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Good morning, everyone. Happy gameday.
The Bears have had, suffice to say, a "rough start." Well, losing to the Packers, the Seahawks, and the Arizona Cardinals is not really much to be shamed about, but they way they lost those games has been quite disheartening. Allowing return touchdowns in all three (and kickoff return touchdowns in the latter two). Second half collapses. Jimmy Clausen at quarterback.
The latter of those three may be changing, though. While Alshon Jeffery is likely not playing in this game, Jay Cutler could be returning, after he tests out that hamstring in pregame warmups. And if he can go, an offensive picture that was once Matt Forte, Martellus Bennett, and duct tape and chewing gum suddenly looks a bit brighter.
The 2-1 Raiders, of course, won't make it easy. Derek Carr is off to a strong start, Amari Cooper looks like the real deal, and Michael Crabtree seems to have settled in as a solid #2 receiver. And defensively, of course, there's Khalil Mack. But it's still a pretty vulnerable defense, who through three games has allowed the most yardage in the league, and is especially vulnerable to tight ends.
So let's get going. The Bears can totally get their first win of the year, right?
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We updated you on the Jay Cutler situation earlier, so here's the linkup for it.
Do you do the fantasy thing? Of course you probably do. Here's Dane's writeup on the running back fantasy matchup, and here's Jeff Berckes' Week 4 preview.
Sam did a writeup on how the Raiders are a model for the Bears during their rebuild. He doesn't mean "Suck since 2002," guys.
Why does Jack Silverstein defend Jay Cutler? Because he watched Jimmy Clausen play football.
New Writer Alert! But as far as the next Bears' quarterback, EJ Snyder looked at MSU quarterback Connor Cook.
Kev decided to torture himself and look at Jimmy Clausen's game last week. The cover picture says it all.
Les did another edition of Sackwatch, which is always an awesome read.
So, the propers for today's game are the usual noon procedures. We'll have the first quarter thread popping up pretty much right at noon, or kickoff, or whenever, and we'll have subsequent quarter threads as the game proceeds. If you're watching the Cubs instead try to take wild card home field from the Pirates, trust me, you're not blamed for that. After the game we'll have you all caught up with a recap, the second and late set open threads, and we'll also have Notes in the morning with all the gory details of either a Bears win or loss.
So with all the propers out of the way... Bear Down.
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WCG Sunday Livestream shapes up to be an interesting one. Last week, Steven played on All-Madden for the first time forever and, while not winning, at least treaded water, so that may continue. But we have a lot to discuss, especially why the Bears are or aren't tanking, to play or sit Jay Cutler, and the Bears' realistic chances of starting 0-5 this year. We'll be going live at 9:30 AM CT, so get your questions and comments in!
If you want to get a hold of us, here's how.
- Right here. Right now. Right here. Right now. Right here. Right now. (No. Really. Right here. Look down.)
- 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.