Windy City Gridiron picks Bears-Giants

In less than two weeks, both the Chicago Bears and New York Giants could temporarily not have head coaches. But that’s just everyday, run-of-the-mill news for two of the NFL’s oldest, most revered teams who are utterly clueless in 2021, isn’t it?

The Bears’ next head of the ursine will be their sixth head coach this century. He’ll be their fifth head coach since the second half of the Barack Obama administration. That’s quite bad if you weren’t keeping track.

The Giants’ next head of Jotunheim — the mythical homeland of Giants somehow located in New Jersey — will be their seventh head coach this century. An impressive feat, given that one of those men managed to win two Super Bowls, no less. And if they wanted to be more of an embarrassment than the Bears, they’re definitely pushing the right buttons: The next Giants head coach will have been their sixth head coach since near the close of the Obama administration.

These two teams meeting right now, at this point in the year, in what otherwise would’ve been a meaningless Week 17 game before unfiltered greed a greater appetite for football took over, is a beautiful and hilarious coincidence. With the Giants owning the Bears’ 2022 first-round pick because Justin Fields is Justin Fields, there are also some exciting stakes, at least for the New Jersey front office. A win for the Giants means their pick from the Bears is better, but their specific selection is worse, and vice versa.

A genuine Mara’s Choice (or McCaskey; it’s the same thing, really) when you have two likely top-10 picks.

As for the future and what these two cold-weather franchises have in store for their ever impatient and stubborn fanbases, I think it’s a stretch to say either have any sort of plan. Both the Bears and Giants are closer to a complete rebuild than outright contention. But, hey, at least the Bears have Fields and a quarterback to build around. The Giants have Daniel Jones (for now) and nothing but a comedic assortment of football follies — dedicated to a period of the game at least 40 years in the past.

I’ll feel much better about that Fields sentiment if these former powerhouse organizations ever manage to be contenders at the same time again.

Windy City Gridiron picks Bears-Giants and every other NFL game in Week 17.

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