NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Bears cannot ruin your Sunday by losing a football game. Let that sink in for a moment, then allow yourself to enjoy a day of Bears-less football. Don’t forget to set your fantasy lineups. If you insist on spicing your day up with some wagers, please do so responsibly today.
- No Bears? No problem. These are the Week 13 NFL games that will be available on TV locally in Chicago (all times CT because duh):
- Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals, noon on CBS
- Arizona Cardinals at Minnesota Vikings, noon on FOX
- Philadelphia Eagles at Baltimore Ravens, 3:25 p.m. on CBS
- If you are watching any of those games above for a future Bears head coaching candidate, then I would keep tabs on Arizona-Minnesota and the chess match between Cardinals Offensive Coordinator Drew Petzing and Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores. Petzing’s name has popped up on a handful of 2025 head coach watch lists, while Flores has already been a head coach in the NFL. Flores figures to get a second shot at a head coaching opportunity in the future.
- I suppose we shouldn’t look past that Eagles-Ravens game if we’re watching with the idea of keeping notes on head coach candidates. Offensive Coordinators Kellen Moore (Eagles) and Todd Monken (Ravens) will likely get head coach interviews around the league this offseason. Even if you aren’t watching because you want to bone up on possible Bears coaching candidates, you might want to check that game out because you want a good look at how successful offenses are operating. Treat yourself to some quality football.
- A hypothetical: In a world where the Bengals moved on from Zac Taylor so they could reunite quarterback Joe Burrow with Buffalo Bills Offensive Coordinator Joe Brady, would you entertain Taylor as a Bears coaching candidate? I wonder if Bears General Manager Ryan Poles kept notes on how Taylor operated when the Bengals were in town for joint practices in August.
- More fallout from Matt Eberflus’ firing: It sounds like that end-of-game collapse against the Detroit Lions got the ball rolling leading to his dismissal as Bears head coach. (Sun-Times)
- Colleen Kane (Tribune) has a timeline of a fired coach’s tenure in Chicago. Casuals might see the last three weeks as the reason that Eberflus is no longer the Bears head coach. But this has been bubbling for a while.
- It was pretty cool to see teammates Caleb Williams (who went to USC) and Cole Kmet (Notre Dame product) hang out at this iconic college football rivalry game:
- A fun fact worth sharing with your friends: Caleb Williams has a 115.7 passer rating when targeting Cole Kmet this season. Williams is 42-for-50 (84.0 completion pct.), has thrown for 448 yards, has 3 touchdowns (and just 1 interception), is averaging 9.0 yards per attempt, and has converted 23 first downs when throwing Kmet’s way. After seeing those stats, I hope he does it more often down the stretch.
- In other college football news, the Wrigley Field football experience was unique and it is something I would recommend for fans who want to see their favorite team in a different venue or are one of those Wrigley Field bucket-listers who want to see the historic venue. For future reference, I’d advocate for sitting in the bleachers (you’ll be in the sun all game) or in the first 13 rows of the 200-section between home plate and third base. Those were my favorite sections while wandering the ballpark.
- Another Wrigley football recommendation: Eating in the upper on the upper deck concourse or on the patio behind third base (which looks out to Gallagher Way). What should you eat? The Italian Beef (get it with sweet and hot peppers) is a hearty and filling treat. And the footlong hot dog price might feel steep ($12.99) it is a good value compared to the other dogs. And you can get it with giardiniera and grilled onions.
- Elsewhere in college football, I found the end of Michigan-Ohio State to be entertaining — particularly this interview that happened on FOX after the game:
- This quote is going to live on for long after my time on this plane of existence ends:
- I’ll avoid all the thinkpieces that will come from this one. But this Michigan player nails a sentiment I’ve long been feeling when it comes to sports in the modern era. People need to learn how to lose. Players. Coaches. Fans. I could go on. Maybe it is easy for me to say this because, as a Chicago sports fan, you learn how to digest losing from your first moments of fandom. Or maybe we’re just built differently as a collective.
- A rule for college football I would implement for the future: If you win a rivalry game on the road, then you get to plant your flag at the 50-yard line in a ceremony. In pro sports, we see it all the time where teams win championships on another team’s turf. And there has never been a post-game incident. Let’s normalize something fun that can go both ways.
- Were there any college football prospects who performed admirably and should be on the Bears’ radar when the NFL Draft rolls around? If there were, I’m sure you’ll let us know in the comments.
- Today is probably my last day eating Thanksgiving leftovers. For those of you who are in the same boat, I found this to be equally helpful and inspirational because I am just about out of ideas.
- Our friends in the Bleacher Nation baseball department share news that the Chicago Cubs have a new assistant pitching coach.
- Over at BN Bulls, Elias Schuster explores a potential return for Chicago if the team trades center Nikola Vucevic.
- Chicago Blackhawks prospect Frank Nazar is opening eyes:
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"You hate to see stuff like that after the game. It's just bad for the sport, bad for CFB… They gotta learn how to lose man. You can't be fighting."@JennyTaft speaks with Michigan's Kalel Mullings after a fight broke out between Ohio State and Michigan after the game ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/z6rmxu2YJQ— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 30, 2024
“For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game. It’s bad for the sport, bad for college football. But at the end of the day, some people gotta learn how to lose. You can’t be fighting just because you lost a game. We had 60 minutes, we had four quarters to do all that fighting. … That’s just wrong.”
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