Still Gotta Come Through Chicago
Still Gotta Come Through Chicago
Week 24—Bears Win? Bears Win. Cubs playoff race. Sox batting titles. Bulls. Blackhawks.
Sorry for the wait!
Subscribe:
This week in Chicago:
Cubs: At home vs. Reds today 7:05, Tuesday 7:05, Wednesday 7:05; Thursday at home vs. Cardinals 7:05, Friday 6:15, Saturday 1:20, Sunday 1:20
Bears: Monday night at Washington 7:15
Sox: At Twins today 6:40, Tuesday 6:40, Wednesday 6:40; Friday 6:10 at Detroit, Saturday 5:10, Sunday 12:10
Listen to last week’s audio portion with J.A. Adande. Thanks for all the positive feedback on this. Everyone should listen:
Trivia: In 89 games, this Bears quarterback threw 50 touchdowns and 56 interceptions with a 58.2 completion percentage. Who is it? (Answer at end of Bears section)
Bears:
Amongst the slew of things we learned from Sunday, there is one certainty: all wins are not created equal. What’s the saying? Kissing your cousin? If that’s how we’re going to describe the win, we went a little bit further than kissing, and it was our first cousin. When Mark Schlereth called that a great game to watch and I wondered he was ripping a joint in the booth. I’m not an offense=entertainment believer, but I doubt many fans—Denver or Chicago—felt that ecstatic about that game afterward. In essence, the game was almost exactly like Week 1, just against a worst team.
But the one takeaway that supersedes all should be this: The Bears leave Denver with lots of concerns moving forward, but had they lost that game, it wouldn’t have even been worth it to be concerned anymore. An 0-2 start to a tough schedule in what’s shaping up to be a brutal division race would’ve seemed insurmountable. Every week up until the bye in Week 6 is vital to this team’s success. That’s at the Redskins, in London vs. the Raiders, and at home vs. the Vikings. And so was yesterday. It was a disgusting display of football, from the refereeing, the play calling (again), and quarterbacking (on both sides). But they won. They did win.
A quarter and a half in, my buddies and I engaged in a 25-minute discussion, this being the format:
“Case Keenum?”
“I might trade a second rounder for him.”
“Okay, what about Gardner Minshew?”
“I’d trade a fifth.”
And so on.
Trubisky showed no improvement from Week 1, and really, neither did Nagy. I still believe in the latter, but the former, as you can tell from the above discussion, not so much. Trubisky saved his one impressive play for literally the last second of the game. It was a big one, of course. But let’s not act like stepping up in the pocket and delivering a 15-yard pass to a wide open receiver calls for a parade down Michigan Avenue. He did what quarterbacks are supposed to do.
And I do think as Nagy improves throughout the year, Trubisky will too. And I do think the Bears can still win the division with Trubisky at quarterback. But if the Bears can’t throw the ball down the field, they’re not going to win many games against teams like the Packers, Cowboys, Chiefs, Saints, and Rams. It’s just that simple.
But back to kissing. I want to give that little nerd Eddy Pineiro a slobbery kiss on the cheek. Talk about having some cajones, man. The guy goes through an insanely personal and grueling kicking contest, wins the job, and is now 4-4 on field goals through two games. A 50+ yarder to win the game in Denver and I hope Cody Parkey was watching. Pineiro tweeted out that we should all believe in God after seeing that kick, and while I don’t refute that there had to be some divine intervention to help the Bears win that game, I just wonder what went wrong with Cody then. Poor guy must’ve been praying the wrong way this whole time.
The defense was great, again. All that talk about a defensive regression should be dead and gone by now, especially considering that they’ve only forced one turnover through two games and have still been dominant. They ran out of gas by the end, but that’s what happens. It’s why Denver never loses home games in September. The heat and altitude is a cocktail for disappointing losses, and the Bears did just enough to stymie that. And I don’t want to hear about the roughing the passer call on the last Bears drive, though it was egregious. There were multiple awful calls that went the Broncos way beforehand.
That may have been the worst reffing display I’ve ever seen throughout a Bears game. I know there’s been awful blown calls in the past. But this crew was miserable, start to finish. Somehow they called holding on basically every offensive play but still missed about five holds on Khalil Mack.
The Bears had fewer first downs, total yards, and trips to the Red Zone. Winning a road game when your offensive numbers were as bad as they were (120 passing yards) is something to be thankful for. Cordarrelle Patterson’s breakthrough run was the basically the only major offensive play the Bears had. Quick aside, Patterson was running faster during that play than any other ball carrier has over the last two years in the NFL, over 22 miles per hour. That surprised me. But every deep ball Mitch threw had an unceremonious ending, most of them being uncatchable. Again, that just can’t continue to be the case.
Trubisky ranks 32nd out of 33 qualified quarterbacks with just 4.8 yards per pass thrown. It’s clear that Nagy is still sheltering him. But was there an overcorrection from last week? Mitch threw 45 times in Week 1, and still 27 times in Week 2. That’s a more comfortable number, but if there’s not a deep threat associated with the offense it’ll be hard to hide Mitch more and more as weeks pass.
That number shrinking did lend way to some more rushing attempts:
David Montgomery: 18 carries, 64 yards, 1 TD—GOOD
Tarik Cohen: Four carries, 18 yards—NOT GOOD
Mike Davis—Three carries, one yard—NOT GOOD
Cohen was targeted five times passing as well, but only had two receptions for seven yards. I believe that peewee football stunt he pulled, reversing field before losing ten yards, cut into that number. Still, he was more or less a non-factor, which is worrisome.
The offensive line is not without blame through the first two weeks, either. Center James Daniels looked shaky at times in both Week 1 and 2. But Trubisky wasn’t sacked today. Credit to him? Maybe. Or credit to Nagy for calling a game where that wasn’t even a possibility? Both of them could use a positive performance note, that’s for sure.
It’s disappointing that the Bears won a game in the final seconds and it feels more relevant to talk about the struggles than the successes. But when you have Super Bowl aspirations and it took almost seven quarters to score your first touchdown, it’s hard to to just pop the pill that is Pineiro’s game winning kick and forget how we got there in the first place.
W. Onto Washington.
Players of the game:
Eddy Pineiro: Good from, 40, 52, and most importantly—53. Extra point good as well. 4/4 on kicks and bought himself about five feet of slack on that leash around his neck.
Pat O’Donnell: 5 punts, 278 yards for Patty Pie. Don’t know why Patty Pie felt right but it did. Great game with a long kick of 75 yards. Most invisible guy in Bears history deserves some love.
Kyle Fuller: Monster pick in red zone, 16th of his career.
Roquan Smith: 13 tackles, 9 solo. I believe Roquan Smith is going to be a perennial pro-bowler and eventually one of the best linebackers in the league. Another great outing from him.
1-1 vs. 0-2 is an entire universe apart. And the Bears are 1-1 heading into Washington next week. Offense can’t get worse. Let’s see if they can get better.
Would love for someone besides my Dad to comment on this week’s thread:
Topic: Who should get more blame for the offensive struggles—Nagy, Trubisky, or the O-Line? And any other comments you have about the game.
COMMENT HERE. One word, 3 paragraphs, I don’t care. Just get over there. Friendships have already blossomed from the comment board interactions.
Trivia answer: Jim Harbaugh, 1987-1993.
Cubs:
The Cubs just can’t let us down easy. The 2019 Cubs had a 2019 Cubs week. After the two losses to the Padres (losing the opportunity to gain on the Cardinals, who had finally lost), it seemed like most fans were willing to let go. The end was near and the losses were bad enough to justify cutting ties with this year’s team.
Then of course they sweep the Pirates, gain two games on the Cardinals, and score 47 goddamn runs over the weekend.
And then of course Anthony Rizzo gets hurt.
There’s never just a good or bad week with this team. It’s a cruel year of twists and turns, never allowing you to give up but never allowing you to have any real, genuine hope. It’s purgatory for the privileged baseball fan.
As I was reminded of this week, a White Sox fan would kill to be in the position the Cubs are in, battling for a division title and a wild card spot simultaneously. But this year has wreaked of bad managerial decisions and underperformance.
Nico Hoerner, who was the first Cubs prospect mentioned on this newsletter in April, got an unexpected call up after Addison Russell went into concussion protocol, leaving the Cubs with no shortstop options. In seven games, he has accumulated a 0.4 WAR, already surpassing Russell (0.1), who has played 76 games. It’s poetic justice that a premature call up has outperformed Russell in his first week with the team. Hoerner will be the end of Russell as a Cub.
He homered on the first pitch he ever saw at Wrigley Field. He’s slashing .379/.438/.655 and has looked great in the infield. He’s the Cubs longterm solution at second base.
It sucks that the bolt of energy he brought the Cubs, which coincided with a beatdown of the Pirates over the weekend, had to come with another one of our best players getting hurt.
Rizzo’s ankle isn’t fractured, and we’ll probably know more about his chances of returning at all this season by the end of the day. But having two of your best players out in a 13-game race to the finish line is less than ideal. And what is with the Wrigley Field grass that this big of a divot can be created on a play like this?
It’s even more disappointing because Rizzo was crushing the ball, hitting well out of the leadoff spot, which has haunted the Cubs throughout the year.
Me too, Theo, me too.
So it’s time for everyone else to step up, bottom line.
The Cubs have a three-game home series against the Reds, a four-game series at home against the Cardinals, a three-game series at Pittsburgh, and then a three-game series in St.Louis. The playoffs start now.
They’re missing Rizzo and Baez, but that’s not enough of an excuse to not take care of business against the Reds and Cardinals at home. The Cardinals are now playing the Nationals, which bodes well for the Cubs. If they continue to win, they’ll either gain ground on the Nationals or the Cardinals. A Cubs sweep of the Reds and a Nationals sweep of the Cardinals—is that too much to ask? Probably.
An NLDS berth after the season the Cubs have had would feel like a World Series berth. Here’s to hoping they can pull it off.
Sox:
Tim Anderson is in the lead for the batting title. He’s hitting .332 right now, tied with Anthony Rendon and 4 points ahead of DJ LeMahieu. Christian Yelich is at .329, but his season is over.
Anderson has a hit in every game in September with the exception of one. He’s had multiple hits in nine of those games.
For a team that blew a five-run lead to the Mariners on Sunday to lose its 84th game and didn’t call up any significant prospects when rosters expanded, this is exciting as it gets storyline wise.
Jose Abreu is boat racing the competition for the RBI title in the AL. The man has 117 in 2019, 9 more than Jorge Soler, who is in second. He’s one behind Anthony Rendon, who has 118 in the NL.
Perhaps next year the Sox with have the NL leader in RBIs and the AL leader? Probably not. Still fun to think about.
Blackhawks:
Kirby Dach, the Hawks 3rd overall pick in this year’s draft, was almost injured badly in Traverse City this week. Three other prospects were injured as well—Adam Boqvist Philipp Kurashev, and Mikael Hakkarainen. For a game that didn’t matter, it was a risk the Hawks were no longer willing to take. They pulled basically everyone to avoid further injury and Dach seems like he’s going to be okay.
Good article here from The Athletic on the unpredictability the Blackhawks face coming into this year. They’re better on paper than they were a year ago, but no one can give you a for sure answer on whether this team will be good, great, okay, or bad this season.
Bulls:
Sports Illustrated released its rankings of the top 100 NBA players.
On the list:
Zach LaVine, 90
Lauri Markkanen, 75
Thaddeus Young, 70
Otto Porter, 57
No love for my boy Tomas Satoransky, SMH. SI must not be watching the FIBA World Championships. I think Lauri Markkanen and LaVine are probably better than Thad Young. Young is a good player, but more of a 6th man type. Between Markkanen, LaVine, and Porter, it’s sort of a toss up.
Comment on the discussion board if you have an issue with these rankings, then give yours.
Sky:
This would’ve been a much larger story yesterday in Chicago had the Bears game not been on. Sky beating the Las Vegas Aces 92-90 and this happens. Like most of you, I just saw the highlight. But if you look closer, there’s five seconds left in the game. What the hell is going on? She also looks like she may have stepped out of bounds. Just a bizarre ending and a brutal way to end the season.
Historical perspective:
Not a fond memory this week. But the away game in Denver forced me to bring it back. The Bears were 7-5 heading into this game, and eventually spun out of control after losing it to finish 8-8. Marion Barber. Tim Tebow. An all time loss that I’m not sure I’ll ever get over.
Betting pick: The Bears bet (hope you got it at +1 when I gave it out) hit! That makes us 12-5 total, moving into this week.
This week’s pick is an early one: JETS tonight +6.5. The public loves Cleveland. Trevor Siemian is a serviceable backup. For two similar squads, that spread is way too high for a team going on the road. Let’s win some money.
Comment on this week’s thread. Even if you just comment STILL GOTTA COME THROUGH CHICAGOOOOOO. Tell your friends, tell your family. Email me if you have any tips or suggestions. And thank you for reading.