Week 15: Bears vs Browns Sunday at noon on fox

[BigbadB]

There are 8 teams with either 2 or 3 losses on the season. How bad does Cleveland even want to win this game after losing to the worst team in the league? Of the 3 win teams, Cleveland has the top pick and would draft 4th if the season ended today. A win potentially knocks them to 8th if the Giants beat Washington. Losing out could move them into the top 3. They play playoff hopefuls the next 3 weeks (Chi, Buf, Pit) and finish with Cincy.

Of significance is that the Browns have Sanders, Gabriel and Watson in their QB room for next year, so they are in a position to potentially grab the best non QB in the draft if they lose out.

The Bears losing this game would not be good. The Browns winning would be exactly what their fanbase probably doesn't want at this point. 

[Wilson A2000]

Up to a -20 wind chill

[Brian707]

1 hour ago, Wilson A2000 said:

Up to a -20 wind chill

I sold my tickets yesterday, and over face value as well.

To the poor soul going:

 

[Banedon]

Quote

The television commentators for the game are Kevin Kugler (play-by-play), Daryl Johnston (analyst) and Allison Williams (sideline reporter).

 

[Banedon]

2 hours ago, Wilson A2000 said:

Up to a -20 wind chill

I know not everyone will agree, but I'm ready for the Bears to get into that new domed stadium.

[BigSlick]

I hold a contradictory position of disliking the aesthetics of domed football while also finding it inhumane to make football players play in -20 degree weather. 

Can we do some sort of retractable roof situation? Ugh, but I also love snowy football when its not crazy cold out. I can't win! 

[Banedon]

Ben Johnson was asked during is PC this morning about Kyler and his chances of playing again this season, and Ben said he doesn't have a lot more information but that coming out of Sunday it "didn't look very good."

[Wilson A2000]

52 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

I hold a contradictory position of disliking the aesthetics of domed football while also finding it inhumane to make football players play in -20 degree weather. 

Can we do some sort of retractable roof situation? Ugh, but I also love snowy football when its not crazy cold out. I can't win! 

I would prefer that, but I guess they’re expensive and expensive to maintain. They’re not popular anymore.

[BigSlick]

2 hours ago, Banedon said:

Ben Johnson was asked during is PC this morning about Kyler and his chances of playing again this season, and Ben said he doesn't have a lot more information but that coming out of Sunday it "didn't look very good."

It’s a bummer and I can feel myself getting frustrated over the whole situation. It was so exciting seeing him and Jaylon back before the Philly game but now it looks like Kyler is likely done for the season and Jaylon was definitely not himself against GB. 
 

Turns out the issue of having “too many” DBs with CJGJ wasn’t an issue at all. And maybe it looks more and more possible the Bears try to keep Nahshon Wright and move on from Kyler if he’s just not gonna be available consistently.

[cwood218]

17 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

It’s a bummer and I can feel myself getting frustrated over the whole situation. It was so exciting seeing him and Jaylon back before the Philly game but now it looks like Kyler is likely done for the season and Jaylon was definitely not himself against GB. 
 

Turns out the issue of having “too many” DBs with CJGJ wasn’t an issue at all. And maybe it looks more and more possible the Bears try to keep Nahshon Wright and move on from Kyler if he’s just not gonna be available consistently.

I highly doubt they move on from Kyler this off season. His cap hit next year is $ 13.3 M BUT his dead cap is $ 17.5 M. Unlike some other players who can be cut and save the Bears money, Kyler would cost an extra $ 4.2 M to cut.

[WrigleyField 22]

2 minutes ago, cwood218 said:

I highly doubt they move on from Kyler this off season. His cap hit next year is $ 13.3 M BUT his dead cap is $ 17.5 M. Unlike some other players who can be cut and save the Bears money, Kyler would cost an extra $ 4.2 M to cut.

Yea outside of a little bit of per game bonuses and a workout bonus (less than $1M total) he's on a guaranteed deal in 2026. There's no use actually moving on. 

That said it may impact their decision making on rest of DBs.  I'm as cap agressive as most but the logic doesn't really make sense to lock up more big money extension in the DB for a Wright extension.  A couple day two picks on the other hand?  Yep. 

[Bobson Dugnutt]

6 hours ago, Brian707 said:

I sold my tickets yesterday, and over face value as well.

To the poor soul going:

 

I bought my neighbor’s tickets from her. God help me.

[Brian707]

24 minutes ago, Bobson Dugnutt said:

I bought my neighbor’s tickets from her. God help me.

A Bears victory will be enjoyable. Stay warm

 

Edited December 10, 2025 by Brian707

[Derwood]

4 hours ago, cwood218 said:

I highly doubt they move on from Kyler this off season. His cap hit next year is $ 13.3 M BUT his dead cap is $ 17.5 M. Unlike some other players who can be cut and save the Bears money, Kyler would cost an extra $ 4.2 M to cut.

You could explain the cap rule and dead money to me like I was 5 years old every day for the next year and I still wouldn't understand it

[BigSlick]

Salary cap stuff is like alchemy to me. I dont understand it and any attempt I make to really get it, the more fake it seems

[BigbadB]

10 hours ago, Derwood said:

You could explain the cap rule and dead money to me like I was 5 years old every day for the next year and I still wouldn't understand it

Now matter how clear it seems, apparently there is an entire system of working around it. I'll probably never be smart enough to figure out how much a team has available to spend in an offseason.

I will say that based on what I've seen on Spotrac, I feel like the Bears will need to rework contracts in order to make any significant additions and/or keep some of their expiring contracts. But, maybe I'm wrong about that.

[Derwood]

I don't even understand why dead money exists, how it's calculated, why for some players it's higher than their AAV and for others it's lower, etc. Feels like a random number generator

[raw]

Contracts are complicated, but not impossible to figure out. In the layman-est of terms, dead money is created when a player is released from his contract before all of his guaranteed money has been paid. Dead money can also be created when a team converts some salary into a signing bonus. 

Signing bonuses give the player a bunch of money upfront, but the team can account for it over multiple years. 10M SB, 5 year contract = 2Mil in cap space each year. So if you cut the player after 3 years, you still have 2 years of 2M each year to account for. If you convert 10M salary into SB in Year 3 of the 5 year deal, it still gets accounted for as 2M over the next 5 years, just so happens the last 3 of those years, the player is not actually under said contract anymore. 
 

Very basics. I'm sure WF22 will correct me where I am wrong or oversimplifying.

[Banedon]

[Soul]

On 12/10/2025 at 11:21 AM, Banedon said:

I know not everyone will agree, but I'm ready for the Bears to get into that new domed stadium.

Years back I was a purist.  I’m done.  Give me that megadome destination facility.  I have my memories of snow fights in the stands at old Soldier Field.  It’s enough.

[Soul]

On 12/10/2025 at 10:42 AM, Banedon said:

The television commentators for the game are Kevin Kugler (play-by-play), Daryl Johnston (analyst) and Allison Williams (sideline reporter).

Edited December 11, 2025 by Soul
Quotation missing

[jersey cubs fan]

When I see the name Alison Williams one image comes to mind and I never even saw the show Girls 

[WrigleyField 22]

9 hours ago, raw said:

Contracts are complicated, but not impossible to figure out. In the layman-est of terms, dead money is created when a player is released from his contract before all of his guaranteed money has been paid. Dead money can also be created when a team converts some salary into a signing bonus. 

Signing bonuses give the player a bunch of money upfront, but the team can account for it over multiple years. 10M SB, 5 year contract = 2Mil in cap space each year. So if you cut the player after 3 years, you still have 2 years of 2M each year to account for. If you convert 10M salary into SB in Year 3 of the 5 year deal, it still gets accounted for as 2M over the next 5 years, just so happens the last 3 of those years, the player is not actually under said contract anymore. 
 

Very basics. I'm sure WF22 will correct me where I am wrong or oversimplifying.

Regrettably I'm not super energized to go off on a long technical cap lecture 😂

If someone know any type of accounting method it's pretty easy to learn because it's just another set of cost recognition rules that follow pretty basic rules and simple math (maybe in 5-10% of cases it gets weird).  If they don't know accounting I basically have to teach a foreign language first. 

 

Follow me at The_Cap_is_Fake on the Nazi app or at https://bsky.app/profile/the-cap-is-a-myth.bsky.social

DMs open on both at any time with specific hypothetical questions (or here I guess) 

 

Simple rule is assume any one move is possible in a given year.  But if you spend more than 110% of the cap in cash in a year (Over The Cap tracks here https://overthecap.com/cash-spending and I'd use it over Spotrac), then assume it will impact a future year(s) flexibility.  107% of cash:cap ratio or so though is very easy to overspend in perpetuity though (unless there is ever a multi year down trend which has never happened). 

 

So if you wanna go wild with offseason plans just make sure cash is at like 110% of cap and don't worry about how the cap math actually happens.  And if someone tells you there isn't space just tell them "the cap is a myth bitch" (expletive optional). Unless your a Saints fan... Then the details might matter. Only a little though, people still overreact to their situation. 

[Bobson Dugnutt]

On 12/8/2025 at 11:47 AM, WrigleyField 22 said:

I will be there braving the cold.  Play a full 4 quarters and dominate them, jerks. 

I didn’t even know heated vests were a thing until last night, but splurged on two for me and my wife to lessen the misery.

 

[Outshined_One]

4 hours ago, jersey cubs fan said:

When I see the name Alison Williams one image comes to mind and I never even saw the show Girls 

It's all I thought of while watching The Bear.