NEWSLETTER
Bears country, let’s ride.
- There was only one tweet I could send after seeing ESPN’s Adam Schefter’s postgame TNF tweet:
- Ahhh, you think Thursday Night Football taffy pulls are your ally? You merely adopted the slog on a once-per-week basis. We were born in it. Molded by it. Live it every Sunday. Or Monday. And, yes, the occasional Thursday. I still haven’t seen the light of day that comes when your favorite quarterback throws for 4,000 yards. And by the time it comes, it will be nothing to me but blinding.
- Hence, we have no choice but to embrace the Bears’ upcoming TNF showdown with the Commanders. Some fans run when their team gets into a rock fight. I say go pick up some pebbles and start slinging ’em.
- The perfect summation of last night’s Broncos-Colts showdown is in this screen shot:
- This woman’s favorite team is (at this point) winning. After showing this picture to a friend, they asked who is this crestfallen woman? And, frankly, I couldn’t pick a better term for this one. Some words are perfect descriptors for situations. That one hits the spot.
- Usually when I’m not happy with an Amazon product, I pawn it off on someone else. But I don’t think that is an option here:
- What in the world was Russell Wilson doing last night?
- I get that this is his thing, but the last thing Broncos fans want to hear after that is a made-for-a-bumper-sticker slogan that was probably cooked up in a pitch meeting by someone who had too many gummies (or not enough).
- And it was so sad, too. It reminded me of when I was a youngster listening to Cubs radio and Ron Santo would introduce the manager for his pre-game interview. When the Cubs were winning and Santo was in a good mood, he’d refer to the skipper as “the fine manager of the Chicago Cubs.” But when thing weren’t going so well, you could hear it in Ronnie’s tone. And he just called him “the manager of the Chicago Cubs.” That “fine” was one four-letter word that held a lot of weight if you were trying to give Santo a vibe check.
- OK, but what was Russ doing last night?
- Don’t get me wrong. I know that even the best QBs miss throws. Trust me … I KNOW! But this is alarming when it’s Russell Freaking Wilson.
- It’s not something I think of often, but I thought of the failed Bears-Seahawks trade(s) last night when refreshing Twitter obsessively to see if either the Colts or Broncos would score something that wasn’t a field goal. Could you imagine where the Bears would’ve been had they sent multiple first-round picks *AND* players to Seattle for Wilson. There were rumored packages including Roquan Smith, pitches made to deal Khalil Mack, and they kept on going. Maybe Wilson isn’t as bad as he has been looking since arriving in Denver. But I don’t want to think about what it would’ve looked like had an emboldened Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy successfully landed the big fish two offseason ago.
- As for players currently on the Bears, I’m looking forward to seeing an injury report later today for an updated status regarding David Montgomery. The Bears’ Week 1 starting running back practiced (albeit with limitations) for the first time this week on Thursday. Montgomery participating in practice opens a door to the fourth-year rusher playing on Sunday against the Vikings. Does it feel unlikely because of the quick turnaround considering the injury was pretty recent? Sure. Am I betting against Monty breaking the mold and playing? Heck no! As far as I’m concerned, Montgomery recovers from injury like a video game character. He is something else.
- Exhibit A as to why the Bears should be welcoming Montgomery back into the lineup (if he is healthy enough to give it a go):
- Chicago’s football team can use all the pass-blocking help it can get. And there aren’t many who chip in to help their quarterback better than Montgomery.
- There is nowhere to go but up for the Bears passing offense, and specifically quarterback Justin Fields. ESPN’s Matt Bowen lists Fields as his most disappointing quarterback (so far). I can understand why:
I expected a second-year jump from Fields given his physical traits and playmaking talent. But through four weeks, the Bears lack a true passing-game element, though some of that falls on a talent-deficient offense. Fields isn’t seeing things cleanly from the pocket and has missed opportunities to cut it loose. His 26.2 QBR is 31st in the NFL.
- ESPN’s QBR metric is flawed. But a 26.2 rating on ESPN’s QB-grading scale passes the smell test based on what’s been presented to us at this point. Things can change. Fields can improve. And that grade can shoot up. But to this point of the year, how can you call it anything but a disappointment?
- Disappointment aside, I appreciate Offensive Coordinator Luke Getsy’s positive spin on what has been a bad start (by the numbers). ESPN’s Courtney Cronin highlights the money quote: “I don’t think he’s had a rough month. I think he’s gotten better each week. I think he’s growing tremendously. And you know, it’s not easy. We’re playing good football teams, and it’s not easy to become the level of quarterback that he wants to become, and I know that he can become.”
- This is gonna be awkward, but who wants to tell him that Fields and the Bears have the third-toughest remaining schedule in the NFL?
Are we about to see more Velus Jones Jr. this week?
- Jones played a grand total of 0 offensive snaps last week. And while I’m looking forward to seeing his contributions to the special teams return game do more good than bad moving forward, this team needs is 2022 third-round pick to contribute on the offensive side of the ball. With all due respect to Equanimeous St. Brown, Byron Pringle, and N’Keal Harry, it was the VJJ selection that was THE high-profile addition to the receivers room this past offseason. And it needs to start paying dividends.
- I aspire for the Bears offense to reach new highs every week. But not like this:
- Eddie Jackson is sooooo back. Which means we’re seeing his name pop up in graphics like this:
- Ooh! This gives me some ideas for Ryan Poles:
- As punishment for being swept by the Northsiders, the Mets should have to send Francisco Lindor to the Cubs in exchange for one (1) Chicago style pizza, one (1) Italian beef (their choice of sweet or hot peppers), and one (1) Chicago style hot dog. In the meantime, Pete Alonso having to publicly acknowledge his team getting swept by the Cubs publicly will hold me over:
- Tab had postgame thoughts after Thursday’s Blackhawks preseason game:
- How can you not be romantic about baseball?
