Bears Vs Lions: NFL Week 10 Pre-Party Open Thread

It feels like forever since the Bears have actually done things on a Sunday - between the Thursday night game against the Giants, the ten-day break until the game against the Redskins, then the bye week, then the Packers on Monday night, the Bears have played one Sunday game in four weeks. Time to get back into the routine of how to put one of these together.

Yeah, I know, it's weird.

When last we saw our intrepid navy-and-orange clad heroes, they were taking down the Packers in Backup Bowl 2013, as Josh McCown and the Bears' offense won a pretty good game against the Seneca Wallace-led Packers. Some might credit it to the Shea McClellin-assisted departure of Aaron Rodgers, and while it's certainly an argument, it's also a credit to the point that a team can never be deep enough, especially at quarterback. Just ask the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Chicago Bears, right, folks?

So the Bears, Packers and Lions are all at 5-3 to tie for the lead in the NFC North, and they all have that 2-1 division record with head-to-head victories against one another. What that means, especially with Rodgers down for a bit, is that this is a great time for the Bears or Lions to grab an early foothold in the abbreviated remainder of the season.

Linkage, video and pre-game stream info to follow.

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Here's the injury report for today's contest from Les. Noted newly minted defensive stalwart Shea McClellin (said no one ever) is listed as doubtful with a hamstring. Yes, he has one. I should hope he does. And if you didn't hear, Jay Cutler is probably gonna start today.

Here's my Six Keys to the game, as well as the UYA (isn't that a recently-released game console?).

Your TV and other watching info can be found over here. Insert customary reminder that we don't condone illegal streams and violators will be removed with the comfy chair. Or a comment deletion. Or a swiftly-delivered ban-hammer. We are gifted with a certain set of skills.

Sam looked at the Packers game with his gradebook.

Meanwhile, Ronk showed all the varying ways the Matt Forte chess piece is put in play. (For the record, I think Unicorn Gambit Accepted was countered pretty easily by the French Defense, but what do I know, I frequently played a reverse Stonewall.)

Les also took a look at the sacks the Bears allowed on Thursday in the Sackwatch.

And if you want to see how we all picked the game, your reminder's right here. I await my ridicule.

Spongie's got you covered with the best Bears' Den the World has Ever Seen. Because that's how Spongie rolls.

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On to Non-WCG stuff...

The field has been resodded. It's real, and it's spectacular. (For about ten minutes.)

Re-sodded Soldier Field playing surface appears to be in excellent shape. #Bears #Lions pic.twitter.com/LTTvxV0We9

— Jeff Dickerson (@ESPNChiBears) November 10, 2013

Here's ESPN Chicago's What to Watch For, as well as their Five Things to Watch. Redundant redundancy is redundant.

Here's how the Sun Times sees the matchup.

The Bears expect Cutler to play at his highest level.

Kyle Long gets a second shot at Ndamukong Suh. He may or may not be excited about it.

And for the rest, I'll refer you to the always-excellent Spongie and his always frequently updated Weekend Den.

For gameday procedure, since it's been a while, the first thread will pop with the first quarter, and subsequent quarter threads will show up as the game progresses. After the game, we'll have a quick recap as well as the open thread for the remainder of the day. We'll have Scribbles for you in the morning with the details and observations.

Now with the propers out of the way... for what feels like the first time in forever I get to say this on a Sunday, Bear Down.

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Tag Team, Back Again, as Sam and I will be bringing you your pre-game nonsense this morning on the Twitch stream. Join us at 9:30 AM CT (when this window goes live) for our conversations on Bears/Lions, recapping the Packers game, talking about Cutler's injury, as well as whatever else comes up. If you want to interact with the show, you can leave comments here, reach us on Twitter (I'm @SJS_illini, Sam's @SamHouseholder), or on my Twitch channel at Twitch.TV/SJS_illini.

Watch live video from SJS_illini on TwitchTV