Week 16: Bears vs Packers Saturday 7:20pm on FOX

[jersey cubs fan]

Packer week 2, electric boogaloo

 

The Bears control their own destiny as they held serve against a basement dwelling browns team. Green Bay is a 1.5 point favorite 

Let’s horsefeathers go 

 

[BigSlick]

The fact that the Bears are still 1.5 dogs, at home, after a dominant win, after Green Bay loses their best defensive player and perhaps their best receiver, and after they lost to lose their position of 1st place in the North... both annoys me but also I imagine provides a little boost of motivation for this group. 

Beat Green Bay, dudes. Just beat them, please. Any way you can. 

[Old Style]

Win, dummies. 

[minnesotacubsfan]

very happy to be in a position this late in the season where we have a very meaningful game at SF against GB

[jersey cubs fan]

36 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

The fact that the Bears are still 1.5 dogs, at home, after a dominant win, after Green Bay loses their best defensive player and perhaps their best receiver, and after they lost to lose their position of 1st place in the North... both annoys me but also I imagine provides a little boost of motivation for this group. 

Beat Green Bay, dudes. Just beat them, please. Any way you can. 

I think a 1.5 point move is about as big as you’ll see for a nonQB injury by any one player. It was 3 before and Chicago isn’t exactly 100% healthy. 
 

The football world still expects Chicago to falter against better competition. 

[gflore34]

If the Bears do not start slowly a beat down of Green Bay is a real possibility.

[Banedon]

17 minutes ago, jersey cubs fan said:

I think a 1.5 point move is about as big as you’ll see for a nonQB injury by any one player. It was 3 before and Chicago isn’t exactly 100% healthy. 
 

The football world still expects Chicago to falter against better competition. 

Yeah, everybody still thinks the Bears are good but not great.  When you see national media types that wouldn't let go of the Chiefs till they were actually eliminated, or that will talk up the Cowboys no matter their record...you gotta understand it's hard to break people's perceptions of what the NFL is.  The Bears just haven't earned that "we trust them to win in big moments" status yet. 

[Banedon]

Bears are somewhere in the 46-ish% area to win the division right now.  If they win on Saturday, it's up over 80%.

[minnesotacubsfan]

34 minutes ago, Banedon said:

Yeah, everybody still thinks the Bears are good but not great.  When you see national media types that wouldn't let go of the Chiefs till they were actually eliminated, or that will talk up the Cowboys no matter their record...you gotta understand it's hard to break people's perceptions of what the NFL is.  The Bears just haven't earned that "we trust them to win in big moments" status yet. 

The running narrative for decades has been that Chicago can't develop a QB, and when the media sees Caleb make risky throws like the TD to Moore, they groan about how "ill advised" such a throw is. Caleb's overall numbers aren't great either, so it just fits their narrative

 

what doesn't fit their narrative is that Caleb and Co continue to win and have done so against the bottom and top teams in the league, so they keep hedging against that. Let them

 

 

[BigSlick]

The more I think about the more I like Caleb's throw to DJ in the end zone. Yeah, sure, it's a bit of a risky ball, but also, it's a dagger if it hits, and the way the game is called and played these days, lots of good things can happen. If anything, he's been a little *too* reticent to pull the trigger on risky balls when he's got some absolute studs at WR. Throw it up ! 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2025 by BigSlick

[Banedon]

 

[minnesotacubsfan]

9 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

The more I think about the more I like Caleb's throw to DJ in the end zone. Yeah, sure, it's a bit of a risky ball, but also, it's a dagger if it hits, and the way the game is called and played these days, lots of good things can happen. If anything, he's been a little *too* reticent to pull the trigger on risky balls when he's got some absolute studs at WR. Throw it up ! 

 

 

all that, and he  has some insane skill players who can make that catch, like Moore. 

[minnesotacubsfan]

2 minutes ago, Banedon said:

 

gotta get him ready for the playoffs!

[The_Achiever]

The Bears haven't had me this happy and confident in a long time, but the Rome thing kind of bugs me.  

I've had a stress fracture in my foot and it's a terrible idea to try to return on such a cold day like yesterday.   Hell, I injured mine in high school and it still flares up in cold and/or damp conditions.  I checked the weather yesterday and it's going to be 35-40 degrees on Saturday.  They should have just sat him an extra week and not risked reaggravation.  

Not a doctor but just my .02.  

[Banedon]

We don't really know how bad the aggravation is though.  Maybe it was "let's give it a go and if you have any discomfort we're shutting you down and waiting till next week."

We just don't have all the info.

[UMFan83]

11 minutes ago, The_Achiever said:

The Bears haven't had me this happy and confident in a long time, but the Rome thing kind of bugs me.  

I've had a stress fracture in my foot and it's a terrible idea to try to return on such a cold day like yesterday.   Hell, I injured mine in high school and it still flares up in cold and/or damp conditions.  I checked the weather yesterday and it's going to be 35-40 degrees on Saturday.  They should have just sat him an extra week and not risked reaggravation.  

Not a doctor but just my .02.  

Not only that but I believe it's the 4th time a Bears player has reaggrivated an existing injury in pregame or during a game.  Kyler twice, Jaylon and now Rome.  There was absolutely no need to rush Rome back on a historically cold day to face the Browns.

There needs to be some accountability here.  Ben has had a fantastic year and am excited about the future with him, and he's not a trainer, but ultimately he likely plays a big part in deciding how to handle an injured players return.  He's gotta be better about this in the future and his staff has to be better also.

[The_Achiever]

7 minutes ago, Banedon said:

We don't really know how bad the aggravation is though.  Maybe it was "let's give it a go and if you have any discomfort we're shutting you down and waiting till next week."

We just don't have all the info.

Correct, but the way BJ is talking (saying there are a lot of options to consider) makes me think he could be out for the season.  

It was the Browns and the rest of the offense is healthy, I would have sat him.  

[raw]

58 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

The more I think about the more I like Caleb's throw to DJ in the end zone. Yeah, sure, it's a bit of a risky ball, but also, it's a dagger if it hits, and the way the game is called and played these days, lots of good things can happen. If anything, he's been a little *too* reticent to pull the trigger on risky balls when he's got some absolute studs at WR. Throw it up ! 

 

 

When he throws that ball, DJ is wide open. The DB did a great job of closing on that one, but Caleb put that high so DJ would have either bodied him for the catch if he was in better position, or he would have been able to cause an incompletion. It's really more of elite ball placement than risky throw, IMO

[Soul]

The biggest difference between Love's first and second half performance yesterday was the Broncos pressure.  They seemed to figure out a way to get more pressure, and Love was affected by it.

It would be nice if the Bears could figure that out, at least to some degree.  The Packers will likely try to get creative with the pass rush Saturday now that Parsons is out.  We'll see if Allen can dial up a few good stunts of his own.

[Soul]

9 minutes ago, raw said:

When he throws that ball, DJ is wide open. The DB did a great job of closing on that one, but Caleb put that high so DJ would have either bodied him for the catch if he was in better position, or he would have been able to cause an incompletion. It's really more of elite ball placement than risky throw, IMO

Yeah, I felt like it was dangerous but people have been calling for him to push it more.  He did there, and it worked.  Can't complain about both pushing it and not pushing it, or it's just aimless complaining.

Also, it wasn't like the throw was a prayer.  He knew DJ was there, he knew if he placed it properly it would split the defenders.  He put it in the right place, as you said.

[raw]

So Jordan Love is pretty good. He's stopped a lot of the TO worthy throws and it's become pretty imperative for the Bears to get takeaways to win games. He did throw 2 yesterday, but 1 was a fantastic play the other I believe was a tipped ball off a WR (I believe). He also threw 1 vs the Bears, but those 3 are 75% of his career post Thanksgiving INTs, Odds are, he's not going to give you the ball unless he's in desperation mode because you have a big lead......

Which brings me to the next point, HAVE HAVE HAVE to come out and score early. You can't get down multiple scores in this game, because there's little guarantee that you can make the multiple stops vs this Packers team that will be needed to make that comeback.

[UMFan83]

31 minutes ago, raw said:

So Jordan Love is pretty good. He's stopped a lot of the TO worthy throws and it's become pretty imperative for the Bears to get takeaways to win games. He did throw 2 yesterday, but 1 was a fantastic play the other I believe was a tipped ball off a WR (I believe). He also threw 1 vs the Bears, but those 3 are 75% of his career post Thanksgiving INTs, Odds are, he's not going to give you the ball unless he's in desperation mode because you have a big lead......

Which brings me to the next point, HAVE HAVE HAVE to come out and score early. You can't get down multiple scores in this game, because there's little guarantee that you can make the multiple stops vs this Packers team that will be needed to make that comeback.

What I want to understand is why is Love so elite and effective at throwing deep 50/50 type of balls and how do you stop it?  Sometimes he hits them in stride and maybe that's good play design but a lot of the time when he throws deep its 1-on-1 coverage and the receiver has to make a play to get the catch, its not just dropped in his arms.  How does he hit such a high percentage of those throws?

[minnesotacubsfan]

18 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

What I want to understand is why is Love so elite and effective at throwing deep 50/50 type of balls and how do you stop it?  Sometimes he hits them in stride and maybe that's good play design but a lot of the time when he throws deep its 1-on-1 coverage and the receiver has to make a play to get the catch, its not just dropped in his arms.  How does he hit such a high percentage of those throws?

you stop it with a pass rush. Since the bears cant do that with 4 dl, expect lots of blitzing

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, raw said:

So Jordan Love is pretty good. He's stopped a lot of the TO worthy throws and it's become pretty imperative for the Bears to get takeaways to win games. He did throw 2 yesterday, but 1 was a fantastic play the other I believe was a tipped ball off a WR (I believe). He also threw 1 vs the Bears, but those 3 are 75% of his career post Thanksgiving INTs, Odds are, he's not going to give you the ball unless he's in desperation mode because you have a big lead......

Which brings me to the next point, HAVE HAVE HAVE to come out and score early. You can't get down multiple scores in this game, because there's little guarantee that you can make the multiple stops vs this Packers team that will be needed to make that comeback.

While I absolutely want the Bears to start fast and don’t stop, the last 2 weeks the Packers have faltered at the end of the game. Bears were outplaying them when the game ended. Packers got lucky to hold on. Broncos took over late too. I think if the Bears keep it close at half the coaches will figure out how to win this one in the second half. For the first time in years, I have confidence in the coaches to have a game plan that works after half time. I also have confidence in the QB to score late. 

[Soul]

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

What I want to understand is why is Love so elite and effective at throwing deep 50/50 type of balls and how do you stop it?  Sometimes he hits them in stride and maybe that's good play design but a lot of the time when he throws deep its 1-on-1 coverage and the receiver has to make a play to get the catch, its not just dropped in his arms.  How does he hit such a high percentage of those throws?

Most likely because they aren’t really 50/50.  If you have 1 on 1, and the receiver has a height advantage, the QB can expect better than 50% completion or draw a PI. The real advantage is created by getting the right 1:1 matchup.

Edited December 16, 2025 by Soul