The Bear’s Den, December 22, 2021

THE DAILY SPONGIE SPECIAL

BEARRRSSSS

Five Positives from the Bears Loss to the Vikings - Da Bears Blog - Being a beat writer for a losing team is a tough gig. (Nobody has perfected the skill better than Dave Birkett in Detroit.)

Emma: Bears need to show Justin Fields more support - 670 The Score - The Bears on Monday lost for the eighth time in their last nine games, falling 17-9 to the Vikings at Soldier Field. Here are the observations from a night of frustration along the lakefront.

Hicks wants to ‘say goodbye to Chicago in the right way’ - 670 The Score - The heart and soul of the Bears’ defense since he arrived in Chicago in 2016, veteran defensive lineman Akiem Hicks understands what could be coming next.

Bears promote Thomas Graham Jr. to active roster - 670 The Score - One day after an impressive NFL debut, Bears rookie cornerback Thomas Graham Jr. was signed to the team’s active roster.

Bears film study: Justin Fields continues to struggle with fumbles, lost yardage - Chicago Sun-Times - Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields continued some troubling trends in Monday night’s 17-9 loss to the Vikings.

Bears down and murder’s up - Chicago Sun-Times - Bears football is a distraction from city woes, if you don’t expect anything or watch too long.

Bears OLB Robert Quinn: Refs the problem, not Matt Nagy - Chicago Sun-Times - Quinn said some of the calls are "crazy" and that the NFL should be penalizing refs rather than his head coach.

Chicago Bears: What's Justin Fields' comfort zone? - Chicago Tribune - Justin Fields said getting outside the pocket and running no-huddle plays give him the most confidence. Coach Matt Nagy said the Chicago Bears “can definitely do more of it.”

What Justin Fields, Teven Jenkins can learn and build on from loss: Bears Tuesday Rewind – The Athletic - The Bears have to build around Justin Fields and Teven Jenkins, so what can they learn from the loss to the Vikings? Plus other observations

Bears report card: How we graded Chicago in their Week 15 loss - Bears Wire - Here’s a quick breakdown of what we saw during Monday's game and how we graded the Bears in their loss to the Vikings.

Bears vs. Vikings: Studs and duds from Chicago’s prime-time loss - Bears Wire - Despite the Bears' frustrating loss to the Vikings, there were some players who stood out in a good way and others who disappointed.

Hoge: Directionless Bears can’t afford to ruin Justin Fields - RSN - The Chicago Bears lack direction, and it comes at the risk of ruining quarterback Justin Fields.

Justin Fields suggests Bears run laps for penalties at practice - RSN - “That’s been the story of the year,” said Justin Fields after the game. “It’s just shooting ourselves in the foot, and once we eliminate those penalties, sacks, fumbles where I should just throw the ball away, throw the ball to the groundー eliminate those and we’ll start seeing more points on the board and more success for the whole team.”

As split with Bears looms, DT Akiem Hicks hopes his legacy in Chicago is secure - Chicago Sun-Times - Few players have embraced the organization and everything that comes with it like Hicks, who is wrapping up the final season of his contract and likely leaving in free agency.

Bears’ Matt Nagy: ‘Offensively, we aren’t doing good enough’ - Chicago Sun-Times - The Bears’ head coach will wait until the end of the season to assess what went wrong, but he is buoyed by his players’ fighting spirit in tough times. “From me to them, I appreciate that.”

Justin Fields suggests Bears run laps for penalties at practice - RSN - “That’s been the story of the year,” said Justin Fields after the game. “It’s just shooting ourselves in the foot, and once we eliminate those penalties, sacks, fumbles where I should just throw the ball away, throw the ball to the groundー eliminate those and we’ll start seeing more points on the board and more success for the whole team.”

POLISH SAUSAGE

Report: Buccaneers are signing Le'Veon Bell - ProFootballTalk - Now, comes word from Tom Pelissero of NFL Media that the Bucs are signing Le’Veon Bell to help replace Fournette.

KNOW THINE ENEMY

Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown nominated for Rookie of the Week for 2nd time in 3 games - Pride Of Detroit - The Lions rookie receiver is lining up to be a strong candidate for Rookie of the Month for December.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ON WINDY CITY GRIDIRON

Wiltfong: Grading Bears’ rookie Teven Jenkins in his first start - Windy City Gridiron - That was a fine starting debut from Chicago’s Teven Jenkins.

Wiltfong: Bears sign Graham Jr., make several COVID related roster moves - Windy City Gridiron - After his stellar debut on Monday Night Football, the Chicago Bears have signed rookie cornerback Thomas Graham Jr. to their 53-man roster from the practice squad. Against the Vikings Graham...

Householder's Chicago Bears stock up, stock down Minnesota Vikings review - Windy City Gridiron - Another absolutely ugly game by the Bears in primetime. Is anything salvagable?

Leming's 10 Bears’ Takes: What’s next? - Windy City Gridiron - With Monday night’s loss, the Chicago Bears drop to (4-10) on the season and are officially eliminated from the playoff race. So what now? Is it time to commence the house cleaning? All of that and more in this week’s 10 takes.

Infante's Notes: Bears eliminated from playoff contention with 17-9 loss to Vikings - Windy City Gridiron - The Bears fell to 4-10 with their eighth loss in 9 weeks.

Wiltfong: Bears vs Vikings - Takeaways from the snap counts, stats, and more - Windy City Gridiron - Here’s the full playing time breakdown for the Chicago Bears, a spotlight of some of their team stats, and also a few individual statistics from their 17 to 9 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

THE RULES

Windy City Gridiron Community Guidelines - SBNation.com - We strive to make our communities open and inclusive to sports fans of all backgrounds. The following is not permitted in comments. No personal attacks, politics, gender based insults of any kind, racial insults, etc.

Windy City Gridiron Podcast Channel which includes Bear With Me from Robert Schmitz, Bears Over Beers featuring Jeff Berckes & EJ Snyder (their BOB YouTube Channel can be found here), Bears Banter hosted by Bill Zimmerman, Rule of 3 with R. Schmitz, Danny Meehan, and Brandon Robinson, Bear & Balanced from Jeff and Lester A. Wiltfong Jr., and T Formation Conversation from Lester; EJ also co-hosts The Bootleg Football Podcast with Brett Kollmann; R. Schmitz has a film breakdown show on YouTube titled Run Pass Opinion; Will Robinson II has his WhiskeyRanger YouTube channel, and Steven’s Streaming Twitch Channel from Steven Schweickert.

Click on our names to follow us on Twitter: Jeff Berckes; Patti Curl; Eric Christopher Duerrwaechter; Kev H; Sam Householder; Jacob Infante; Aaron Lemming; Ken Mitchell; Jack R Salo; Steven Schweickert; Jack Silverstein; EJ Snyder; Lester Wiltfong, Jr.; Will Robinson II; Robert Schmitz; T.J. Starman; Robert Zeglinski; Bill Zimmerman; Like WCG on Facebook.