Cold Takes: A Frosty Look At Chicago’s Mile High Adventure

We’ve all seen the “Hot Takes” from the last weekend’s games all over the net.

In this series, I’m letting some time pass, and after reviewing the game tape a couple of times, I’m going to share some “Cold Takes.” about the Bears squeaking past the Denver Broncos. I’ll also sprinkle in a few thoughts about our division rivals. These are just a series of my thoughts and observations about the game as well as the Bears in general up until this point, presented in no particular order.

• My game ball goes to Eddy Dinero, because who else could it be. Second game ball goes toe Pat O’Donnell for great punting and great holds.
• Kyle Fuller had a really interesting game, and not always in a good way. Within half a quarter of game play, he saved the day with a great interception, got beat for the touchdown that put Denver in position to tie or go ahead, and then got beat on the two-point conversion (that one was a tough ask).
• Dear Mike Davis: When we nicknamed you Run DMC, emphasis was placed on the word run. Just a hint.
• Not that you had any holes to run through on your plays. Line play was particularly poor on Davis’ runs.
• Kyle Long is taking this week about how he must personally play better. He knows what’s what.
• Both Charles Leno and Bobbie Massie had monster pass blocking games, especially Massie. To shut out Von Miller like that is just impressive as hell.
• You all are probably wondering why I haven't been talking about Mitch yet. Wonder no more. I’m not going to talk about Mitch at all, because frankly every other thing is “Mitch Mitch Mitch.” I’m tired of reading about it. He will get better, or he wont. It is what it is.
• As you all know, I of course picked the Bears to go 19-0 this year. There’s nothing unusual about that, I pick them to go 19-0 every year. I wasn’t put on this earth to choose another team over the Chicago Bears, and I won’t.
• Having said that, I saw some games coming into this season as trap games, top among the list was this early road game in Denver because Vic Fangio is really good.
• Vic knows the entire Bears playbook.
• Vic knows every weakness in the Bears offense.
• Vic knows how to gameplan to stop teams strengths and exploit their weaknesses.
• We see it all the time where teams lose a coordinator to another team, and end up playing them the next year and kicking their butts. Think back to last year’s surprise Lions win over the Patriots. It’s a real thing.
• Bears fans confidence levels have dropped from nearly 100 percent to near the bottom of the league, as shown by our Fanpulse polling information. I know the NFL is a “what have you done for me lately” league, but seriously?
• I’m not sure why so many fans were as confident as they were about the Denver game. I picked Chicago to win, yes, but I also said that win would be on the strength of the defense.
• Denver, coming into this game, was 17-1 on opening day since they built the new stadium in 2001. There’s more to that than just a statistical quirk.
• I haven’t been to the new Mile High, but I can tell you the single scariest thing I’ve ever experienced at an NFL game occurred to me at the old Mile High stadium. Unlike just about any other major stadium, the entire stands in that park were made out of metal, not concrete. When the fans all started jumping up and down at that place, the entire stadium would literally start rocking. I got free tickets to a Denver/Kansas City game, although the seats were pretty high up there in the nosebleed section. The Denver fans treated me pretty well, even if they were a bit bemused by my Butkus jersey at a Denver/KC game. Anyway, Denver got the ball and they were driving early when the fans all started jumping up and down in unison. The whole, entire structure started moving, shaking back & forth... it felt like a human-powered Earthquake. Me no like.
• Remember how entranced/engaged/upset so many people were with the Final-53 roster selection & practice squad? Be honest, how many times have you thought about it since the squad was completed. Me? Once, when we cut Abdullah Anderson from the 53-and got him on the PS.
• Let’s look around the division. Green Bay is actually better than I thought they would be on Defense. Offensively, the Matt LaFluer / Aaron Rodgers thing is not going to work long-term. I’m good with that.
• On the one hand, the Lions not winning at Arizona is absolutely ridiculous. On the other hand, that was a solid win against the Chargers at Detroit. The rubber really hits the road for them this weekend as they travel to Philly.
• Minnesota. Yeah, I just don’t know about these people... they have the whole “terrible quarterback” thing going on, but their defense is really goodish... sorta. Let’s check back with them a bit later.
• Around the league, Miami? Damn. That’s NBA levels of tanking.
• The key injuries to quarterbacks like Drew Brees shows how critical it is for teams in contention to have quality backups.
• The Texans may have sold their future, but the team they have now could win the whole shooting match this year.
• Tom Brady is throwing to Antonio Brown, Josh Gordon and Julian Edelman. Dayum.
• One last note from me. Take heart, Bears fans. Win or lose, keep the faith and BEAR DOWN!

As I often do, I asked my fellow contributors at Windy City Gridiron to share some of their own Cold Takes, so here you go!

Sam Householder

• No. No. I’m over scoreboard watching the other QBs from the draft class. I’m over ‘see we’re no better off’ AND ‘what we could’ve had’ I’m over it. This is about WHO we have and his ability to perform in year 3 and guess what? This ain’t it, chief.

Lester Wiltfong, Jr.

• The Bears offensive line bounced back in a big way after the first game, and I expect the entire offense to start to make some gains this week on Monday Night Football.

Josh Sunderbruch

• I think that fans are finally seeing what true tanking looks like in the NFL, and it makes me wonder if the management at Miami has thought through how long it is going to take them to recover from it. I’m also glad that no matter what else is true, the Bears never stopped trying to improve the team. I might not agree with every decision they’ve made, but the organization never tried to fail.

Jeff Berckes

• This Bears defense is close. It’s close to destroying worlds by racking up a silly number of sacks. It’s close to having a four turnover game. It’s close to scoring multiple times. It’s close to destroying the (silly) offseason narrative of regression. It’s close to being everything you want a Chicago Bears defense to be. Case Keenum, Kirk Cousins, Derek Carr. Let’s eat.

Superfans

• Da BEARS!

OK, Chicago Bears fans, there you have it. What do you think? Spill the beans!