Bears Week 1 vs Titans: Sunday 9/8 noon on Fox

[jersey cubs fan]

The bears enter week 1 as 4.5 point favorites and dark horse candidates for playoff contention. Most places have their win total at 8.5, which is somewhat remarkable coming off an abysmal season. It’s reasonable, but maybe a little foolish to expect them to be over. Week 1 sets up as a perfect overreaction scenario, no matter the outcome. 
 

let’s go bears 

[CubinNY]

Prediction: The defense is going to carry them to start the season. Then Williams and Co will roll into a Division championship. The Lions are a paper tiger. 

[Brian707]

Bears 27  Oilers 13

[Brian707]

16 minutes ago, jersey cubs fan said:

Most places have their win total at 8.5, which is somewhat remarkable coming off an abysmal season.

Easier schedule( at least at this point) plus they somehow won 7 games last year. I think 9-8 or 10-7 is likely

 

Edited August 23, 2024 by Brian707

[We Got The Whole 9]

[minnesotacubsfan]

Bears 38

Titans 0

 

Bears roll on to a 20-0 record CHAAAAAMPIONSHIP

[WrigleyField 22]

Bears win

[Old Style]

 

[UMFan83]

3 hours ago, jersey cubs fan said:

Week 1 sets up as a perfect overreaction scenario, no matter the outcome. 

This is perfectly said

[jersey cubs fan]

24 minutes ago, Old Style said:

 

Mediocre pass rushing depth. Sad to see the 666 truncated but it’s a cost worth paying. 

[UMFan83]

2 hours ago, Brian707 said:

Easier schedule( at least at this point) plus they somehow won 7 games last year. I think 9-8 or 10-7 is likely

 

It does look like a light SOS, but I wouldn't say its easier.  I believe last year's SOS was 5th worst in the NFL.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Eberflus said he's concerned about the DT depth and we trade for a LB? Weird on the surface for me. I know nothing about this dude though. 

[David]

I've been waiting with bated breath for this since we locked up the #1 pick.

I'll be watching at a sportsbook in Vegas.  Can't wait is an understatement.

Let's horsefeathers go.  

[mul21]

20 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Eberflus said he's concerned about the DT depth and we trade for a LB? Weird on the surface for me. I know nothing about this dude though. 

I'd bet this pushes Walker inside more frequently and shores up the DT depth that way.

[Brian707]

20 minutes ago, David said:

 

I'll be watching at a sportsbook in Vegas.  Can't wait is an understatement.

Let's horsefeathers go.  

Hit up Circa if you are going to be downtown.

 

I will be at Soldier Field but betting on by phone

[We Got The Whole 9]

42 minutes ago, mul21 said:

I'd bet this pushes Walker inside more frequently and shores up the DT depth that way.

Ah that makes sense 

[David]

34 minutes ago, Brian707 said:

Hit up Circa if you are going to be downtown.

 

I will be at Soldier Field but betting on by phone

Circa is great.  I'll be downtown the first couple nights I'm there but by Sunday I'll be on the strip.

[minnesotacubsfan]

2 hours ago, jersey cubs fan said:

Mediocre pass rushing depth. Sad to see the 666 truncated but it’s a cost worth paying. 

TBF, he hasnt played opp Sweat. Last year he had 9.5 sacks, I'd take that along with Sweats in a heartbeat

[UMFan83]

I definitely think the Bears can go 10-7 or 11-6, but I still have my fears/doubts about an Eberflus coached team.  As a reminder, last year this team:

• blew a 28-7 late 3rd quarter lead to the Broncos
• blew a 17-7 4th quarter lead to the Browns
• blew a 26-14 4th quarter lead to the Lions
• needed a final second FG to beat the Vikings after intercepting Dobbs 4 times and allowing 10 points
• needed a late Eddie Piniero FG miss to beat the 3-14 Panthers

I know the team is different, I'm super excited about Caleb and the revamped offense.  There is a positive energy around this team and I'm here for it.  But I still worry that we're going to find ourselves in these situations again this year and not sure how we'll respond.

Also we need to wrap Montez Sweat in bubble wrap because if he gets hurt, yikes.

 

But despite 90% of this post being negative, I still am more on the 10-7/11-6 train.  I just won't be shocked if we're 2 weeks into the second and everything feels a little too familiar.

[jersey cubs fan]

19 minutes ago, minnesotacubsfan said:

TBF, he hasnt played opp Sweat. Last year he had 9.5 sacks, I'd take that along with Sweats in a heartbeat

5.5 sacks

[minnesotacubsfan]

3 minutes ago, jersey cubs fan said:

5.5 sacks

*2022 = 9.5

[minnesotacubsfan]

15 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

I definitely think the Bears can go 10-7 or 11-6, but I still have my fears/doubts about an Eberflus coached team.  As a reminder, last year this team:

• blew a 28-7 late 3rd quarter lead to the Broncos
• blew a 17-7 4th quarter lead to the Browns
• blew a 26-14 4th quarter lead to the Lions
• needed a final second FG to beat the Vikings after intercepting Dobbs 4 times and allowing 10 points
• needed a late Eddie Piniero FG miss to beat the 3-14 Panthers

I know the team is different, I'm super excited about Caleb and the revamped offense.  There is a positive energy around this team and I'm here for it.  But I still worry that we're going to find ourselves in these situations again this year and not sure how we'll respond.

Also we need to wrap Montez Sweat in bubble wrap because if he gets hurt, yikes.

 

But despite 90% of this post being negative, I still am more on the 10-7/11-6 train.  I just won't be shocked if we're 2 weeks into the second and everything feels a little too familiar.

honestly, I'd take 8-9 this year with a rookie QB, but it has to be w/o the 2nd half collapses we saw last year

[minnesotacubsfan]

also, wth is Raw? I havent seen him post about the Bears in awhile

[Old Style]

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

I definitely think the Bears can go 10-7 or 11-6, but I still have my fears/doubts about an Eberflus coached team.  As a reminder, last year this team:

• blew a 28-7 late 3rd quarter lead to the Broncos
• blew a 17-7 4th quarter lead to the Browns
• blew a 26-14 4th quarter lead to the Lions
• needed a final second FG to beat the Vikings after intercepting Dobbs 4 times and allowing 10 points
• needed a late Eddie Piniero FG miss to beat the 3-14 Panthers

I know the team is different, I'm super excited about Caleb and the revamped offense.  There is a positive energy around this team and I'm here for it.  But I still worry that we're going to find ourselves in these situations again this year and not sure how we'll respond.

Also we need to wrap Montez Sweat in bubble wrap because if he gets hurt, yikes.

 

But despite 90% of this post being negative, I still am more on the 10-7/11-6 train.  I just won't be shocked if we're 2 weeks into the second and everything feels a little too familiar.

Well if Goatse was actually calling the plays then I think a large part of those collapses have to be on him. They’d get way too conservative and vanilla in those games leading to a ton of 3 & outs giving the opponent the chances to steal the win. 

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I don't like making hard predictions on win totals, especially in the NFL, because the nature of the seasons is so swingy.  A bad team can win their division with some close-game luck and staying relatively healthy. A good team can be derailed by the opposite. 

But I think this is an above-average NFL team.  They were bordering on decent last season, on the ascendancy side of the curve as Poles' big first two draft classes get experience, and did it all with an awful performance at the most important position.

I'm trying so hard to look for downside risk I'm missing, but I don't see how we didn't upgrade at QB.  Bryce Young had one of the more disappoitning first seasons for a 10A in recent memory and he put up roughly the same total passing+rushing yards as Fields did in 2023.  And Caleb Williams is a better prospect with a much better surrounding cast.

Even a disappointing version of Williams is just Kyler Murray, and Kyler Murray threw for 3700 yards as a rookie.

The offense is talented, the defense is talented.  Not Super Bowl levels of talented, but better than average. And we invested in an ungodly punter for some reason if that's your jam.

I feel like Bears fans are in one of two camps right now: Deliriously screaming "woo!" (and those guys would have done that anyway. They did it for Kyle Orton for god's sakes) and being scared to say the team is solid because they're trying to manage any potential disappointment.