How to Handle Bearslessness at the Bye, Williams Wins the Heisman, Army-Navy Madness, and Other Bears Bullets

Dec 11, 2022

Maybe it’s just the grayness in the sky, but I feel like I didn’t make the most of my Saturday. I’ll try to make up for it in today’s Bullets.

The Chicago Bears can’t ruin your Sunday. But at this point of the day, you’re probably wondering what will take the Bears’ place on TV? Here is what your NFL coverage maps look like on CBS and FOX:

GOOD MORNING!#DaBears don't play today.

They can't win. And they can't lose.

They'll sit around and watch. So will we.

Here are what today's coverage maps look like, via @506sports pic.twitter.com/EsjdHxkKAg— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) December 11, 2022

Locally, in Chicago, we’ll get Jets at Bills (CBS) and Vikings at Lions (FOX) during the noon slate of games. And in the 3 o’clock window, FOX gets the second game with the Buccaneers visiting the 49ers. If you’re looking for an alternative, Hook – one of my favorite movies – will be airing on TBS starting at noon CT.

If you’re unfamiliar with Hook, here’s the 1991 trailer:

If the NFL games are ugly early, a Hook viewing party might be the play.

OK, fine. I get it. You don’t want to watch Hook. Not all of us appreciate the finer things in life. Can I at least interest you in some NFL games that could feature some future Bears?

Four Games to Watch on Sunday (Especially If You’re Looking for Potential Bears Free Agent Targets)https://t.co/AePsYU3QKc pic.twitter.com/STpj3HF6IQ— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) December 11, 2022

I’m looking forward to seeing where the game of musical chairs known as the NFL offseason will take us. Only 94 days until the NFL’s new league year begins and free agency officially opens its doors.

If you want to passively root for the Bears in the most active ways, you’ll want to watch Jaguars-Titans, Texans-Cowboys, and Panthers-Seahawks while rooting for the Jaguars, Texans, and Panthers to help Chicago’s football team to take another step closer to securing the best draft pick it can. And if you want to take it a step further, you’ll be watching Steelers-Ravens in a game you’ll be pulling for Pittsburgh to win because the Bears have Baltimore’s second-round pick (currently sitting at 57th overall). If you’re really on a degenerate scale and want to go even further, you’ll root for the Cardinals over the Patriots on MNF because the Bears could get New England’s fifth-round pick (currently lined up to be 153rd overall).

Watching Justin Fields sling it for the Bears at this time next week is the thing I’m looking forward to the most right now. In the meantime, some quality podcasting from Adam Rank and Brendan Sugrue:

"He's not a finished product yet"@BrendanSugrue joins @adamrank to discuss what they would like to see from Fields for the rest of the season.

Full pod: https://t.co/GxtLCDnCEv #Bears #BearDown #DaBears #NFL #thesickpodcast pic.twitter.com/l1IvEWHU5q— The Sick Podcast with Adam Rank (@sickpodadamrank) December 10, 2022

In six games since the “mini-bye” that came after the TNF loss to Washington, Fields is (1) completing 67.4% of his passes, (2) throwing TDs on 6.5% of his attempts, (3) tossing interceptions at just a 3.6% clip, (4) posting a 95.5 passer rating, and is averaging (5) 103.8 rushing yards per game on (6) 12.3 carries. Now … imagine what Fields will do in the final four games after a real bye.

How many players get to be mic’d up for two different teams in the same year? Well, we know one of them is Roquan Smith (who was wired for the Bears earlier in the season):

Roquan Smith WIRED‼️
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 8, 2022

You can check out a full edition of a Mic’d Up Roquan with the Ravens here.

Part of me wishes the Bears still had their own second-round pick and were able to instead trade the Ravens’ second-rounder Chicago acquired for Roquan to Pittsburgh in the Chase Claypool trade. That Bears second-round selection looks like it’ll be a top-5 pick in the round. And that might be a good place to take a receiver with upside. That thought crossed my mind again after seeing retired Pro Bowl receiver Greg Jennings re-draft the 2022 receiver class for The 33rd Team. In Jennings’ re-draft, he has six first-round receivers — including three who were actually chosen in the second round.

I’m not sure what Skyy Moore has done to join George Pickens and Christian Watson as Day 2 picks worthy of sneaking into Round 1. However, it is worth discussing that there is often a hodgepodge of receivers who you could talk me into being Round 1 guys every year. And while I haven’t taken a deep dive into who those players could be this year, just know that they exist.

That Army-Navy game is going to be one of those “I’m never gambling again” moments for many:

The over has cashed in this game for the first time in 17 years, thanks to 14 points scored in overtime. https://t.co/BAUZSjq9w5
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 10, 2022

Am I including myself? Perhaps. OK, probably not. But just know that I haven’t been that disappointed in the result of something involving the U.S. Army and Navy since … oh, never mind!

Congrats are in order to Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams. The USC QB did it all in 2022. This is what it looked like when his moment was announced:

The greatest player in college football is a USC Trojan.

So proud of @CALEBcsw for winning the 2022 Heisman Trophy!

📺: ESPN pic.twitter.com/il6PpqpRRx— USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics) December 11, 2022

Unless something drastically changes, Williams will be QB1 in next year’s draft. I don’t expect the Bears to be in a position to draft him next year. And, frankly, I don’t want them to be. Something will have to go exceptionally wrong for the Bears to end up in that mix at this time next year.

It hasn’t happened often this year, but I spent some time watching the Bulls last night. And they rewarded me with one heckuva first half:

The Chicago Bulls Just Broke a Franchise Record for Most First Half Points!https://t.co/txFUDXkiJH pic.twitter.com/VGiIpO9voC
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) December 11, 2022

The beat goes on as the Carlos Correa sweepstakes sits at a standstill (with the Cubs still involved at some level):

Report: The Cubs Are Still in on Carlos Correahttps://t.co/YFDGIoa6T2 pic.twitter.com/Ad7j0mycCT
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) December 10, 2022

written by

Luis C. Medina

Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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