Chicago Bears vs Los Angeles Chargers: NFL Week 8 Pre-Party Livestream and Open Thread

Good morning. Maybe this is where things start to turn around!

Week 8 this year brings a Bears team that was down 36-10 with 4:37 to play last week and lost their last two to face a banged-up Chargers team that hasn’t won a game since the end of September.

On an possibly related but unrelated note since this was a scheduled game, welcome to the first noon state-side kickoff of the season.

The Chargers are an odd team this year - originally higher aspirations, then falling to their current spot where they’ve won one game in their last six since an overtime win over the Colts - and that one win was against the actively-not-winning Dolphins. Outside of that game, the Chargers haven’t scored more than 20 points since the Colts win.

Surely the Bears can do that, right? They’ve gotten 21 or better in their last two, and three of their last four! ... Well, yeah, but the Raiders took the lead after and the Saints had 36 points by then. The Bears offense has been incredibly out of sync and last year’s coach of the year has looked anything but, as Matt Nagy’s offense holds spots in the bottom ten in total points, total yards, rushing yards, passing yards, rushing attempts, first downs, rushing yards per attempt, rushing touchdowns, plays per drive, and yards per drive.

Thus far, the Bears haven’t done a whole lot to match last year’s NFC North-winning season outside of match the record, and look a whole lot uglier doing it. Fortunately for the Navy and Orange, the last two games are over and done, and it’s best to leave them that way. If they’re going to start making a push at the six-win Packers and Vikings, now would be a great time to start.

Bear Down, my friends.

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Today on the WCG Sunday Livestream, we’ve had a week to let the Saints’ loss dissipate and now everything is fine. This is fine. Everything is on fire, but at least the coffee is hot thanks to the fire.

• Which offensive ranking irritates you more - 27th in rushing attempts/28th in rushing yardage, 29th in passing yardage, or 24.3 Yards per Drive at 30th in the NFL?
• Is your offseason plan for the Bears already set, or can the last ten games change your mind?
• With four games remaining against the NFC North and three wins back of both the Packers and Vikings, are you worried about the Bears’ divisional finish?

If you want to get in touch with us during the stream, there are several ways to do that:

• Hi. You know the drill. You’re here. Look down.
• Chat over on our Twitch side, over at SJS_illini
• And of course our Twitters exist. I’m at @SJS_illini; Sam’s at @SamHouseholder; the main handle is @WCGridiron.

We’ll be live at about 9:30 AM CT. See you then.