Triumphant Throwback, ESPN’s Draft Plan, Get Cordarrelle the Rock, and Other Bears Bullets

I had a wonderfully heart-warming video chat with family on Monday afternoon, which put me in a good mindset to start my day today. Good vibes only.

  • The Chicago Bears re-lived the magic of their miraculous 2006 Monday Night Football win against the Arizona Cardinals. And it was better than what I remembered:
  • https://www.instagram.com/p/B-8V3KkDnQJ/

    https://twitter.com/ChicagoBears/status/1249879347328102401?s=20

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B-8aV0DjFj-/

  • The Bears scored three touchdowns without the benefit of having an offense that night. Remarkable!
  • They also benefitted from missed field goals (plural!) from Neil Rackers.
  • It’s far more enjoyable to watch other kickers miss game-winning field goals than watching the guy who’s on the team you root for clang them off uprights.
  • Throwback Club Dub:
  • https://twitter.com/ChicagoBears/status/1249885285028151297?s=20

  • Do you guys remember Robbie Gould? Because I want to remember Robbie Gould:
  • https://www.instagram.com/p/B-8UHuaDPzo/

  • I also want to remember Rex Grossman (despite his woeful performance).
  • Grossman (14-37, 144 yards, 0 TD, 4 INT, 10.2 rating) was awful. And to think, Grossman had a 100.8 rating 10-3 TD-INT ratio, and was on pace to throw for 3,978 yards through the first five games. Things unraveled for Grossman starting with the Cardinals game as he lost 10 percentage points on his completion percentage and QB rating dropped nearly 40 points.
  • The before and after numbers are mind-blowing:

  • BEFORE (5 games): 61.2 completion pct., 1,243 yards (248.6 per game), 10 TD, 3 INT, 100.8 rating, 8.18 yards/attempt
  • AFTER (11 games): 51.5 completion pct., 1,950 yards (177.3 per game), 13 TD, 17 INT, 61.4 rating, 5.95 yards/attempt
  • Chicago’s MNF win was a king-maker for that defense. Not so much for Grossman.
  • Grossman’s missed shot intended for Bernard Berrian to open the game changed the whole complexion of that game (if not Grossman’s year). Change my mind.
  • Mike Tirico chiming in with the perspective:
  • Devin Hester’s return might have been the jump-starter to the conversations fans had about getting him in on offense. We wouldn’t see that for a few years, but I distinctly remember having chats with college chums at the time and trying to hash out how to get him on offense. Heck, we even went as far as to try to modify his Madden player to make it happen. College was wild.
  • Meanwhile, Nicholas Moreano (The Chicago Audible) has ideas on how the Bears can get Cordarrelle Patterson more involved in the offense in 2020. Much like Hester, Patterson is a dynamo in the return game. And with his size, speed, and power, it’s easy to dream on what Patterson could bring to the table as an offensive asset. Matt Nagy talked a big game when Chicago signed Patterson as a free agent last year, but scaled back the offense so much that he wasn’t the type of X-factor many believed he could be. With that being said, I’m digging Moreano’s ideas.
  • This will have my attention for a good 15 minutes or so:
  • This is *NOT* the type of headline you want to be in right now:
  • The ESPN 30-for-30 on the 2020 NFL Draft is going to be appointment television (in 10 years or whenever they come out with it):
  • NFL Network, ESPN, and ABC will have wall-to-wall coverage of the NFL Draft, which will be the only show in town if you’re looking for live-is sports-adjacent happenings.
  • Perusing newly-released items at Amazon today. #ad
  • Yesterday was a day many feared would never come. But it did and it was glorious:
  • Lotsa Bulls stuff happening, so the gang is back together for a new pod:
  •  

    written by

    Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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