10 Thoughts on the NFL and the Bears

It’s the holidays, kids. Keep your noses clean, and stay out of the car if you got into the eggnog.

1) The Packers played a meaningless game against the Jets and won. However, it was meaningless because they had been eliminated from playoff contention by the Bears a week prior. (Still feels nice.)

2) In the Christmas spirit, I feel I should probably give you all the opportunity to roast me about this cold take from the beginning of the season:

I did not see them being top 10 in points allowed as a defense, but I guess that probably doesn’t matter when you’re averaging 32 points per game on offense. (Only the Chiefs score more.)

3) The Bears gutted out a win this week against a not good, but not necessarily completely terrible, 49ers team. That’s the kind of road win they probably would’ve lost last year. They need to get their mistakes under control as they get in the playoffs, because the aforementioned Saints are unlikely to fart away the end of a game like that.

4) Speaking of the 49ers, they have a very expensive injured quarterback named Jimmy G, and seem to maybe have similar production out of Nick Mullens. I’d expect to see Mullens shopped around in the offseason so that John Lynch can fleece someone else in a deal.

5) The Raiders can’t even tank properly. Looks more and more likely that Arizona will have the number one pick, though it appears they are firing their coach after one season. They apparently do not like his ability to win with nearly nothing on the roster.

6) The Seahawks have signed Pete Carroll to an extension, keeping him in place theoretically through 2021. Or through two losing seasons, whichever comes first. The Seahawks are legitimate and could surprise a team in the playoffs. Let’s just hope that team isn’t the Bears.

7) The football team in Washington that is owned by Dan Snyder is made of the thinnest skin. After a frustrating loss to the Blaine Gabbert-led Titans, D.J. Swearinger had some things to say about the playcalling from the defensive coordinator, Greg Manusky. In turn, the Redskins let him go.

He’s got enough talent to land with a team in short order, and possibly have an opportunity to go the playoffs after Washington removed themselves from contention.

If he had problems with the coaching staff, he should be going to the coaching staff first. Throwing it out there publicly doesn’t give the team much choice. The conspiracy theorist in me says “He did it on purpose so he could get released and sign elsewhere,” but I think his emotions just got the best of him in a tough season. Losing isn’t easy. It doesn’t feel good. It’s up to each of us to respond in the way we feel is right, as long as we understand the repercussions of our actions.

8) We’re talking about playoffs?

The Bears find themselves in that situation this year where they can go a long way towards eliminating a divisional opponent in the last week of the season. If the Bears beat the Vikings and the Eagles beat Washington, then the Vikings can make sure to do a lot of playoff film study with their $84 million quarterback from the comfort of their homes.

9) The Bears also still find themselves in play for the 2nd seed. Beating the Vikings, coupled with a Rams loss to the 49ers, could lead to a week of rest, and someone having to come to the lakefront at the beginning of January.

Having been flexed to the late afternoon national broadcast, the Bears can scoreboard watch. If Los Angeles is blowing the 49ers out of the water, don’t be surprised if we see a lot of Chase Daniel outlet passes to Taquan Mizzell, Sr.

10) The NFC will win the Super Bowl.

Bonus Hits:

• Ju Ju Smith-Schuster had a rough one this weekend. Imagine tweeting about how you were playing for all those fantasy owner fans and then doing that.
• I desperately hope that the Browns find a good coach that can take Baker Mayfield to the next level. I want an NFL where the Bears and Browns are relevant again.
• Still not sure how the player who actually did the hit in the Bears game didn’t also have to leave.
• Seriously though the Vikings gave Kirk Cousins $84 million dollars and then regressed hard.