Week 17: Bears at 49ers Sunday SNF 7;20 on NBC

[bukie]

16 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

I asked the same question, think a run play could have worked.  Didn't the Niners drop 8 in coverage with the snap?

They dropped 9 in coverage. The Bears' play wasn't set right, half the team wasn't sure what they were supposed to do. Johnson said as much in the postgame press conference, they were unable to get the full play in at the end because it ended up being a bit hectic. Caleb tried to create anyway and spiked the ball a bit, otherwise, Walker has that and they win.

[Soul]

11 minutes ago, bukie said:

They dropped 9 in coverage. The Bears' play wasn't set right, half the team wasn't sure what they were supposed to do. Johnson said as much in the postgame press conference, they were unable to get the full play in at the end because it ended up being a bit hectic. Caleb tried to create anyway and spiked the ball a bit, otherwise, Walker has that and they win.

I assume we tie that stuff down since the O is still a work in progress but man that’s frustrating.  Even with all that it was close.  Couple more yards of travel on that ball and we win.

[Banedon]

Loveland and Burden dropping passes on that last sequence really hurt.  But man, this offense is so raw, and so good already.  Just so unlike the Bears.  I know every year is something to embrace because you never know what the future holds, but this team being able to hold its own in a shootout like that...just makes you really feel good about where this team is headed both now and in future years.

[Geographyhater8888]

6 minutes ago, Banedon said:

Loveland and Burden dropping passes on that last sequence really hurt.  But man, this offense is so raw, and so good already.  Just so unlike the Bears.  I know every year is something to embrace because you never know what the future holds, but this team being able to hold its own in a shootout like that...just makes you really feel good about where this team is headed both now and in future years.

That one hurt and costed them a timeout and a couple extra plays if he runs out of bounce. Missed throws and key drops are still an issue. Bears Lead the NFL in most yards dropped by passes.  But if this current team showed up im September the fraud label wouldn’t be applied.

Edited December 29, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[Geographyhater8888]

12 minutes ago, Soul said:

I assume we tie that stuff down since the O is still a work in progress but man that’s frustrating.  Even with all that it was close.  Couple more yards of travel on that ball and we win.

When Caleb consistently hits those passes then he’s finally arrived. His down the field accuracy is much better though. 

[Wilson A2000]

13 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

When Caleb consistently hits those passes then he’s finally arrived. His down the field accuracy is much better though. 

He’s getting more accurate on the deep passes. One step at a time I guess.

[Wilson A2000]

Caleb had 68 sacks last year. 23 this year. 

[Geographyhater8888]

12 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

He’s getting more accurate on the deep passes. One step at a time I guess.

He was much rawer coming out of college than advertised. The trajectory of his growth is encouraging. Still has issues with time to throw and as difficult as the Loveland and Dunervay passes were with rushers in his face, he can get away with not doing the little things right by consistently making those difficult throws. Thats why he was drafted 1. But he’s closer than he was in September.

Edited December 29, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[bjam12]

I also think if Walker just keeps coming back to the ball instead of diving he catches it. Looks like he mis-timed it. 

[gflore34]

I'm with a few here, thinking Bagent should get most of the snaps vs. the Lions, yes, there are benefits towards locking up the #2 seed.  Campbell is also a petty, vindictive meathead, wouldn't put it past him tying to inflict some damage.  Look at the evidence, runs up the score vs. the Bears in Detroit, ran up the score vs. the Commanders, he's not going to just set back and watch the playoff bound Bears beat his non-playoff team.  Best thing to do is ignore Campbell and play the game like a pre-season game.

Edited December 29, 2025 by gflore34

[Wilson A2000]

13 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

I'm with a few here, thinking Bagent should get most of the snaps vs. the Lions, yes, there are benefits towards locking up the #2 seed.  Campbell is also a petty, vindictive meathead, wouldn't put it past him tying to inflict some damage.  Look at the evidence, runs up the score vs. the Bears in Detroit, ran up the score vs. the Commanders, he's not going to just set back and watch the playoff bound Bears beat his non-playoff team.  Best thing to do is ignore Campbell and play the game like a pre-season game.

If you aren’t trying to win by only playing the starters a half, then don’t play the key starters at all. There’s only negative outcomes in that scenario.

[gflore34]

9 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

If you aren’t trying to win by only playing the starters a half, then don’t play the key starters at all. There’s only negative outcomes in that scenario.

I'm good with that, go with Bagent, he'll be able to move the ball and score points.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Sounds like Burdens injury isn’t serious

 

also that last play was something that I think Caleb will learn from. If he sets his feel, he has Loveland or Swift at dif points in the play. Hard to be too sad about it, #2 was likely and very much still in play 

 

 

 

[gflore34]

4 minutes ago, minnesotacubsfan said:

Sounds like Burdens injury isn’t serious

 

also that last play was something that I think Caleb will learn from. If he sets his feel, he has Loveland or Swift at dif points in the play. Hard to be too sad about it, #2 was likely and very much still in play 

 

 

 

More concerned about Burden, from what I've, read doesn't sound too serious and may have been more a product of exhaustion from being one of the few non-sick receivers.

Edited December 29, 2025 by gflore34

[PackLandVA]

10 hours ago, Tryptamine said:

Hot take, especially after last week, but I'd be on board with moving Moore to open up cap room if necessary. I'm quite high on what I've seen of Jahdae Walker and I think Burden+Rome+Walker is a completely respectable if not pretty good 1-3. 

I'm no capologist, but doesn't DJ Moore have more dead cap if he's cut/traded than if he stays? Spotrac shows a cap hit of $28.5 million and a dead cap of $35.4 million. I guess they could always play the June 1 game.

Edited December 29, 2025 by PackLandVA

[Derwood]

Caleb 270 yards away from 4000. Not saying you risk injuring him to reach a benchmark, but it's cool that he's that close

[minnesotacubsfan]

6 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Caleb 270 yards away from 4000. Not saying you risk injuring him to reach a benchmark, but it's cool that he's that close

109 yards from Bears record, 270 to 4k. I bet he plays

Edited December 29, 2025 by minnesotacubsfan

[Soul]

5 minutes ago, minnesotacubsfan said:

109 yards from Bears record, 270 to 4k. I bet he plays

Because of that?  Seems arbitrary and not a real good basis for the decision.

[Soul]

Apparently the expectation is that Burden will rest and Odunze as well, in hopes that both will be ready for the playoffs.  Poor DJ!  He’s had to carry the load but in doing so he has completely flipped my opinion of him as a player.  He’s been there for us.

[gflore34]

6 minutes ago, Soul said:

Apparently the expectation is that Burden will rest and Odunze as well, in hopes that both will be ready for the playoffs.  Poor DJ!  He’s had to carry the load but in doing so he has completely flipped my opinion of him as a player.  He’s been there for us.

And playing last night while very obviously ill.

[UMFan83]

58 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

I'm good with that, go with Bagent, he'll be able to move the ball and score points.

Maybe he'll have a Matt Flynn game and we can convince some team to trade a 2nd or 3rd round pick for him lol

[Soul]

7 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Maybe he'll have a Matt Flynn game and we can convince some team to trade a 2nd or 3rd round pick for him lol

Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in awhile.  One game and everyone thinks he’s ready to be a star.

[Old Style]

It sucks to lose that game but I can’t be too upset. We traded blows with one of the best teams in the conference. And while it wasn’t his best statistical game, to me this was the most complete game I remember Caleb playing. His deep ball accuracy has improved so much already. 

[minnesotacubsfan]

3 minutes ago, Old Style said:

It sucks to lose that game but I can’t be too upset. We traded blows with one of the best teams in the conference. And while it wasn’t his best statistical game, to me this was the most complete game I remember Caleb playing. His deep ball accuracy has improved so much already. 

but it was his 2nd best statistical, 330 yards. 

[gflore34]

1 minute ago, Old Style said:

It sucks to lose that game but I can’t be too upset. We traded blows with one of the best teams in the conference. And while it wasn’t his best statistical game, to me this was the most complete game I remember Caleb playing. His deep ball accuracy has improved so much already. 

Add in a good portion of the team being sick, you could see it, especially on D.  Granted the Bears D isn't good, still, last night, they looked a step slow vs. an offense without much speed.  In relative terms, Purdy, Piersall and McCaffrey aren't fast yet, the Bears were several steps behind them all night.  I'd like to see the Bears get another crack at them.