The Bear’s Den, January 4, 2022

THE DAILY SPONGIE SPECIAL

BEARRRSSSS

Should Bears start Justin Fields? Olin Kreutz, Lance Briggs divided - RSN - Matt Nagy said the plan is to play the rookie quarterback against the Vikings if he’s healthy.

Bears will start Justin Fields vs. Vikings in Week 18 if healthy - RSN - Matt Nagy’s rookie QB has missed the past two games with an ankle injury,

Olin Kreutz: Bears should move Teven Jenkins, sign top left tackle - RSN - Protecting Justin Fields should be the Bears’ No. 1 offseason priority according to the former Bears center.

Emma’s observations: Tip your caps to Bears but nothing more - 670 The Score - The Bears took it to the Giants in a 29-3 win on Sunday at Soldier Field. Here are the observations of the day.

Defending Nagy’s offensive line decisions, for some reason - 670 The Score - One of my least envious traits, I’ve come to accept, is being consistently and unnecessarily contrarian. I don’t know exactly when it happened, it just sorta did. No one likes it, least of all me, but that’s life.

Bears hopeful Justin Fields can play season finale - 670 The Score - The Bears are hopeful that rookie quarterback Justin Fields can play in their season finale at the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Bears, Vikings head into finale awaiting potential house cleanings - Chicago Sun-Times - Also, a look at the Bears’ attendance numbers, and they finally don’t have anybody on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

Matt Nagy’s offense — nothing else — will cost him his job as Bears head coach - Chicago Sun-Times - The Bears hired Nagy to develop a quarterback and ignite an offense. Neither has happened, and he hasn’t given a credible explanation for those shortcomings.

Matt Nagy: Justin Fields will start for Bears vs. Vikings if healthy - Chicago Sun-Times - The rookie quarterback has missed the last two games with an ankle injury. But Nagy wants to give him a chance "to finish on a high note" in the season finale Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Straddling the present and future, Bears get neither right - Chicago Sun-Times - Two players represented that push-and-pull the best Sunday: rookie tackle Teven Jenkins and second-year outside linebacker Trevis Gipson.

Justin Fields: Will Chicago Bears QB start in Week 18? - Chicago Tribune - Chicago Bears coach Matt Nagy would like to start quarterback Justin Fields in the season finale against the Minnesota Vikings — provided Fields has recovered enough from his ankle injury.

Chicago Bears: Brad Biggs' 10 thoughts on Week 17 - Chicago Tribune - How rare was the Chicago Bears' quick 14-0 lead on the New York Giants? The Bears had scored 14 points in the first quarter only once previously under Matt Nagy, and that was all the way back on Sept. 30, 2018.

Chicago Bears: Brad Biggs' 10 thoughts on Week 17 - Chicago Tribune - How rare was the Chicago Bears' quick 14-0 lead on the New York Giants? The Bears had scored 14 points in the first quarter only once previously under Matt Nagy, and that was all the way back on Sept. 30, 2018.

Matt Nagy’s bag of tricks, Justin Fields’ availability for Week 18: Bears Monday Rewind – The Athletic - The Bears had fun with plays and personnel like it was 2018, and Justin Fields could start the season finale, plus Week 17 observations.

Bears’ Matt Nagy handling impending firing with dignity and class - Bears Wire - Say what you will about Bears head coach Matt Nagy. While he’s not a good coach, the same can’t be said about his character. Which actually makes Nagy’s incompetence as a head coach all the more frustrating considering he’s been a great person. You can almost see why George McCaskey wanted so badly for things to work out with Nagy.

Bears report card: How we graded Chicago in their Week 17 win - Bears Wire - Here’s a quick breakdown of what we saw during Sunday's game and how we graded the Bears in their dominating win over the Giants.

POLISH SAUSAGE

Leighton Vander Esch: We’re playing more against the refs than we are other teams - ProFootballTalk - “If it’s so blatant on the field and so obvious, why the [referee in the replay booth] isn’t radioing down, ‘Hey, get this right.’ That’s not hard. That’s the ethics of the game. Getting it right. ‘Hey, you made a mistake, here; get it right. Here is the right call.’”

Raiders’ Nate Hobbs arrested for DUI - ProFootballTalk - Raiders rookie cornerback Nate Hobbs was arrested early this morning for driving under the influence.

KNOW THINE ENEMY

Oh, That's Cold: Vikings Head Coach Explains Why He Doesn't Want to Start Rookie QB Kellen Mond Against the Bears - Bleacher Nation - The Bears and Vikings don't tend to agree on much. But apparently, both team's head coaches have a fear of playing youngsters.

Giants vs. Bears ‘Kudos & Wet Willies’ review: Giants continue to embarrass themselves - Big Blue View - There isn’t much to say about this newest low point for the Giants, but we’ll try

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ON WINDY CITY GRIDIRON

Leming's 10 Bears’ Takes after a dominating 29-3 victory against the hapless Giants - Windy City Gridiron - The Chicago Bears moved to (6-10) on the year with a dominating 29-3 win at Soldier Field. With nothing but pride to play for, Matt Nagy’s squad is going out with some fight. But does it change anything after next Sunday?

Wiltfong: Bears close their season as 3 point underdogs in Minnesota - Windy City Gridiron - The line for the Bears vs Vikings has already moved... I wonder if that has to do with Minny’s QB drama?

Wiltfong: Bears vs Giants 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 29 to 3 beatdown of the New York Giants.

Infante's Notes: Bears topple Giants, Robert Quinn makes franchise history - Windy City Gridiron - There was a Mike Glennon revenge game at Soldier Field, but it wasn’t the quarterback who came away looking strong.

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.