As we inch ever closer towards Sunday’s game, the Chicago Bears stand a pivot point — the results of these next 5 games may very well decide the direction of the biggest Bears offseason in recent memory, and if Head Coach Matt Eberflus wants to be on the safe side of that decision he’ll need to start winning games soon.

Could the Bears spark a win streak off of a divisional home defense? Cole Kmet seems to think so, but with a hungry Detroit team visiting town on a day that’s slated for snowy, cold weather, all we should expect is a knock-down, drag-out fight.

Anything could happen — after all, if Chicago manages to finish the season 9-8 they may very well land an NFC Wild Card spot. But before us fans dare to dream of the playoffs, first Chicago must force these Lions to settle a debt Detroit incurred only a few weeks ago. The Bears had the Lions within their grasp but let them slip away… if they’re to surge this season, they’ll have to start by winning on Sunday.

There’s enough within this game to unpack that Nick & I managed to record our longest Bear With Us episode yet — in this episode, Nick and I dive into…

• How can we work to talk about Justin Fields as rationally as possible? What does he need to show by the end of the year?
• What on earth has happened to the Lions’ defense?
• Where are the Lions winning on offense? Where are they losing?
• How does a healthy Bears team match up with this Detroit squad?
• What does this game mean for every Bear involved
• What have we learned about defense in the NFL from Eberflus’ 2023 season?
• Is the league as down on Luke Getsy as most Bears fans are?
• And much, much more…

I know I say this often, but this really is one of our best episodes yet — check it out and let me know what you think!

Your Turn: How do you feel about this weekend’s contest?

For 18 of the 32 NFL teams, there are 348 days without football.

And that’s just too much time.

Too much time to gallantly scroll the witless wasteland of Twitter, engaging in unwinnable debates about whether a young player might be good in the future. Too much time antagonize other fan bases on Facebook or TikTok or Reddit or OnlyFans because, you know, their team stinks and your team doesn’t. Too much time to bemoan every free agent signing, no matter how little the investment, and study every draft “prospect”, even when 95% of those prospects have no chance of being a viable professional player.

It’s not the fault of the fans. Fans love football. But do they really love football that much more now than they did when the draft was held on weekend afternoons and when free agent signings were only known because you’d read about them in the paper a day or two after they happened? An overwhelming majority of NFL fans are not even on Twitter – a fact often forgotten by those of us who seem to spend our lives on the platform.

Truth is, there is now far too much media covering the sport (and sports generally) and that media is forced to operate on a 365-day calendar. There is no vacation from the clicks business. The newspapers need you to click and they’ve learned mock drafts are click gold. The Athletic needs new subscribers: that is their entire value proposition. CHGO needs to find their foothold in the marketplace. The only way to do these things is constant engagement. The only way to successfully engage is to launch “takes” into the sports atmosphere.

And my god, EVERYBODY HAS A PODCAST. LITERALLY, EVERYBODY. Well, there is one Bears-related entity that doesn’t have a podcast: me. “The Weekend Show” was fun to produce but it was always far more of an audio variety show than an actual Bears pod. (That sometimes sums up this entire enterprise.) I’ve been asked to do a podcast a hundred times. I’ve been asked why I don’t do a podcast two hundred. My answer is simple: I don’t have that much to say. And when I have something unique that requires my voice, I do one of those Twitter audio things and get it done in two minutes. Also, I’m not that interested in the stuff that doesn’t tangibly happen on the field.

You know, those other 348 days.

Read More …

• The schedule is out. Bill and E.J. discuss key games, oddities about the schedule and the misnomer of having a hard schedule based on last year’s strength of schedule and how little that really means.
• Snyder, draft analyst from Windy City Gridiron, breaks down the running back prospects in detail, plus some key prospects to look out for at safety, corner, edge and tight end.
• Bill and E.J. breakdown draft strategy – should Ryan Pace look to trade up or trade down? Should he take a running back at 87 regardless?
• A full discussion on how to approach the kicker position.

Bill speaks with Jim Miller on:

• Mitch Trubisky’s development and what he should work on for next season.
• Jordan Howard’s struggles and if he’ll be moved.
• Review of the NFL Combine with some draft names to watch for the Bears at running back and in the secondary.
• Preview of NFL free agency and what the Bears should do.  Kyler Murray vs Josh Rosen vs Dwayne Haskins…who would he take?
• Plus, Bill’s thoughts on Amos, Callahan, the running game and all.

Bill Zimmerman is going to be DBB’s podcast guy moving forward through 2019. I’ll still have the occasional conversation with Adam Jahns (and record them) and force Reverend Dave’s bullshit upon you. But ultimately, I’m going back to writing and editing and letting a broadcast professional handle the broadcasting.

Bill is the Executive Producer of Mad Dog Radio at SiriusXM. And he’s good at this. Here is his excellent work from Super Bowl week with Mitch Trubisky, Akiem Hicks, Allen Robinson and Trey Burton.

(And the logo on the podcast will be changing moving forward.)

On this podcast, Sun-Times beat writer Adam Jahns discussed:

• The early season excellence of Jay Cutler and Pernell McPhee.
• What the hell is going on with Kyle Fuller and why he’d move Fuller into the slot (not to safety).
• Whether he believes Matt Forte is in the Bears’ future plans and whether a trade is something they’d actually consider.
• Why he believes Shea McClellin will be part of this defense in 2016.
• The current mood inside the locker room & more!