All times ET. Home team in CAPS.
Saturday 4:30 PM – Texans at RAVENS (-9)
A battle wages
in the land of McNulty.
The game is the game.
Saturday 8:15 PM – Packers at NINERS (-9.5)
Cover your damn eyes.
Green Bay can beat ANYONE.
They will keep this close.
Sunday 3:00 PM – Bucs at LIONS (-6)
One city makes cars.
One city is all strip clubs.
Baker be dancin’.
Sunday 6:30 PM – Chiefs at BILLS (-3)
My head says Mahomes.
But my heart is in New York,
drenched in Elmo’s sauce.
Last week the picks were 2-4 but in fairness I picked the Steelers expecting them to cover in a blizzard. This week I’m on Baltimore -9, Packers +9.5, Bucs +6, Bills -3.
All times are ET. Home team in CAPS.
Saturday 4:30 PM – HOUSTON v. Cleveland (-2.5)
His name is Flacco.
No, not the Manhattan owl.
But still the man soars.
Saturday 8:00 PM – KANSAS CITY (-4.5) v. Miami
It will be frigid,
projected at six below.
Too bleak for Flipper.
Sunday 1:00 PM – BUFFALO (-10) v. Pittsburgh
It’s the Bar Bill wings,
versus Primanti Brothers.
Dip this win in blue.
Sunday 4:30 PM – DALLAS (-7.5) v. Green Bay
America’s team.
A nation’s eyes upon them.
Will they hold up? Yes.
Sunday 8:15 PM – DETROIT (-3) v. Los Angeles
Jared was a Ram.
And Matthew was a Lion.
The latter moves on.
Monday 8:00 PM – TAMPA BAY v. Philadelphia (-3)
The home team is bad,
and the road team might be worse.
Someone has to win.
The Picks: Cleveland -2.5, Kansas City -4.5, Pittsburgh +10, Dallas -7.5, Los Angeles +3.5, Philly -3 (but I won’t be betting the last one).
There will be column writing from me throughout the season, but I am going to relegate most of my work to these game previews. I’m incredibly proud of the consistently excellent work being produced under the Schmitz regime at DBB and I hope I’ll now be able add some of my own flavor to the mix.
Why do I like the Chicago Bears this week?
I.
Always.
Like.
THE.
Chicago.
Bears.
Paul Schrader argues, in his seminal essay on film noir, that the “genre” is unique to America, and specifically to a post-war period (mid 40s to late 50s) that found a generation of heroic men returning from war to an uncertain future, and unsure identity. But as we commemorate the 22nd anniversary of 9/11 on Monday, it is interesting to look at a series of films made in New York City in the years after those attacks as questioning not only what it means to be a man in a post-traumatic environment, but also what it means to be the city unfairly targeted as representative of a national political identity to which it often did not and does not ascribe.
There are four films I would recommend looking at in this regard.
25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)
Unfaithful (Adrian Lyne, 2002)
Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy, 2007)
Before the Devil Know You’re Dead (Sidney Lumet, 2007)
As this is a topic for a broader research project of mine, I will not wallow in the weeds here. But these are four films that I consider four of the best of this century. If you’re interested in the aforementioned discussion, feel free to email me: jeff@dabearsblog.com.
The Chicago Bears shouldn’t be favored to win the NFC North, but they certainly have a shot to take what is now a weak division. The Lions are the favorites, and rightfully so, but Detroit missed a major opportunity to improve at key positions and further separate themselves from the rest of the division. The Minnesota Vikings are the defending champions, but their limp to the finish line brings up many questions. And the Packers, well, where do we start?
These are things Ryan Poles was surely looking at when he told The Athletic the team should contend for the NFC North. Here’s a quick snapshot at each of the teams and why the Bears could top them.
There’s a lot to like about the Detroit Lions but that can be found all over the internet. In short, the Lions had a top-five offense in 2022 and their defense allowed a hair over 20 points per game in the second half of the year. They finished 8-2 with convincing wins over the Vikings and Packers.
But there are issues with the Lions that are largely going ignored.
We can comfortably assume Detroit’s defense will improve, after being bottom-five in both scoring and yardage last year. How much is a bit of a mystery, though. They made some improvements in the secondary but spent a first-round pick on an inside linebacker — a position that wasn’t a strength, but also not necessarily a weakness.
On paper, the Lions should be favored to win the NFC North. But it isn’t hard to see why that might not happen.