Why Do I Like the Chicago Bears This Week?

I always like the Chicago Bears.

And the Lions stink.

Best Tweets from Patricia & Quinn’s Former Players

These guys seemed…popular.

What is it going to take for franchises to realize there is no “Patriot Way”. There is Bill Belichick, a certifiable football genius. There was Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback to ever play. That – and an historically bad division around them for two decades – was why they won all those games.

(Also, it is thought that Patricia has been lighting up the Lions via a Twitter burner account in the last few days.)

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Welp 🤷🏾‍♂️

— Ezekiel Ansah (@Ziggy_Ansah) November 28, 2020

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I was the problem tho😂😂😂 https://t.co/B5GG29ilqt

— Darius Slay (@bigplay24slay) November 28, 2020

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Haha told me you’ll take my career away from me but I guess they have other plans for you 😂😂

— AshawnRobinson (@AshawnRobinson) November 28, 2020

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about to text bob quinn see if he straight. 😂

— Eric Ebron (@Ebron85) November 28, 2020

Trubisky vs. the Lions For the Final Time?

Wrote the following in the Week One Game Preview:

Mitch Trubisky’s success against the Lions is not a myth. But it is absurd.

In five career games, he has completed 70.1% of his passes for 1,359 yards, 11 TDs and only 4 INTS. That’s a passer rating of 106.3.

In his three starts against them under Matt Nagy, those numbers move to 74.7%, 9/1 TD to INT and a rating of 132.4. And most importantly, three victories.

Let’s take just touchdowns and interceptions for a second. Remove the Lions numbers from Mitch’s totals and he’s at 37 TDs and 25 INTs. That’s…horrendous. It’s quite remarkable how these Lions performances have skewed his poor career statistics slightly more positive.

Trubisky’s week one performance? Crap until the fourth quarter but he ended with 242 yards, 3 TDs, a 104.2 rating and the victory. I mean, seriously, is there any reason to think Trubisky won’t beat the Lions Sunday?

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The story feels written. The outcome assured. After the full-team collapse Sunday night in Wisconsin, it will surprise no one if, at season’s end or sooner, George McCaskey and family fire Ryan Pace, fire Matt Nagy and reassign Ted Phillips within the organization, away from football operations.

But for those wanting these changes to take place yesterday (or the day before) it is time for a pragmatic pause. Because while this season feels over, it is not actually over. The Bears face the bad Lions, with an interim coach and lame-thumbed quarterback, Sunday at Soldier Field. They face the bad Texans, who were apparently popping PEDs like Sweet Tarts, in that same building the following week. If they win both of those of those games they will be 7-6 and viably challenging for spot in the tournament.

And making the tournament still matters. The Bears, for as bad as they’ve looked offensively through this five-game losing streak, are one game out of the 7th spot and a game and a half out of the 6th spot currently held by Tampa, a team they have beaten. Just because this current incarnation of the club has zero shot of winning the Super Bowl doesn’t mean a playoff berth ceases to be an achievement. Winning these next two games would, if nothing else, earn Pace and Nagy the right to complete this 2020 campaign. That’s it. It would allow them the opportunity to fix the mess they’ve created. Is that likely? Of course not.

If the Bears lose EITHER of these next two games, the time for pragmatism ends. A seventh loss with three (or four) to play ends the dream of January football. And not making the playoff field in a year where the NFC has this little depth is certainly cause for termination. If the Bears lose either of these next two games, Pace and Nagy should be fired the following day. (The Ted reassignment can happen whenever.)

Will making changes in-season have any tangible impact? Unlikely. A few reasons:

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With the 12th pick in the 1999 NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears select Cade McNown, quarterback, UCLA.

QB rating through 25 total games with the franchise: 67.7.

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With the 22nd pick in the 2003 NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears select Rex Grossman, quarterback, Florida.

Best QB rating during his Bears tenure, 2006: 73.9.

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With their first-round picks in 2009 and 2010, the Chicago Bears trade for Jay Cutler, quarterback, Denver Broncos.

Number of seasons with a QB rating over 90: 1.

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With the second pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears select Mitchell Trubisky, quarterback, North Carolina.

QB rating ranking league-wide in 2019: 28th.

(This year he would be around 26th, only because Nick Foles is on the list.)

That’s it. That’s the post.

The interview would be simple.

Former Packers and Browns executive Eliot Wolf, son of the famed Ron Wolf, would explain to George McCaskey one simple truth: he wants to beat the Packers as much as anyone in and around Halas Hall.

The reason Wolf isn’t already a general manager in the league is because the Packers wouldn’t let him leave. Wolf was said to be the favorite for the Detroit Lions job that ultimately went to Bob Quinn but he was never even allowed to interview for it. The Packers did let him speak with the 49ers about their GM opening, but that wasn’t a traditional GM job, as the coach they were certainly hiring — Kyle Shanahan — would have the keys to the organization. Wolf withdrew from that possibility thinking he would be next in line for the soon-to-open Packers job.

It never happened.

In fact, Ted Thompson’s position – which was held by Wolf’s father – was eliminated by Mark Murphy, the club’s financial guy. Murphy changed the organizations structure so that all football decisions would, ultimately, run through him. The job Wolf had always dreamt of having was taken away from him and Brian Gutekunst was promoted up the Packers personnel chain. Wolf wanted to pick the coach. Wolf wanted to pick the players. He didn’t want to share the GM role with the club’s salary cap manager.

Wolf was left in a limbo. He spent a season as Assistant General Manager for the Browns, barely even getting his feet wet before his boss – John Dorsey – was fired. Wolf then chose to leave Cleveland, first helping out in Seattle and then working as a consultant with the New England Patriots.

(As the Bears were picked apart by the likes of Davante Adams and Aaron Jones, it’s worth remembering that Wolf was the second-highest ranking executive when the team drafted them. As Ted Thompson’s health declined, Wolf began doing even more. He was training to be the team’s football czar without knowing that Murphy already planned that position for himself.)

There is no way that didn’t piss him off and the Bears have the opportunity to allow Wolf to show the Packers they screwed up.

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The Bears didn’t just lose to the Green Bay Packers Sunday night. The Bears were thoroughly embarrassed in primetime, in front of the whole of the football world, with the franchise’s matriarch in the building. The Bears suffered the kind of loss folks remember years later. Remember where they were. Remember what they felt.

I felt nothing. Not before the game. Not during. Not after.

Was the defense bad? Of course it was. This was one of the worst defensive performances since Trestman and Tucker bussed out of town. But some of the best defenses in the league spent Sunday on their backs. Did you see what Tennessee did to Indianapolis? What Kansas City did to Tampa? Matt LaFleur and Aaron Rodgers ran circles around Chuck Pagano and his unit. But even if this was the best defense in the sport, the team would have no shot.

Because the bigger issue remains. Every single one of us watching that game knew the Bears were incapable of competing once the Packers got into the high-20s. This is the historic, fundamental flaw of this organization. As soon as the scoring starts to resemble NFL 2020 and NFL 1971, the Bears don’t stand a chance.

And the GM should pay with his job. 

In last week’s game preview, I gently suggested this game would represent “rock bottom”. What I didn’t expect was for the broadcast crew of Mike Tirico and Tony Dungy to talk about this team’s offense like they were actually working their way through the twelve steps. Those two men, who have seen a lot of football, knew what they were looking at: an offense incapable of competing consistently at the professional level. An offense that, if the defense has a bad game, was totally incapable of holding their end of the bargain.

And in the third quarter, that Bears defense quit.

They quit.

And while I may understand the reason they weren’t able to maintain a high level of focus, there is never a time when quitting should be tolerated. To this point, the head coach has been able to cling to two factors when arguing to stay in his position: the win/loss record and the fact that his team doesn’t quit. The latter no longer exists.

The head coach should pay with his job.

Where do we go from here? Where we have gone many times previously. A friend of mine, someone who knows what is happening at Halas Hall, texted me in the fourth quarter. “The team quit…it’s over…no chance this isn’t blown up.” There will soon be new leadership for the Chicago Bears.

The modern game is about the quarterback, and about points. The Bears have failed historically in both departments.

Alabama (6-0) vs. Auburn (5-2)

3:30 PM ET

True story: I’ve never seen Jones play. Not a single snap. So I’ll be interested look at him in this high pressure scenario. At this stage, should he declare for the NFL Draft, he’s profiling at the back end of the first round / top of the second round. In other words, he’s profiling as someone the Bears could be considering.

Highlights.

From Mel Kiper, in a piece over at 247 Sports:

NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. appeared Saturday on SEC Nation and raved over Jones’ ability as a passer. However, the number of overall starts could be a factor within NFL circles, much like former Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins’ one-year wonder of a season two years ago which helped him go in the opening round to Washington.

“He’s spectacular, Laura (Rutledge), you think about 78.5%, 16 touchdowns, two picks. He’s got all of that talent around him, yes he does,” Kiper said. “But Jaylen Waddle is now hurt. He’s without that great receiver opposite DeVonta Smith. I think his deep-ball accuracy is phenomenal, his poise, his confidence right now directing that Alabama offense.

“Now, six-career starts this year, four last year, 10 total. You want that number higher than that. He’s going to end up with 16 after this year is over. Remember Mitchell Trubisky, 13, Mark Sanchez 16? That’s the issue. Career starts only around 16, will he go back to Alabama to try to get more of those, more experience? We’ll see.”

Several quarterbacks are expected to be selected ahead of Jones in the 2021 NFL Draft if he comes out as a junior, according to most mocks. But Jones is gaining ground, Kiper notes.

“Now he’s in that Top 25 in terms of the big board,” Kiper said. “Sixteen career starts is going to be something people will factor in , but if he keeps lighting it up, he’s right around 80% right now.

“If he keeps putting up the numbers he has been putting up, I think he’s in the late-first round discussion. Maybe a little higher than that.”

Iowa State (6-2) at Texas (5-2)

12:00 PM ET

Purdy is a gamer. Will his skillset translate to the NFL level? It’s become borderline impossible to gauge that for most of these college guys but Purdy is certainly worth a floater pick in the mid rounds.

Highlights Package

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Thanksgiving is an under-represented holiday cinematically, primarily because there’s not a real “Thanksgiving season”. It’s a one day affair. But also because the tradition on Thanksgiving is football. That’s what on TV screens across the country.

These are my three favorite Thanksgiving pictures. There are other films that peripherally deal with Thanksgiving (Broadway Danny Rose, Tower Heist…etc.) but these are legitimately about the holiday.

#3 The Mouse on the Mayflower

#2 Planes, Trains and Automobiles

#1 Home For the Holidays