Mack Still Great, Roquan Getting Hot, Pace’s Picks Trending Up, and Other Bears Bullets

Every year it happens. I take crap for rostering two kickers in fantasy football. My theory is that I draft two kickers — one I’ll keep all year and one who will fill in on the bye week of the kicker I like. But for the first time ever, I did not follow that theory because I caved into peer pressure. So you can guess who lost (in part) because the kicker he dropped was picked up by his opponent and outscored the kicker he picked up as a bye-week replacement.

TL; DR? I’m never listening to you people again.

I was looking forward to using my Bears-less Sunday to watch the marquee matchup between the Ravens and 49ers, but the NFL’s coverage map put on Packers-Giants in the Chicagoland area because of reasons I don’t even want to think about trying to explain. All I know is that I’m mildly annoyed that I have to watch Daniel Jones on my TV when I could easily be watching Lamar Jackson and Jimmy Garappolo do work.

The Bears need a lot of help to really claw back into this playoff picture. We discuss this week’s scenarios here. And if you were willing to put some money on it, you could profit greatly if every bounce went your way:

Putting $100 on this five-team parlay would net a payout of $36,411.75 if you used the numbers from Caesars. And if all those teams won, of course. https://t.co/6Z612n1S7c

— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) December 1, 2019

Despite the constant double teams and an extended slump, look who the second highest-graded edge defender is over at Pro Football Focus:

The highest-graded EDGE defenders through twelve weeks ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/X6WfSjCEGT

— PFF (@PFF) December 1, 2019

Shifting inside, Roquan Smith is getting work done:

Full speed ahead. @RoquanSmith1 | #NextGenStats pic.twitter.com/lqHzLkt4zV

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) November 30, 2019

Yesterday #Bears LB Roquan Smith became the third player in NFL history to record at least 15 tackles and two sacks in a game, joining the Bengals' Vincent Rey and the 49ers' Patrick Willis.

— Larry Mayer (@LarryMayer) November 29, 2019

Elsewhere on the PFF grading scale, Thursday’s performance is probably what GM Ryan Pace envisioned after the last three drafts:

Here's a look at the top grades from the #Bears offense in their Thanksgiving Day WIN pic.twitter.com/dJQSPKpB1E

— PFF (@PFF) November 30, 2019

Javon Wims earned some extra playing time with his play last week, and I have to imagine that this #toedragswag helped his cause:

View this post on Instagram

TOE ⚡️DRAG ⚡️SWAG

A post shared by Chicago Bears (@chicagobears) on Nov 30, 2019 at 1:01pm PST

Tons of early Cyber Monday deals going on at Amazon right now. Also, I see discounted Nintendo Switch controllers, so I’m gonna jump on that. #ad

Some news from around the league … first, a significant extension:

#Eagles have signed T Lane Johnson to a four-year contract extension through 2025.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/4cKCqyxBdB

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 29, 2019

Lane Johnson and the #Eagles have agreed to a 4-year, $72M contract extension, NFL source confirms @MikeGarafolo report. It includes $54.955M guaranteed. Johnson becomes the highest-paid offensive lineman in league history per year and in terms of guarantees.

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) November 29, 2019

Lane Johnson is one of the best offensive tackles in football, so this is an extension that is well-deserved. But also, it puts into perspective how much the Bears are paying their tackles. If you were to combine the total guarantees of Charles Leno Jr. ($18 million) and Bobby Massie ($15.8 million), it would still fall well short of what Lane Johnson is getting. That makes those two deals value contracts in the grand scheme of things, but they would be looked upon in better light if either was playing as well as they were last season.

The wildest story I have seen in a hot minute:

Important: The NFL says its “investigation uncovered no evidence indicating any inside information was used or that any game was compromised in any way. Nor was there evidence suggesting any awareness by teammates, coaches or other players of his betting activity.”

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 29, 2019

I don’t think the Bears are going to be bad enough to take Trevor Lawrence when he is draft eligible in 2021, but that isn’t going to stop me from enjoying him sling it at the college level:

B-E-A-utiful! pic.twitter.com/rr3dXj5P9y

— Stadium (@Stadium) November 30, 2019

If I don’t ever have to watch kickers ever again, then I’d be OK:

i can't get over how loud the DONK is pic.twitter.com/7ex4m4Fbxt

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) December 1, 2019

A team from Illinois in Orange and Blue doinks it…

And it goes in! James McCourt nails the 50-yarder for @IlliniFootball: pic.twitter.com/A1ckh9MYWb

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 30, 2019

It’s wild if you *REALLY* think of it this way:

It’s amazing to think of what it took for Bama to finally miss the CFP.

* Run of front7 injuries
* LSU suddenly has amazing O
* worst 2 min of Saban tenure
* Tua breaks hip
* 3-5 unlikely FG events
* 100yd pick six off player’s back
* hilarious/deadly ill. participation penalty

— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) December 1, 2019

Mitch Trubisky’s alma mater is going bowling:

https://twitter.com/TarHeelFootball/status/1200990436929802241

A leftover nugget from Thanksgiving:

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1200134172427345920