Week Sixteen: Detroit Lions (12-2) @ Chicago Bears (4-10)

[RedRamage]

Lions made on Jomboy Media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwJF-y484DQ

 

[MichiganCardinal]

“We are going to take the North and never give it back” -Ryan Poles on January 31, 2022

Since, the Bears are 2-15 in the North.

[Motown Bombers]

I like that the Bears are the whipping boy of the division. They can no longer say at least they aren't the Lions. I mean they can, but not in the positive way as before.

[Sports_Freak]

6 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

I like that the Bears are the whipping boy of the division. They can no longer say at least they aren't the Lions. I mean they can, but not in the positive way as before.

Get a good coach and a help on the O line and they could be a problem. They've lost a few close games.

[MichiganCardinal]

10 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Get a good coach and a help on the O line and they could be a problem. They've lost a few close games.

Losing close games is just what mediocre teams do. The Lions were great at losing close games for decades.

In fairness to the Bears, a large part of their problem is the North, at least here and now. If they were in most any other division, Eberflus isn’t fired when he is and they probably go around .500 this year, probably battle for a playoff spot, at least for a while. They were 4-5 until they had to start playing in the division. Now they’re 4-11.

It’s just really hard to gain any traction as a mediocre team when you’re playing six games against top 5-8 teams in the league. It’s hard to see them doing any better than 7-10 or so next season without two of the Lions, Packers, and Vikings taking a significant step back.

I do agree that finding the right coach can make a world of difference though. Dan Campbell, KOC, Sean Payton, and Jim Harbaugh all prove that. Lucky for us, Virginia McCaskey owns the team, so they’ll probably hire Kliff Bar Kingsbury.

[Sports_Freak]

14 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

Losing close games is just what mediocre teams do. The Lions were great at losing close games for decades.

In fairness to the Bears, a large part of their problem is the North, at least here and now. If they were in most any other division, Eberflus isn’t fired when he is and they probably go around .500 this year, probably battle for a playoff spot, at least for a while. They were 4-5 until they had to start playing in the division. Now they’re 4-11.

It’s just really hard to gain any traction as a mediocre team when you’re playing six games against top 5-8 teams in the league. It’s hard to see them doing any better than 7-10 or so next season without two of the Lions, Packers, and Vikings taking a significant step back.

I do agree that finding the right coach can make a world of difference though. Dan Campbell, KOC, Sean Payton, and Jim Harbaugh all prove that. Lucky for us, Virginia McCaskey owns the team, so they’ll probably hire Kliff Bar Kingsbury.

I still say they should have made a big push to get Harbaugh. He was their QB for years and is a throwback to the Ditka years and Ditka is a Chicago legend. As a Lion fan, I'm glad they didn't but it really seems like a huge Bears swing and miss.

[CMRivdogs]

If i remember correctly Ditka and Harbough had a falling out. It could've be possible J-H still has some bad feelings about his stint in Chicago.

[Tenacious D]

1 hour ago, CMRivdogs said:

If i remember correctly Ditka and Harbough had a falling out. It could've be possible J-H still has some bad feelings about his stint in Chicago.

I would rather have Harbaugh coaching the Bears than Ben.

[Sports_Freak]

The Bears saga...gotta feel sorry for their fans;

 

[MichiganCardinal]

12 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

The Bears saga...gotta feel sorry for their fans.

Not one bit. I’m Nelson Muntz in the corner.

[buddha]

On 12/23/2024 at 8:31 PM, Motown Bombers said:

I like that the Bears are the whipping boy of the division. They can no longer say at least they aren't the Lions. I mean they can, but not in the positive way as before.

the theme of this season in chicago media post fail mary against washington is that the bears are the now the (old) lions.

[buddha]

On 12/23/2024 at 9:05 PM, MichiganCardinal said:

Losing close games is just what mediocre teams do. The Lions were great at losing close games for decades.

In fairness to the Bears, a large part of their problem is the North, at least here and now. If they were in most any other division, Eberflus isn’t fired when he is and they probably go around .500 this year, probably battle for a playoff spot, at least for a while. They were 4-5 until they had to start playing in the division. Now they’re 4-11.

It’s just really hard to gain any traction as a mediocre team when you’re playing six games against top 5-8 teams in the league. It’s hard to see them doing any better than 7-10 or so next season without two of the Lions, Packers, and Vikings taking a significant step back.

I do agree that finding the right coach can make a world of difference though. Dan Campbell, KOC, Sean Payton, and Jim Harbaugh all prove that. Lucky for us, Virginia McCaskey owns the team, so they’ll probably hire Kliff Bar Kingsbury.

the bears were 4-2 and had just blown out jacksonville before the bye, albeit with the easiest schedule in the league.

they were about to be 5-2 with games against arizona and then new england at home when the hail mary happened.  that one play changed the entire trajectory of their season.

following that game the whole narrative changed.  i would argue that their schedule would have eventually caught up with them, but not in a way to see them as a 4 win team.  theyre probably a 7 or 8 win team.

but this really is one of the worst run organizations in the nfl; continually hiring overmatched GMs and head coaches.  theyve been even worse after they fired eberfuls because the team just doesnt have a lot of talent, especially in the trenches.

lets see what kevin warren will do.  i think he's an empty suit.  he's done nothing but talk loud since he got here.  the stadium deal is no closer to being done and the team is a disaster.  he should fire the gm and start over.  we shall see if he does or if the mccaskeys still run the show.

[buddha]

On 12/24/2024 at 11:24 AM, Sports_Freak said:

I still say they should have made a big push to get Harbaugh. He was their QB for years and is a throwback to the Ditka years and Ditka is a Chicago legend. As a Lion fan, I'm glad they didn't but it really seems like a huge Bears swing and miss.

the bears were never going to do what it took to hire jim harbaugh.  they would have had to fire the gm too - jim harbaugh is not working with ryan poles - and the mccaskeys would never have done that.  also, harbaugh is a big personality and the bears 1) dont traditionally like that (mccaskey ownership had issues with ditka a lot and ditka was hired by halas, virginia prefers nice young men she can have over for dinner); and 2) they already have one massive ego in the room.  there wasnt a lot of room for kevin warren and jim hatbaugh to exist.

there are all sorts of rumors here about harbaugh.  the media still talks about him every week as the one who got away.  storylines of "he always wanted to coach here" to "kevin warren nixed any possible deal because he hates harbaugh" are floated around regularly.

its been so fun to watch the chicago press go from "we have a real shot to win the division and get 11 wins because were the new lions" to "were doomed by our managements utter incompetence and we really are the old lions."

the lions get talked about A TON in this town now.  its fun.

[Hongbit]

If they didn’t have a better plan in place, they needed to keep Eberflus until seasons end. Thomas Brown is completely overmatched for this position.   I’m not even sure he’s ready to be a full time OC much less Head Coach. He was an offensive assistant to start the year.    I almost feel bad for the guy watching him make terrible decision after terrible decision.  Yet another tragic move from Ryan Poles, Chicago’s version of Bob Quinn. 

[buddha]

6 hours ago, Hongbit said:

If they didn’t have a better plan in place, they needed to keep Eberflus until seasons end. Thomas Brown is completely overmatched for this position.   I’m not even sure he’s ready to be a full time OC much less Head Coach. He was an offensive assistant to start the year.    I almost feel bad for the guy watching him make terrible decision after terrible decision.  Yet another tragic move from Ryan Poles, Chicago’s version of Bob Quinn. 

everyone on god's green earth knew eberflus should have been fired LAST YEAR except the bears.  they had a chance to get right with coach and qb in year one (which they failed to do with trubisky and fields) and they blew it.  again.  because they are incompetent.

however, flus had to be fired after turkey day.  there was an open mutiny in the lockerroom.  they had no choice.  even the BEARS, who have never fired a coach mid-season in their history had to let him go.

but because they are the bears, they made the next stupid decision and made thomas brown (who started the season as passing coordinator and who had only been named offensive coordinator two weeks before after they fired their OC) the head coach!  for two weeks he had been calling plays and the bears offense looked semi-competent, and then they ruined any relationship he may have been building with caleb and made him in charge of the whole team.  he was two weeks removed from never having been in charge of ANYTHING, to being in charge of EVERYTHING!

he was set up to fail by ownership (and this includes kevin warren) who dont know what theyre doing.

[Motown Bombers]

[Tigeraholic1]

This has to go down in Lions historic lore.

 

[RandyMarsh]

9 hours ago, buddha said:

everyone on god's green earth knew eberflus should have been fired LAST YEAR except the bears.  they had a chance to get right with coach and qb in year one (which they failed to do with trubisky and fields) and they blew it.  again.  because they are incompetent.

however, flus had to be fired after turkey day.  there was an open mutiny in the lockerroom.  they had no choice.  even the BEARS, who have never fired a coach mid-season in their history had to let him go.

but because they are the bears, they made the next stupid decision and made thomas brown (who started the season as passing coordinator and who had only been named offensive coordinator two weeks before after they fired their OC) the head coach!  for two weeks he had been calling plays and the bears offense looked semi-competent, and then they ruined any relationship he may have been building with caleb and made him in charge of the whole team.  he was two weeks removed from never having been in charge of ANYTHING, to being in charge of EVERYTHING!

he was set up to fail by ownership (and this includes kevin warren) who dont know what theyre doing.

Not a Chicagoan like you so obviously don't follow them as closely nor know what the fans or local media think but from an outsider I could understand keeping Eberflus based off of how they finished the year last year. 

Edited December 28, 2024 by RandyMarsh

[MichiganCardinal]

5 hours ago, RandyMarsh said:

Not a Chicagoan like you so obviously don't follow them as closely nor know what the fans or local media think but from an outsider I could understand keeping Eberflus based off of how they finished the year last year. 

I knew Eberflus wasn’t a good head coach last year when he prematurely let off the gas in the first game against the Lions and let them come back to win that. He tried milking the clock with runs up the middle with like five minutes left when letting Fields run around us had worked all game.

I’m usually one to give coaches more leash, especially on historically inept franchises where the position is a revolving door in a clown convention. For instance, with Patricia, I was okay having him return for the 2020 season based on the injuries suffered and the number of close losses in 2019... IMO, if you’re pulling the trap door lever on the head coach every two years without fail you’re going to end up accidentally firing a guy like Dan Campbell when he starts his tenure 4-19-1.

But I got the same impression of Eberflus after that game against the Lions that I did with Jim Schwartz when he lost 6/7 to close out the 2013 season, that I did with Jim Caldwell when he blew the game against the 5-9 Bengals in 2017, and that I did with Matt Patricia when he got shut out by the Panthers in 2020. “You don’t have to go home; but you can’t stay here.”

[buddha]

10 hours ago, RandyMarsh said:

Not a Chicagoan like you so obviously don't follow them as closely nor know what the fans or local media think but from an outsider I could understand keeping Eberflus based off of how they finished the year last year. 

i can see how it would look like that if youre not seeing it every day.

but its short term thinking instead of long term planning.  almost every nfl team "plays hard down the stretch" regardless of their record.  most nfl games are decided by one or two scores. good teams win those games. the real question is what do you want your franchise to be?  what's your identity as a team?

you have the #1 pick.  you have a chance to get it right with a team centered around caleb williams and instead you keep your defensive head coach and let him hire another offensive coordinator, after he had to fire his first OC because he was so bad.  why did you think this time would be different?

because youre a bad organization who doesnt know what its doing.

guess what?  it wasnt different.  the same coach that messed up the first hiring (the original oc was luke getsy who was subsequently hired by the raiders - another **** organization - and then fired midseason) messed up the second hire.

speaking of the raiders, they hired antonio pierce after they "played hard down the stretch last year and won some games."

this year he's 4-11.

[RandyMarsh]

8 minutes ago, buddha said:

i can see how it would look like that if youre not seeing it every day.

but its short term thinking instead of long term planning.  almost every nfl team "plays hard down the stretch" regardless of their record.  most nfl games are decided by one or two scores. good teams win those games. the real question is what do you want your franchise to be?  what's your identity as a team?

you have the #1 pick.  you have a chance to get it right with a team centered around caleb williams and instead you keep your defensive head coach and let him hire another offensive coordinator, after he had to fire his first OC because he was so bad.  why did you think this time would be different?

because youre a bad organization who doesnt know what its doing.

guess what?  it wasnt different.  the same coach that messed up the first hiring (the original oc was luke getsy who was subsequently hired by the raiders - another **** organization - and then fired midseason) messed up the second hire.

speaking of the raiders, they hired antonio pierce after they "played hard down the stretch last year and won some games."

this year he's 4-11.

They were 5-3 and easily could've been 6-2 their last 8 games with a young roster and Justin Fields as their QB. When a young and bad team makes that type of progress throughout the year it's not uncommon for a team to stick with the coach especially in year 2. I totally see your point though.