TEE SHIRT SALES ARE PICKING UP…

…but we have to keep the deadline sturdy at October 31st. Halloween night. Go ahead and get yours ordered today to ensure you have one for the Bears fan you love come Christmas or Chanukah or whatever the hell religious thing you happen to enjoy. To order the shirt, CLICK HERE. They have made their way around the country and they’re pretty terrific.

Rev    Izzy

BILL BARNWELL: BEARS ARE BEST TEAM IN NFL

I have tried my hardest to hate everything associated with Grantland – outside the brilliant Monday podcast from Simmons and Cousin Sal. But Bill Barnwell has written some of the smartest pieces on the Bears I’ve seen from a member of the “national” media. I don’t much care where any club is ranked in October but the analysis is sound.

Here’s the entirety of his piece calling the Bears the best in the game:

Yes, that’s right, the Bears. The same Bears who capitulated in Green Bay in Week 2 and briefly became a national punch line because Jay Cutler threw four interceptions. That’s a rough loss, but it also came in a game where Matt Forte left with an injury during the opening drive of the second half. That forced the Bears to change their offense on the fly and integrate Michael Bush into the starting lineup without many practice reps. As you might expect, the Bears are significantly better with Forte around; he’s averaged a full 4.7 yards per carry this year, well ahead of backups Bush (3.6 yards per pop) and Kahlil Bell (2.7). When Forte is around, there’s nothing the Bears don’t do well. They’re proficient running the ball, adequate throwing it, and well above-average in all facets of defense and special teams. The emergence of Henry Melton and Shea McClellin as secondary pass rushers has freed up space for Julius Peppers, while Tim Jennings has had a career year in five games at cornerback: He’s set or tied career highs in interceptions (four) and passes defended (10) with 11 games left to go.

And while everybody else has a close call or two on their résumé, the Bears have been dominant in their four wins this season. In their three wins against average-or-better competition — the Colts, Cowboys, and Rams — Chicago won by a minimum of 16 points. Their one game against a cream puff, the Jaguars, resulted in a 41-3 shellacking. Every other team on this list, besides perhaps the Texans, had at least one game in which a change on one play would turn their win into a loss. That hasn’t been true for the Bears. They’ve had some luck in producing five defensive touchdowns in five games this year, but the defense would still be good and the margins of victory would still be impressive without the bonus touchdowns from the defense.

If you want to hop on the Bears bandwagon (a place where I admittedly have to hide, myself), now’s the time. Over the next three weeks, Chicago is home for games against the Lions and Panthers before traveling to Tennessee. At that point, the Bears might very well be 7-1, but their schedule will become something resembling punishment: Their next six games include matchups against the Seahawks (thankfully, in Chicago), Texans, Packers, 49ers, and a home-and-home with the Vikings. They might not have the best record in football by the time they’re through with that month and a half of hell, but if they can go 3-3 or 4-2 across that stretch, I wouldn’t budge them from this spot.

Of course, it also probably says something about how flawed even the league’s best teams are that the team I chose for the top spot on this list is the one that was out of sight and on a bye this week. The Bears could very well lose to the Lions next Monday night and create an AFC East–esque logjam in the NFC North, and we’ll all have to revisit this whole conceit again. Until that upset happens, the best team in football resides in the Windy City.

I think his last point may be his wisest one. The Bears must beat the Lions Monday night at home and cement their position in the NFC North. A loss will create a wild final ten weeks of the season.

ARGO IS GREAT. JUST PLAIN GREAT.

And it features my buddy and diehard Chicago Bears fan Christopher Denham. (When not moonlighting in Hollywood pictures, Mr. Denham can be found at Josie Woods Pub on Sundays. Go see it.

DABEARSBLOG IS HEADED TO THE MUSIC CITY

DJ Noah Brier (co-founder of this here feast) and I will be heading to Nashville for the Bears vs. Titans contest on Sunday, November 4th. If you’re planning to be down there drop me an email to jeff@dabearsblog.com and maybe we can coordinate a Honky Tonk locale for Bears fans to gather pre or post-game.

How different do you think the Bears would look right now if Jerry Angelo were still GM?

David M. Evanston, IL

JH: Well, for one, I don’t see any way Brandon Marshall is currently in a Bears uniform. It just wasn’t Jerry’s approach to (1) acknowledge deficiencies on the Bears receiving corps or (2) make a splashy trade for improvement at the position. Does he draft Alshon Jeffery? Perhaps. Does he sign Michael Bush? Perhaps. His signing of Chester Taylor leads one to think he values the backup running back.

The defensive starting lineup would look exactly the same. But would they have added depth pieces like Hayes and Hayden?

______________________________

Hey Jeff,

Why do you hate pop culture references so much?  Every time you write about staying away from them I feel like I’m missing out on a good joke, go for a few this year!  Works for Sports Guy as you know…

Great blog, thanks!

-Perno

JH: In movies and theatre, I despise pop culture references because they immediately date the work. Think about movies like The 40 Year-Old Virgin and basically everything Judd Apatow is involved in cinematically. Ten years from now nobody is going to understand a thing coming out of the mouths of those characters. The great works – in any artistic medium – are the ones lasting far beyond their release date.

For instance, watch this scene. If you eliminate the two pop culture references the scene works just as well and might be even funnier. But nobody on earth will know what Maid in Manhattan is come nine minutes from now, never mind nine years.

As for Simmons, I actually like him a lot and can’t help admire his career. But I just choose to be old school in my approach to writing about sports. I’d prefer trying to find interesting ways to contextualize games I love that don’t involve comparisons to Real Housewives programs.

_____________________________

Hey Jeff,

Where do the Bears look in the first round of the draft?

Teddy M. Springfield, IL

JH: Why are so many fans fixated on draft needs for a 4-1 team? I got three or four emails asking me about April. Who cares where the Bears are looking to improve in April? I want to see them improve in October! That being said I don’t see the Bears targeting positions in April. I think they’ll take the best players on the board each round.

______________________________

Why don’t you like fantasy football? You’ve never really explained it.

Many People, From Everywhere

JH: I played fantasy football for many years and was very successful at it. My brother and I were in a league of high-powered New Jersey attorneys, we drafted at Houlihans in Secaucus and Marshall Faulk essentially won titles for me every year. The last year I played was 2002, right as fantasy football was blowing up around the country.

Why did I stop? I started hating the types of football conversations I was having. I still hate them. I hated seeing individuals running from game to game to see who scored touchdowns but not care a lick about the team got into position to score the touchdown or what the context of the touchdown was. People pretend fantasy football has made football fans more intelligent but it absolutely has not. Just because a guy or lady knows stats doesn’t mean he/she knows sports.

In 2005 Noah, the Reverend and I launched this site. And I didn’t need anything else.

__________________________________

How important are the next three games for the Chicago Bears?

Rob. Arlington Heights

JH: They are pivotal to this Bears season.

Detroit. I watched every snap of Lions v. Eagles Sunday and the only reason the Lions won is because – inexplicably – Andy Reid and Juan Castillo seemed to adapt a “make Calvin Johnson beat us” approach in the fourth quarter. (Spoiler alert: He did.) The Lions are not very good, outside of a talented front four on defense and the Stafford-to-Johnson connection. The Bears have a prime opportunity in primetime, at home, to put their season to bed.

Carolina. Any time Steve Smith is on the other sideline against the Bears that team has a shot. But Cam Newton has been awful in 2012 and the nobody has been better than the Bears defense. With Aaron Rodgers and the Packers about to surge offensively, the Bears need to show their championship meddle and beat an inferior team in their ballpark.

Tennessee. There’s a major issue facing the Bears in Tennessee: Noah and I will be sitting together in the stadium and that’s been a cursed combination. Otherwise, they should win.

The Bears can be no worse than 6-2 heading into the back eight. But they should be 7-1.

EMAIL ME YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS. MAYBE I’LL DO ANOTHER ONE OF THESE LATER IN THE WEEK.

Pictured above: the Reverend, the blog tee shirt and Izzy Idonije.

Rooting interests:

• Houston over Green Bay. Obviously. This Packers team simply can’t lose enough for me.
• Washington over Minnesota. I’m still shocked I have to keep track of who the damn Vikings are playing. I had them getting the first pick in the draft this year. The Vikings – outside the Favre years – have never really bothered me and I’d far rather battle them for a division title.
• Philadelphia v. Detroit is an interesting one. I am going to root for Mike Vick and the Eagles even though that they may come back to haunt me in December due to the wild card implications. Detroit has just become the most unlikable group of individuals in the league.
• I’m pulling for the 49ers over the Giants because I believe the 49ers are going to run away with the NFC West now and I would be terrified to see the Giants, and those guaranteed-to-wake-up-pass-rushers, in the post-season.
• It’s also an easy week to have fun rooting AFC over NFC as there are a bunch of match-ups. You want Patriots over Seahawks, Dolphins over Rams, Bills over Cardinals and – the longest of long shots – Raiders over Falcons. Nobody thinks wild card race in October…except for me.

Enjoy what should be a terrific, stress-free day of football games.

Make your selection for the picks contest on the previous post. You can get there easily by CLICKING HERE.

You also have 17 days remaining to purchase the blog tee shirt. So do that, jerks, by CLICKING HERE.

Tee Shirt Sales

The Reverend is also on a bye this week so we’re using this opportunity to sell some more tee shirts. Tees will only be on sale through Halloween and then we’re closing down shop on this brilliant design (PICTURED ABOVE) by the aforementioned Reverend and the great Michael Lapinski (@m_lapinski on Twitter). These make an excellent gift for the holiday season and this will be the last opportunity for you to order the shirts before that point.

So go and support the site, buy a tee shirt and show a Bears fan you love them. To do so, CLICK HERE.

Picks Contest Reminder.

If you have not entered the contest by now you are ineligible to win the contest. To see a the current standings after five weeks, CLICK HERE. We will update the standings again in three weeks or so.

Picks Contest Prize.

You’ll be invited as special guest of DaBearsBlog to this year’s Round One Draft Party on Thursday night, April 25th at Cortland’s Garage in Bucktown. The prize includes:

• Accommodation for draft night at The Willows Hotel, Lakeview. To see the hotel, CLICK HERE. I’ll also be in the hotel and will gladly take you for a drink at the local spot Monsignor Murphy’s if you so choose.
• DaBearsBlog will cover the open bar for you and a +1 at the event.
• Two automatic entries into the ticket contest giveaway that evening. (We’ll announce the particular game and details once the schedule is released next spring.)
• A pair of 2012 DaBearsBlog tee-shirts.

*Sadly we’ve removed the Lou Malnati’s gift card for now due to some issues that have arisen. I am working on them and will have either the Malnati’s card restored or something in its place.

The Week’s Lines.

Remember:

• You only pick one team against the spread.
• Once you select the team they are unavailable to you for the remainder of the season.
• It is NOT a survival pool. The highest winning percentage at Week 15 will be awarded the prize. If there are ties, we’ll decide in Weeks 16 and 17 by increasing the number of games selected incrementally.
• You don’t need to pick every week. But you must make ten selections between Week One and Week Fifteen. If you picked in Week One you do not need to pick in Week Two if you don’t like the games.
• DO NOT MAKE YOUR SELECTION IN THE BODY OF ANOTHER COMMENT. YOUR SELECTION SHOULD BE IT’S OWN COMMENT AND CONTAIN ONLY THE NAME OF THE TEAM YOU ARE SELECTING. (Otherwise it’s a terrible bitch for me to tally up each week.)
• Picks are due by kickoff of the early games Sunday. Picks will only be accepted in the comments of THIS post.

(Home team in CAPS)

Cincinnati -1 CLEVELAND

NEW YORK JETS -3.5 Indianapolis

TAMPA BAY -4 Kansas City

ATLANTA -9 Oakland

BALTIMORE -3.5 Dallas

PHILADELPHIA -4 Detroit

MIAMI -3.5 St. Louis

New England -3.5 SEATTLE

ARIZONA -4.5 Buffalo

SAN FRANCISCO -6.5 New York Giants

WASHINGTON -3 Minnesota

HOUSTON -3.5 Green Bay

I am violating my rule by picking a team and line I don’t love. But I can’t see how (1) Cincinnati won’t rebound from their putrid performance against the Miami Dolphins last week and (2) Cleveland can keep their head above water after dominating the Giants for a quarter plus and still being torpedoed. I also can’t imagine going into Cleveland right now will be the most hostile environment around (unless you’re the Browns) so I’ll take the BENGALS and lay the point.

REMINDER: ROUND TWO OF TEE SHIRT SALES HAS BEGUN AND WILL CONCLUDE ON HALLOWEEN, OCTOBER 31ST. TO CHECK OUT THE SHIRT AND MAKE YOUR ORDER, CLICK HERE.

You must enter ten selections to be eligible to win the Picks Contest. The following are the standing through five weeks of the season. Unfortunately for MichBearFan, I have found you selected Philadelphia twice and thus you have been eliminated from the competition. (If I made a mistake, please email me at jeff@dabearsblog.com.) Also, because I can, I haven’t even looked at the selections from thebigcheese.

I am not including the teams you’ve used thus far. You must keep track of those yourselves. If you believe I have made a mistake, please email me.

Mathematically you are not eliminated until you’ve registered a sixth loss as Crown is guaranteed no worse than a 5-5 record. Pushes are losses.

THE STANDINGS

Crown 5-0 (Due to a bonus point won)

Blogfader 4-0

MonkeyNuts 4-0

MikeV in OR 2-0

Chris Odom 2-0

OsosFan 1-0

Perno 1-0

505Bears! 1-0

Jokey 1-0

Artoo 4-1

Ben in norcal 4-1

I Bleed Navy + Orange 4-1

Bearfanincb 4-1

evantonio 3-1

BobbyDouglass 3-1

Sirwiz 3-1

Viva 3-1

TheFifth 2-1

Enderwiggin 3-2

Bears-4-Ever 3-2

jmcyclone 3-2

Santa Claus Gave us a QB 2-1

Bearsssssssssssss 1-1

Nagurski 1-1

Slsmth54 1-1

Bigboar3 1-1

JohnnyWad 2-2

BigHurtNYC 2-2

DYLbear23 2-2

ChiRy 2-2

BearDown85 2-2

IrishSweetness 2-2

reprisal 2-2

FQD1911 2-3

#76 Mongo Murph 2-3

MB30SD 2-3

lindemrm 2-3

Shady 2-3

SC Dave 1-2

Michael L 1-2

NewBearinTown 1-3

4ever85 (AKA Butch DeadLift) 1-3

Tobijohn 1-4

Doc Nitty 34 1-4

Who is Willie Gault 1-4

CanadaBear 1-4

David Williams 0-1

Ufficio 0-1

PombeGeek 0-1

RenoBear 0-1

Jedthro 0-1

Deemoney23 0-1

roughneckjoe 0-1

NGB 0-1

MikeBrownHadaPosse 0-3

McFlpside 0-3

AlbertinTuscon 0-3

MattySouthside 0-4

If you don’t see your name listed above and you should, email me.

No picks contest bonus tonight. Enjoy Thursday Night Football.

REMINDER: THE SECOND ROUND OF TEE SHIRT SALES HAS BEGUN AND THE WINDOW WILL CLOSE OCTOBER 31ST. CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOURS! (To see the tee shirts, look up.)

We’ve also received a solid number of email questions for the Monday Mailbag. Keep ’em coming to jeff@dabearsblog.com.

___________________________________________________

RIP the Great Alex Karras

Charles Tillman Wins NFC  Defensive Player of the Week

Does anyone want to continue commenting or Tweeting about Tillman’s sub par effort against the Giants in the preseason? Anyone? Anyone? Here’s Peanut’s second pick six in consecutive weeks:

Pat Mannelly on Display!

I named this column for Mannelly after the ridiculousness of his audible against the Green Bay Packers several years ago prompted me to call for everyone working at Halas Hall to be fired. Then I found this video this morning and just had to post it. To Pat!

Passing time around here on the bye week is always fun, isn’t it?

After selling an absurd amount the first time around we’ve made the official Bears blog tee shirt for 2012 available for sale AGAIN. We did not raise the price, keeping it at the symbolic $19.85. As with last year, you can get two shirts for the even-more symbolic price of $34 and three shirts for $51. (The image of the tee shirt is listed above. The type for the back of the shirt is quite small and tasteful.)

The shirt was conceived by Reverend Dave, designed by the great Mike Lapinski and will be made by my boy Jared.

Just go ahead and write in the comment box what color (we have both the orange and navy base) and what size (S, M, L, XL, 2XL) you’d like. If you’re ordering multiple shirts just write: Orange – XL, Navy – S…etc.

We’re going to send out the orders in one large shipment again. The close-off date for this order of tee shirts will be October 31st – Halloween. These orders will arrive to your home by Thanksgiving. These shirts make excellent Christmas gifts for the Bears fan(s) in your family so you’ll want to get in on THIS shipment. I can’t guarantee we’ll have selling shirts in December.

We’ll be doing a lot of housekeeping around here Wednesday – Friday, including another round of tee shirt sales and the picks contest standings.

Also we’ll be doing our first ever DA BEARS BLOG MAILBAG on Monday, October 15th. Many of you out there don’t spend much time in the Comments arena and I thought it’d be nice to give you a chance to make your presence known on the site. Send a question or comment to jeff@dabearsblog.com.

First, five questions arising from these terrific first five games of the 2012 season.

QUESTION #1

Can Brandon Marshall insert himself into the MVP discussion if the Bears defense continues to dominate?

Doubtful but Marshall is on pace to shatter everything done by wide receivers in Chicago. He’s staring down 100 catches, double-digit touchdowns and nearly 1500 yards. He has changed the complexion of the Bears offense by drawing the attention of opposing defensive coordinators and giving Jay Cutler a reliable target on third and fourth down short-yardage situations. Jay Cutler and Matt Forte are very good football players. I’m getting the sense Brandon Marshall is a great one.

Take a look at how Marshall is stacking up in Bears WR history by CLICKING HERE.

QUESTION #2

Both Major Wright and Chris Conte have struggled at times on pass plays over the top. Will this possible deficiency hurt the Bears anytime soon?

It very well could but we won’t have to wait long to know. The Detroit Lions want their quarterback to drop back into the pocket and unleash the ball deep and they’ve got the wide receiver (Calvin Johnson) to do it. If the Bears don’t get pressure on Stafford a week from Monday night, Conte and Wright will be seeing a heavy workload. Let’s see how they produce.

QUESTION #3

Can Jay Cutler win a close one?

Maybe he won’t face the situation but the Bears have yet to need their franchise quarterback to take the ball eighty yards, down four, three minutes to go. You can’t fault the Bears defense for playing the way they’re playing but the Bears will not win a Super Bowl without Cutler making a big play at a clutch moment. With his offensive line performing far better than even a few weeks ago, Cutler won’t have any excuse for not succeeding in the big moment.

QUESTION #4

Will Devin Hester continue to look normal in the return game?

Thus far the greatest kick returner in the history of football has looked average. But one thing we know for sure is the Detroit Lions are somewhat-defined by their complete inability to make a tackle on special teams. If Hester continues to look human against the Lions at Soldier Field, we may be looking at the Bears no longer entering each game with the overwhelming special teams advantage they’ve maintained for seven years.

QUESTION #5

Will we see Brian Urlacher in 2012?

I believe it is the definitive question facing the Chicago Bears moving forward. Can the Bears defense continue to succeed with Urlacher playing at this 40-60% level? Yes. They are simply playing at outrageously high levels everywhere else on the defense. But teams will look at the Cowboys and Jaguars tapes and see two definitive lessons: (1) Urlacher is struggling to protect the middle of the field from tight ends and backs. (2) Urlacher is struggling to make it to the edge. Until he proves he can do both routinely, I expect teams to attack him directly. If Urlacher is able to get to 75-80%, this defense will not have competition for the status of league’s best.

It never felt like a blowout, even as Cutler erupted in the second half and the Reverend and I questioned with Chad Henne was actually the Jaguars backup quarterback. It never felt dominant, even as Armando Allen (really?) showed some of that early-camp flash. The second half of this 41-3 rout felt more like relief. Good relief but relief nevertheless. It allowed me to breathe at the North Haven, Connecticut Holiday Inn bar and acknowledge, “Yes, this is a very good football team. I’m not crazy.”

Some thoughts…

• I hated Matt Forte staying in the game to get a hundred yards. I understand it matters to these guys but Forte is an essential member of this offense, coming off a semi-serious injury, staring down fourteen days off. Were those 100 yards really worth a potential injury? And why was Cutler handing him the football at that point? I had no audio for the game so maybe this was explained?
• Another solid effort from J’Marcus Webb at left tackle. As this season is progressing I could make a detailed argument that Webb has been a better tackle than Gabe Carimi. Carimi has to stop committing terrible penalties.
• The Bears defensive line was inconsistent Sunday but once they get unleashed with a lead I don’t think there’s an offensive line in the NFL that will hold them back. I thought Corey Wootton’s sack/fumble was the most significant play of the game Sunday.
• There were a few moments Sunday where watching Brian Urlacher attempt to track Maurice Jones-Drew to the sideline made me sad. I thought the Jags would attack Urlacher and they did, over and over, throughout the first half. He simply lost his speed.
• Lance Briggs found it.
• I hope some Bears fans are now understanding what I love about Justin Blackmon. He is a special talent.
• Nice to have a player as talented as Michael Bush coming off the bench, huh? I knew Bush was a big, bruising back but I didn’t expect him to be a weapon in the passing game.
• I think the Bears should retire the slant because I’d guess Jay Cutler throws 60% of his interceptions on poorly executed slants. Jay seems uncomfortable throwing them. The receivers seem uncomfortable running them. The whole thing looks like a circus. So just retire the play.
• The Bears secondary STILL needs to clean-up the go route execution. It seems every week – Gibson, Bryant, Shorts – some receiver is running free over the top. The Bears better clear it up in the next two weeks because Stafford/Johnson will test them repeatedly in primetime at Soldier Field.
• Nobody seemed to take more ridiculous criticism this summer than Peanut Tillman. Folks decided a meaningless game in the Meadowlands was reason enough to cut the guy. Tillman has been in the shadow of Tim Jennings for the early part of the year but now has essentially hit game-winning homers in back to back weeks. Good to see.
• Hey, Muhsin Muhammad! I guess Chicago is not where receivers go to die. I guess it’s just where a shitty receiver like you went to steal McCaskey money. Alshon Jeffery is going to be very good for a very long time.
• I want Earl Bennett to come back because I just don’t trust Kellen Davis to be able to catch the ball. Tight end has to be a focus for Phil Emery in April.
• 12 catches. 144 yards. 1 touchdown. Wow, Brandon Marshall. You need to not get hurt.

4-1 into the bye is better than I expected and the teams, as a whole, looks better than I expected. We’ll spend the next 48 hours wrapping up the first five games and find a fun way to pass time over the next long, boring week.