:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66914706/usa-today-8273771.0.1419171863.0.jpg)
The Bears' last home game of the year sees the Bears in a weird (and bad) place, as this week's benching of Jay Cutler feels like the cherry on top of a year marked by bad defense, even more disappointing offense, and enough leaks to capsize the Titanic (I guess that metaphor makes sense for a sinking ship of a franchise). But there's plenty of time to break down how weird this season got (even though we got a head start on that with two mock drafts and a couple early breakdowns).
The Lions come to town, and with the Eagles' loss last night, they come in playoff spot in hand. Which means the Lions have now been to the playoffs twice since the Bears' last visit in 2010. Does that mean they'll take it easy on the Jimmy Clausen-led, Brandon Marshall-less Bears this week? Probably not - the number one seed is still in play, as is the division with Green Bay right on top of them.
As for the Bears, if you were going to bench players for accountability, there are so many other options and times to bench players, including Jay Cutler, before Wednesday of this past week, including possible discipline of Aaron Kromer for leaking on Cutler to Ian Rapoport. We've got two games left to play before Black Monday, but maybe we won't have to wait until December 29th for things to happen or not happen at Halas Hall.
Let's get to some gameday linkage and set the stage.
To buy tickets, visit the NFL Ticket Exchange.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the Lester A. Wiltfong, Jr. Department of Self Promotion (Not Quite Closed for Business):
As usual, I've got this week's PTMY/UYA, Six Keys, and your abilities to follow the game. That's right, I determine if you watch or not.
Les did Five Questions with Pride of Detroit to share dumpster fire experiences with a team that's been there and done that. And also to talk a little about the game.
The injury report is also right here for your perusal.
We also got an early start on mock draft scouring. Here's Tuesday's giving the Landon Collins (almost typed Cohen again!) answer, and here's yesterday's with Shane Ray.
Of course, we also have Lester's Sackwatch right over here. Unfortunately, it's a long one. Fortunately, there's a lot of good stuff here.
Steve Ronkowski got to talk to Charles Tillman and Alshon Jeffery this week. I mean, that's some good work right there.
Sam took another look at where things went wrong for the organization this year.
For everything else, check the WCG Weekend Bears Den. It's always there for you, even through the toughest of times. It might sing a Christmas carol or two. It can even do a mini-turbo in Mario Kart.
The procedures for the game today, because it's been so long since we've done this on a Sunday I'm not sure I remember it all, is that the first quarter game thread will pop just before kickoff. As the game goes on, subsequent game threads will appear for each quarter. After the game, we'll have a quick recap, the late game threads, and we'll follow up with Notes and Scribbles in the morning.
With all the propers out of the way, Bear Down, my friends.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's WCG Sunday Livestream is brought to you by the letter "F." For so many reasons. But after last week, we feel like we can come off the bench after an amazing week of practice and should be ready to execute good Bears talk.
There are a few ways you can get a hold of us during the livestream:
- Leave comments here, in this thread, to be stared at, walked around, and eventually picked up by someone on the other team and returned for a touchdown. Or read and responded to by us.
- Over on my Twitch channel (http://twitch.tv/sjs_illini)
- Over on the Twitters (@SJS_illini, @SamHouseholder)
We'll go live at 9:30 AM CT, this time with everything in working order just like we had it. We'll see you then.