NEWSLETTER
There was a time during the offseason in which Jimmy Graham was considering retirement, but chose against it to pursue a ring??with the Bears.
No, seriously. He even went as far as to say it again as recently as the end of November.
Yeah, seriously.
In a cruel twist of irony, the team that cut Graham – allowing him to hit the open market and join the Bears in the first place – is far closer to winning a title than the Bears are right now. The Packers have done well since cutting ties with Graham. As for the Bears, things haven’t been all that great. But what Graham hasn’t been able to provide in catches, yards, and touchdowns, he brings with veteran leadership and wisdom.
Being an established veteran presence, Graham knows a thing or two about a thing or two. But I did not expect him to inadvertently explain the value of an in-season coaching change. Check out this quote, via NBC Sports Chicago’s Alex Shapiro:
“We struggled for two years on offense. We fired Mike McCarthy my first year there, and that was very difficult. You just never know. Sometimes it???s timing, and sometimes you???ve gotta pick and choose as you have and I have done that.”
If you’ll recall, the Packers fired Mike McCarthy after a home loss to the Cardinals late in the 2019 season. It was a bad loss at the end of a rough season. The time had come for change, and Green Bay didn’t hesitate. Since then, the franchise has gathered its wits, re-grouped, and returned into being a buzzsaw. Matt LaFleur has 39 wins under his belt already, and his third season with the team still has some games to go. The Packers are among the Super Bowl favorites. And the Bears, well, if you’re reading this, you know how they have been faring of late.
But as we know by now, the future is far more important to us than the present. And if Chicago’s football team wants to be better moving forward, it can take a lesson from its neighbors to the north. Make good football decisions, hire good football people, acquire good football players, play an entertaining brand of football, and win football games.
Sure, if it were that simple, then everyone would do it. Then again, the ball has to get rolling on this thing sooner or later.
But first, we dance again at Lambeau Field.
Game Info
Chicago Bears (4-8) at??Green Bay Packers??(9-3) on NBC-TV (Al Michaels, Chris Collinsworth, Kathryn Tappen), WBBM-AM 780 and WCFS-FM 105.9 (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Mark Grote), Westwood One??(Ryan Radtke, Mike Golic)
Kickoff time: 7:20 p.m. CT
Site:??Lambeau Field
Referee:??Ron Torbert
Odds:??Bears +11.5 (-110), O/U 42.5 (via DraftKings Sports Book)
Game Thread??(Week 14 Preview)
Your game thread is down in the comments, so let???s have some good, clean (safe-for-work) fun.
Hype Video
Coaches
Bears Matt Nagy (32-28) vs. Packers Matt LaFleur (39-5)
Starting Quarterbacks and Projected Game Stats
BEARS: Justin Fields:??20/32, 223 passing yards, 1 TD, 1 INT; 8 carries, 41 rushing yards
versus
PACKERS: Aaron Rodgers:??21/32, 248 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT; 2 carries, 9 yards
Projected stats via ESPN projections
Bears Offense (Projected Starters in Bold)
QB Justin Fields
Reserves: Nick Foles
RB David Montgomery
Reserves: Khalil Herbert, Damien Williams
WR Darnell Mooney, Allen Robinson II
Reserves: Damiere Byrd, Jakeem Grant Sr.
TE Cole Kmet, Jimmy Graham
Reserves: Jesse James
LT Jason Peters
LG Cody Whitehair
C Sam Mustipher
RG James Daniels
RT Larry Borom
Reserves: Lachavious Simmons, Alex Bars, Teven Jenkins
Bears Defense
DT Angelo Blackson
NT Eddie Goldman
DE Bilal Nichols
Reserves: Khyiris Tonga
OLB Robert Quinn, Trevis Gipson
Reserves: Christian Jones, Bruce Irvin, Charles Snowden
ILB Roquan Smith, Alec Ogletree
Reserves: Caleb Johnson, Joel Iyiegbuniwe
CB Jaylon Johnson, Artie Burns
Reserves: Xavier Crawford, Kindle Vildor
S Eddie Jackson, Tashaun Gipson Sr.
Reserves: Deon Bush, DeAndre Houston-Carson, Marqui Christian
Bears Special Teams
Cairo Santos (kicker), Pat O’Donnell (punter), Patrick Scales (long-snapper), Jakeem Grant Sr.??(kick and punt returns)
Bears Inactives
Inactives for #CHIvsGB: pic.twitter.com/NlhAJD3tRw
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) December 12, 2021
Packers Projected Starters
Offense
??? ?? QB Aaron Rodgers
??? ?? RB Aaron Jones
??? ?? WRs Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling
??? ?? TEs Robert Tonyan
??? ?? LT Yosh Nijman, LG Jon Runyan, C Lucas Patrick, RG Royce Newman, RT Billy Turner
Defense
??? ?? DEs Dean Lowry, Kingsley Keke, NT Kenny Clark
??? ?? OLBs Preston Smith, Rashan Gary, ILBs Krys Barnes, Oren Burks
??? ?? CBs Rasul Douglas, Eric Stokes
??? ?? S Adrian Amos, Darnell Savage
Specialists
??? ?? Mason Crosby (kicker), Corey Bojorquez (punter, holder), Hunter Bradley (long snapper), Malik Taylor, Amari Rodgers (kick and punt returns)
Packers Inactives
#Packers ILB De'Vondre Campbell is active tonight. DL Akiem Hicks is inactive for the #Bears.#Packers inactives:
36 S Vernon Scott
58 LB Isaiah McDuffie
69 T David Bakhtiari
90 DT Jack Heflin— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) December 12, 2021
