Rolling into December, Celebrating Butkus’ Greatness, Pondering an Urlacher Snub, and Other Bears Bullets

Small Business Saturday is one of my favorite days of the year. And even though it is gloomy and rainy outside, I’ll make my way out to support my favorite local haunts later in the afternoon.

• As  the NFL continues to roll out any and every list highlighting the league’s best players as part of its centennial celebration, I find myself sitting and waiting for any Bears to be mentioned because they are destined to be well-represented. Naturally, the sharing of the league’s best linebackers included this guy:

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1200583404812525568?s=20

• Dick Butkus was an all-time great who was the embodiment of what Bears football was during his era, while also setting a gold standard as to what the middle linebacker position was going to be moving forward. An all-time greatest linebackers list without Butkus would have been incomplete, so I’m glad the compilers of this list were able to get it right.
• And yet, I’m still a bit miffed that Brian Urlacher was left off. Because it is so difficult to compare players from different eras, I’m not sure who comes off in order for Urlacher to make the cut. But if an all-time list is going to have Ray Lewis, I feel as if it should also have Urlacher. As far as I am concerned, Urlacher and Lewis did more to transform and modernize the inside linebacker position during their time. And that is truly impressive because Lewis and Urlacher had different styles. To me, any list of top linebackers that includes Lewis should also have Urlacher because the two ushered in a new era of greatness at the position.
• Elsewhere on the list of the NFL’s greatest players, defensive linemen Doug Atikis and Bill Hewitt were also named to the NFL 100 All-Time Team. Hewitt was part of back-to-back championship teams in 1932 and 1933, was voted to the NFL All-Decade Team for the 1930s, and was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971. Atkins played 12 years with the Bears, and was notably part of the 1963 championship team. He was put into the Hall of Fame in 1982 after a career that featured eight Pro Bowl appearances and placement on the NFL All-Decade Team for the 1960s. So, yeah, he was pretty darn good.
• Fast forward to the present and re-live Thursday’s win against the Lions:

https://twitter.com/ChicagoBears/status/1200799144207478785

• This tweet is too perfect:

https://twitter.com/BusterSkrine/status/1200169785394417664

• Plenty of people watched the Bears get that dub:

https://twitter.com/FOXSportsPR/status/1200504205863243776

• That was a satisfying win. Sure, it was closer than it probably should have been … but it was good to see the Bears bounce back and not fold when facing adversity.
• Doing what they did against the Lions again won’t be easy down the stretch, but a win in Detroit put Chicago in a place where its next game against Dallas matters. When the Bears were mired in a four-game losing streak, I wasn’t convinced that was going to be a possibility. Getting off a touchdown on the first drive will certainly help things. The Bears have just two such drives this season.

• Maximizing scoring opportunities will be a priority as the calendar turns from November to December. How Eddy Piñeiro will be used to put points on the board still hasn’t been totally determined. The Bears passed on using Piñeiro to kick a 50-yard field goal while indoors at Ford Field, going for it on 4th-and-6. Not only did the Bears not convert, they committed a penalty on the play (of course). During his post-game press conference, Nagy told reporters he wanted to err on the side of aggressions. And while I appreciate coaches wanting to put up touchdowns instead of settling for field goals, passing on indoor 50-yarders makes me wonder about Piñeiro’s future with this team. Because if you can’t trust Piñeiro to put up 3 from long distance, then maybe he shouldn’t be The Guy. I’ll be curious to see what Special Teams Coach Chris Tabor has to say about how that particular situation unfolded when he meets with the media later in the week.
• Release a whole dang mic’d up Mitch, please:

https://twitter.com/ChicagoBears/status/1200580200628547586

• Hey, ma … no hands:

https://twitter.com/thecheckdown/status/1200122779712053250?s=20

• Looking at my Friday night:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5dmrfNFoy6/

• Some Cowboys-related injury updates as we start to turn our attention to next week’s game:

Cowboys are confident that WR Amari Cooper (knee) will play next Thursday vs. Bears, Jason Garrett said. Looked good today.

— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) November 29, 2019

Michael Bennett has a foot injury and Cowboys are optimistic about his chances for Bears.

— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) November 29, 2019

• Let’s keep an eye on this situation, as a Broncos practice squad player hinted that he was headed to the Bears:

OL Corey Levin, via Instagram, says he's headed to the Bears. Was on the Broncos' practice squad. pic.twitter.com/zhuaOJEcSy

— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) November 30, 2019

• Amazon has started their overload of Cyber Monday Deals for this weekend, so make sure you check it out. #ad
• Obvious Shirts is having its Black Friday sale roll into Sunday, so you should take advantage of it:

Black Friday time! *Every single thing* at @obvious_shirts is 35% off with free shipping (code FRIDAY19). Take advantage of the biggest sale of the year: https://t.co/yEzSP5RyNp pic.twitter.com/aNx4D6FtaW

— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) November 29, 2019