UMFan83

Yes, in the final game of the Giants series. Since the Cubs are 2-8 since then, it had to be the wedding in the bleachers

Yeah definitely, the luck probably evens out. We tend to forget about the wins like the 1-0 Milwaukee win or the Bellinger deflects GW hit off the Brewers pitcher, or Happ throws out 2 runners at the plate in Milwaukee, or Tauchman robbing a walkoff, etc etc and only focus on when we lost because a ball deflects off our pitcher. Those Reds games just stick with me because it was back-to-back days with a lead in the 9th inning and either one not only puts us 2 games farther from them in the standings but clinches the tiebreaker. If the Cubs miss the playoffs there are a shitload of games in September to point to but if they make it there are also a shitload of games all season to point to.

I can't believe Cincinnati still has played 2 more games than us, they're gonna have a lot of rest down the stretch and an easy schedule. Man I wish we didn't blow those 2 games in Cincinnati. Life is slightly easier if we win even one of them.

They are 12-7 since the last time we played them so they're playing good baseball

Braves are clearly going through some sort of divison clinching hangover getting blasted by the Marlins and now the Phillies. I'm guessing this lasts through the weekend and then they start to "get serious again" just in time for the series against the Cubs.

And if they play even worse?

It’s legitimately hilarious how many Bears fans (including me) enjoy and look forward to videos of analysts trashing the play of our favorite team. It somehow is a great coping mechanism to have someone from the outside validating what we have to watch every Sunday.

Drives me nuts that he hasn't fixed that issue yet and the only reason its not talked about more is because his recovered fumbled rate was ridiculously high last year

He's a smart guy

Oh great, 90 minutes of dooming this week

WEEEEEEEEE

Funny you say that: Looking at the video, the formation changed a little but it looks like they tried a dump screen to Herbert 3 consecutive times so yes they clearly knew what was coming. Stealing an oft repeated line from JT O'Sullivan in his breakdown videos "WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?"

No thanks

Also saw this. Daniel Greenberg has been criticized a lot lately for tweeting quotes out of context and I didn't hear the original interview but based on these quotes, he looks like he's deflecting all the blame to Fields here

Hey look at that, Braxton Jones looked terrible on TV and PFF agrees:

You can be rational and realize the team is at or exceeding expectations for the season and still be upset that a team blew a 4 game lead over 2 different playoff spots over a 10 game span where they went 2-8 and lost at least 4 games that could have gone either way (while wininng 1). There's a universe where Wesneski gets 1 more strike on Saturday (or Dansby catches the deflection), Gomes hit against the DBacks at Wrigley goes 3 more inches for a walkoff HR, and Seiya is 1 inch closer and doesn't trap that fly ball in the 1-0 loss and the cubs manage to score. In that universe where very little changes, they are just 5-5 in the last 10 and are still in solid shape But I keep thinking back to what TT said awhile ago about the difference between good and great. The Cubs are a good team (maybe?) and good teams have stretches like this. In fact every single WC contender we are battling with went through an abysmal stretch over the last month where they looked like they were just about finished and all of them bounced back. This is the Cubs turn, and luckily they built enough cushion to only be tied instead of 3-4 games behind. But obviously that assumes that this is the end of that stretch and I have no idea if they will bounce back in time to salvage the season.

I hate that I'm so angry that the Cardinals blew that game against the Giants last night. Could have been a perfect opportunity for them to botch their tank job with an unexpected win. At the very least we'll have a chance H2H to give them a win but knowing the Bears they will win in some stupid way like last year's Texans win (late game INT from a guy we'd trade a few weeks later) and won't get bailed out by the Colts again this year. Obviously possible that the Bears just settle into Top 10 Bad instead of 1.1 bad and I'm not yet at the point of rooting for losses, but I'm definitely looking at how all the other terrible teams are doing just in case we continue down this path.

I thought it was interesting that they had 17 pressures yesterday and 1 sack. Should I be encouraged about the 17 pressures or discouraged by the 1 sack? It did seem like the DL was moving through their line much better than in week 1 (obviously the Packers have a strong OLine, but pretty sure the Bucs do too). Re Fields: One thing I am seeing pointed out is that yet again the Bears barely moved the pocket or allowed Fields to bootleg to one side of the field. But I've seen this complain consistently for 3 seasons so maybe there's a good reason why teams cant just move the pocket a large % of the time (guessing teams catch on quickly and blow it up). But I think I saw only 2 times all game where the pocket moved...feel like that number should be higher. Wonder if the coaching staff is basically forcing Fields to prove he can be a pocket passer.

What are his high leverage numbers like for his career? Is it just a one year blip or is this something we'll have to deal with for 6 more years? My understanding is that the general belief is still that there is not a clutch hitting skill and WPA changes from year to year for an individual player. Fake Edit: I did the work, somewhat Career: .740 (.750 this year) Late & Close: .730 (.683) 2 outs, RISP: .782 (.683) High Leverage: .802 (.680) Innings 7-9: .739 (.636) Vs. Relievers: .745 (.654) So it looks like for his career he hits roughly the same in "big spots" as he does in other situations, just not this season. Though when digging, I found that he was actually significantly above average in a lot of these categories his first 5 seasons and has had numbers like this years for the last 3 seasons (2021, 2022, 2023). No idea why there is such a sudden shift, but there's at least some evidence using 3 years of data that Swanson is doing something different in clutch situations. Even if clutch hitting isnt a thing, while he slumps like he has for the last 6 weeks he should be hitting 7th in the order, not directly between Bellinger and Seiya. He's come up in a lot of big spots and has been pretty much worthless to the team in those spots lately.

not sure how to do spoilers but the answer is in the Twitter thread

I wouldn’t even be mad at him. Kid needs to make the best choice for his career and this ain’t it even if Poles and Eberflus are gone. In fact if I’m Caleb Williams, I’d let it be known that I’m going back to USC for another year unless the McCaskey’s sell the Bears before the draft. Ok my fantasy world is leaking into reality now.

We all knew going in that today would be brutal and it was as brutal as anticipated

lol saw this on twitter

They need to go 5-1 at worst. Seriously if they don't go 5-1, you're looking at needing to go on the road and winning series against the Braves and Brewers