Como la bajó Damiere Byrd para la conversión de 2ptspic.twitter.com/th7fdXZ9Vr

— NFL Latino TV 🏈🎅 (@NFLlatinoTV) December 27, 2021

Why Do I Like the Chicago Bears This Week?

I always like the Chicago Bears.

And there’s reason for optimism when it comes to the future of this franchise. There is young talent at some key positions, including quarterback. Seeing that young talent continue to develop over these final three games will only build excitement for the 2022 campaign.

Fields vs. Seattle’s Defense

This is still exclusively about Justin Fields, at least for the next month..

• Seattle currently possesses the league’s worst pass defense, allowing 274 yards per game through the air. This is not a game for Matt Nagy to rely on his “run on first down unless someone pays me not to” strategy. This is a game to put on the rocket right arm of his young quarterback.
• Seattle ranks 26th in QB hits and 27th in sacks. This is not a week where Fields should expect to be under a tremendous amount of pressure. (Seattle also played a pretty physical game with the Rams on Tuesday so this is a seriously short week for them.)
• A Tweet from Nicholas Moreano: “#Bears coach Matt Nagy said that “it can be done” to incorporate more fast-tempo offense. That was something Justin Fields mentioned as being one of his strengths in his postgame press conference.” 
  • It’s obvious to anyone watching that Fields thrives in what we used to call “hurry-up” and is now referred to as “tempo”. One reason is because Chicago’s outside weapons are no good and tempo tires out defenders, giving folks like Damiere Byrd a serious advantage. (When criticizing the outside weapons, Darnell Mooney is, of course, exempt.)
  • Can we talk about how insane it is that the Bears have a rookie quarterback who has publicly admitted what he likes to do and a coach who has yet to seriously implement it 15 weeks into the season? Nagy’s 2021 self-implosion has been a thing to behold.
• Seattle’s approach to the Rams was to limit their deep exposure so Matthew Stafford just peppered them with underneath stuff. This is a week to feature David Montgomery in the passing attack.

Video of the (Christmas) Week: Volume I

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The Bears are not in a must-win situation Monday night. But the entire locker room needs to approach the game like they are. They’ve said all the right things since Sunday’s debacle. Will they show up and play with urgency? We shall see.

Why Do I Like the Chicago Bears this Week?

I always like the Chicago Bears.

Yes, the Green Bay result was dreadful. But one has to remember it was merely Week One. The arrow is pointed decidedly up for this group and things are going to start moving in that direction quickly.

Why the Bears Will Win?

• Pass rush. Khalil Mack was with the Bears one week before delivering one of the best halves of football the organization has ever seen.  Roquan Smith won’t be spending much time on the bench any longer. Akiem Hicks and Roy Robertson-Harris both looked like massive disrupters against a good Packers front. Seattle’s front is not very good. Russell Wilson was sacked six times by Denver and it could have been ten if he weren’t so damn elusive. The Bears will get to him early and often.
• Jordan Howard. The Broncos averaged 4.7 yards per carry against Seattle with two backs not in Howard’s league. Couple that with Nagy taking heat for abandoning his best offensive player at pivotal junctures against Green Bay and the stage is set for Howard to have a big, 25+ carry night.
• The Crowd. Outside of a few outspoken Twitter folks there is genuine enthusiasm surrounding this team right now and the crowd should reflect that Monday night. Primetime. Lubed up. Good weather. Soldier Field should be an exceedingly difficult place for the visitors this week.

Why They Won’t

• Offense in Neutral. Progress should be expected from Week One to Week Two but it’s nowhere near guaranteed. If the Bears struggle on offense like they did in the second half at Lambeau Field, will the defense be able to get them over the finish line?
• Elusive Russell Wilson. He keeps more plays alive than any other quarterback in the league and he’ll be expecting to see Mack, Leonard Floyd and company in his backfield all evening long. This is not a receiving corps, especially without Doug Baldwin, that is going to get a ton of separation off the line of scrimmage. But if Wilson can keep plays alive 3-4 seconds longer, players like Tyler Lockett, Brandon Marshall and Will Dissly will find space in the secondary.
• I Heart Michael Dickson. Have you seen this guy punt yet? He’s the most incredible young punting talent to enter the league in generations. As a punting enthusiast I debated flying to Chicago Monday morning to see him in person. (But alas, I have jury duty here in Queens.)

Tweet(storm) of the Week

Lol everything look open on a screenshot, @haha_cd6 woulda been Lambeau leapin if he woulda threw this, facts 🤷🏽‍♂️ https://t.co/x1iwUQNHjm

— Kevin King (@King_kevvoo) September 11, 2018

A few thoughts on this:

• Dan Durkin thinks he’s a professional NFL scout. He’s not. And yesterday he faced an onslaught of criticism (King, Gil Brandt, Dan Orlovsky, all of ESPN) for this Tweet because it reflected the amateurish and incompetent manner in which he approaches film study. Durkin would benefit from spending time in tape study with actual professionals. As someone who HAS DONE THAT I can assure you he’d stop this screenshot bullshit pretty damn quickly.

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Much indebted to Mr. Klein. A good and honorable man. And if CK wants to use the word elegancy you let him use it. He’s that kind of guy.

To the league we go! One thought on each NFL franchise, a bunch of thoughts on the Chicago Bears and a Super Bowl prediction!

• The Bears are going to be a good team with a bad quarterback until they wake up and stop playing the bad quarterback. If Mitch Trubisky doesn’t get 8 or more starts in 2017, then 2017 will be a wasted season. Sadly I’m starting to think he won’t.
• Think about Brock Osweiler, cut by the Browns at the end of this preseason. He’s 26 years old. He’s made $40 million. And he’s only been sacked 52 times in his entire career! So Osweiler made more than $769,000 per sack taken.
• Fewest points in a 16-game season is 140 from the 1992 Seattle Seahawks. I say the Jets challenge that. You tell me how the Jets mount a single 80-yard touchdown drive this season.
• Asked the Official Lady Friend of DaBlog, Ms. Sarah Scully, what she thought about the Los Angeles Rams. She responded, “I don’t.”
• Andrew Luck is one of the best players in the NFL. And now Chris Ballard has a couple years to rescue Luck from the middle of the ocean, where he was abandoned by a pill-popping owner and the quite possibly insane Ryan Grigson. Colts finish last in the AFC South.
• Two quarterbacks who have no business being on their current teams: Tyrod Taylor (Buffalo) and A.J. McCarron (Cincinnati). If the Bills hadn’t brought Tyrod back there’s a good chance he’d be on the Chicago Bears right now, sparing the fan base from the nightmare of Glennon. McCarron is better than all of the quarterbacks on the Jet, Jaguar, Colt (sans Luck) and Niner rosters.
• Defensive Player of the Year: Leonard Floyd, Chicago Bears. (Yep. 12-15 sacks.)

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There is very little drama to writing about yesterday’s performance by the Chicago Bears. It was a simple game to dissect. Let’s get right to it.

• Jimmy Clausen is dreadful. And with word across the internet yesterday suggesting Jay Cutler tore his hamstring and may miss up to six weeks, the Bears can’t rationalize putting Clausen under center for the next month while actually claiming they are trying to win games. Clausen overthrew open receivers deep, threw balls to the feet of guys running basic crossing routes and just generally looked like he was completely incapable of executing the most basic of game plans. If David Fales is breathing he should start against Oakland next week.
• There is no point in commenting on anything else offensively. It is impossible to execute as an offense when you’re quarterback is non-professional.

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Chicago Bears Schedule

FrontRowTickets.com has been a great sponsor of the game previews this season. I encourage all our readers to give the above image a click and check out what they have to offer. (I’m imagine prices will be quite reasonable by the time the weather changes.)

THE GAME POEM

In a caffeinated city, darkened by the nimbus of perpetual rainfall

An umbrella is raised.

                      Quietly. Sadly.

As if by a man apologetic for wanting to remain unsoiled by the coming drizzle.

A NOT-SO-QUICK THOUGHT

There is a growing movement of individuals wishing for the Bears to “tank” the season to increase their draft position. This is a flimsy position. Here’s why:

• The only position tank-worthy is the sure thing quarterback. And people don’t realize how rare those are. How many QBs in the league essentially guarantee their team will be in the playoffs/a playoff contender? 4-5? And outside of Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning, how many of those do you think were top 10 draft picks? Roethlisberger wasn’t. Brady and Rodgers weren’t. Do you believe Drew Brees or Joe Flacco or Russell Wilson is one of those guys? None of them in the top ten. (Eli Manning and Phil Rivers have proven they don’t put their team in the postseason every year.)
• Is there a guaranteed elite quarterback in this draft? The two consensus first rounders are Cal’s Jared Goff and Michigan State’s Connor Cook. Are either organization changers? (And for me, Robert Nkemdiche is the second coming of Suh.)
• The Bears don’t have to tank. They’re not any good. They can go out there and fight like hell every week and still not win more than 5 games. (Especially if Jimmy Clausen remains involved.)

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Made some overreacting mistakes to the first week of the season, especially in the Rams/Redskins game. Still can’t believe the Rams team that played the Redskins Sunday was the same that beat Seattle to open the year. Lines can be found here.

BALTIMORE -3 OVER CINCINNATI

Here’s the logic: I don’t believe the Ravens are an 0-3 team. And I think they (much like the Seahawks) will be refreshed by playing their first home game and deliver a big effort.  Ravens 30, Bengals 24.

Chicago at Seattle: TOTAL POINTS OVER 43.5

The Bears are going to have trouble scoring points with Jimmy Clausen starting at quarterback but I don’t think that means they’ll be shutout by a defense that has struggled mightily coming out of the 2015 gates. And the Seahawks would be disappointed finishing this game with less than 28 points. I say the game goes over. Seahawks 31, Bears 20

Tennessee Titans Total Points Over 21 vs. Indy

I have been unabashed in my hatred of the way Colts GM Ryan Grigson has built this roster around Andrew Luck. In lieu of offensive linemen or defenders, Grigson has stockpiled aged skill players the team doesn’t need. Luck will probably throw another pick or two and Marcus Mariota should be able to gauge the Colts for large chunks of yardage on the ground. Colts 34, Titans 30.

Season Record: 2-3-1 (-$140)

Looking Back

It wasn’t all bad.

Really, it wasn’t.

Without their best wide receiver and with a makeshift offensive line, the Bears drove down the field against one of the best defenses in the league and scored touchdowns twice.

Then Cutler got hurt.

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