Why Do I Like the Chicago Bears This Week?

I always like the Chicago Bears. But let me tell you…

The Glennon Saga in 17 Steps

Let’s walk through how this entire Glennon thing happened, step-by-step. Some of this is common knowledge. Some of this is information I’ve acquired. The acquired information is asterisked.

Step 1. Bears decide to move on from Jay Cutler. I’d put this down as happening sometime around November 2016.

Step 2. Bears make Brian Hoyer an offer to return. That offer is low, far lower than Hoyer’s camp hoped, and the journeyman essential tells the Bears to go rub jalapenos in their eyes.*

Step 3. Bears have serious interest in Tyrod Taylor*, hoping the new Bills coaching staff would want to move on to their own guy. (Today the Bills know they miscalculated*. After dumping half their roster and punted on 2017, the know they should have listened to the Tyrod suitors floating around.)

Step 4. Who is left? Mike Glennon. Bears throw a ton of cash at Glennon in what is essentially a lucrative one-year deal that many in the national media scoff at. They are “pumped”. Rumors surface Pace pursued Glennon last offseason. Glennon is the guy.

Step 5. Bears ask Glennon to join fans for their first round draft party.

Step 6. Bears move up to get Mitch Trubisky in one of the most exciting moments in Bears draft history.

Step 7. Glennon ain’t pleased.

Step 8. Bears reiterate ad nauseum, and for no other than reason than to appease Glennon, that the formed Bucs backup is still the starting QB and they’ll bring Trubisky along slowly.

Step 9. Glennon is awful in the spring. This isn’t widely reported because nobody gives a shit what happens in the spring.

Step 10. Glennon is awful in the summer. This is more widely reported but seemingly ignored because Trubisky dropped a couple snaps. Many report that Mark Sanchez is actually the most consistent quarterback in Bourbonnais.

COMEDY BREAK!

COMEDY BREAK OVER!

Step 11. The first preseason game. Glennon is abysmal. Trubisky is great. The fan base gets excited. Trubisky is suddenly on the covers of newspapers. The 2017 Bears are a source of excitement in Chicago?

Step 12. Nothing changes at practice.

Step 13. The second preseason game. Glennon is abysmal. The Bears decide to use Trubisky less, keeping him off the field until he’s joined almost exclusively by third-stringers.

Leaving Bruno Mars w/ one question for #Bears. Why did you want to see let less Trubisky instead of more Trubisky???

— Silvy (@WaddleandSilvy) August 20, 2017

Step 14. The following Wednesday, the Bears ANNOUNCE Trubisky is practicing with the first team. This excites many of us, seeing it as a sign the team is recognizing what is taking place in front of them. What comes from it?

Step 15. The third preseason game. Glennon mounts one good drive. Trubisky struggles in his two drives with the first team, thrives when re-partnered with the guys he’s practiced with for months. John Fox insanely calls Glennon’s performance “superb” and anoints him starter.

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They won a game. My lord of lords, they have won a game. Did they beat a rookie quarterback playing in frozen conditions for the first time in his entire existence? Maybe. Do the Buccaneers come to town with a head coach and quarterback desperate to show the Soldier Field faithful and Halas Hall hierarchy what they’re missing? Absolutely. So…

Why do I like the Chicago Bears this week?

I always like the Chicago Bears.

A SUNDAY TO LEGITIMIZE ANOTHER SUNDAY

The Bears victory over the Minnesota Vikings means nothing if they lose Sunday. These two games, the first destination on Marc Trestman’s road map to retain his job, are a package deal.

Winning both enables the Bears to play a game with at least some meaning on Thanksgiving Day in Detroit. You might argue the stench of back-to-back embarrassments against arguably the league’s two best teams is too overwhelming to overcome no matter what happens against lower level competition. That’s a fair argument but I think a misguided one. The Bears returning to national television with an opportunity to even their record at 6-6 is a significant step for an organization left for dead two weeks ago. From 6-6, with 3 of their final 4 at home, Trestman and company can begin selling a run of the table to the locker room. Whether they achieve that goal or not is relatively unimportant. Believing there is a goal to be achieved means the players will be severely motivated in December.

Losing Sunday to the Bucs, one of the league’s worst teams, will hurt Trestman terribly in Chicago. If this offense can not find motivation against their former coach they will never find motivation. And if they can’t beat the two-win Bucs at home there will be nothing the coaching staff can say in the locker room to convince players this season has any possible reward.

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The greatest punchline in the history of television comedy.

We need laughs now, more than ever.

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The Bears are a dreadful football team. On a neutral field, this Sunday, I would not favor the them against any team in the league. Not Atlanta. Not Tampa. Not the Jets or Jaguars or Raiders or the Buffalo Grove Bison.

So why do I like the Chicago Bears this week?

I *sigh* always like the Chicago Bears.

Why Else?

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Why do I like the Chicago Bears this week?

I always like the Chicago Bears.

WHY ELSE?

Because there is no earthly reason to believe this football team – maligned quarterback, emotionally excitable star receiver, ignored tailback, coach under the microscope, temperamental right guard, derided defensive coordinator…etc. – can go into Foxboro and beat one of the greatest head coach and quarterback combinations in the history of the sport with their season on the line, they probably will.

FINAL SCORE

Chicago Bears 40, New England Patriots 31

Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his stirring, cold cold, piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious. Glorious!

“What’s to-day?” cried Scrooge, calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes, who perhaps had loitered in to look about him.

“Eh?” returned the boy, with all his might of wonder.

“What’s to-day, my fine fellow?” said Scrooge.

“To-day?” replied the boy. “Why, Christmas Day.”

“It’s Christmas Day!” said Scrooge to himself. “I haven ‘t missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can. Of course they can. Hallo, my fine fellow!”

-A Christmas Carol

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Sunday, for the NFL diehard, is Christmas Day. It is the only experience that can mirror the anticipatory excitement we felt as young children, sneaking silently down the stairs to catch a glimpse of what new thing waited for us beneath the tree. We have our routines and rituals. We have our family. And while we might think we know what will be found under the layers of wrapping by the shape of the box, we can never be sure until the paper is removed and the box is opened.

With all that mystery, why do I like the Chicago Bears this week?

I always like the Chicago Bears.

But why else?

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For years I have written game previews and for years I’ve picked the Bears every week. But I think the more attentive readers of the site understand I give multiple clues in the previews when I don’t ACTUALLY think the Bears will win. (As much as I’d like to see it happen I have never predicted the Bears to win 16 games.) A week ago, against the Rams, I could have populated Da Bear Concerns with eleven different elements and said during my appearance on 1490 the Jock in Des Moines I believed St. Louis was a match-up nightmare for Chicago. They were. Losing that game could not have surprised me less.

Sadly, the same goes for Sunday’s contest in Minnesota. I can’t make a single, plausible argument for the Bears defense containing Minnesota’s offense. And Minnesota’s offense isn’t very good. When these two teams played the last time the Bears only allowed 16 offensive points. But that was before this unit collapsed completely. Last week the Vikings ran the ball 40 times for more than 200 yards. Why would anyone expect a different approach this week? Why would you not expect BETTER results for Minnesota?

Why, oh why, do I like the Chicago Bears this week?

I ALWAYS LIKE THE CHICAGO BEARS!

But I do not like the Chicago Bears defense. You name the player on the Vikings offense and I will give you a half dozen reason he can be successful Sunday. We all made a big deal about the Bears porous rush defense but when they had the Rams in advantageous down-and-distance Sunday Kellen Clemens was able to chuck the ball to wide open receivers and tight ends all over the field for massive gains. It hasn’t just been a failure in run support. It’s been across the board.

No, I like the Chicago Bears this week because I like their ability to score a lot of points against this Vikings defense. The writing is on the wall for Josh McCown and it was written by Jay Cutler during his appearance with Waddle & Silvy on ESPN radio this week. The starting QB intends to return for the Cowboys on Monday night, December 9th. And the Vikings have given up the most points in the NFL this year. If this season is going to be salvaged it is going to be salvaged by the best players on the Chicago Bears: McCown, Forte, Marshall, Jeffery, Martellus Bennett and the offensive line. They have no other choice.

Chicago Bears 38, Minnesota Vikings 30

The Bears have lost two straight games and the Marc Trestman regime is now facing its first real scrutiny. They have gone from 3-0 to 3-2.

So, why do I like the Chicago Bears this week?

I always like the Chicago Bears.

BUT WHAT FOOTBALL REASONS, JEFF?

• The New York Giants are one of the proudest franchises in the NFL and deserve the respect of fan bases across the country. But right now they are an abysmal team. They are not just winless through five games. They have had their doors blown off on a weekly basis, surrendering the most points in the league. (They are actually four points clear of the Jacksonville Jaguars.)
• Giants turn the ball over more than anybody else in the league and the Bears are in the midst of a turnover drought. I would think this goes the Bears way Thursday night.
• Giants can’t cover either of the Bears wide receivers with their current corners.
• Giants linebackers and safeties – outside perhaps the halfway decent Antrel Rolle – should have an impossible time with a motivated Martellus Bennett and Matt Forte out of the backfield.
• Giants are allowing 126 yards a game on the ground and only rushing for 56.
• Bears will make starting fast a priority after slow starts in almost every game this season (including all three home games). A fast start, a double-digit first quarter lead, will end this game. Bad teams don’t rally on the road. They shut the windows and close down the shop.

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