JF Won. The Bears continue to show they have potential to be a competitive team and continue to show the reasons we have trouble believing it. The Chicago Bears have done a good job of playing with our hearts the last few weeks. For a while, it started to feel like this coaching staff was putting things together, Justin Fields was stringing together good games, and there was a whiff of playoff hope alive at the peak of our epic two-game winning streak. Last week, our hopes were deflated in classic Bears fashion. But today is starting out just fine. The Packers won the only game I’ve wanted them to win in my lifetime, but still managed to look bad against the worst team in the league while doing so. More importantly, in the WCG fantasy league, my team, Fat Bear Strong, is leading the championship game with a 75% chance of victory as I write this. Since I’ve been told it’s not obvious, that team name is a rebuttal to the increasingly popular “Fat Bear Week” hosted annually by Katmai National Park in Alaska. Let’s see if the Bears can handle their business against these silly birds. Box Score Khalil Herbert comes out festive with elf socks on! The Bears are in their navy and orange stripe accessory uniforms, and Khalil Herbert went all out with thin-striped high socks that would be the talk of the town at the North Pole. He showed them off well with a 13 yard scrimmage on the Bears' first play. Update: He danced those little socks into the end zone. As I write this, he’s up to 59 rushing yards at 8.4 yards per carry. DJ Moore, nooooooooo! The Bears superstar receiver went down immediately after his first catch. It was the 2nd play of the game, his number is 2, and watching it happen felt like the football Gods were going #2 on my heart. Brutal start. Update: DJ Moore looked to have reaggravated his ankle injury. He returned to the field but didn’t look 100%. I don’t like hearing Mark Sanchez criticizing Justin Fields Even if he’s right. You were a backup in Chicago, most famous for being the villain in my 2017 season fan fiction (spoiler alert). Keep your opinions about QB1 to yourself, Marky. The ‘Tez factor is in full effect, today! There’s some cool phrase people have been using about Montez Sweat’s effect on the defense, but I can’t remember what it is. Hopefully, Tez Factor is right. Either way, you were feeling it’s effect early and often as Montez and other defenders executed their plays to great effect, effectively affecting the Arizona Cardinals offense’s ability to move the ball. Update: I finally remembered the phrase. The Tez bonus! The Bears were definitely feeling the Tez bonus in the 2nd Cardinals drive of the 3rd quarter, when their highly-effective defense allowed zero yards on 3 plays and forced a punt! Justin Fields gifts the Cardinals 53 yards of Cole for Christmas The Bears claimed the first explosive play of the day with a deep pass and beautiful adjustment by Cole Kmet for a 53 yard gain on a scramble drill. This offense is really cooking. No doubt we’ll see a multi-year contract extension in Luke Getsy’s stocking! Cairo Santos is 100% on extra points since signing his contract extension As I write this halfway through the first quarter. Well deserved extension for one of the most reliable Bears. So far, worth every penny. This is the right way to dominate a bad team Both the Bears and the Packers played teams this Sunday who had bottom 3 records in the NFL with diminutive shorterbacks who have failed to measure up this season. The Packers gave up 30 points, barely winning by literally a fraction of a second. As I write this, Just Cole Kmet and Khalil Herbert have 100 more yards than the entire Cardinals offense. It’s 21 to 0, and the Bears gave their 3rd touchdown pass to the oldest active skill-position player in the NFL just to rub it in. All the while, the Bears have cool stripes on their accessories while the Cardinals have plain red outfits. Comprehensive dominance. Bears are bringing back the end-of-the-half mini-collapse strategy Don’t worry. This worked beautifully last time. Flus just needs to get it out of his system so they can hold onto their lead at the actual end of the game. Knowing yourself is an underrated asset as an NFL head coach. What a dumb penalty “Illegal touching” on Jaylon Jones for “going out of bounds on his own” and being the first to touch the ball. The ball was stopped. Touching it was basically just doing the ref’s work for him and he also at least partially pushed out of bounds. What a stupid thing to call an equivocal nitpicky penalty when there was absolutely no chance it had an effect on the play. I honestly wish this penalty was in the Bears’ favor, so when I complained about how dumb it was, nobody would be able to think I was just bitter—which I am for many reasons, just not this one in particular. Update: I’m choosing not to complain about the incorrect holding penalty on Lucas Patrick that called back a 30 yard Justin Fields run and killed an important 3rd quarter drive just to show how not bitter I am. Clearly, the ref saw something, and it’s a fast game, and it is easy to make mistakes. I’m not even going to complain about the incorrect holding penalty on Jaquan Brisker in the 4th. They’re doing their best! When I saw the ad for “I can see your voice” I thought, “this must be the floor for game shows.” Then the next ad was literally for the game show, The Floor. You know what’s an actually good TV show about a game? NFL football. Kyler Gordon’s terrific season continues As he remorselessly dominated a fellow Kyler today, even sacking his poor name-buddy on one of many Cardinals 3 & outs. The Bears are up 14 and receiving the ball at the start of the 4th quarter It’s classic Bears collapse time. Let’s see if the mini-collapse at the end of the 2nd works its magic again... Fields dances 14 seconds for a 2 yard gain Fun little Christmas scamper. That’s the spirit. Enjoy the holiday win! Whoopsie-pick Justin Fields threw a red zone interception in 4th quarter. I didn’t catch if the announcers said it, but I suspect he would like to have that one back. Collapse half-way complete... The Bears followed up their red zone turnover by giving up a long touchdown drive to bring up some awfully familiar frustrating 4th quarter feelings. But the Bears offense has a chance to lead a statement drive and put this thing away. I’m feeling good about Fields right now... Which is why Getsy took the ball out of Fields’ hands on 3rd and 1 These Bears deserve to lose with that play call. The Cardinals prove to be the more giving team The Cardinals made the bold decision to go for it on 4th and 6th deep in their own territory and failed o convert, gifting the Bears the opportunity to take a 2 score lead. They were the only ones in the building who didn’t have faith in the Bears' ability to bite their own paw off if they just punted to them. Injured DJ Moore with a crucial 1st down catch That Bear was not ready for another 4th quarter collapse. Thank you, DJ! The Bears held on to the lead this time, but I don’t think anyone in the building left the game feeling good about another 4th quarter scare. At least Staley looks good in that Santa costume. Source: https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2023/ ... ields-kmet
