We’re About to Learn What the 2018 Bears Are All About and Other Bullets

Nov 06, 2018

It’s Election Day in Illinois. Go vote.

You probably would’ve done back flips at the sight of a 5-3 start to the Matt Nagy era, which currently features a top-5 defense in scoring average and yards per game working together with an offense ranking in the top-10 in points per game and not dead last in average yards, but these Bears want more:

We.
Want.
More.#DaBears pic.twitter.com/XLFZp4R7kV

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) November 6, 2018

If you want more, you’ll get it starting this week as the Bears embark on a run of three games against NFC North rivals in an 11-day span that begins Sunday. Divisional play will ultimately determine the fate of the Bears’ season, which is good because that’s how it’s supposed to be. On the other hand, their results against NFC North teams in recent years hasn’t been great. The Bears went 3-15 against NFC North rivals under John Fox and haven’t beaten a division opponent since October 31, 2016. And in their lone division game to this point this season, well, you already know how that ended.

How important is it for the Bears to chop wood in the division? Glad you asked:

Bears have made playoffs four times in the 21st century. Here is their division record in each of those years …
2010: 5-1
2006: 5-1
2005: 5-1
2001: 6-2 (Central)
— Dan Wiederer (@danwiederer) November 5, 2018

And additional schedule quirk came to mind this morning as I noticed the Bears have nothing but games against NFC foes the rest of the way. As of now, five of Chicago’s final eight games are against teams currently under .500. That includes the Lions (twice), Packers, 49ers, and Giants – who are a combined 9-23-1 at this point of the season. The other three games are against the Vikings (twice) and Rams, who are a combined 11-4-1. If there Bears are going to make the playoffs, they’d better make hay against the teams they’re projected to beat.

In case you missed it, at least one of those games is going to be in primetime.

This captures my feelings on the Bears getting moved into a national spotlight game:

Guys, a Bears game got flexed INTO a prime time slot. This is a weird sensation.

— Robert Mays (@robertmays) November 5, 2018

Speaking of feelings, watching Tarik Cohen run makes you feel like all the emojis on the spectrum:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp12s1rnfPy/

And then we have Jordan Howard, whose running style could best be summarized by using the angry face emoji:

View this post on Instagram

Ooh you almost had him… You gotta be quicker than that!

A post shared by Chicago Bears (@chicagobears) on Nov 5, 2018 at 5:00pm PST

Gotta give credit to the big guys up front for clearing the way:

These teams have offensive lines that GET AFTER IT in the RUN GAME.

A lot easier to be a RB when you're not hit in the backfield or at the LOS!#DallasCowboys #KeepPounding #GoPackGo #GoNiners #BroncosCountry #DaBears #LARams #SeizeTheDey #InBrotherhood #OnePride pic.twitter.com/WQvDeScHai

— NFL Matchup on ESPN (@NFLMatchup) November 5, 2018

Upon further review, here’s something the NFL got right:

The NFL issued the following stat correction from yesterday's game at Buffalo:
At 7:21 in Q2, the forced fumble and tackle has been credited to Eddie Jackson instead of Roquan Smith.
— Chicago Bears (@BearsPR) November 6, 2018

I think the NFL made the correct decision here, but this shouldn’t take away from what Roquan Smith did on the play to cover as much ground as he did to get there and help Eddie Jackson make the play. It’s a nice reminder of how talented the Bears defense is/can be beyond Khalil Mack. It’s not the one-man show it might appear to be at times.

Maybe it wasn’t top of mind because there were so many other issues with the broadcast, but Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune is miffed regarding the storyline pushed by FOX analyst Daryl “Moose” Johnston in which the Bears holding out injured stars Khalil Mack and Allen Robinson as a sign of over-confidence and not an example of restraint with the big-picture in mind. Knowing that Johnston and play-by-play man Chris Myers are expected to be on the call for this Sunday’s Bears-Lions game, I’m suddenly intrigued by how things will sound this time around when Johnson steps up to a mic.

Hopefully, “Kirk” Fuller, “Mike” Nagy, Danny “Trevatheon,” and Cody “Parker” will cut the guys some slack in the interview room.

What’s not to love about color images of Gale Sayers running in Wrigley Field:

“Old Days”One af the All Time Greats,The Chicago Bears,Gale Sayers leaves several LA Rams behind in a mid 60's game at Wrigley Field.#NFL #Bears #chicago #Rams #LosAngeles #1960s pic.twitter.com/AqJPSS5eXG
— Tom's Old Days (@sigg20) November 6, 2018

Other teams snatching offensive plays from the Bears isn’t something that’s will be easy to get used to, but here are the Titans ripping page out of the Matt Nagy/Mark Helfrich playbook:

.@Titans getting tricky.
And it's working…

This was 🔥

📺: #TENvsDAL on ESPN #SaluteToService https://t.co/QZv4EKwP2l

— NFL (@NFL) November 6, 2018

I’m not sure what’s better between the throw, the catch, and the .gif:

ohhhhhhh my goddddddd…. pic.twitter.com/PfZZ1KueAy

— Clay Wendler (@ClayWendler) November 4, 2018

An old friend finds a home:

The Dexter McDougle experience is over. #Eagles waived him and signed EAGLESPR: Eagles claimed CB Cre'Von LeBlanc off waivers. LeBlanc has played 31 games between Bears and Lions. Had 2 picks two years ago in Chicago
— Ed Kracz (@kracze) November 5, 2018

written by

Luis C. Medina

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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