No reason to write an article about this. The first 45 minutes of this appearance are a pretty clear rant on the subject of Justin Fields.
DBB’s Thoughts on Justin Fields, Via Irish Bears Show [VIDEO]
No reason to write an article about this. The first 45 minutes of this appearance are a pretty clear rant on the subject of Justin Fields.
Five Things I Think Will Happen Sunday:
Chicago Bears 24, Houston Texans 13
He has a beard now. A glorious, white beard. It terrifies young babies. So…
I.
Always.
Like.
THE.
Chicago.
Bears.
In the first two weeks of the season, Lovie’s defense has faced Matt Ryan and Russell Wilson, both times as substantial underdogs. Their passer ratings?
Ryan: 83.1
Wilson: 66.5
That ranks the Texans seventh in the league in opposer passer rating, a pretty decent stat when evaluating a pass defense. For those thinking this is a “get healthy” week for Justin Fields, that just isn’t the case.
But Houston is allowing 163.5 on the ground so don’t be surprised if the game plan for the Bears in Week 3 is relatively similar to what we’ve seen so far in September.
Knowing Lovie, expect the Texans to sell out to stop the run and dare Fields to sit in the pocket and beat them. If Fields has a good afternoon, the Bears could have a big offensive output.
Again, Tuesdays are a good spot in the week to assess the development of young players on this young roster and a few concerning trends have begun to emerge.
Darnell Mooney/Cole Kmet
Where are they?
That’s serious question worth asking after two games.
Where are they?
There was no scenario wherein the Bears could be a productive offense in 2022 without serious production from Mooney and Kmet and, through two games, they have been utterly invisible. How much of that do they own? How much of that is on the quarterback? How much of that is on two difficult defensive opponents?
Whatever the reasoning, it has to stop. The next two games – home to Houston and at the Giants – need to be games where these two players are fed the football. Scheme them open if necessary. The Bears need to find out just how many weapons they need to acquire this off-season.
Roquan Smith
In the winter, Aaron Judge played hardball with the New York Yankees. He wanted a zillion dollars over a zillion years. The Yankees only wanted to give him 3/4 of a zillion over slightly less than a zillion years. Nobody budged. No deal. And now Judge is having the greatest contract year in the history of professional sports.
Roquan Smith is off to the opposite campaign. He is getting blown off the ball repeatedly, including by backs and receivers. He looks slow in coverage, normally a major strength. And the tenacity that has come to define his game is absent. Roquan is 25 years old and should be a long-term answer on this defense. But playing at this level, it’s becoming more and more likely he is elsewhere in 2023.
Imagine the criticism that would befall Ryan Poles were Smith to be playing at this level after being given $100 million.
Larry Borom
With a nod to Dave Wasserman, I believe I’ve seen enough. Borom is not a starting offensive tackle.
Teven Jenkins looks good inside. Braxton Jones is holding his own at left tackle. But Borom is a severe liability on the right side and the Bears need to start thinking about an upfront construction that doesn’t land him in the starting five. (This might take Alex Leatherwood’s return from mono.)
This shouldn’t be read as a striking criticism, either. Borom was a late-round pick and is a perfectly capable swing tackle. He is a roster asset. But in a league where the athleticism on the defensive edge seems to increase tenfold yearly (have you seen Micah Parsons play?), Borom simply can’t handle the role four quarters a week for 17 weeks plus.
There is still a contingent of Bears fans who believe everything the team does should be exclusively geared towards Justin Fields and his development, even though the off-season clearly showed that is not how this leadership will conduct business.
I get it, to a point.
(1/9)
— DaBearsBlog (@dabearsblog) September 19, 2022
8:00 PM ET
Thoughts on a day of watching football and researching Hitchcock’s silent stage adaptations.
8:16 PM ET
“I’ve been waiting all day for Sunday night” is one of the most ridiculous football concepts around. Other than the fans of the two teams, nobody waits all day for Sunday Night Football. If anything, most NFL fans are exhausted by kickoff. (People forget this slot used to be occupied by a throwaway game for years.)
8:18 PM ET
“The most played rivalry in the history of the National Football League.”
Is that a compliment?
8:24 PM ET
KICKOFF!
TOUCHBACK!
8:26 PM ET
I would like to preemptively apologize for tonight’s minute-by-minute. I am pretty damn tired and I’m old now and these games feel super late to me. I shall do my best and try to land a few barbs.
8:27 PM ET
Aaron Rodgers looks like Aaron Rodgers.
8:32 PM ET
Angelo Blackson makes a great play in the backfield and then stands over the back. He luckily avoided an unsportsmanlike penalty for taunting. That is being called all over the league. Needs to be coached into these guys pronto.
8:36 PM ET
Kyler Gordon makes a brilliant play on the football, and Trevis Gipson follows that with a sack. That is the kind of sequence fans need to see this year. Young players developing is the primary story of this campaign. Some very good signs through one game and one drive.
They weren’t supposed to win the opener. They’re not supposed to win Sunday night at Lambeau. So, one might ask…
I.
Always.
Like.
THE.
Chicago.
Bears.
The Packers have never bothered me. There are many reasons for this.
First, I’m not from Chicago and I think that matters. Geographic proximity seems to breed sporting animosity, but specifically that 200-mile range. It is roughly 200 miles from Chicago to Green Bay. It is also roughly 200 miles from New York City to Boston, and Ann Arbor to Columbus. (There are about 40 miles less in the journey from Tuscaloosa to Auburn.) But if you’re not from these places (or if they’re not your alma mater) it is incredibly difficult to feel the rivalry.
Also, for the entirety of my lifetime, Bears vs. Packers has been a terrible rivalry. Green Bay has had a Hall of Fame quarterback since I’m ten years old. Brett Favre was 22-10 against Chicago. Aaron Rodgers is 23-5. This is a rivalry? 45-15? I get the historical underpinnings of the whole endeavor, but it hasn’t been a fair fight since George H.W. Bush was in the White House.
And for those who got angry at the whole “I own you” episode with Rodgers a year ago, I ask you this: why? Rodgers is a desperately sad individual. His prolific professional career has been marred by disappointment. His life has been a mess. His family has written him off. He’s constantly searching for magic elixirs that will enter his bloodstream and trip whatever wire releases the happiness enzymes. If proclaiming ownership over a franchise that has beaten him a total of five times in 14 years brings him closer to whatever nirvana he seeks, I’m willing to let him have that.
I’ve always done the “Packer Week” thing around here because I figured it’s what the fans want. Until this rivalry becomes a rivalry again, and produces some memorable games/moments, I’m done with it. Let me see the Bears win four of the next eight and then we can go on and on about “Packer Week”.
Until this summer, I must admit, I was not a huge fan of this oft-proclaimed master of the French New Wave. As a matter of fact, I much preferred the films of Francois Truffaut to Godard. But a revisiting of his work, in the wake of my return to academia, has enlightened me. And though it won’t mean anything to Godard, who died this week at 91, I’m very glad to have seen a print of Bande à part with the First Lady of DBB at Film Forum in NYC while he was still alive.
Here are some great quotes about Godard.
Roger Ebert, from a 1969 review of Weekend: “Godard is a director of the very first rank; no other director in the 1960s has had more influence on the development of the feature-length film. Like Joyce in fiction or Beckett in theater, he is a pioneer whose present work is not acceptable to present audiences. But his influence on other directors is gradually creating and educating an audience that will, perhaps in the next generation, be able to look back at his films and see that this is where their cinema began.”
Woody Allen: “Then he said I could say whatever I wanted to say. He plays the French intellectual very well, with the 5 o’clock shadow and a certain vagueness. Meanwhile, when I got there for the shoot, he was wearing pajamas—tops and bottoms—and a bathrobe and slippers and smoking a big cigar. I had the uncanny feeling that I was being directed by Rufus T. Firefly.”
Sometimes a Tweet deserves its own post, and it also helps me save the Tweet for posterity. This is just the coolest perspective of the victory celebration.
Sea Monster of the Midway! pic.twitter.com/aG1b0DebrD
— Brian Hurley (@brianrhurley) September 13, 2022
