Week 17 TV Guide, What it Looks Like When You Get it Right, Kevin Harlan is a Star, Why is Local Viewership Down? And Other Bears Bullets

We’re on Day 2 of yours truly drinking nothing but hot water, honey, and lemon juice. If anyone has any anecdotes or ideas on how to spend sick days, I am all ears!

• No Bears? No problem. These are the games on locally in Chicago with the Bears having already played on Thursday:
  • Cowboys at Eagles (Noon, FOX)
  • Jets at Bills (Noon, CBS)
  • Packers at Vikings (3:25 p.m. CT, FOX)

• This is the first time in which the Packers and Vikings will square off in a game in which both teams have 11+ wins, per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert and Rob Demovsky. Meanwhile, the Bears have 11 wins dating back to the start of the 2023 season. Sigh.
• If the Vikings win, it would set up a Week 18 matchup between Minnesota and Detroit for the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. I imagine that would be the Sunday Night Football matchup on NBC. That would certainly be a must-see matchup.
• The folks at Bears Wire round up some more must-see NFL games during the Bears’ mini-bye.
• An interesting anecdote I read earlier in the week at AA is that local NFL viewership is down for 21 of the league’s 32 teams. This is noteworthy when you consider how well the big national games have scored. If you’ll recall, the Sun-Times had a story pointing out that Week 1 viewership was down 13 percent in Chicago. Unless the Bears do something to drum up real interest this offseason, it wouldn’t surprise me to see that number take another hit.

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• Bears fans are upset. And rightfully so. Their favorite team has had just one winning season in the last 10 years and has zero playoff wins in its two postseason appearances. Chicago’s football team creates an undeniable buzz every summer. And while I will never tell you to not feel optimistic if you have reasons to feel that way, being a fan of this team has me feeling that this is how Charlie Brown must feel whenever Lucy pulls the football out from under him.
• My biggest takeaway from Saturday’s NFL triple-header is that Kevin Harlan is the best broadcaster on the sports scene:

https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1873166294692053509

• The transition from the end of the Pop-Tarts Bowl to the end of Bengals-Broncos is exactly what the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is all about.
• I spent some time watching Chargers-Patriots while downing chicken noodle soup and I had this thought cross my mind: The Chargers are Exhibit A of what it looks like when a traditionally cruddy ownership group gets the head coach hire correct. Also, the Chargers situation should serve as a reminder to not fall for the online grift of “well, actually, that talented quarterback is bad.” The people who encouraged people to give up on Justin Herbert should be tarred and feathered on Michigan Avenue.
• Here’s hoping that, at this time next year, we can talk about the Bears as a team getting it right with the coaching hire and laughing about the people who were giving up on Caleb Williams.



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• Connor Bedard has a streak that you can read about in Tab Bamford’s BN Blackhawks Bullets.
• Teoscar Hernandez re-signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers means those pesky Seiya Suzuki trade rumors can officially come to an end.
• Basketball trade alert! The Los Angeles Lakers have reportedly acquired Dorian Finney-Smith from the Brooklyn Nets. Do you remember when they were the New Jersey Nets? Fun times. (BN Bulls)