Bears miraculously manage to score 13 points without Justin Fields, still lose.

The Chicago Bears are on a 9 game slide. Justin Fields and half of the starters are injured. They’re playing against the current NFC champions with nothing to gain and a lot of draft capital to lose. I think this is it. I think this is going to be our week. We got this, Bears friends!

Update: we did not have it.

Box Score

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Nathan Peterman tosses the ball in both directions on first drive, promising

When people talk about “dual threat” quarterbacks, it’s usually someone like Justin Fields who can attack the defense by passing and running with the football. But Nathan Peterman threw the ball forwards for 4 yards on his first play, then pitched it backwards on his second play to Khalil Herbert for a 5 yard game. Double trouble?

Apparently, there may be some miss-matches resulting from the Bears cornerback injuries

With Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, Kindle Vildor, and Jaylon Jones out, the Bears are a little short staffed in the cornerback kitchen. This may have helped KJ Osborne get wide open for a deep ball to set up the touchdown on Vikings first drive. Will need the All 22 to confirm.

For funsies, this is a screenshot of the Bears website’s official depth chart.

Update: late season pickup CB Harrison Hand forced a turnover with a peanut punch! This one might be a keeper.

Bears defense may be a sieve, but Chicago wind keeps the Vikings from an extra point

Bear weather, baby! This is a good omen.

Velus Jones Jr. finishes the season on a high note

He’s been a plus kick returner for the last several games, and has sprinkled in some impressive moments on offense. Today, he had one of the few offensive highlights of the game with a 29 yard catch on Patrick Peterson. I’m glad to see him go into his offseason with some positive momentum.

Update: VJJ took his high note up an octave in the second quarter, getting the edge on a wide pitch, playing hard-to-get with the sideline, and rocketing into the end zone for the Bears first offensive touchdown. #fastdeebo

Khalil Herbert: still electric, still limited

It may be the extend-David-Montgomery chant that constantly pulses inside me, but Herbert doesn’t measure up to him as an inside runner, a pass blocker, and receiver. The Bears have a great thing with the duo. The best plan moving forward is to keep Montgomery and use them appropriately. Thanks for listening, Ryan and Matt.

Oh boy, oh Boyle

The Bears fourth-string quarterback has a nice, decisive throwing motion. On his second first pass, he assertively threw the ball just a little high and behind Chase Claypool. On his second throw, he decisively planted it 10 yards beyond the receiver into the hands of Patrick Peterson. I like the decision to try to get Claypool more involved in the game, and giving him the opportunity to make an impressive catch on a poorly placed ball is not a bad idea in theory. The new Bear could use a VJJ-like ending to his season!

Cole Kmet, Bears leading receiver

If you need one stat to explain to casual fans how underwhelming the Bears wide receiver production was this season, this might be it. Congratulations to Cole, though! He’s definitely shown improvement in all aspects of his game in his third season and looks to be a solid building block moving towards the Bears peak.

Update: Kmet made one of the most impressive plays of his career, rumbling for 8 yards after the catch, trucking through two defenders, and keeping off the ground as he extended the ball his full reach to cross the plane and score.

The Vikings fullback going HAM in the passing game

CJ Ham is currently the Vikings second leading receiver with 4 catches for 47 yards. Fun! Let’s see some more receptions for Khari Blasingame. Maybe he can be the Bears leading receiver in 2023?

Get well soon Dominique Robinson and Elijah Hicks!

The two rookie Bears collided in the third quarter and both went to the locker room. I hope it’s nothing that a good off-season can’t fix.

Greg Stroman INT

The journeyman backup DB made a great play in the 4th quarters to keep the Bears hypothetically in the game. Just two more touchdowns from Peterboyle and we’ve got this!

Update: there were no more touchdowns.

Chase Claypool with a first down conversion!

Now 2 for 29 on the game. Something to build on?

Davis Mills really wants to make sure the Texans can draft his replacement

I’m never one to root for the Bears to lose to improve their draft position, but I’ll happy root for the Texans to win to improve the Bears draft position. Passively following the Texans Colts game had been fun until Lester pre-drafted an article about the Bears getting the 1st pick and then Davis Mills through a pick six followed by another pick that led to a touchdown that put the Colts ahead. People frequently will tell you that correlation does not mean causation, but what they should say is that correlation does not necessarily mean causation. It certainly doesn’t hurt the cause for causation...

UPDATE: Lester edited his article to say the Bears secured a top 2 pick and his jinx was removed just in time!

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So that’s the season. It wasn’t win-rich, but it had it’s moments. Most of them game on the back, and legs, of our future franchise star, Justin Fields. The Bears now have their most promising quarterback since Sid Luckman, the number one overall pick, and the most cap space in the league.

This should be a fun off-season.