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Good morning and happy game day, Bears fans. Raise your hand if you thought the Bears had a legitimate chance at .500 two weeks ago.
Now put it down. Liar.
Regardless, that's the exact position the Bears find themselves in, after stunning the Chiefs in the final minute of the game last week (No, that's not me in the above picture, but my reaction was something similar, coupled with a deep exhale and a quick "good game" to the Chiefs fan behind me, knowing the Bears absolutely stole one...). This may or may not have been my choice of music on the way home from that game.
Get out before they change their minds!
Coupled with that win and their win over the Raiders, the Bears find themselves in an interesting spot - a chance to even their record against an 0-5 and desperate division rival. Two weeks ago we were talking about tanking, about the terrible spot the Bears are in, they should blow it up and get what they can for any spare part that moves... You realize with a win today they are firmly entrenched in the wild card hunt? The first wild card team (Atlanta Falcons) is at 5-1, but everybody else in the hunt is in the 2-2, 2-3 blob that the Bears are in (by virtue of win percentage, that's the Vikings at 2-2 in the second spot).
For the Lions, it's been from bad to worse. The offense is in some kind of shambles, with Calvin Johnson returning to earth after his multi-year stay in wide-receiver orbit, an offensive line making life hard on Matthew Stafford and a run game averaging 2.8 (!) yards per carry, and speaking of Stafford, that 5,000-yard season seems so long ago, as Stafford was benched for Dan Orlovsky - and you all know how I feel about Dan Orlovsky. Defensively, DeAndre Levy is done for the year and they just allowed 42 points to the Cardinals (a feat the Bears more than matched, but we don't talk about those days). It just looks that bad thanks to short fields and turnovers.
The navy and orange, for all their struggles this year and their last minute victories against two more "middle-of-the-pack" teams, have at least kept in games and found chances to win, and took advantage of them. And they've put together two wins despite a wide receiver corps starting Marquess Wilson and Cameron Meridith, allowing 4.4 yards per rush attempt and 6.2 net yards per passing attempt (while forcing only 2 interceptions), and now listing nearly half the roster as questionable with injuries, including the perpetually day-to-day Alshon Jeffery and now the additions of Pernell McPhee and Martellus Bennett.
How do you feel about your offensive starting unit of Jay Cutler, Matt Forte, Zach Miller, Khari Lee, Wilson, and Meredith? Let's get even.
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Your game day linkage today begins with yesterday's news of Ego Ferguson to the IR. Here's the full injury report.
We exchanged five questions with Pride of Detroit. They asked us questions, too.
Sam has his three Bears to keep an eye on heading into today's game.
Week 6 in fantasy is pivotal. Jeff Berckes has you covered.
Kev ranked each game on watchability this week - and here's how you can follow today's game!
How do you feel about being in the muddle? Jack Silverstein says screw it, let's look at the stats!
EJ took this week's Draftwatch in the direction of the defense, and looked at Robert Nkemdiche.
Want to see if you were funny or insightful (or inciteful) enough to make this week's Best Of the Game Threads? Well, some guy named Dave is doing something about that, so... Let's check in with SomeGuyNamedDave!
Gameday procedures today are the typical noon procedures. We'll have the opening threads at noon, and have subsequent threads popping for each quarter as the game goes on. After the game, we'll have the late threads for the late games, and we'll have an immediate recap coupled with Notes in the morning.
So with all the propers out of the way... Bear down.
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This week marks the return of the WCG Sunday Livestream, as the Bears got their two wins since we wrapped up before the Raiders game - are we the curse? We look at other nonsensical things, the Cubs, discuss two weeks worth of weird football, and oh yeah, play some Madden in the process.
There's a couple ways you can get a hold of me and Sam for this:
- Here. Yes, here in this very chat, you too can leave a comment, question, analysis or insult for the low low price of $19.99 plus shipping and handling.
- Over on my Twitch channel. It's over here.
- Over on our Twitters. I'm over at @SJS_illini; he's over at@SamHouseholder.
We'll be live at 9:30 AM CT. See y'all then.