to Pro Bowler in a matter of moments. Was it the coverage? Was it an offensive scheme change? Barkley’s first NFL start should have left us with The Matt Barkley Game, a contest we never forget.
• The Bears dropped ten passes. Ten. And Barkley still eclipsed 300 yards on the day. What could his numbers have been?
• Barkley now becomes intriguing next week and moving forward. It’s unlikely he’s going to make Ryan Pace after his draft plans but he may provide the kind of young, affordable backup organizations need.
• Titans second half possessions: FG, FG, punt, punt. Bears second half possessions: INT, punt, TD, TD, eleven dropped TDs. We’ve complained about second half meltdowns this season. This was second half dominance.

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Wall Griffiti – Rue Robert Planquette

Paris

Even with news breaking that Jay Cutler’s shoulder injury may not be season ending, he still isn’t playing football in the next few weeks. This means the Bears have two options at QB: Matt Barkley and David Fales. (It’s gotten so bad there was drama surrounding their attempt to sign Jake Rudock off the Lions practice squad.)

So how should you watch? I’ll tell you.

DON’T GET TOO INTO THE RESULTS

Fans seem to lose context over the duration of a football game. Third string quarterback playing? WHY DON’T THEY RUN THE BALL MORE? Defense on the field for 48 minutes? WHY CAN’T THEY STOP EM ON THIRD DOWN?

I know my opinion that the Bears are only guaranteed sixteen games a season so I always root for them to win is not popular. It’s easier for fans to say, “Fuck it, I hope they lose” because it removes any emotional investment from the proceedings and allows many to cling to the Dream of The Franchise-Changing Draft Pick.

But in the case of the next six games, I’m encouraging fans to root without emotion. Because the results of these next six games no longer have much to do with the future of the Chicago Bears. With these kids at quarterback, winning just ain’t gonna happen.

FOCUS OFF THE BALL

You don’t need to be a professional scout to understand the complexities of an NFL play. But you often have to ignore where the football is going.

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Straight to it…

• Defense is getting better and will be a force in 2017. But the Bears have SO MANY questions on offense to answer between now and the draft. Who is the quarterback? Where’s the answer at right end? Jeffery? For how much? Are they content at tackle? Big ticket items.
• Never seen a team deal with injuries like the Bears have over the last calendar year. Whether there is a reason beyond bad luck is beyond me but the team played yesterday on offense in the second half without 3/5 of starting offensive line, both starting wide receivers (one non-injury) and the starting tight end. It’s just not enjoyable to sit through.
• I wonder if the narrative would have changed again if Cutler pulled that game out at the death. I know I watched him differently yesterday, resigned to a life without 6 taking the snaps. I felt like I was watching a temperamental 85-year old actor do a farewell tour of The Cherry Orchard at Bucks County Playhouse. I am now watching Cutler with a twinge of nostalgia.
• Bears can’t fire John Fox, despite my previous belief. These guys are playing hard. They just don’t have the heathy horses on offense.
• Special thanks to The Grand Canadian in Paris. Big screen, hospitable and full of fans truly rooting on their TEAM and not their FANTASY team. Wish I could bring the spirit of that place back with me to the states.