After sleeping with the windows open last night, I found myself thinking about comfort foods. Specifically, spaghetti and meatballs. It’s been a while since I’ve made my own meatballs. But my friend Jim’s recipe will guide me through the process later today.
With the Bears and Pats set to square off on Monday Night Football one week from tonight, we’re on high alert for primetime storylines:
The oddsmakers think Pats Head Coach Bill Belichick has a good shot at passing George S. Halas on the all-time wins chart with a win against Halas’ old team. The Trib’s Brad Biggs tweets the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas installed New England as a 7.5-point favorite for Monday Night Football. A Belichick defense against a Bears offense is traditionally a mismatch on paper. And this week figures to be no exception, especially with the Pats having given up just one offensive touchdown in its last eight quarters.
Bears QB Justin Fields and the fans who root him on have feeling this sentiment in common. From the Chicago Tribune’s Dan Wiederer, who captures this Fields quote:
“Everybody is feeling this way,” he said. “Everybody is mad. Nobody is happy about this loss. We always get told that we’re almost there, we’re almost there. Me personally? I’m tired of being almost there, tired of being just this close. I feel like I’ve been hearing it for so long.”
And we’re going to keep hearing it until Fields makes something out of nothing and snatches victory from the jaws of defeat. The Bears put a lot of trust in Fields to stay the course despite the crumbling conditions around him. And while I don’t worry about Fields being unable to do that, I have concerns about if he’ll be in one piece when he gets through to the other side.
Fields’ next start will be the 17th in his career. And while we’ll get around to viewing his stats through that lens after next week, I find myself picking around through stats trying to find sources of optimism. Maybe it’s in that his TD% has jumped from 2.6% to 3.5% from Year 1 to Year 2. Or maybe his yards/attempt has taken a leap from 6.9 to 7.6 is something that’ll lift my spirits. Fields’ league-leading 13.8 yards/completion was definitely an eyebrow-raising number I found while sorting through Pro Football Reference’s stats. There is stuff to work with here. So it’s not as if Fields is a lost cause through 16 games as a pro. But there is still much work to do.
When the Bears hired Luke Getsy to be the top offensive voice on the team as offensive coordinator and play-caller, I was hoping that he would bring a Packers-like offense to Chicago. But this is NOT what I had in mind:
As Jason Lieser (Sun-Times) writes, the Bears’ offense remains the team’s main concern … and it’ll be up to the defensive-leaning head coach to get this thing going in the right direction. Gulp.
If only the Bears could’ve done something more to aid in Fields’ development. Josh Schrock (NBC Sports Chicago) and Ricky O’Donnell (SB Nation) layout where the Bears failed Fields in the offseason. It’s a real shame, too, as Fields is trying to make premium chicken salad with lettuce that has been untouched in the fridge for weeks and dinosaur-shaped frozen chicken nuggets.
Part of me fully understands why GM Ryan Poles went full tear-down this off-season. But part of me sees the Packers, Falcons, and Seahawks as 3-3 teams in the thick of a playoff hunt and wonders how little the Bears needed to do to make that offense a competitive bunch. Building for the big picture should’ve still been the focus. However, there was definitely a path to a more balanced off-season approach than the one the Bears ultimately took. So, instead, the Bears are hanging with a 2-4 record and in the mix to pick in the top 10.
Who regrets that Week 1 win more? Fans of a 49ers team that is currently in a first-place tie with the Rams and Seahawks at 3-3 OR Bears fans who see that win as the difference in picking 10th (because they’re tied with five other teams repping a 2-4 record) and 5th?
A silver lining from Thursday’s debacle that I’ll allow myself to discuss now that we’re well removed from that game: The Commanders win gives the Bears a tiebreaker in the quest for draft position.
Let’s tie it all back to Bill Belichick and George Halas:
He’s right, you know?
ICYMI: Jets rookie Sauce Gardner was trolling Lambeau Field after beating the Packers in one of the most creative ways I’ve ever seen:
If Elijah Moore is looking for a team that’ll give him targets, then I’d like to offer up Chicago as a destination. Not that I would expect the Jets would trade the 2021 second-round pick so quickly into his pro career. But I’m just providing options because I saw this tweet from after the Jets beat the Packers, and I’m a nice guy in a relatively good mood this morning:
No, I don’t know what Josh Gordon has left in the tank. But for the sake of my entertainment (and also to leave no stones left unturned in their search for WR help), the Bears should kick the tires on Gordon, who NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport tweets has been released off the practice squad.
Seeing Saquon Barkley on a list of 2023 free agent running backs after watching him score a bulk of my fantasy team’s points yesterday put some thoughts in my head. I don’t want to explore them now. Instead, let’s just look at the future while we have a moment:
Do the Warriors have the best owners in sports? After inking Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins to sizable extensions, they have a payroll that would make vintage era George Steinbrenner blush:
Playoff baseball is fun:
I still have one eye on the offseason while postseason baseball chugs along:
NEWSLETTER
