Still Gotta Come Through Chicago
The Bears are in first place
GOOD MORNING CHICAGO! Grab a cup of coffee, glue your eyes to the screen, and comment when you’re through this bad boy. We got a doozy of a newsletter and a first place Bears team.
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Turn the music down!
This past weekend, my absolute dork of a neighbor came to my apartment — arms crossed like a suburban mother in Chili’s whose asparagus was undercooked — and told me with a straight expression that the music was too loud at 9:30 p.m. on a Saturday in Lake View East.
A misshapen, oddly dressed (FILA sweat pants with maybe four different colors on them) adult with flip flops on in late October, this man proceeded to scream in my face for having about eight people over. Then after he was done with what I assume he thought was the best speech since Winston Churchill rallied the Brits in 1940, he asked my roommates and I why we didn’t have masks on — in our apartment, answering the door for him, because he was more mad than I’ve ever seen a human be — all because music was playing on a Saturday night in Chicago.
After proceeding to tell my roommates and I that “this wasn’t fucking college” and that “we have drinking problems” because we were having a few beers and enjoying music on one of the two days that it’s fully acceptable to do so, he proceeded to throw his dog poop out and become emasculated on his walk back after he shoved my roommate and I because he was mad we didn’t give him the Nobel Peace Prize on the spot for telling us to turn the music down.
Bear in mind, he lives three apartments down. The other two neighbors did not complain.
The next morning, as my roommates and I thought about ways that we could ruin his life but not get arrested over the next year, we heard a ring at the door.
“It’s our boy,” my roommate said, peering over in disgust at the 48-year-old man with Harry Potter glasses on.
Funny enough, he was not wearing a mask himself this time.
But maybe I shouldn’t have made fun of him in every possible way over the past six paragraphs or so, because he came to apologize.
I mean the guy was actually fuming the night before, unable to contain his anger at the thought that rap music would be played in Lake View after 9 p.m. on his watch.
This time he was calm, cool, and collected. He apologized and called himself an ass hole. Agreed. I am not one to hold grudges. Still, I thought about it.
But then? Our man won me over. He peered over the shoulder of my roommate at the mounted television set (not a big deal) and said ‘Bears still winning?’
My motherfuckin’ man.
The apology itself may have not been enough to get me to forgive him for assaulting me for playing a little DaBaby past dark. The acknowledgement of the Bears game, however? That was enough for me.
And you know what? Next time I see him, I’ll have my mask covering my eyebrows and my chin, and I’ll pat him on the ass (now we’re even for the assault) and say BEAR DOWN NEIGHBOR!
You want my music down, you got to come through me. You want a win, you got to come through the Bears defense. And you want to be a subscriber to this newsletter? You still gotta come through Chicago.
The Bears are 5-1. Let’s go.
First Place Bears
Credit: Bob Donnan/USA Today
Did we know our quarterback play wouldn’t be absolutely stellar before the season? Yes. Did we know our defense would be dominant? We hoped so, but I’m not sure we were positive it would be, especially with little help from Robert Quinn to start. Did we know our offensive line was pretty bad, and that most of the same guys would be starting? Yes. Did we know that our head coach is sometimes an awful game manager and a streaky play caller? Yes. Did we think we’d have a reliable kicker with a nickname as cool as King Tut? No.
My next question is, then, given the above: Why in God’s name is anyone anything but ecstatic about being 5-1 through six games?
The Bears have won more than half of the games they won last year in their first six, are in first place, and we have people huffing and puffing around like my neighbor just heard a beer cracked past sundown.
That is such a piss poor attitude. Listen, you can point out the holes and hope for them to get better, as I do every week on here. But to act like there should be a “but” immediately following a statement that the Bears are nearly undefeated is, frankly, childish, negative, and annoying.
The Bears — who a bunch of headline-grabbing media members proclaimed would be in last place by year’s end — have a nearly 80% chance of making the playoffs, according to Football Outsiders. They are on track to win ten games — at least.
They have a top five defense again, and without awful officiating, would have held their opponents to even less points and produced more points themselves.
The quarterbacking controversy is over. Nick Foles, minus a few bad throws, which you should expect, has been serviceable. Better yet, he’s clearly becoming the leader that he has been elsewhere and will undoubtedly get better as he grows more comfortable with the offense moving forward.
“Are we where we want to be? No, we’re not where we want to be, but I am excited about our offense. I’m excited about the guys that are there. I like the communication that is happening on the sideline. I love the passion of the players, most importantly. They care. We’re bonding. We’re getting to know each other. That’s football. You don’t just go out there and play football. You gotta care about the man next to you to make those plays,” our quarterback said after the game.
Everything he said is all I’ve ever wanted to hear from a Bears offensive leader and more. Don’t get me wrong, Mitch Trubisky sometimes said the right things. But did he ever do it in a way that led me to believe that he was going to be able to follow through on it, or do it with such genuine passion? Absolutely not.
If you watch Foles and Nagy’s interactions on the sidelines, it’s even more encouraging. Instead of Nagy telling Mitch what a zone defense is or telling him he can’t run backwards when it’s third and one, there’s a legitimate dialogue taking place.
That’s especially important if Nagy doesn’t listen to anyone in the coaching room but himself. Foles may not be the most talented QB, but he is a smart one. His intellect infiltrating the Matt Nagy dogma that handicaps the Bears offense every week is a wonderful sign.
Foles also said the Bears were bumping Dreams and Nightmares by Meek Mill before the game Sunday, which was the anthem for the Eagles on their Super Bowl run. It also fires Foles the hell up, according to him, despite his love for “Christian rap,” which is very on brand and also enlightening — I didn’t know there was such a thing.
I never had anything against Trubisky personally, but he couldn’t get it done on the field. Jay Cutler could get it done, but pissed me off quite often. It’s not as if we have a top-10 quarterback, but it is nice to have one that galvanizes the team and makes the right play a great majority of the time.
The offense has been bad, but the defense isn’t wavering. There’s only one way for the Bears offense to go, and that’s up. All signs suggest that it will get better throughout the year based on the above evidence provided, even if it is marginally so.
And a marginal increase in offensive productivity would be massive. Because this defense, once again, is incredible.
Robert Quinn is finally able to contribute. Early on, his stunting with Bilal Nichols — as Adam Hoge pointed out here — led to an interception and a sack for the Bears. He also lined up on the same side as Khalil Mack a few times, a fresh look that Chuck Pagano, who has quietly settled in as another fantastic coordinator, has added.
Kyle Fuller has been fantastic, including on the “pass interference” penalties, one of which robbed Eddie Jackson of a defensive touchdown. Nearly the entire Bears defense has expressed their dismay with the refereeing this season since Sunday’s contest, as they should.
Despite the awful calls, more of which we’ll get to, the defense hasn’t faltered and has continued to make big plays when they need to. One of those big plays was a fantastic, touchdown-saving tackle from Fuller on the goal line, which ultimately forced the Panthers to kick a field goal.
While Danny Trevathan has filled Prince Amukamara’s role as the guy that follows the wide open receiver into your screen, scrambling three yards behind him, his linebacking mate Roquan Smith has become a consistent animal, the NFL version of what we saw out of him at Georgia.
Forget the missed tackles here and there, Smith has made countless big-time plays, and an argument can be made that he’s missed more tackles this year because he’s been in the right spot more times than he has been in the past.
He turned in another 12-tackle performance, and is on track to have nearly 140 on the season, 100 of which will be solo.
Jaylon Johnson has also been fantastic, despite the announcers continuing to say he’s being “picked on,” with zero context attached. Context like the fact that his incompletion rates when targeted are incredible, context like that if he’s not targeted, they’ll be targeting Fuller — one of the best corners in the league right now — or even Eddie Jackson over the top, who opponents refuse to target.
The ridiculous pass interference call on Johnson was also further evidence that the concept of a spot foul is absolutely ridiculous, but if there is one, it needs to be attached with the ability to review those calls.
(It was especially ridiculous considering this non-call in the same game):
But Sunday also shined a light on what the disruption that our frontline defenders create can do for the defense overall. When Pagano is aggressive and our defensive line and edge defenders are dominating like they have been, the secondary can make plays. Turnover “luck” is not luck at all when quarterbacks make bad decisions due to consistent pressure.
And how about my man Cairos Santos AKA King Tut? I owe this man an apology for suggesting he almost threw his back out trying to make a 48-yarder the other week. Ten days later, he’s hitting 55-yarders with ease.
One of my, perhaps unfair, deeply held convictions, is my dislike for Eddy Pineiro. I just can’t stand him. When I heard someone say yesterday that Santos is “a good kicker to hold the place until Pineiro gets healthy” I almost gagged. Santos has actually proven — this year and in others — that he is a reliable option for an NFL team. Pineiro has not done so.
It’s so goddamn refreshing to have a kicker that lines up from 40 and you actually think there’s a good chance it’s going in. Having one that can hit it from 50 yards-plus, now that’s game-altering.
Emptying the notebook
Shoutout to rookie tight end Cole Kmet for his first NFL touchdown. Jimmy Graham has been surprisingly productive, so his lack of production this far hasn’t been a huge subject of discussion (thank God), but it was good to see him catch a crucial ball on Sunday. By the way, rookie tight ends are rarely productive, so him contributing at all is a great sign for the Bears in the future.
Rashaad Coward, who didn’t play well on the right side last year, and has never — ever — played on the left side in his career, struggled at left guard on Sunday. Who would’ve thunk? I still think Alex Bars may be a better option, but I don’t think either is a great option. Chalk this up as another pain point for the O-Line. But hey, at least Coward was showing some fight on Sunday (pun intended), and getting fired up. The Bears O-Line could use some of that.
Matt Nagy’s timeouts continue to enrage me. All they do is make him look inept, and they’re never taken for good reason. In fact, the Bears actually had a delay of game out of a time out on Sunday, one of the biggest, most obvious signs that your coach has his head up his ass.
Speaking of after-time-out situations, the Bears called one on defense and then promptly jumped offsides afterwards. That was awful. They also had not one, but TWO, 12 men on the field penalties, and on the second one they literally had 14 guys on the field. The coaches, despite the wins, need to step it up in game.
For the love of God, can someone — anyone — return punts besides Ted Ginn Jr. I want to stop writing about this every week. The guy looks like he’d rather be anywhere in the world besides back deep. Cordarrelle Patterson? Darnell Mooney? Anthony Miller? Just kidding on that one, I’ve seen enough out of Miller to know that would be an unmitigated disaster.
The Bears have two tough contests coming up, first against the Rams in LA on Monday Night Football in which they are 6-point underdogs and then against the Saints at home, where I assume they’ll also be underdogs. If the Bears lose one of these games, it’ll be expected. Please don’t tell me the sky is falling if they do.
This team is feeling 2018-esque right now, and they’ve got better players than they did then, in my opinion. Enjoy the ride.
The Bears are in first place, Aaron Rodgers made an absolute fool out of himself in primetime, the Lions stink, the Vikings stink, and…
WE GOT BIG TEN FOOTBALL THIS WEEKEND!
What if I told you all that was possible in, say, August? Let’s go.
Crack open a beer, breathe in that cool Autumn wind, and enjoy a wonderful Saturday. A hangover on Sunday is fine, just as long as you’re geared up for Monday.
Maybe my neighbor was right about me thinking I was in college for drinking alcohol, because god dammit I’m going to be playing fight songs, doing Oklahoma drills, and ripping up the beer pong table this weekend, let me tell ya.
STILL GOTTA COME THROUGH CHICAGO!
SGCTC certifications this week: Nick Foles
Per Tom Waddle, "If the Bears were a normal team with an Offensive Coordinator, we would be screaming for Nagy to fire him."
I think you need to make a dababy playlist for your guy. One listen to Walker Texas Ranger should get him out of that apartment and wanting to hit the town. This would also broaden his music horizons much like Nick Foles who enjoys “country, Christian rap, and Meek Mill.” I am not sure what is more wild, the fact that meek mill got thrown into his mix or that Christian rap is a genre. You know since 90% of rap music could be categorized as unchristian.
Back to the bears, I am absolutely ecstatic. I definitely have some 2018 vibes with the defense. I was a little worried about our other safety position this year since HaHa was horrendous. Tashaun has been a real nice surprise. Our cornerbacks are currently 1 and 2 for completion percentage in the nfl with Kyle at 42.9 and Jaylon at 44.9 according to PFF. Some people are saying Jaylon got burned by DJ Moore which is just absurd. He had 5 catches for 90 yards on 11 targets with a large chunk coming from a 50/50 ball placed perfectly by Teddy B. Great defense better offense. I will not address his PI call because everyone is on the same page there. Our front 4/5 are too consistent that nothing needs to be said. Great game for Roquan. Trevathan has definitely lost a step but his body has some mileage on it especially at that position.
It was a typical Nagy offense on Sunday. Some drives you think we are unstoppable some you are dumbfounded. But a certainly well endowed individual once said, “I’d rather win ugly than lose pretty.”
On to the Rams/boilermakers