The league is bananas. And there’s a lot to digest every week. Here are some general thoughts.

• Texted a friend of mine about this year’s quarterback class in the draft. Got a succinct response: “No starters”. So, if you are the Giants or Eagles, and you’re loaded with early picks, you’ll have to determine whether to wait a year before pulling the plug on your current starter. Daniel Jones and Jalen Hurts may not be “the guy” but replacing them with a high-profile veteran like Watson, Rodgers, Wilson may prove too costly.
• Lamar Jackson is always going to have physical limitations with his arm. But his decision making is what’s proving costly for the Ravens. He’s playing recklessly and that team isn’t good enough to survive reckless quarterback play.
• Not sure I’ve ever seen a tight end cost his team 14 points, but Gerald Everett did Sunday. He bobbled a touchdown pass into an INT and fumbled at the goal line. Without those two errors, Seattle blows out San Francisco.
• Nine of Minnesota’s games this season have been decided on the final play. They are 3-6 in those games. That team is inexcusably out of the postseason right now and it looks like it will cost Mike Zimmer his job at season’s end.
• It was not unexpected to see the Jaguars struggle this season. But I never expected an Urban Meyer team to be consistently blown out. (And Trevor Lawrence has not improved as the season has progressed. If anything, he looks burnt out.)
• Joe Brady is to blame in Carolina, huh? Was it Brady who made a ridiculous trade for Sam Darnold? Did Brady try to rescue the season on the arm of a washed-up Cam Newton? Did Brady build an offense entirely around a running back that can’t stay on the field?

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Dave Wasserman is the savviest political analyst in the country. He’s not a partisan hack, pontificating endlessly to halfwits like Chuck Todd about why Issue X plays in rural Virginia and Issue Y doesn’t in Maricopa County. Wasserman is focused on the numbers, the data, and made his bones focusing on congressional redistricting maps. (His Twitter feed is aptly handled @Redistrict.) On election nights, Wasserman pours through the data, county-by-county, and is often able to call races (accurately, mind you) well before the networks. When he’s ready to make the call, he turns to his catchphrase: I’ve seen enough. 

Well, I’ve seen enough.

Forget reassignment. Forget restructuring the front office. When George McCaskey finally fires Matt Nagy, he must also fire Ryan Pace. Pace has done several valuable things as GM of the Chicago Bears, but this organization’s dearth of talent at several key positions – positions vital to the development and success of Justin Fields – can no longer be overlooked. It is time for a new direction.

There are two fatal flaws of the Pace tenure: he drafted Mitch Trubisky and he hired Matt Nagy. Those mistakes have been discussed ad nauseum and need not be reiterated here. But watching the Bears fall to the Cardinals Sunday, a third fatal flaw became all-too-apparent once again. The Bears have simply failed to add enough game-changing playmakers in his seven years on the job.

Darnell Mooney is a terrific player and will thrive in a more coherent offensive system next season. But is there another pass catcher on this roster that even mildly concerns opposing defenses? Allen Robinson is headed towards a one-year prove it deal in New England. Goodwin, Byrd and Grant are practice squad players for the top teams in the league. Cole Kmet is a viable piece of an offensive attack but he’s not in the conversation with the marquee tight ends and he never will be. (To Kmet’s credit, that was not the expectation of him coming out of college.)

Their backfield is good. David Montgomery is a brilliant running back and there will be teams calling for his services this off-season. But while Tarik Cohen’s production earned him a hefty payday, his injury seems to have completely derailed any semblance of an explosive screen game. The Bears valued that role to the tune of $17 million but have seen no reason to replace him in the lineup. Has anyone asked why?

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 Lou Malnati’s, Phoenix

Why Do I Like the Chicago Bears This Week?

I always like the Chicago Bears.

And 2021 is almost at its conclusion. Why harbor negative feelings?

Bears Need to Keep Game Close

This is the part of the game preview where I try to find an overarching theme for the contest. But Sunday is one tough tamale.

The Bears are too banged up on defense to find relevance there. (What even is this defense without Mack, Roquan and Hicks?)

Without Justin Fields playing – and he shouldn’t play until he’s 100% healthy – there’s little relevant happening on the offensive side of the ball. You want to get excited about Larry Borom and Darnell Mooney? That’s fine. But those two guys are going to be part of the program next season. Their next “important” game is in September.

So, what is worth watching? The score. The Bears have to keep this game close and competitive because if they don’t Soldier Field is going to a nightmare. The fans have had enough of the coach and they want blood. If the score gets out of hand in the second half, the only audible things on the telecast are going to be “Fire Nagy” chants. And those chants will be leading everyone’s game stories.

The Bears need to stay in this game and have a plausible chance to win in the fourth quarter. Will they?

Top 10 Sondheim Songs (From the Stage)

There will be plenty of time for me to write thoroughly about what Stephen Sondheim’s life and career means to me. But the world is currently flooded with those types of remembrances. As time moves along, and there’s distance from his passing, I will spend some more time with this difficult topic. For now, I’m sharing ten songs that display his genius in this form I love – musical theatre. They are ranked because I like ranking things. But the rankings are meaningless.

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(10) Someone in a Tree, Pacific Overtures

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(09) Comedy Tonight, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

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(08) Losing My Mind, Follies

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The jury is out on Justin Fields, and will remain out for the next season or so. But the Bears, and more specifically the folks who own the Bears, have been wildly impressed with the young signal caller – on and off the field – and believe the organization may have finally solved it’s most definitive, idiosyncratic dilemma. Said an individual close to ownership, “They know the situation is not ideal but he’s handling it with class.”

The debate currently raging (possibly too strong a word, but emotions are high) through the Halls of Halas is whether the acquisition of said signal caller is enough to warrant keeping the personnel man responsible for that acquisition in his job. As Ryan Pace prepares to make his case to the McCaskey family, a key piece of the argument currently resides on IR: Teven Jenkins.

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The Bears have until next Monday to decide whether to activate rookie offensive tackle Teven Jenkins from IR. He has continued to participate in practice as part of his 21-day window, which has included some contact. Overall, things have been positive.

— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) November 29, 2021

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After Sunday, the Bears have five games remaining. If Jenkins can get back on the field in 2021, even for the final 2-3 games, and show glimpses of premier left tackle play, Pace can argue his 2021 draft as potentially organization defining. (Few teams come out of a single draft with franchise players at both quarterback and left tackle.) Pace has made plenty of mistakes – Mitch and Matt predominantly – but the Bears believe in his leadership and also believe he’s improving in the job. Jenkins performing at a high level might give ownership that confidence that he’s capable of the next major task: building around Justin Fields.

The merits of that confidence would be, let’s just say, debatable. But as the head coach’s fate has become clear in recent weeks, the focus of ownership has shifted almost entirely to evaluating their GM. Jenkins playing, and playing well, could alter that evaluation.

While “Fire Nagy” chants fill even the smallest stadiums in Illinois, the Chicago Bears are doing the right thing by giving their coach at least a chance to fight for his job. Had the Bears lost to the Detroit Lions, that story would be different.

Perhaps it can be argued that a last-second win over the worst team in the league shouldn’t matter, but keep in mind that the Ravens, Browns and Vikings were also taken to the wire by Detroit, with several of them deserving to lose. There’s no such thing as a bad win, especially when draft status is not impacted.

Thanksgiving’s victory isn’t likely going to mean anything, but giving Nagy a chance to dig out of this hole will surely look good to candidates interested being his replacement. (Firing Nagy mid-season, a year after making the playoffs, might turn off some candidates.) Since there would be no actual benefit to firing Nagy right now, why risk eliminating any potential replacements? Especially considering the most interesting rumor involves one of Nagy’s good friends, Ryan Day. While the Bears being “in the hunt” is a punch line today, it might not be a week from now.

Sunday, the Bears face a team from the southwest, at noon, on what is expected to be a cold and rainy day. Nobody likes the term “Bear weather,” but there have been plenty of warm-weather teams who have struggled to deal with it over the years. The Cardinals are very good, but they’re young, wounded and have their own coaching distraction to worry about. Likely working for a contract extension, Kliff Kingsbury didn’t even shoot down the rumors about Oklahoma.

The Cardinals have a top-10 offense and defense, but if ever there was a chance for a massive upset, this is it.

It’s likely going to take nine wins to make the playoffs, and if the Bears win Sunday that won’t be as far-fetched as many believe, especially if the team can get back to running the ball and playing defense like they did earlier in the year. (They’ll also need their young quarterback to replicate his Pittsburgh performance a few times down the stretch.)

The most likely scenario is a loss for the Bears — probably even an ugly one. That coupled with a sure loss to Green Bay next week will seal Nagy’s fate. The Bears will be out of the playoff hunt and can move on from Nagy with time to interview coaches before the end of the season, thanks to a recent rule change.

Fans can hate Nagy all they want, but those looking at the job from a distance will look positively on two playoff appearances in two years. They may see things they think they could do better, but nobody will paint the picture fans have of Nagy matching the incompetence of John Fox and Marc Trestman. They’ll see a coach who made the playoffs with horrible quarterback play and they’ll know how difficult that is to accomplish. They also know what all coaches know: If you don’t win enough, you won’t have a job for long.

Nagy is still a winning coach and has dug out of holes before. The Bears have nothing to lose by giving him the opportunity to do so again.

The Vikings paid 84 million guaranteed dollars to get Kirk Cousins to try to take a snap from his RG #MINvsSF pic.twitter.com/zZ2B4Ldl4S

— Someone’s An Idiot (@SomeonesAnIdiot) November 29, 2021

Feels like the big-ticket Bears items have been thoroughly discussed. So today, DBB takes a look around the NFL. (I’ll be writing more about my idol, the legendary Stephen Sondheim, in this week’s game preview.)

• What are the Vikings going to do? Kirk Cousins is just good enough to keep you “in the hunt” and not good enough to win a big game/title. How much more evidence do they need? That organization needs to detonate this current program and build everything around Justin Jefferson.
• Can Jalen Hurts become a professional passer? Because right now, he’s not close. That’s not to say the Eagles can’t win with him playing quarterback but they’re going to need a diet version of what Baltimore is doing. He’s physical. He’s got the leadership qualities you want. But that arm is backup level stuff.
• Denver shouldn’t fire Vic Fangio. They should get him a quarterback.
• Buffalo vs. New England on Monday Night Football is the game of the year, and it’s the most important regular season game for the Bills since the 1990s. They need to win. They need to kill the demon that has haunted them for two decades. And they need their quarterback to rise to the moment.
• Justin Herbert is quietly not having a particularly good second season. He was bad Sunday in Denver and bad in three of his previous five games. He’s a special talent and the stats will always be there, but there are some red flags popping up.
• Shad Khan has a lot invested in Urban Meyer but what the hell is going on in Jacksonville? There’s not one positive thing in that program, including Trevor Lawrence looking beyond ordinary. Meyer has always had the best players on the field because he’s a shady recruiter. That will never be the case in Jax.
• Carson Wentz is capable of being a great quarterback for about two and a half quarters.

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[Note: This thread was written prior to Harbaugh and Michigan’s victory over Ohio State.]

The Bears have done things one way for a long time, allowing their GM to be the head of football operations.

But maybe it’s time to change that thinking.

Maybe it’s time to make the head coach the alpha at Halas Hall.

This is happening across the league. Belichick, of course, but also Sean Payton, Kyle Shanahan, Pete Carroll, Andy Reid, etc. Some of the more successful organizations are no longer led by a personnel man, but by a football coach.

My guy is Jim Harbaugh.
• 44-19-1 as an NFL HC.
• History of hiring great staffs (Roman, Fangio, etc.)
• Coached vs Fields, would understand his game.
• Will embrace power run game as base of offense.
• Thrived with Kaepernick; will utilize Fields’ legs effectively.

I don’t care about Harbaugh’s college career. College is about recruiting and every time I watch Michigan play they’ve got some awful thing at QB.

Did he win a title at Michigan? No. Did he once again win WAY more than he loses? Of course. He’s a great football coach.

And Harbaugh, while very Parcellsian in his ability to ruffle feathers & wear out his welcome, has a million friends in the NFL. Pairing him with great evaluator – Jeff Ireland, perhaps – would be easy.

Both Harbaugh & Ireland have told friends Chicago is their dream job.

Harbaugh would give the Bears a football face. He’d be the front man for the program. The buck would stop with him.

And the Bears would win.