Sunday 4:30 PM ET

Green Bay Packers at Philadelphia Eagles (-4.5)

Packers are 7th against the run.

Eagles are 10th against the run.

But I would argue it is far more important for the Packers to establish the run in this game than it is for the Eagles. Jordan Love is not a great quarterback. He’s not going to be able to drop back 40 times Sunday and dice up this Philly secondary without being harassed by their deep front.

Vic Fangio is usually great in these spots; he’ll show Love looks he hasn’t shown another team this season. I wish the line was 2.5, but it’s not. I’ll survive. Lay the points.

Sunday 8:00 PM ET

Washington Commanders at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-3)

The hardest game for me to predict this weekend.

Tampa just needed to beat a lifeless Saints team Sunday to win the division title, and they struggled mightily. Jayden Daniels has been good in 2024, but he’s still a rookie quarterback starting a playoff game on the road. This feels like the game with the widest range of potential outcomes.

I’m looking to the same stat as I did in the previous game to choose a winner. Tampa allows 97.8 yards per game on the ground, fourth in the league. Washington allows 137.5 yards per game on the ground, 30th in the league. Bucky Irving is the most talked about player this wildcard weekend. Lay the points.

Monday 8:00 PM ET

Minnesota Vikings (-1.5) at Los Angeles Rams 

This game is entirely about Sam Darnold.

A week ago, the talk around the league was Minnesota committing long term to Darnold and dealing J.J. McCarthy to the highest bidder. But after Darnold laid an egg versus Detroit in arguably the biggest game of his career, will that narrative continue if he lays another in L.A. on Monday night in what is inarguably the biggest game of his career?

I’m rooting for the Darnold career resurgence, but I think he’s going to struggle with serious pressure in this spot. Take the points.

Bears will venture to Green Bay, where

Losing has become a way of life. 

One team is about stability,

With their personnel department and coaching staff sorted.

One team is about instability, going through their

Usual postseason first-and-hire song and dance.

This game will look familiar.

Green Bay Packers 30, Chicago Bears 10

Two pigeons are resting atop a fictional statue of Richard Dent in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. They have just flown back to Georgia after spending Sunday afternoon at Soldier Field, watching Bears v. Packers. They are tired. They are hot. Their names are POODLE and PUDDLE, but neither of them knows the origins of those names.

POODLE: You know what I have noticed lately?

PUDDLE: What?

POODLE: Melancholy.

PUDDLE: Because of the election thing?

POODLE: Fuck the election.

PUDDLE: That’s what I say, but that’s just pigeon privilege.

POODLE: Pigeon privilege. What’s next?

PUDDLE: Something is always next.

POODLE: Melancholy. Deep, profound sadness.

PUDDLE: Like Hamlet?

POODLE: How do you know Hamlet?

PUDDLE: Guy with a beard and a scarf was walking through the park a few months back. He dropped a book and the blew it open. I walked over and gave it a perusal.

POODLE: Oh, you gave it a perusal, did you?

PUDDLE: I did. I gave it a perusal.

POODLE: What, my friend, did you peruse?

PUDDLE: I don’t know the story of the whole book, but I know there was a Hamlet and I know he was melancholy.

POODLE: How did you know he was melancholy?

PUDDLE: It said it in the play. That he had bad color, and this other character wanted him to shake off that color and be friendly.

POODLE: Good book?

PUDDLE: Wind blew it closed before I could get through that page, but it seemed like something you would like.

POODLE: I only ever read from two books. Both good!

PUDDLE: Which two?

POODLE: One was something about a salesman. Sad. The other was called Forum by an author called something Penthouse.

Read More …

Why Do I Like the Chicago Bears This Week?

I.

Always.

Like.

THE.

Chicago.

Bears.

Albert Breer on the Future of Flus

Breer works for SI, which I didn’t know still existed, under Peter King’s old MMQB moniker. His information regarding Flus’s future has been the best in the business:

The Chicago Bears’ move Tuesday morning didn’t come out of left field—Matt Eberflus himself indicated change could be on its way Monday during his press conference. It’s also not wholly unwarranted, given that the Bears haven’t scored a touchdown since losing on a Hail Mary in Washington two weeks ago.

But there is a larger question here, unrelated to an unhappy fan base getting a scalp as Chicago moves away from offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and to Thomas Brown as the team’s play-caller.

And what exactly will this fix?

Brown’s a good coach. But his play-calling experience, at any level, is limited to what he did last year in Carolina, when Frank Reich started as the Panthers’ play-caller, then gave the duties to Brown, took them back three weeks later, and then was fired, which cleared the way for Brown to call the offense over the last six weeks of the season. He’s never coached quarterbacks, and, at least on paper, he doesn’t really fix the problem.

And a big part of the problem is there’s been very little experience on the staff coaching the No. 1 pick in the draft who is starting at quarterback. Waldron had none. Brown had one year of it, and that didn’t turn out great last year. Quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph had none. So while there was acumen and expertise there, the staff was flying blind taking a quarterback like Caleb Williams from an Air Raid offense at USC into the pros.

Maybe the Bears will go outside the organization now to fill that void, and get Brown some help. Judging by how the offense has played, the staff could certainly use some.

Obviously, there are big-picture questions with Eberflus, too, and it’s fair to say his future in Chicago rides largely on Brown’s job performance.

The NFL’s had two offensive coordinators fired in-season thus far this year, and they just so happen to be the two guys that Eberflus has hired to run his offense with the Bears—Waldron, and now ex-Raiders coordinator Luke Getsy.

So it’d stand to reason that ownership probably won’t let Eberflus make a third hire into the position after this year. So Brown turning around Williams and saving the Bears’ season is likely Eberflus’s ticket out of this. And if Brown delivers, then, obviously, Brown would probably become an easy pick to stick as the OC.

Read More …

This is not going to be a post, or a column. This is just going to be a comment, a statement that I believe should be made and I want it to sit as the main post on this site for the entirety of this Wednesday.

To George McCaskey. To Kevin Warren. To Ryan Poles.

You’re losing.

Losing games. Losing the fans. Losing every drop of momentum built up over the previous two off-seasons. You’re losing me, a dedicated supporter and someone who has relentlessly watched this team every week since Bears football was available on the east coast and covered them diligently (at a personal financial cost) since 2005. I’m not abdicating my fandom by any means. What I am beginning to abandon is the burden, the burden of the Bears. You’ve become a chore, and one I am refusing to prioritize moving forward.

I don’t care who the offensive playcaller is. Matt Eberflus is still the coach. Today. But if the Bears watch the Green Bay Packers leave Soldier Field Sunday victorious again, that must change. No more “we don’t fire coaches in-season” bullshit. That’s what you have always done and what you have always done is fail. If the Packers win Sunday and you don’t make an immediate change in the leadership of this franchise, you are displaying (again) a glaring lack of awareness.  If the Packers win Sunday and you don’t make a seismic shift on the coaching staff, don’t be surprised as fan anger turns to apathy for the remainder of this campaign and into the off-season.

You’re losing. Again.

When will you finally have enough of it?

Sincerely,

DBB.

VIKINGS -2.5 v. Lions

The early part of the season has belonged to the 5-0 Minnesota Vikings, the most surprising team in the NFL. But if they lose Sunday, Minnesota will relinquish the top spot in the NFC North and suddenly be thrust into the middle of the best division in the league.

Coming into this season, Detroit was the betting favorite to find themselves representing the NFC in the Super Bowl. Last Sunday was bittersweet for the club; they thoroughly humiliated Dallas but lost one of the best defensive players in the league.

Early season NFL games don’t get much better than this. I think the Lions make a statement and realign the conference stars.

Lions 34, Vikings 24

PACKERS -2.5 v. Texans

Matt LaFleur has masterfully kept the Packers above water, even with a temporarily injured quarterback and a temperamental wide receiver. Through six weeks of the season, he’s my coach of the year.

The Texans are 5-1 and look like they’ll have the AFC South locked down well before Macy’s inflates the Snoopy balloon. They bring to Green Bay one of the league’s best pass rushes, but Green Bay might have the best pass protection in the league. If Houston doesn’t win on the edge, they don’t win.

Packers 26, Texans 20

Three More Bets

• STEELERS +1.5 over Jets. Russell Wilson is not an upgrade over Justin Fields, but I don’t think the Jets can block Pittsburgh. Prediction: Tyrod Taylor sees action Sunday night.
• Panthers at COMMANDERS (Over 51.5). If you told me the Commanders scored 50 in this game, I am not sure I would argue with you. Commanders can score in bunches and can’t defend the pass. Feels like a 37-27 kind of game.
• BILLS -8.5 over Titans. Bills v. Jets was one of the worst football games I have ever watched, but the Bills must be flying high after winning a road game wherein they allowed a Hail Mary and missed a bunch of kicks. With the division now firmly in their grasp, they roll at home against Will Levis, the funniest quarterback in the league.

All times ET. Home team in CAPS.

Saturday 4:30 PM – Texans at RAVENS (-9)

A battle wages

in the land of McNulty.

The game is the game.

Saturday 8:15 PM – Packers at NINERS (-9.5)

Cover your damn eyes.

Green Bay can beat ANYONE.

They will keep this close.

Sunday 3:00 PM – Bucs at LIONS (-6)

One city makes cars.

One city is all strip clubs.

Baker be dancin’.

Sunday 6:30 PM – Chiefs at BILLS (-3)

My head says Mahomes.

But my heart is in New York,

drenched in Elmo’s sauce.

Last week the picks were 2-4 but in fairness I picked the Steelers expecting them to cover in a blizzard. This week I’m on Baltimore -9, Packers +9.5, Bucs +6, Bills -3.