I’ve been blessed enough to get some awesome Christmas presents over the years, but getting a pet was always out of the question in my family. And a pet monkey? Well, that wouldn’t have even been taken seriously by Santa.
Of course, there’s always John Fox to combat conventional wisdom:
You can read about Fox’s pet monkey Gidget here via Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune because it’s undoubtedly the most interesting personal anecdote Fox has revealed in his three years in Chicago. And frankly, we all needed a break from whatever the Bears’ press conferences have been bringing us this year.
Perhaps a matchup between Mitch Trubisky and DeShone Kizer (two of top-5 quarterbacks of the 2017 NFL Draft class) will have a little more zing in future years. Right now, it’s just not there. But it doesn’t mean it can’t get there in future years. Robert Klemko of SI.com’s The MMQB writes that the progress made by Jared Goff and Carson Wentz (the top two quarterbacks selected in the 2016 NFL Draft) suggests there is hope for players like Trubisky and Kizer. Look back at each quarterback’s draft profile and you can see where some of the optimism comes from via their respective teams. You can also see where things don’t go quite as planned. With both teams playing for the future, it would be nice for them to give us a taste of future greatness. More Trubisky than Kizer, for obvious reasons.
From a Bears perspective, it would be nice if the supporting cast cleaned up some of the penalty problems that have plagued the team all season. According to NFLPenalties.com, the Bears’ 101 penalties are tied for the eighth most this season. And according to The Football Database’s Footballdb.com, Chicago’s offense are tied for committing the fourth most offensive holding penalties as well as tied for 11th in false starts. Every loss of yards due to senseless penalties makes Trubisky’s development that much more difficult.
I’m sorry to share the disappointing news to those of you thinking Trubisky will be extra motivated to face the team that passed on him in the draft, thus, adding a bit of spice to a Week 16 matchup between a pair of teams who have combined to lose 24 of 28 games this season. “I don’t think it will be emotional at all,” Trubisky told Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “I’m an even-keeled player so I’m not going to get too high, not too low. … It’s not going to be emotional for me. I just want to go out there, do my job and enjoy playing the game of football.”
If the weather forecast holds up for Sunday, we’re looking at a high of 26 and possible snow showers on Sunday. I’m not the biggest fan of snow (mostly because I hate shoveling it … especially when others on your street don’t do their part to keep their sidewalks clean) but there’s something magical about watching it fall on the football field.
This kind of #FootballWeather is probably more conducive for running the football than throwing it, but I’m open to being surprised by the unexpected. If the Bears go the conventional route and try to pound the football, fullback Michael Burton could be in the middle of the action. Burton explains to Chris Emma of CBS Chicago what makes running back Jordan Howard a special player in the backfield. Howard sits at 1,069 rushing yards entering Sunday’s game and is 245 short of passing his rookie season total. It could be a tough road for Howard to average 122.5 yards over the next two games, but he’s got two games to prove he can do it.
We gave you the latest on the Bears’ injury report on Friday, but here’s the latest from the Browns:
This might be weird to read, but stay with me for a minute: Keep an eye on Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen as we get closer to the draft. Yes, I realize the Bears already have their potential franchise quarterback-of-the-future type in tow. However, not every team has that kind of high-upside signal caller in their stable. As we discussed when looking at the Bears’ draft position, teams behind Chicago in the draft could have an interest to trade up to find their own Trubisky. The higher Allen’s stock rises and the better the Bears’ draft pick is, the odds of Bears GM Ryan Pace doing to another team what San Francisco 49ers GM John Lynch did to him increase.
With that in mind, Allen completed 11 of 19 passes for 159 yards and three touchdowns in Wyoming’s win against Central Michigan. That’s an incredibly efficient performance, even if the 57.9 percent completion rate is far from impressive.
If you thought the NFL’s explanation behind the ruling that robbed Zach Miller of a touchdown was a bad look, it’s not any better after trying to detail the reasoning behind taking a score away from Pittsburgh tight end Jesse James.
Our long, national nightmare is over: The NFL has told its officials to no longer use index cards to measure first downs, according to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert.
NEWSLETTER
