Chicago Bears vs New England Patriots: NFL Week 7 Pre-Party Livestream and Open Thread

Good morning. Yeah, you read that right, “avoid” the .500 mark. It sounds funny to say that, but it really is a mark of how expectations change as years and seasons and games go on. The Bears still lead the NFC North at the present moment, but the Patriots come to town, and that’s always a tough game.

Rob Gronkowski did not make the trip to Chicago, which is a big break for the Bears, what with a hobbled Kahlil Mack and all. But there’s also Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon, Chris Hogan, and Sony Michel... eh, some other guy named Tom Baldy, or Tom Brady, or something, I’m hazy on the details.

The point is, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick just always find a way for the Patriots to be relevant, and not just relevant, but really really good. If the Navy and Orange hope to build off the last two games of Mitchell Trubisky’s offensive growth and prove they’ve arrived, a good showing against the Patriots’ defense is going to be huge. The Bears have lost their two games on Packers’ Last Second Devil Magic and the Dolphins’ last second field goal in overtime. Somehow, I doubt this squad is up for a third of those.

To 4-2. Bear Down, my friends.

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After being off for much of the last three weeks, we have a full show once again. For about two hours or so leading up to just before game time, Sam and I will break down the Dolphins’ game with our top-notch weather coverage and discussion of the game that took place. How much went wrong against the Dolphins? A lot.

We welcome your comments and questions, and if you want to throw them at us, here are your avenues to do so:

• Here. Yes, here. Look down. Start typing, or voice-to-type, or however you post your messages. Bring it on.
• Over on the Twitch site, over at twitch.tv/sjs_illini.
• Or over on our Twitters: I’m at @SJS_illini, he’s at @SamHouseholder

We’ll see you in about 30 minutes.