I did not have the Chicago Cubs firing their first-base coach on my list of things I thought I’d see after the Northsiders missed the playoffs and finished with just 83 wins for a second consecutive season. It is the kind of thing that makes me wonder what the Bears would look like if they did something similar. More on coaching (and other stuff) in this upcoming set of Bullets.
- Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff was almost perfect last night with this stat line: 18-for-18, 292 passing yards, 2 passing touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. When you punch those numbers into a passer rating calculator, it spits out the number 155.8. A perfect passer rating is 158.3. I guess you have to have at least one incomplete pass to throw a perfecto. What kind of back-alley math are we doing here?
- The Lions beat the Seahawks on Monday Night Football by a 42-29 score. I’m not sure what bothers me more: That the Lions are legit (again) or that Seattle’s offense looks better now than when Shane Waldron was running it last year. I know what bothers me the most: The fact that Ben Johnson is still in the NFC North and scheming the most diabolical stuff against unsuspecting defenses:
- Someone needs to hire Ben Johnson away to be their head coach ASAP. I’m tired of watching him scheme up stuff like this for a team in the Bears’ division. Hello, Bears? Are you watching this? You better buckle up for those Lions games this year. That Thanksgiving matchup will be here before you know it.
- A random thought: Why is it that so many jersey-helmet combos look better on TV and in-game images than they do when these teams have these well-curated promotional drops in the offseason? I thought the Lions’ blue helmets and black jerseys looked “meh” when they teased them this spring. But they looked excellent on TV. What gives?
- Meanwhile, David Montgomery (13 touches, 80 scrimmage yards, 1 TD) continues to do David Montgomery things:
DAVID MONTGOMERY WENT BEAST MODE ON THIS PLAY 🔥
WHAT A HIT STICK ON WITHERSPOON 😱#SEAvsDET | ABC, ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/tg9UO9965l— ESPN (@espn) October 1, 2024
- I sure am glad that D’Andre Swift had a breakout game in Week 4, otherwise, I’d probably be pounding out 750 words re-thinking the Bears’ running back strategy under General Manager Ryan Poles. Don’t get me wrong. I understand how RBBC (Running Back By Committee) is supposed to work. It’s just that it hasn’t worked in Chicago for the last two years. And while I know you’ll point to the Bears’ rushing numbers last year as evidence that it did work, I’d highlight how Justin Fields’ ground pursuits masked other deficiencies in the run game. The Bears need to be better in this aspect of the game. Full stop.
- While it is on my mind, I have a confession: I don’t understand the Justin Fields discourse among Bears fans. When he throws for 300+ yards, posts a 104.0 passer rating, and accounts for 3 total touchdowns in a loss, it’s not good enough. But when he throws for under 300 yards in a team’s win, it also isn’t good enough. I’ll reiterate my interest in Fields is (1) rooted in Chicago getting Pittsburgh’s fourth-round pick and (2) rooting for a guy (so long as he isn’t playing against my favorite team) who played hard and was entertaining for the Bears despite circumstances that weren’t friendly for quarterback development. Some of you folks holding odd grudges are weirdos.
- Same for those of you who claim to be Bears fans but want Caleb Williams to stumble to prove some sort of point. Do you realize the conflicts? Or do you not care? Anyway, let’s clear the slate.
- It is time for your semi-regular Cairo Santos check-in. Santos’ numbers since the start of the 2022 season: 63/69 (91.3%) on field goals, 64/71 (90.1% on PATs). Even if the long-distance game leaves us wanting more, Cairo is still 15/18 (83.3%) on 50+ yarders. To give that number some perspective, Robbie Gould was 23/31 (74.2%) on 50-yarders in his career. Chicago’s kicker is a model of consistency. It is nice to feel comfort when the Bears kicker goes onto the field these days. And it sure as heck beats the feelings we had before his return.
- While Chicago’s kicking game is on my mind, I didn’t realize that Tory Taylor’s beautiful boots single-handedly (single-footedly?) raised the Bears’ win probability with his punts:
- Did you want me to chime in on the *OTHER* Monday Night Football game? I’m sorry to disappoint. But when I saw it was Mason Rudolph vs. Will Levis, I was out. You’d think I’d want to stick around for a battle of quarterbacks who used to date former Bachelor contestants (as ESPN’s Mina Kimes pointed out last night) but even that storyline couldn’t have kept me from pulling out and finding something else to watch.
- Michael McCarthy (Front Office Sports) reports that Adam Schefter could be a candidate to replace Adrian Wojnarowski as ESPN’s top NBA insider. Apparently, this would create a mega-insider in which Schefty covers the NFL *AND* NBA. Does Schefter not want a family life? A personal life? Time to sleep? If that happens, then I hope ESPN makes the money worthwhile.
- The NFL on FOX team dropped an all-time great prank on Rob Gronkowski:
Gronk got GRONK'D 🤯
We decided to do a little prank on our guy @RobGronkowski on "LIVE TV"😂 pic.twitter.com/TO1FBpX4UT— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 29, 2024
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ICYMI: Pete Rose has died. The MLB hit king was 83. You’ll hear a bunch about his complicated legacy in the coming days. For me, it isn’t all that complicated. Rose was an excellent baseball player who was caught doing things he wasn’t supposed to do and it is why he isn’t in Cooperstown. My mother used to warn me not to do things that I wasn’t willing to pay the consequences for … and it sticks in my mind to this day.
Over at BN Blackhawks, Tab writes about how AJ Spellacy’s dream camp continues.
- Good luck with that, Lonzo: