Why do I like the Chicago Bears this week? 

I don’t know when I started using this phrase to open my game previews, but I don’t really remember not doing so. Each week I repeat it and each week I follow it with the simple, “I always like the Chicago Bears.”

And as we begin the 20th season of DaBearsBlog (2005-2025), it remains true. Social media seems to be the staging ground for something of an existential crisis when it comes to Bears fans and their fandom. The subtext of almost every tweet is “I don’t want to be a fan anymore.” I don’t get it. Fandom comes with no guarantees. You root for a team because you like the team, or because they play in your community, or because they represent your nation, or because they’re a half black guy upending the whitest sport on the planet. Then you watch them play and hope they win. That’s the extent of the transaction. But if you’re willing to either (a) stop watching the sport entirely or (b) switch teams, then you were never an actual fan to begin with.

If you don’t want to prioritize watching a bad team’s games, I get that. I made that decision myself this season a few times, skipping Bears v. Patriots to give a lecture and hang after with the audience, and giving in to exhaustion at halftime of Bears v. Seahawks, wherein I missed the worst 30 minutes of NFL football all season. You don’t have to suffer through every minute of team’s season to have your fandom ticket validated. But being a fan doesn’t actually cost you anything if you keep that fandom in emotional perspective. Get angry when they lose. Complain when they make bad organizational decisions. But it is still a game, played for your amusement. Enjoy it.

The Bears are going to lose Sunday. You should accept that fact today, right now, reading this. The Packers are good and gearing up for a playoff run and still have pivotal seeding to play for. The Bears are bad. If watching the Bears lose brings you immense agita, might I recommend a visit to the cinema this weekend? Or just hang with the kids? Or go to your local watering hole and argue about politics? Blow this game off and focus your attention on the coaching search come Monday morning.

This is not a game preview because this game carries no meaning for the Chicago Bears organization. It is a game they are playing because schedules dictate they play a 17th game. If they had an opportunity to knock their division rival from the tournament, then you could really put some weight behind this finale. But does altering Green Bay’s seeding get you pumped up? Not me. As the calendar is turning, the Packers are relevant, and the Bears are not. Rinse. Repeat.

For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne
We’ll drink a cup of kindness yet
For the sake of auld lang syne

“We’ll drink a cup of kindness yet.”

That is a lovely sentiment to share with Bears fans as we enter a new year.

The Bears will have a new leader on the sideline to pair with their young quarterback.

We can only hope that pairing will finally be the right one for this tortured organization and fan base.

We can only hope to drink that cup of kindness.

From all of us at DBB (which is basically just me), to all of you, I wish you happy returns in 2025, both in your lives and from your favorite football team. You’ve certainly earned it from the latter.

Sincerely,

The Help.

Another season,

utterly forgettable.

Where be our sunshine?

A gothic church. A confessional. A priest sits back to the wall. A man kneels in prayer. A wall divides them.

Priest: What sins have you to confess, my son?

Man: I believed, father.

Priest: Believing is not a sin.

Man: It should be.

Priest: What did you believe?

Man: I believed 2024 would be different, father. I believed this year would look different than other years.

Priest: Did it not?

Man: It did not.

Priest: Do you regret your belief?

Man: How can I?

Priest: Then why do you confess it as sin?

Man: What else can I do? What is the purpose of this all if we don’t succumb to the belief that year ahead will be different, will be better, than the year just experienced?

Read More …

Takeaways from Thomas Brown’s fourth loss in as many games as Bears head coach:

1.) They’ve failed Caleb Williams in so many ways this season.

Ryan Poles doesn’t deserve to be the GM anymore. He needs to be fired.

— Matt Eurich (@MattEurich) December 27, 2024

Why Do I Like the Chicago Bears This Week?

I.

Always.

Like.

THE.

Chicago.

Bears.

Caleb.

The 2024 Chicago Bears no longer exist. They have ceased to be.

And as a result of this fact, I am not going to be spend much time writing about a midweek matchup at what I’m sure will be a Seahawk fan-laden Soldier Field.

There is only one reason to truly care about tonight’s game: Caleb’s stat line.

Through 16 games, Caleb is completing at 62.2%, 3,271 yards, 19 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, and a QB rating of 89.3. These are terrific numbers for a rookie QB, but they are extraordinary numbers when you consider the coaching and offensive line turmoil that has surrounded him this season.

It is no coincidence that agents around the sport are beginning to leak their clients’ interest in the Bears job. This is a coaching gig that comes with a productive, yet moldable, young quarterback.

Side note: Bill Simmons, on his podcast with Cousin Sal, referred to Caleb’s production as “garbage time.” There is NO garbage time for a rookie quarterback. Every snap matters. Caleb’s rookie season is one of the most underrated I can remember.

My Sight & Sound List

Every decade, Sight & Sound magazine polls filmmakers, critics, academics, etc. and compiles a list of the greatest films ever made. Some of those polled vote for their favorite movies. Some polled try to make political points with their list. Some, like my former professor Dan Streible, use their vote as opportunity to draw attention to noncanonical works. I’ve recently been doodling what my list would like – what are the ten films I consider the best ever made? Here’s what I settled on. Thoughts will follow the list.

All That Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979)

The Breaking Point (Michael Curtiz, 1950)

Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen, 1989)

The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)

High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963)

Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)

Kansas Saloon Smashers (Edwin S. Porter, 1901) Kansas Saloon Smashers (1901) – Carrie Nation | Edwin S. Porter

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)

Waiting for Guffman (Christopher Guest, 1996)

Why do I hate this list?

No Hitchcock. No Lumet. No Mel Brooks. No female filmmakers. I can make an argument for every film on this list. I can also make an argument for 100 other films, like Rear Window and 12 Angry Men and Young Frankenstein and Cleo from 5 to 7. For now, this list will have to do.

Next week, I’ll provide a list I call “Ten Films it Seems Only I Love.”

Read More …

Christmas Eve in Queens,

Santa’s sitting in traffic

on the B.Q.E.