We return each year,
Fans of our beloved Bears.
And nothing changes.
New Orleans Saints 26, Chicago Bears 16
Haiku Game Preview: Bears at Saints in Week Nine
New Orleans Saints 26, Chicago Bears 16
Just when you thought the Bears’ season couldn’t get any worse, it got worse.
The Chicago Bears have now lost a second coach in this miserable 2023 season, firing RB coach David Walker due to something involving Human Resources. It’s apparently not enough that the team loses on the field, but they continue to lose off the field as well.
Hopefully they make sure to keep their lawn mowers locked up tight over the next few days.
The Bears have fired running backs coach David Walker, according to multiple league sources. The team’s human resources department was involved in the decision. From @kfishbain and myself. https://t.co/urQ79TuaIY
— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) November 1, 2023
In better news, new Chicago EDGE Montez Sweat seems to be on-track to play against the Saints on Sunday. He’ll provide a major boost on the edge, adding premiere run defense and solid pass-rush to a defense that currently can’t get enough of either.
"I believe so." — Montez Sweat when asked if he could play this Sunday pic.twitter.com/wb76s8I3EQ
— Nicholas Moreano (@NicholasMoreano) November 1, 2023
Last night I went on a 5-hour Halloween Candy-fueled ranting session talking about:
Check it out and let me know what you think!
Your Turn: How are you feeling about the Montez Sweat trade?
Trick or Treat, it’s Trade Deadline day! If you went to sleep early last night, you probably missed the first piece of Bears deadline candy — Jaylon Johnson wants out of Chicago, and Ryan Poles has given the young corner permission to find a deal.
#Bears corner Jaylon Johnson has requested a trade, per source. Chicago granted permission to search for a new home before today’s trade deadline. The player and team negotiated a new contract last week but couldn’t come close to a deal. So, a talented corner is now available. pic.twitter.com/XCU5EsZqF2
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) October 31, 2023
Jaylon could command quite a market for himself, so expect names like Dallas, Buffalo, and San Francisco to be involved in the hunt for his services. If the Bears get lucky, maybe they reap the rewards of a bidding war.
"If the 49ers can get a top-shelf cover corner like the Bears’ Jaylon Johnson, it would allow them to move Lenoir to the slot and upgrade the secondary…" https://t.co/wOyAYfMSTv
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) October 30, 2023
As the final whistle blew on Sunday Night, the Chicago Bears fell to a 2-6 record in 2023. If the season wasn’t already lost, it’s assuredly lost now.
Matt Eberflus can take pride in knowing that this game was (probably) his fastest defeat yet — it only took 20 football minutes for ESPN’s Win Probability metric to assign Los Angeles a 95+% chance to win the game, and unfortunately the actual play on the field only served to reinforce the sense of dread that has become normalized within the Eberflus era.
The Chargers could move the ball at will. Tyson Bagent threw an early interception. Once the Bears’ offense finally found the endzone, Los Angeles scored another touchdown to immediately answer what little offense the Bears could muster. With a halftime score of 7-24, you knew that the game was already over… but as the team stumbled and fell for the 20th time in Matt Eberflus’ first 25 games, one silver lining appeared:
There are no more excuses for Matt Eberflus or his staff to hide behind, and the Bears’ front office knows it. The expression on Kevin Warren’s face last night says it all.
https://twitter.com/_MarcusD3_/status/1718819985055744474
While nothing’s more normal than a Bears-focused blogger writing a post about the shortcomings of Chicago’s coaches, last night’s game stood out to me for several reasons:
Stan, an objective fan of the Chicago Bears, can’t sleep. Retired for over a year, and widowed for slightly longer, he spends the late hours of the evenings listening to Chicago sports radio and giving fake interviews to the hosts about his beloved franchise, hoping his endless droning will trick him into slumber. It never works.
Knowing his local dive is open at 7 AM and knowing a few of the fellas who might frequent the tavern at that hour, Stan wanders around the corner. When he enters, only one seat is occupied, by a younger man, eagerly scrolling on his cell phone, adorned in a #1 Justin Field jersey.
Sheila, beautiful and pregnant, is behind the bar. She hasn’t turned on the tavern’s only television because she can’t find the remote.
__________
Sheila: What are you doing here?
Stan: You have coffee on?
Sheila: Yep. Gonna put in a breakfast order from The Greeks, you want anything?
Stan: No, I’m okay.
Sheila (to #1): How about you?
#1: Nah, I’m good.
Stan (sitting beside #1): Good game Sunday, huh?
#1: Yea, they finally got a win.
Stan: The kid quarterback played well too.
#1: (Reluctantly) Sure. (Then) He could actually be a good backup down the road.
Stan: Why do you say that?
#1: Say what?
Stan: Why do you say he could only be a good backup?
#1: Did you see his stats? (#1 holds up his phone to Stan, where he’d be staring at the Tyson Bagent completion chart on Twitter.) He didn’t complete a pass more than 15 yards downfield.
Once again, Chicago Bears UDFA QB Tyson Bagent enters the weekend set & ready to start the latest ‘biggest game of his life’.
Last weekend he handled business against a Brian Hoyer-led Raiders team on his homefield at noon. A huge win, and a rare achievement among the UDFA QBs throughout NFL history.
As a reward, he’ll now face the one and only Justin Herbert in primetime on Sunday Night Football with what remains of the Bears season hanging in the balance. If that wasn’t enough pressure on its own, the game is also on the road.
It’s a massive moment for the rookie QB. Frankly, it’s a massive moment for the entire Bears coaching staff, as you know Matt Eberflus would do nearly anything to start the first win streak of his Chicago tenure start on a night where the entire nation will be watching.
This game feels dramatic — the stage is set. I’m leaning into the moment and I hope you do too.
But once the game kicks off, which matchups are going to dictate the flow of the game? What advantages can Chicago exploit within a depleted Chargers roster? In the latest episode of Bear With Us, Nick and I talk through all of this and much much more. Check it out and let me know what you think!
Within the podcast, Nick and I picked out the 2 matchups on Offense & Defense that we each think are going to drive this game. I’ll let you search out our explanations within the podcast itself, but here are the matchups each of us chose:
Nick’s Key Matchups:
My Key Matchups:
You may have ‘felt’ this on Sunday, but Tyson Bagent’s dropback speed holds up to the stopwatch — compared to Justin Fields, Bagent currently saves about a half-second on 5-step & 7-step dropbacks through crisp footwork. That extra half-second seems to help Bagent stay alive in the pocket & distribute the ball quickly, which resulted in the Bears’ OL giving up their lowest QB hit total of the year (3 QB hits compared to Fields’ average of 8 QB hits per game).
I’m really happy with how the video accompaniment came out — check it out if you’ve got ~52 seconds. You may be surprised at how stark the difference is.
Directly comparing the two #Bears' QBs dropback tempo is wild.
Tyson Bagent reaches the top of his drop about a half-second (0.5s) faster than Justin Fields on 5-step & 7-step dropbacks — this gave Bagent more flexibility when dealing with pressure, and it may help explain why… pic.twitter.com/nuhQv4Hjdm
— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) October 25, 2023
Your Turn: How are you feeling about Sunday Night’s Game?
I hope you had a happy All-22uesday folks — I certainly did!
Last night on stream, we walked through:
Check it out and let me know what you think!
