Week 17: Bears at Vikings Game Day Thread
We’re just over a quarter of the way through the 2019 season, and the bye week makes it the perfect time to assess where the Bears stand, both as an individual unit and in relation to the rest of the NFC North.
Rivals:
Green Bay Packers
Right now the Packers are the top team in the NFC North. They’re currently 4-1, and 2-0 in the division. Most likely they beat the Lions on Monday and become 3-0, which would be a boon to their playoff hopes. They also have the second easiest remaining schedule in the division.
Both the defense and run game have improved for the Packers, and much of the tension that hung in the air during the end of Mike McCarthy’s tenure seems to have dissipated under LaFleur (despite initial reports that he and Rodgers were clashing). Rodgers isn’t putting up his usual numbers quite yet, but as long as they’re winning, he seems perfectly content with that.
It’s early and a lot can still happen, but it’s quite possible that Week 15 in Green Bay could hold even more significance than usual in the Bears-Packers storied rivalry.
Detroit Lions
The thing about the Lions is, they’re actually kind of good. They’re also still the Lions.
They could very easily be 4-0 right now instead of 2-1-1. They blew a significant fourth quarter lead against the Arizona Cardinals in their season opener that ended in a tie, and they kept pace with Mahomes and the Chiefs right up until the very end of their Week 4 matchup.
Normally this space, at this time, features what I call “rapid fire”. Because I insist on having new content by the time Chicago wakes up, which I arbitrarily deem to take place at 5 AM CT, “rapid fire” lets me pile a bunch of random thoughts, with absolutely zero structure, onto the blog. I don’t promote it on Twitter. I’m not particularly proud of it. It’s basically twelve or thirteen bullet-pointed Tweets. It’s not filler. But it’s close.
Yesterday’s performance by the Chicago Bears requires more than a mailed-in Monday. Because yesterday’s performance by the Chicago Bears was about a championship caliber team delivering a championship caliber performance in the face of adversity. Their defensive battery – Akiem Hicks and Roquan Smith – were not on the field. Their young quarterback was out for the game (and seemingly far longer) before most of the Soldier Field faithful got to their seats. They had every excuse Sunday to lose. And instead they did what we have come to expect in this new Matt Nagy era: they dominated their opponent.
It’d be easy to write about Khalil Mack today. He’s the most explosive defensive player in a Bears uniform in my lifetime. (Did the Raiders trade him to the Bears…on purpose?)
It’d be even easier to write about the The Two Nicks, Williams and Kwiatkoski. These supposed depth pieces looked like All Pros.
It’d be even easier than that to write about Chase Daniel, a journeyman backup many fans wanted cut this summer because he failed to develop rapport with Tanner Gentry in fake games. Yesterday he recorded a 101.4 passer rating against one of the league’s best defenses. (And yes, this was slightly higher than Aaron Rodgers fared a few weeks back.) Did he have to do much? No. Did he do exactly enough? Yes.
[Check out Peter King’s excellent post-game conversation with Daniel HERE.]
Many thought the Minnesota Vikings would win yesterday and assert themselves in the NFC North. Even those who picked the Bears had a difficult time seeing the contest as anything but a tight one. There were five individuals picking this game in the Sun-Times sports section. Three had the game 13-10. One had the game 15-12. One had a shootout at 21-20. Five picks with an average differential of 2.6 points.
The game was decided by ten and it didn’t feel anywhere near that close.
I always like the Chicago Bears.
And they can’t drop two home division games and expect to win the NFC North.
Cat Beard pic.twitter.com/jq5GSZi79a
— 41 Strange (@41Strange) September 23, 2019
I remember the shotgun.
Loaded, leaned up against his rocking chair,
smatterings of his faded blood on the porch planks he laid
with haggard hands so many years before.
He wore a wide-brimmed Akubra, tilted forward to cover his eyes.
Not a cowboy hat. Or a Stetson. An Akubra.
He sipped from a cold can.
He waited.
When they drove by, they drove by slowly.
He laid the can on the porch,
raised the shotgun to his lap,
and showed them his eyes.
This was his home.
And he would protect it.
Best place to ring in 2019? #ClubDub! pic.twitter.com/aMcMUUOkS5
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) December 31, 2018
The 2018 Chicago Bears played six games against the NFC North this season. The same number they always play. But these six were different.
Yes, the Bears were 5-1, with a point differential of +44. Yes, they were 3-0 at home, with a point differential of +24. But it was more than the numbers that told the story of these Bears. It was how and when they handled each opponent. Let’s look at them.
I’m still thinking about that Bears win. They went in to a hostile environment with really nothing to gain and just beat the everloving shit out of a team with everything to gain.
— Jay Zawaski (@JayZawaski670) December 31, 2018
.@ChicagoBears @Mtrubisky10 played another error free game v @vikings who tried everything they could to knock him out and get into the playoffs. He was a 3rd down “Killa”. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/bJiLsrtjPZ
— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) December 31, 2018
This is such a weird week. Traffic is down because nobody is around. The game will have little-to-no juice unless the Niners make a game of it in Los Angeles. And we’re on the precipice of getting to big boy football. January football. Playoff football. So this is a Friday thought dump.
