Leonard Floyd Will be Chasing Down Patriots Without a Club Because His Hand is Healed and Other Bullets

It took six weeks into this season to figure it out, but I finally realized I can’t simultaneously prepare a full game day meal and do the things I want to do here on a Sunday morning. So I decided to experiment with making today’s meal last night. Who’s up for some chili on a crisp fall football Sunday?

  • Mic’d up Allen Robinson has me ready to roll today:
  • Leonard Floyd’s right hand is fully healed, writes Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. Floyd has played with a variety of protection on his hand, from big clubs to small casts, but is finally ready to shed it all and get down to work. Michael’s bear wearing a club artwork will be missed (kinda, I won’t necessarily miss breaking down the importance of a pass-rusher’s hand), but he deserves to be acknowledged for what he created. Tip-top work, good sir.
  • There was plenty of optimism surrounding Floyd coming into the year. He was entering his third year in Vic Fangio’s system (which is often a breakout year for premier prospects) and didn’t have any lingering issues from offseason knee surgery. But suffering a hand injury during the preseason kept him out of the team’s final two preseason games and slowed him down at the outset of the regular season. We’ve seen Floyd go through slow starts before, so it feels like a matter of “when” not “if” he has his stretch of breakout games. HOWEVER, a third straight year stumbling out of the gate is a cause for concern when we’re discussing a first-round talent selected in the top-10 to be groomed into a top-tier pass-rusher. It won’t be long before the Bears have to make a decision on Floyd’s fifth-year option. Here’s hoping Floyd picks up the pace and gets into the sack column now that he’s healthy.
  • Congrats on being healthy, guy. Now, pay the NFL its money:
  • If it’s any consolation, at least the fine money is going to a good place that helps former players. The league and NFLPA agreed to donate money collected through fines to the NFL Player Care Foundation and the Gene Upshaw Players Association’s Player Assistance Trust. At least it’s somewhat reassuring that the money isn’t just going back to the league.
  • Speaking of things going to a good cause, this is neat:
  • Pressuring Tom Brady – whether it’s with Floyd, Khalil Mack, or anyone else – is of the utmost importance. Brady can do it all from beating you with deep passes that have superb touch to a death-by-paper-cut style where he can gash a defense with quick screens and short passes out of the backfield. And it’s not like you can blitz the guy. How’s this perspective: Brady’s passer rating under pressure was nearly 10 points higher than the league’s average passer rating. I’m not saying that blitzing Brady isn’t out of the question, just know that you’re playing with fire if that’s the path you choose.
  • Whatever was done in the past against Brady, maybe it’s time to try something new. Brady is 4-0 against the Bears and threw for 354 yards and five touchdowns in their last meeting. That was a different time and a different team, but sheesh, talk about a path of least resistance. At least it can’t get any worse…
  • I’m a sucker for quality art and I’m totally here for this as the season goes along:
  • This is a thing of beauty:
  • On the other hand, this isn’t:
  • In case you’re curious about how that math checks out, it’s a .250 winning percentage for rookie head coaches against Bill Belichick’s Patriots since 2000. But hey, maybe that means Matt Nagy is due!
  • 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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