Week 8 - Bears (4-2) @ Commanders (5-2), 3:25 p.m. Sunday 10/27

[NotKyle]

This game got flexed into the afternoon slot with the anticipation of a matchup of the two best rookie QBs in the league, picked 1 and 2 overall.

Commanders:  31.1 ppg (1st in NFL), 21.7 ppg/a (15th)

Bears:  24.7 ppg (12th), 16.8 ppg/a (4th)

Current line: Bears -3

The big news at the moment is that Jayden Daniels is week-to-week with a rib injury of unknown severity.  His coach says he "hopes he can play."  We don't know anythign more than that.

The hot take industry is desperate for a "Who got the right QB in the draft?" storyline, which I find insipid, but what're you gonna do?  The hot take industry is gonna do its thing.

This is a conference game between two teams with playoff hopes, so it could have tiebreaker implications down the line.

[Brian707]

If the Bears can keep the streak of not allowing >21 points alive, they should win

 

I will go 27-20 Bears

[Tryptamine]

A win here could give them quite a bit of breathing room going into the brutal final 8 games.

[UMFan83]

I really hope Daniels plays.  Want to see him and Caleb go back and forth trying to outdo the other.

Surprised the Bears are 3 point favorites, but I guess it makes sense without knowing if Daniels is going to play, even though their backup put up most of those 40 points they scored.

Feels weird being excited about a mid-season Bears game but here we are!

[UMFan83]

13 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

A win here could give them quite a bit of breathing room going into the brutal final 8 games.

3-0 during this stretch and we're looking at needing to go at least 3-5 down the stretch to have a shot.  Definitely a big 3 games that we need to take advantage of to make our lives easier down the stretch.

[NotKyle]

Some of my own thoughts:

Jayden Daniels looks very legit to me. He can do all the cool things you want a young athletic QB to do these days. He can run the ball himself, he can throw an incredible deep ball, he can throw on the run, etc.  But really stands out on his tape is how monotonously accurate he is.  With a nice, quick release to make it hard for defenders to close the gap.    He never makes the easy stuff look hard, and there's a ton of value in that.

Yeah, offensively they do a lot of short passes, outs and screens.  That's what defenses give you these days. They look pretty capable of punishing defenses that oversell to try to take those away.  And they just don't make many mistakes. Only 3 turnovers in 7 games is very very good.  We're over here excusing Caleb Williams for throwing 2 picks in a game because he's a rookie, Daniels has only thrown two all season.

I'm tempted to downplay our chances because I don't want to be disappointed, but if I'm being 100% honest, I think the Bears are a better team and are better than 50/50 to win even if Daniels plays.  They haven't faced a defense anywhere close to this good, the best they faced was probably the Giants, who made them look ordinary.

I'd really really really like to see our secondary back and healthy after the bye week. This is the wrong week to be missing Brisker, Stevenson or Gordon.

Williams just needs to show that last week wasn't a fluke.  He showed next-level accuracy that game and none of the confusion between him and his WRs on what route was being run, but it was noticeably better than even his other good games this season.

I know dumb trash talking and hot taking is what most of the world enjoys about sports, so I understand the "1 vs 2, who got the right QB?" takes are inevitable. But they're still stupid.

1) Who wins this game doesn't say anything about who is having the better rookie season.  Bryce Young won the head to head with Stroud last season.

2) Who is the better rookie doesn't say much about who will have the better career, I could cite dozens of examples.

3) I don't care if a QB drafted after Williams is better than him.  It's a notoriously difficult to project position and there were 10 guys taken after him, including 5 in the top 12 picks.  I'll always take a field that big against one guy if I'm betting on who is going to be the best.  Caleb Williams is a pass-fail pick on whether he becomes a franchise QB, nothing more or less.

[Brian707]

Stevenson was at the walk thru today. 

Brisker has to pass 2 more concussion tests

Gordon still working thru hamstring 

[Wilson A2000]

10 minutes ago, Brian707 said:

Stevenson was at the walk thru today. 

Brisker has to pass 2 more concussion tests

Gordon still working thru hamstring 

Overall the Bears are still probably one of the healthiest teams currently in the NFL and I hope that trend continues

[bukie]

A bit amusing to go from 3 point underdogs at home against a 1-4 team to 3 point favorites on the road against a 5-2 game based on a single game's result.

[minnesotacubsfan]

5 hours ago, NotKyle said:

The hot take industry is desperate for a "Who got the right QB in the draft?" storyline, which I find insipid, but what're you gonna do?  The hot take industry is gonna do its thing.

 

the hot take could very well be "Best QB draft since 2012....or 1983?"

[raw]

13 hours ago, Brian707 said:

Stevenson was at the walk thru today. 

Brisker has to pass 2 more concussion tests

Gordon still working thru hamstring 

Stevenson being able to walk thru Monday is pretty big. It's a day earlier than they usually get on the practice field. So, I'd guess that's good news for his status this week. Flus had good stuff to say about Brisker. Gordon more iffy, I'd guess.

"Brisker is still going through protocol. He's got a couple more steps to go, but looks good. Kyler, again, is working through his hamstring. We'll see where that is on Wednesday."

[minnesotacubsfan]

hamstring injuries are the worst. they nag and hang around forever

[raw]

10 minutes ago, minnesotacubsfan said:

hamstring injuries are the worst. they nag and hang around forever

The risk is re-injury. It didn't look too bad for Gordon last game, to be honest. They haven't really said if it was a pull or soreness or just a strain. If it's not a pull, he should be able to play after 2 weeks of rest.

[Soul]

17 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

I really hope Daniels plays.  Want to see him and Caleb go back and forth trying to outdo the other.

Surprised the Bears are 3 point favorites, but I guess it makes sense without knowing if Daniels is going to play, even though their backup put up most of those 40 points they scored.

Feels weird being excited about a mid-season Bears game but here we are!

I'd like to see a joystick war between those two as well, but it's somewhat balanced by wanting the Bears to win the game 😁

[BigSlick]

Even with Jayden Daniels being questionable, the Bears being -3 on the road against a 5-2 team weirds me out. This is a huge game in so many dimensions: big test for the team's quality in general, a big test for Caleb and the biggest most important test for Eberflus. Can he coach a meaningful game and not muss it up? Is he someone we really want to trust in the longterm? Will be very interesting to see. 

And, of course, if Daniels doesn't play, it'll be nice to stack wins. But I have a bad feeling about this game for some reason. I may throw some money at the Commanders to cover just to hedge my emotional jitteriness. 

[Soul]

Neither team is tested against a quality opponent.  The Commanders beat Cincinnati who was considered quality at the beginning of the year but find themselves 3-4 and looking for answers.  The others:  NYG (2-5), AZ (3-4), CLE (1-6), CAR (1-6).

The Bears are similar, having no quality wins.

This game is a battle between two teams that think they might have something, but have no real proof of it on the field.

[minnesotacubsfan]

33 minutes ago, Soul said:

Neither team is tested against a quality opponent.  The Commanders beat Cincinnati who was considered quality at the beginning of the year but find themselves 3-4 and looking for answers.  The others:  NYG (2-5), AZ (3-4), CLE (1-6), CAR (1-6).

The Bears are similar, having no quality wins.

This game is a battle between two teams that think they might have something, but have no real proof of it on the field.

eh, I feel like the bears have sommmme proof

 

[BigSlick]

Every win in the NFL is a 'quality' win, IMO 

[David]

On 10/21/2024 at 8:47 PM, bukie said:

A bit amusing to go from 3 point underdogs at home against a 1-4 team to 3 point favorites on the road against a 5-2 game based on a single game's result.

It has a lot less to do with that single game and much more with the market expecting Daniels to be out. 

And that wasn't any old home game, even if the crowd was in their favor.  Wait, when were they 3 point underdogs?  I saw them getting a point at most, late in the week.  Unless I have no idea what the hell you're talking about and it's an entirely different game.

Edited October 23, 2024 by David

[David]

6 hours ago, BigSlick said:

Every win in the NFL is a 'quality' win, IMO 

And they won those games more than convincingly.   Bad teams don't all too often win back to back blowouts, regardless of opponent.  

[minnesotacubsfan]

2 minutes ago, David said:

And they won those games more than convincingly.   Bad teams don't all too often win back to back blowouts, regardless of opponent.  

yes. A win is a win, but good teams blow out bad teams and the Bears past few have never really been in doubt. They've typically lead early on and continued to build leads as the games went on

 

 

[David]

yeah i couldn't remember the last time i felt that comfortable at any point in a game...then my next thought was maybe the denver game last year or early in the @ detroit game, both of which they ended up losing LMAO

Edited October 23, 2024 by David

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Tory Taylor update. Spoilered for any delicate eyes that don't want to see it

 

Spoiler

t13th in average
t16h in net average
t15th inside20/t13th most touchbacks 
18th in average hang time
t24th in returned percentage 

There's no such thing as a special punter

 

[minnesotacubsfan]

thats cool. glad we got him in the 4th while we still had the chance

 

 

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Jayden Daniels did not practice today.  Commanders coach says "next update Friday" which I assume means he's not practicing Thursday either 

 

It's tea-leaf reading but I think it's less than 50/50 he plays