Be Happy (But Not Satisfied) as the Celebration Continues and Other Bullets

December 18, 2018, by Luis Medina Chicago Bears

I had to pull over while listening to Matt Nagy’s show on WBBM last night, because something he said really stuck with me and I didn’t want to forget it. Basically, he wants the Bears and their fans (that’s us!) to be happy with the results of this season, but not satisfied. As Nagy put it, there are still reachable goals to achieve (like that first-round bye), so it’s not time to be complacent.

The Bears have had a fine season, no doubt, but there’s still more on the horizon. It makes total sense. And it’s a good lesson for life, anyway: Be happy with what you have in the moment, but stay hungry as if you have yet to achieve your ultimate goal.

If I can’t get enough Bears-Packers highlights, I can only assume you want more too. Well, here ya go:

A new chapter has begun. 📖#DaBears https://t.co/CLinXeZonC

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) December 18, 2018

‘Tis the season:

It's a beaut, Clark!#DaBears pic.twitter.com/6uAgysyPNq

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) December 18, 2018

What do Kyle Fuller, Charles Leno Jr., Kyle Long,, and Pat O’Donnell have in common? Beyond the color of their jersey, each was drafted by Phil Emery and played for Marc Trestman in his final year as the team’s head coach. For that group of four, the 2018 Bears represented a taste of winning for the first time in their professional careers. Those players suffered through a 19-45 record during those seasons – that’s a .297 winning percentage, which means that the Bears were losers in more than 70 percent of the games they played with Fuller, Long, Leno, and O’Donnell. There’s a lot to feel good about right now, but I’m not sure anyone deserves this moment more than those four.
Taylor Gabriel’s last taste of the postseason ended with a bitter finish as the Falcons lost a one-score game on the road to the eventual Super Bowl champion Eagles. It was the second straight year with a disheartening playoff ouster for Gabriel, who was also on the Atlanta Super Bowl team that coughed up a 28-3 lead. So, yeah, I feel good for this guy getting back into the fray:
Here’s a fun fact about Khalil Mack: He has more sacks (12.5) than the Oakland Raiders (12). And he has missed two games and played through a pretty serious ankle injury in two others. Simply put, Mack is a monster who can wreck opposing game plans, makes his teammates better, and do everything in between. I reached this point earlier in the season, but the Raiders probably could have demanded more out of the Bears. Oh well.
I guess it had been a while:

Yesterday was Khalil Mack's 3rd multi-sack game of the season. He's the first #Bears player to have 3 multi-sack games in a season since 2007 https://t.co/AgKOCiWa6X pic.twitter.com/UoPjsnF2Xe

— ProFootballReference (@pfref) December 17, 2018

This a question worth asking and an answer that serves as a starting point for a quality argument for Mack’s MVP case:

I mean, the guy did change the outlook/dynamic of an entire division at the very least. https://t.co/bnNdVeY8Eb

— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) December 18, 2018

This is what elite pass-rushing can do for a defense:

The #Bears are No. 1 in the NFL in takeaways (35), turnover margin (+13), interceptions (26) and points off takeaways (107). The last time the Bears led the NFL in TO margin was the 1985 Super Bowl season when they posted a +23 margin during the regular season. @StatsBySTATS

— Chicago Bears (@BearsPR) December 18, 2018

Cam Newton didn’t look healthy at all last night and his Carolina Panthers were unable to pull off an upset of the New Orleans Saints. HOWEVER, there is a flickering hope the Bears can land home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs by landing the No. 1 overall seed:

If the #Bears finish 12-4, they would hold tiebreakers over the #Saints & #Rams by virtue of having a better conference record. But they would need Saints (12-2) to lose their last two games (vs PIT, vs CAR) and the Rams (11-3) to lose one of their last two games (at AZ, vs SF).

— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) December 18, 2018

How important is home field advantage to the Saints? Drew Brees has never lost a playoff game at home in five starts inside the Superdome. But once you get him off outside his comfort zone and put his team in a true road playoff game, Brees and the Saints are 1-5.
No arguments here:

If Mitch Trubisky plays in the postseason the way he did against the Packers, the Bears are going to be very difficult to beat. https://t.co/uaJLu7AWFU

— Dan Pompei (@danpompei) December 17, 2018

Even though Khalil Mack can’t draw a holding penalty from an offensive lineman, Allen Robinson has been forcing the issue on his side of the ball:

Here’s a fun fact via https://t.co/SAE3XvVVdE: Allen Robinson has drawn 8 defensive pass interference penalties this season. That’s more DPI flags drawn than 22 *teams.*

The 2017 Bears were the beneficiaries of 3 defensive pass interference penalties all season.

— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) December 17, 2018

One of my biggest issues with the Bears offense over the years has been a lack of a vertical threat who can draw penalties. Because even though the end game is to make big catches down the field, the game is officiated to allow big chunk plays to happen via penalties and the Bears game-planned as if that totally wasn’t a thing. I’m glad to see the evolution.
Finally, an ICYMI post that I missed the first time around and am glad to have seen later: