NEWSLETTER
A succinct review of Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) album: It’s good. Quite good. Some songs have aged well. Others have taken new life now that I’m older and have a better understanding of relationships based on life experience. And “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” makes me want to sing like no one is in the car with me.
• Sure, I’m upset the NFL’s rules took a big boy touchdown off the board in Thursday’s Dolphins win against the Ravens. But they can never take this away from us:
hang this in the louvre pic.twitter.com/K9plrKlScW
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) November 12, 2021
• The Ravens threw up a clunker on Thursday. An offense led by MVP candidate Lamar Jackson did a whole lotta nothing, making just two red zone trips and scoring only 10 points. It’s the latest whack performance from an offense whose play caller who should be on every Bears fan’s coaching candidate short-list. Oh, to have a group chat with Greg Roman (Ravens), Kellen Moore (Cowboys), and Brian Daboll (Bills) right now.
• A random thought: We – collectively – need to stop with the bolder than a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos “I don’t want Potential Candidate X because their offense stunk one game” takes. Firstly, it’s unbecoming of who Bears fans are when it comes to evaluating what is good and bad. But also, tough days happen. Not just for us, but for everyone. Quality coordinators on good teams have bad days. We’ll do some deeper dives on coaches when the time comes. In the meantime, let’s try to be more fair in trying to figure out what we want moving forward. Let’s face it. We all want the same thing — and that’s for the Bears to be good and fun.
• Palate cleanser: Cairo Santos is celebrating a birthday today:
How do you say BALLER in Portuguese?!
HBD, @cairosantos19! pic.twitter.com/UtuCIwNPmB
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) November 12, 2021
• Even after his game-ending miss of a 65-yard kick on Monday Night Football, Santos has been successful on 93.5 percent of his kicks since re-joining the Bears in 2020. The most impressive nugget about Santos’ kicking re-birth is how he has misfired on just one attempt from inside 50 yards over the last two seasons. It’s a shame Chicago’s offense can’t string together more drives that give Santos more opportunities to fully take advantage of that success. Maybe it’s something they can work on after the bye.
• When I was asking for the Bears’ offense to look more like the Chiefs, this isn’t what I had in mind:
Percentage of pass plays gaining 15+ yards.
Fewest in the NFL:#Bears – 10%#Jaguars – 11%#Texans – 11%#Chiefs – 11% pic.twitter.com/sZ55pbwhxS
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) November 11, 2021
• Johnny Morris is living one heck of a life:
50 years later, his record still stands.@Bears legend Johnny Morris reflects on a storied career as both pass catching machine and broadcaster.#NFLFilmsPresents pic.twitter.com/6fjUCuTlui
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) November 12, 2021
• You better believe this had me laughing out loud:
The taunting calls are bad and only getting worsehttps://t.co/yeP6EdmLI6 pic.twitter.com/lvq7s6VIgP
— Dave Rappoccio (@DrawPlayDave) November 12, 2021
• If the Bears had a first-round pick in 2022, and were still in the market for a center, Tyler Linderbaum would be on my wish list:
https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/1459183514985893888
• But before we get too far down that rabbit hole, let’s evaluate what is in front of us now:
I like what I’ve seen from Larry Borom at RT for the #Bears so far. I graded his game vs Pittsburgh out at +53/-9 (85.5%) and the week prior I had him down for a +60/-10 (85.7%) vs the 49ers.
It should be fun to watch him grow as he gets more comfortable and knowledgeable.
— Lester A. Wiltfong Jr. (@wiltfongjr) November 10, 2021
• There could be a time later this season where Borom is joined on the line with Teven Jenkins, James Daniels, and Cody Whitehair. And if that happens, the Bears could suit up four home-grown draft picks along their starting offensive line. Wouldn’t that be neat? Admittedly, I’d stand and applaud if it were to go down. I have been a vocal critic of how GM Ryan Pace has gone about putting together his team’s offensive line. But if he can create a solid unit featuring two 2021 NFL Draft selections, a 2018 second-rounder, and a second-round choice from 2016 who earned a second contract with the team, it would make for quite the accomplishment.
• Hmmm … I wonder who the Bears were looking at last night:
21 NFL teams credentialed to attend Pitt. vs. North Carolina, including: ARZ, ATL, BUF, CAR, CHI, CLE, DEN, HOU, IND, LVR, MIN, NE, NO, NYG, PHI, PIT, SEA, SF, TB, TEN and WFT.
5 GMs in attendance: Paton (DEN), Mayock (LVR), Spielman (MIN), Roseman (PHI), and Colbert (PIT).
— Jordan Reid (@Jordan_Reid) November 11, 2021
• One of my favorite Cubs is celebrating a birthday, which reminds me that Sammy Sosa remains unwelcome at Wrigley Field for reasons I still struggle to comprehend.
• It would nice to see El Capitan put the biscuit in the basket:
Jonathan Toews came back this season with a mix of expectations. Through 14 games, he’s done everything we could expect of him … except score a goal. https://t.co/RQvcmv6iAn
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) November 12, 2021
• This is gonna be a no from me, dawg:
With Patrick Williams Out for the Season, Could Marvin Bagley III Make Sense for the Bulls?https://t.co/r7Flh5Kn3O pic.twitter.com/6MQo3Pogrr
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) November 11, 2021
• And I’m not even open to arguments on the other side. Don’t ruin this Bulls vibe with a malcontent because the perception of short-term need. Let things play out for now. Should Chicago’s basketball team prove that it needs to take significant risk to bring on help, then let’ have that discussion when w get to that point.
