WrigleyField 22

So Spriggs tested positive for Covid. Ifedi is a close contact and now on the covid reserve list as a close contact and could miss the game. Bobby Massie placed on IR. RIP Foles. Projected Line Charles Leno Jr (Pick 246, 2014 NFL Draft) Alex Bars (UDFA, 2019) Sam Mustipher (UDFA, 2019) Arlington Hambright (Pick 226, 2020) Rashaad Coward (UDFA 2017, former DL) Backups Lachavious Simmons (Pick 227, 2020) Dieter Eiselen (UDFA, 2020) Aaron Neary (UDFA, 2016)

I like the video I'm seeing of Zach Wilson; great arm, mobile, very accurate I'm already seeing stuff about him surpassing Fields as QB2. Obviously a lot of noise at this point in the season though. Bears probably are picking in the middle of the round... Does that get them the QB 3 of the draft, or do they need to prepare to trade up if they want their top choice of the second QB in the draft? Who are the QB needy teams? If Jets get first pick, I'm sure they'll go Lawrence. Several other teams could probably make strong arguments for a QB, but most have either a decent, albeit aging vet or have made a semi-recent investment that they might want to see out another year. Patriots and Jaguars are teams currently ahead of the Bears that seem most QB needy.

Gotcha. Yeah, definitely not calling for Trubisky. It's pretty pointless. He's gone after the year. Foles is under contract. Might as well see if he can be a viable bridge guy for 2021. Only if that bridge is trying to get the number 1 pick in 2022. Well if that's the bridge they're going to do a lot worse than Foles even. Top 15 with all your trade chips in tact will have to do.

Yea I mean fights occassionally happen, but his seemed SO unprovoked, and when youre sitting halfway through year 3 and 27 career receptions... It's not like there's that much there to risk losing. Let's see what Ridley has or practice squad WR, Ives.

Was really rooting for the tie so I could call them the worst 5-2-1 team ever. Worst 5-3 team ever does have quite the pizzaz.

What an incredibly weak PI call.

Wonder who the heck the backup center is...?

This may a really crazy thought, but in traditional nickel what about putting Skrine outside and putting Fuller in the slot? I'm not sure he's ever played slot, but thinking along the lines of having him lay the lumber on anything they try across the middle. You may accomplish something similar with the big nickel as you suggested, but just a thought as I see Fuller and Johnsons coverage kind of being wasted in this game on the outside. Or I'll also throw out having Jackson be the "big" part of the nickel with Bush back at FS. Puts him in the action on all the short game stuff.

Whoa, for as much as Dusty deserves flak, this hiring is on a whole other level than any of the teams who hired Dusty, let alone the Cubs. Ok, worse than any offer to any manager since the College of Coaches. Its the worst strategic blunder made since Hitler decided to fight a two-front war in Europe.

Whoa, for as much as Dusty deserves flak, this hiring is on a whole other level than any of the teams who hired Dusty, let alone the Cubs.

Jon Lester thanks fans by holding super spreader events throughout the city. Apparently he chose those bars specifically after he confirmed that they are reservation only (thus limiting capacity), and was assured that all mask wearing and social distancing guidelines are strongly enforced. I think I read also only outdoor seating but I could be wrong. Probably not 100% safe but at least he put some effort into ensuring the safety of the people taking him up on the offer and helping to support bars who are likely struggling. Okay, at least he's trying.

Jon Lester thanks fans by holding super spreader events throughout the city.

Relevant 538 article in advance of this week's game. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/drew-brees-almost-never-throws-deep-anymore-is-that-a-problem-for-the-saints/ So these short passes are basically an extension of the run game and the Bears suck against the run. The awesome coverage of Fuller, Johnson, Jackson, and Gipson is limited if they're just dinking it and dunking it anyways. Is this a week for a lot of big dime and a big nickel package? The thought of Danny T possibly getting stuck out on a island with Kamara grabbing short passes sounds like a terrible idea. Play lots of Bush, and switch Jackson up more at the line. Hell, maybe they can run the 46, but with an extra safety in for Danny T.

I'd guess there's still a ton of industry specific knowledge Sinclair brings. Now apparently Kenney wanted the Cubs to do it on their own before. What would be interesting is if the Cubs have any sort of right of first refusal or anything like that and the capital and motivation to make that happen and just take back Sinclair's half. Or if they just have the power to pressure a sale to a strategic partner they'd like. Its certainly looking more and more like the market on the carrier side just really sucks for these RSNs. Direct-consumer model looks more and more likely (but the blackout hurdle is still large)

It does. They'll get a 6th for him now. its too bad we wasted a 2nd on him tho Yea well Tom Brady was picked in the 6th round so I'm pretty sure those are more valuable.

Decided to look up his stats since he's getting extended for somewhat decent $$. Figured he must be producing... I was wrong. 5 receptions/58 yards/2 TDs so far. 95% of that came this past week. That is shocking. Do they just need to meet the spending minimum or something? Hopefully bodes well for the conditional pick (7th to 6th) the Bears got for him.

Well the Bears kind of suck at running, so I'm more concerned about the opponents pass D's honestly. The Bears will run well only if they can open up the passing game... that's looking apparent to me. Quick analysis, but based on defense pass rating; https://www.nfl.com/stats/team-stats/defense/passing/2020/reg/all Current defense passer rankings; Texans; 32nd Saints; 30th Vikings x 2; 29th Packers x2; 28th Jaguars; 27th Lions and Titans around middle of the pack. Through 7 games maybe there's still some noise working its way through passer rating, but even if you look at other defense pass stats like Y/A, Saints, Packers, Vikings, Texans all look weak. If we jump into advanced and go DVOA https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/nfl/team-defense/2020 Team - Pass Rank- Run Rank - Total Rank Saints - 16 - 4 - 9 Packers - 20 - 22 - 24 Vikings - 15 - 20 - 18 Jaguars - 32 - 24- 32 Lions - 14 - 23 - 17 Texans - 24 - 27 - 27 Titans - 19 - 16 - 19 Per the link, the opponent strength adjustment is currently at 70% until week 10. Compared to IND-TB-LAR, those are still top D's overall and especially pass D (top 3 for that first two), still top 10 for LA. So all these teams still represent relative steps down for the pass O to get something going. So comparing the two lists, perhaps the Saints poor Pass D is a reflection of game situation (teams catching up), and if DVOA is right about their run D, that's going to be tough to do anything against. The rest of the teams though... all pretty much bad D's. So I guess there's just a lot of Great O v Great D and Bad O v Bad D games to look forward to. But Bad pass D's can lead to a lot less predictability overall.

The Packers and Saint's have bad enough pass defenses, that I really don't think its fair to say those are almost certain losses. I don't know what the Bears are going to do about Henry and they have a decent enough D, so I'm okay chalking that up to a L. Now I actually don't think 9-7 is an unrealistic expectation, but the Bears D is probably good enough to carry them a few wins alone, so it really comes down to whether the offense can be consistent or not (even if they're consistently below average). 8-8 is probably my floor, but I don't think 11-5 would be crazy shocking because they've got a lot of house money with their early wins they've squeaked out, and a couple bounces or two can quickly lead to that 2-3 W spread. IF they do go 11-5 I'm already ready to call them the worst 11-5 team ever though.

Is that before or after Harris negative value is added? Well if we're doing negatives we're back below 2 OL too

I felt like there's 1 whole one, a half and 2 quarters, but I admit I'm an optimist. yeah i figured you were probably counting fractionally I mean, as long as we're counting fractionally with that small of units I'd say we have over 2 WR then too. We even have near a full TE!

I'm willing to let Foles try and start bum slaying some D's before I call for Trubisky again. There really isn't any very good passing defense left on the schedule now, and in fact many of them are very bad.

Do you think punt.. watchers(?) just grow on trees?

He's just a platoon guy.