Thought One – Overconfidence

I can’t recall a Bears game wherein the Bears were underdogs and an overwhelming number of Bears fans were predicting a blowout victory. Perhaps the expectations of 2014 have gotten the best of you? On face value the Bears would have no reason to blow out the Jets because the Jets do the two things that prevent blowouts: run the ball and stop the run. If the Bears win tonight I expect it to be a tough chore.

Thought Two – Opportunity

The Bears have a brilliant opportunity to seize control of the NFC North – almost unfathomable ten days ago.

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Go Jets.

Go Panthers.

Go Patriots.

Week One

Sunday September 7th – Noon

BILLS AT BEARS

Week Two

Sunday September 14th – SNF

BEARS AT 49ERS

Week Three

Monday September 22nd – MNF

BEARS AT JETS

Week Four

Sunday September 28th – Noon

PACKERS AT BEARS

Week Five

Sunday October 5th – Noon

BEARS AT PANTHERS

Week Six

Sunday October 12th – Noon

BEARS AT FALCONS

Week Seven

Sunday October 19th – Noon

DOLPHINS AT BEARS

Week Eight

Sunday October 26th – Noon

BEARS AT PATRIOTS

Week Nine

BYE

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Bye bye Metrodome. Here were my Quick Hits on Twitter from yesterday:

Quick hits for Bears v Vikings. #1 of 5. Bears need to dominate offensively & force Minnesota to throw. Keep Podlesh on the bench 1st half.

#2 of 5. Trest can say all he wants about run fits but safeties are reason the 6 yd run is going for 60. 1 bad Conte angle = 6 AP points.

#3 of 5. Bears gave Minnesota 14 defensive/special teams pts the first go-round. Need a clean sheet from both departments.

#4 of 5. I can see Christian Ponder rolling casually to his right & hitting the TE for a meaningful 1st down. McClellin/Woot can’t let him.

#5 of 5.Time for Bostic & Greene to grow up. Play aggressive, violent yet disciplined game. Watch some Singletary tape. Or just ask Briggs.

One more week without the game chat. Live in the comments, my friends!

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

We’ll go without the chat box today. That is special for Bears games. I’ll be commenting on all the day’s action from my barroom perch, @DaBearsBlog on Twitter.