Bears vs. Panthers

Noon on Sunday, like God intended.  We have an honest shot at this one if we can hurt/hassle Cam.

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Bears Close Against Possible NFC Leaders Carolina?

Carolina might be one of the better teams in the NFC, with Green Bay losing Rogers and the Cowboys seemingly falling apart.  Thus it is amazing that the Bears are only 3 point underdogs at home against this team.

Here’s a prediction per the Bleacher Report

Look for the Bears to make this a competitive game at home. It should come down to a field goal either way, and that will keep this game within the point spread. Take the points and the Bears.

Let’s think about this a bit.  First of all, the Bears finally gave up on Giraffe Neck, primarily because the mouth breathers (fans) could not stand the idea of giving up on the entire season for a better draft pick and saving the wear and tear on our new shiny QB of the future.  While I don’t set the odds for Vegas, I think the line would be a lot higher if the Bears hadn’t been very close against the Vikings (who amazingly are also one of the better teams in the NFC) and beat Baltimore on the road, which is due to the fact that Trubisky came into the game as the starter and brings the Bears a shot at winning instead of a cardboard cutout (albeit a tall one) of a QB.

If the Bears really are this close to Carolina with all their wide receivers hurt and down many key folks on defense to season ending injuries, what does this say about HOW TERRIBLE THE NFL IS RIGHT NOW?

A bunch of crazy things are happening in the NFL.  Teams that were supposed to be great are terrible, and teams that were supposed to be terrible are great.  What is the cause?  What separates the good teams from the bad teams?

1. Competent QB play – this implies that your QB isn’t costing you the game and is able to run a decent passing attack in the scope of your offense.  If you have a terrible O line (like the Bears right now) then this must be overcome; if you have no receivers (like the Jets) then that has to overcome, as well
2. Defense Against the Pass – I don’t care how it happens per se whether it is between rushing the QB to hurry him or having great downfield players in the secondary, if you can put pressure on the opposing passing offense you will do well.  Sure there are some running backs out there but they aren’t really putting teams up or down all that much in the grand scheme of things

The Jets, for instance, have this.  Crazily enough, McClown is playing competently even with all his obstacles and the defense is woke enough to do some damage.  Even the lowly Dolphins with Smokin’ Jay were able to win once he started getting his soon-to-be-backbreaking passes to land.

Do the Bears meet these criteria with Trubisky in the lineup?  Probably.  He isn’t killing them like Giraffe Neck and can make some plays when the o line gives him a couple seconds.  Their defense is actually not too terrible, either.  The difference is probably special teams / trick plays which seem to tilt the Bears one way or another on any given week.

I still laugh HA HA HA when I see people take defensive players or receivers and the like with their top draft picks while there are top (potential) QB’s on the board.  IF YOU HAVE TERRIBLE QB PLAY YOU ARE TERRIBLE, PERIOD.  Look at the Raiders without Carr – they are now “the Bears” as Dan and I typically term a team “without hope of winning a playoff game”.  Cleveland took a defensive stud with their #1 pick and sure he’s made a few plays but their quarterback woes make them completely uncompetitive as a team.

It is sooooo ironic that McClown is out there leading the Jests and smokin Jay can even bring the Dolphins an occasional win.  The level of play in the NFL for QB’s is laughable, and it is even worse when “garbage time” yards are taken out of the equation (I still can’t believe that Glennon threw for 300+ yards in a game).

 

Bears vs. Ravens and Random Story

Well, the Bears travel to that hellhole called Baltimore and Mitch faces another pretty good defense.  Fortunately, the Ravens offense has been “Flaccoed” and can’t get out of their own way.  Right now the Bears are getting 6.5 from Vegas and I will come out and say we will cover.

On a side note, I was in Houston last week on business and as usual the talk turns eventually to football.  I always get mocked for my Bears leanings, however this time I had something different to say.  This time I was able to say that at least we have a slight, tiny ray of light to be excited about.  Unfortunately for me I had consumed a few cocktails and said it like this:

Well, we still suck but with tittiess on the team we at least have a ray of light coming through the eternal darkness.

The females who were involved in the conversation especially, and everyone else were pretty flummoxed until I showed them the 2nd best tweet of all time on my phone and they all laughed their asses off.   In fact, it brought the house down for a few minutes.

I really should start calling him something else in public, though.

NFL Against The Spread and Surprises

There were a lot of Bears’ fans who screamed when we didn’t get the GENIUS coach Bruce Arians a few years’ back.  It is hilarious to see not only how crappy and old and salary-cap laden that Arizona team is today but extra funny is that they are 0-5 vs. the spread this year (2-3 overall with some wins against crappy teams in there).  Arizona is the only 0-5 team vs. the spread after five games so far in 2017.

While the Bears are having another terrible season at least they are 3-2 vs. the spread this year… with all 3 home games being close and coming down to the wire (covering) and 2 road blowout losses.  With some bad luck they are 1-4 for the year but at least slightly ahead of degenerate gambler expectations at home.

The team that is defying all expectations is Kansas City.  Not only are they 5-0, they are 5-0 vs. the spread.  The injury gods have spared them so far and they seem to be the class of the NFL.  We will see it is a long way to the end of a 16 game season.

Bears vs. Vikings

Well then!  The Mitchell Trubisky era begins tonight.

Not The Correct Plan!

So it is official today – the mouth breathers won and Mitchell Trubinsky will be starter for the Bears on Monday Night Football against the Queens.  Sigh.

The optimal plan is to let giraffe neck get killed all year, then bring Grabowski in for the last few meaningless games, and THEN let him start next year.  But I get it.  All of the Bears coaches and GM are on the hot seat and if they don’t win now, they will all get canned.  So what do they care if Trubiskies gets killed?

Tittiess has nobody to throw the ball to, our d sucks, and this team isn’t going anywhere.

Why?  Why can’t we stick to the plan of letting Glennon soak up the punishment!??!  Oh well.  Godspeed, Mitch.  We hardly knew ya.  You never had a chance.

Bears vs. Green Bay Thursday Night

Tonight the Bears are on Thursday night football.  I think it also is streaming across Amazon too.  Dan is out of town and I am in Seahawk country but at least I will get this game on TV.

Wow that game last week was a doozy.  We got some good breaks on defense and special teams, despite that classic epic fail on the lost TD.  I definitely screamed at my TV for that.

I also heard from folks who went to the Bears vs. Steelers that the game was a sh*tshow on the side with the cheap seats and that they ran out of beer and water and the cash stations went dry.  Apparently planning for hot weather is beyond the capabilities of the Bears brain trust.  Oh well.  We don’t expect much up in the nosebleeds.

As for this game, what to hope for?  Our running back Howard seems pretty banged up, but keeps going out for more plays.  The secondary is better than last years’ but we have some injuries and we are facing Rogers so that’s always a bummer.

I am back to the core values of the Bears right now:

• Smash our opponents. The Packers O line is pretty terrible right now and hopefully that lets us get a lot of hits on the QB.  Take em all and make em count
• Try not to be a laughingstock.  I know we are playing Giraffe Neck Glennon just because we know this season is already lost but don’t ask him to do anything crazy like throw the ball to a wide receiver or anything.  Just run it or throw it to the running back or tight end and pray for no pick sixes

The seasons is already more promising than my miserable expectations.  We could have won game 1 and we won game 3.  Maybe we will be respectable tonight.  I’m hoping.