Gather Around For One Last Gameday Starring Your Favorite Bears and Other Bullets
Chicago is still an iced out winter blunderland and we’re not even in February yet. Will this season of discontent ever end? I’m asking for a friend.
- In case you missed it, Bobby Massie isn’t going anywhere. The Bears’ starting right tackle signed a four-year extension that is estimated to be worth more than $8 million per year.
- Massie showed growth across the board in what might have been a career year for the Ole Miss product who was a perfect fit for the Bears’ offensive line puzzle:
With Bobby Massie re-signed, #Bears in line to return all five offensive line starters from unit that ranked top 10 in QB hit rate allowed, sack rate allowed & @fboutsiders Adjusted Sack Rate.
— Evan Silva (@evansilva) January 26, 2019
- In an ideal world, the best is yet to come for Massie as he continues to learn under Offensive Line Coach Harry Hiestand. So while he didn’t reach the Pro Bowl as he hoped, there’s always next year.
- Speaking of the Pro Bowl, today’s matchup between the AFC and NFC represents the last gameday of the NFL season that will feature members of the Bears. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. CT on ESPN, so let’s enjoy this while we can:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtHK_3dna3v/
- Eight Bears made the Pro Bowl, but only seven will see action. So you guys already know what to do. #WinItForMack
- I’m not sure whether who I’m looking forward to seeing more: Mitch Trubisky or Eddie Jackson. And no, I can’t just say “both” … even though that’s what how I really want to answer.
- Our last image of Trubisky was after Cody Parkey’s season-ending miss on Wild-Card Weekend and the image of a stunned signal caller is still quite vivid in my mind. But before that kick, we were left feeling good about Trubisky after he led a last minute drive to get the Bears into scoring range. It’s something we hadn’t seen Trubisky do and he did it when the pressure was on the most. That Parkey missed that kick makes me feel like we were robbed of seeing Trubisky grow that much more. At minimum, the missed kick denied Trubisky an opportunity to change the narrative of his season. He could go off in the Pro Bowl game and it wouldn’t matter all that much in the grand scheme of things, but it would be neat to see him go out on a high note.
- Graphics like this are going to make it that much more difficult to draft Trubisky in a fantasy league without reaching or going past my projected budget:
Mitchell Trubisky's big year put him near the top of recent Bears' QB performances. pic.twitter.com/AxhMDrXrOl
— PFF Fantasy Football (@PFF_Fantasy) January 27, 2019
- There isn’t much to gain from the Pro Bowl, but if anyone can grab something tangible from Sunday’s all-star showdown and this week’s festivities, it’s probably Trubisky. Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic made note of Trubisky saying he was watching Russell Wilson’s footwork and how he called plays. Learning from Wilson as a teammate and hanging around his 2017 draft classmates Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes could pay off, especially if you believe in the concept of steel sharpening steel.
- But still … perhaps the correct answer here is Jackson, if only because our last images of him were getting injured at the end of the win against Green Bay in Week 15 and standing on the sidelines in full uniform despite being unable to play in the playoff game. Even if it’s just for a few plays, it would be nice to see Jackson play to the point where we can rest easy knowing that his injured ankle is fully healed.
- Does Kyle Fuller have one more INT in him? I hope so:
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1089327570301009921
- And if Fuller has another interception up his sleeve, wouldn’t it be neat if it came against Watson or Mahomes? There was no shortage of Fuller highlights in 2018, so it would be fitting for him to have one for the road.
- Akiem Hicks is a legend for this:
- Would you rather see Hicks get a quarterback sack or score an offensive touchdown in today’s Pro Bowl?
- Even though Tarik Cohen is there as a return specialist, you can figure he’ll get some playing time as a running back. Personally, I’d like to see him and the boys in the NFC recreate Oompa Loompa with Trubisky on the receiving end of a Cohen pass.
- Go get ’em, Tarik:
#DaBears RB @TarikCohen doing his best @Mtrubisky10 impression w/ @SpecialOlympics athletes at the #ProBowl. pic.twitter.com/4dGzlUJfch
— Chicago Bears (@BearsOutreach) January 27, 2019
- Bears fans did the dang thing in the polls when they backed their favorite players and helped push them into the Pro Bowl. Now, we get a chance to send an all-time great fan into the Ford Hall of Fans:
https://twitter.com/GBraggsJr/status/1089264672237334529
- I’ve got Goff and the Rams by 83 a week from tonight:
Jared Goff is the quarterback for the Rams. Jason Goff is a Chicago sports radio host. Guess which one a WFAN promo said was playing for the Rams in the Super Bowl next Sunday? https://t.co/R6AdmuYsEz
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 27, 2019
- The Rams are a popular team among NFL Network analysts:
https://twitter.com/nflnetwork/status/1089372448112414722
- And now that we know that Greg Zuerlein’s 57-yard NFC Championship-clinching kick was made while nursing an injured foot, I can see why confidence in the Rams is off the charts:
#Rams K Greg Zuerlein, nursing a foot sprain, told reporters today, “Hopefully, a few more days of treatment and it’ll be good to go.” The injury occurred at halftime last week, though he kicked through it: “It hurt, but not enough to stop me from playing.”
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 27, 2019
- Oh, to be a fly on the wall for this conversation:
— Jim McMahon (@JimMcMahon) January 26, 2019
- Two worthwhile reads from The Athletic caught my eye this week. The first is this from Jon Greenberg on Jarrett Payton, the son of Bears legend Walter Payton who is carving his own path. And the other is by Lauren Comitor, who catches up with Peggy Kusinski, a long-time reporter in Chicago who many fans will remember covering the Bears for NBC Chicago. There is something about getting to know the people who bring us the stories we consume as fans that is enlightening, so I hoe you enjoy reading these as much as I did.
