Still Gotta Come Through Chicago

GAME WEEK

Welcome back to Still Gotta Come Through Chicago, and happy Friday, baby!

You made, I made it. We made it. Football — and Bears football — is back.

In the days leading up to the Bears opener, I’m reminded of all the years over the last decade when I was apathetic about the first week of the NFL season. What misery that was.

Excited about football returning, excited to watch games, but not particularly excited to watch the Bears.

Matt Nagy’s last year, with Andy Dalton starting. John Fox’s first year, John Fox’s second year, and John Fox’s third year.

Now, though, the wind at my back heading into Sunday is magical. My mood has been genuinely and positively affected while looking forward to this game. That’s both mortifying and true.

But the beneficiaries of my good mood, those that have walked through those held-open doors, those who have had something “taken off their plate” by yours truly at work, and those that have enjoyed a strong tip for weak service work — they’re none the wiser.

Being excited for football, but also being excited for the Bears, is a double whammy of dopamine. It’s hard to describe anything better at the moment, and I realize that may be a mortifying admission as well. It’s like the caffeine from my coffee kicking in at the exact time the playlist lands on a song I’ve been addicted to for four days straight.

Sunday at noon will be a crescendo of excitement met with gratitude.

All bets are off for warm feelings after that.

Summer is nearing a close. And I thought I had a good one, but boy was I mistaken.

Because then, I watched Hard Knocks and heard about Matt Eberflus’ summer — an Italy trip, a couple new pairs of sunglasses, a makeover, a season with his own bees, some admiring of the lake in his backyard, and some admiring of the “E” for Eberflus marbled into his driveway.

We all need a good fall for our happiness, but perhaps no one more than Eberflus’ wife. Born to be the wife of Jeff Bezos, forced to be the wife of a coach that could feasibly be fired in three to six months.

Listen, I’m with her, though. I want Eberflus to succeed, because if he doesn’t… that’d be a real bad deal for all of us now, wouldn’t it? The bees need to be taken care of (they’re endangered), but so do I. If the Bears don’t produce, you can throw me on that endangered list as well.

I hope everyone enjoyed Hard Knocks. Because the Bears will never be on it again. It won’t be because they’re so successful, either. Even if they are successful, I doubt the producers ever want to make edits to their show again with George McCaskey leaning over their shoulders, leaving notes like “take out this swear word” and “no fighting” and “that’s not nice.”

McCaskey, as he’s wont to do, paved a road to hell with good intentions again.

I enjoyed Hard Knocks, but that’s because I’m a Bears fan. If I wasn’t, I probably would have stopped watching midway through episode 3.

As much as I want more insight into Eberflus’ embarrassment of riches and nicknames; Austin Reed’s “goofiness”; and Jonathan Owens and D.J. Moore’s family lives… I think I’d chalk up those five episodes as a collective dud.

The weddings are dying down, and so are — hopefully — the “we love your love” Instagram posts that follow them.

The trips, the Laissez-faire Sundays, the rom-coms on Friday nights with a bowl of popcorn, they all need to be dying down, too.

It’s time to lock in.

If you don’t now, that first September chill that rolls onto your back will bring with it unwanted middle school nostalgia, and not what it should — glazed over eyes and a day dream of the Bears going into Packer Week 7-2.

A football season with promise and a quarterback with promise. Can you believe it? Don’t forget how hard this feeling is to come by.

Before you know it, football season will be over, and Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will not be the celebrity couple everyone’s talking about. It will be the dead of winter and everyone will be clamoring over the premier basketball celeb couple — Bulls forward Torrey Craig and Megan Thee Stallion. Real hot girl shit.

That romance will be another one that bring fathers and daughters together through lyrics, but I can wait. The malaise of the offseason, free agency and the draft can wait. Bulls basketball can wait.

Two days from today, Week 1. Week 1 of 18.

Let’s go.

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I still think that Bears players like Eberflus in a “nice neighbor who talks a little bit too much” way, and not a “love, respect, and will do anything for him” type of way, but I’m going to table that discussion for now.

As mentioned previously, I have my sincere doubts about Eberflus. For a variety of reasons, but mainly because I want the Bears to succeed, I hope I’m dead wrong. But right now, I’d probably take at least 16-18 current head coaches over him (and that’s erasing the first-year head coaches, for the most part).

Eberflus is the first concern I have going into the season.

The second concern I have is what I’m also most excited for: Caleb Williams. I’m confident Williams will turn into a star, but I’m not confident he’ll be one from start to finish of this year.

And that’s alright. There will be ups and downs. And I don’t think the national and local expectations are too much for his psyche, which is of major importance. I do think they may be too much for him as a player, at least for this year.

I think he’ll have a good year, and is definitely capable of having a great one. But I’m not banking on it, and I think that anyone that is is getting a little bit over their skis.

Temper expectations, adjust accordingly.

I do believe that the offensive line will be doing more favors for him this year than they did for Justin Fields last year. And, in turn, I think Williams will do more favors for the offensive line this year than Fields did last year.

The offensive and defensive lines are the other areas I’ll be focusing on in Week 1. But, frankly, I like our offensive and defensive lines. Like — not love.

Admittedly, that could be me getting wrapped up in the long offseason, the inherent bias that comes with following each player so closely, and also believing in the general manager.

I think the offensive line will become a strength by next year, but this year, serviceable is what I’m hoping for.

Having said that, the remaining starters from last year’s O-Line were generally good on running downs in 2024. If Williams is in fact that much better than Fields in passing downs when it comes to beating or averting pressure, then that immediately solves a massive year-to-year problem.

I’m bullish on Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright in the tackle positions. My concern remains in the interior line, but not in Week 1. Like in years past, I’m concerned that another Teven Jenkins injury, or an injury to Coleman Shelton, will result in musical chairs in the interior for what seems like the fifth straight year.

On the other side of the ball, we need Gervon Dexter Sr. to put on his big boy pants. He’s shown flashes, but he needs to be a stalwart on that side of the ball for the entire season.

I think the overall defense is talented enough that every individual will look just that much better. You’d ideally like to work from the interior out, but I think that the Bears have enough firepower to fill any hole that pops up. And I do think Eberflus is a good defensive coach, and he now will have a coordinator with him throughout the season.

Whereas my concern injury wise on offense is with the line, my injury concerns on the defense are with Jaylon Johnson — almost exclusively. He’s so good, and yet his shoulders keep me up at night.

Obviously other guys will get hurt, but if he gets hurt (which he does often), that changes the entire dynamic of the defense.

All in all, though, if you sift through that depth chart… man… it’s hard to find weak links. On both sides of the ball.

The Bears are a young team, and a new team. They’ll look a lot better in Week 11 than they do now.

But then there’s the schedule, which is my final concern, but not because it’s particularly tough. The Bears, by expected win totals, actually have one of the five easiest schedules in the league.

Still, while I don’t think that this Titans game is even close to a shoe-in, the Bears kind of need it.

The schedule on the whole is not “tough,” but if they stumble out of the gate, things could get hairy.

For instance, if the Bears — as 3.5-point favorites — lose to the Titans, then they head into a road game against one of the most talented team in football, the Texans, in Week 2 on Sunday night.

Then, the Colts on the road follow. After that, the Rams — who I think will be very good — at home.

After that, they’ll get the Panthers. But from a win-loss perspective, and from an underlying morale perspective, it would less than ideal to kick things off at 0-4 or 1-3 — both of which are plausible outcomes if the Bears lose Sunday.

Week 1 is such a crap shoot in the NFL, as evidenced by the Bears beating the 49ers two years ago.

So, while patience with a rookie QB is paramount, and with the recognition that this year won’t be all sunshine and rainbows, I’m declaring Week 1 as close to a must-win for the Bears as a Week 1 game can get.

A close-to-must win, if you will. That’s a tough spot for a rookie QB to be in. Let’s hope he really doesn’t get nervous.

In all likelihood, the Titans will end up as one of the five or six worst teams in the league this year.

So, on one end, it’s Week 1 and it’s the NFL.

On the other end, on the field level, the Titans do not scare me. This spot scares me, this game, but the Titans don’t.

Will Levis is a bottom-5 quarterback, DeAndre Hopkins is banged up, and Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd aren’t next-level threats.

I’m also expecting a significant defensive drop off with Mike Vrabel no longer at the helm there.

Everything is in place for the Bears to start off 1-0, and I believe they will.

But if they come out flat like they did last year, eyes will turn to Eberflus earlier than any of us want them to. Things could go sour, quickly. But they don’t need to.

Get to bed early Saturday. Take this one seriously. Walk the dogs twice before noon. Get the food orders in at 10:30. We need all hands on deck.

Official prediction: 11-6 season, a second-place finish in the division, and a playoff berth. And that’s final.

#BEARDOWN

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Ah, the Cubs, the Cubs, the Cubs.

They threw a collective no-hitter yesterday, are four games above .500, and are 13-5 since the Guardians sweep last month.

Pete Crow-Armstrong has arrived, and is basically a 1.0 OPS hitter over the last month (he’s quickly becoming a top-5 Cub to watch for me, ever). Dansby Swanson has turned it around, which I did not see coming. Christian Bethancourt has become one of the more unexpected late-season heroes I can remember. And the hapless Miguel Amaya has been anything but that.

But, alas, they sit four games out of the Wild Card with just 22 games to play, and they are behind two teams for that final spot.

I declared myself out on this season three weeks ago. That was a lie. And every time I’ve opened by ESPN app to see another Braves win, another Mets win, I’ve wished that I had stuck to my guns.

Everything is going well for the Cubs right now. The right notes are hitting, and there’s a ton to enjoy while watching them day in, day out.

It is a complete reversal from a month ago.

They seem to have found their groove in a way they just couldn’t from May to early August. It’s not just one or two hot hitters now, it’s all of them.

But with Justin Steele dealing with an elbow (that’s allegedly not serious), and the odds stacked against them the rest of the way in the standings, I still think it’s best to enjoy the PCA show and focus on the Bears for the month of September.

It’s hard to be angry at this type of baseball. But it is, after all, too little and too late.

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More on the embarrassment on the South Side, and hopefully the Cubs, next week. Let’s hope it is a “Victory SGCTC.” 1-0. Thanks for reading.