Jim Dabrowski

Ear worm of the day: King Herod’s Song from Jesus Christ Superstar.

I don’t have a good feeling about a “prediction” per se, instead I think I’m writing more from a “What I want to have happen” perspective. So that’s what follows.

On offense, I want to see the Bears take yet another incremental step toward running a competent offense. We saw some of that these last two weeks. They get into a rhythm, they move the ball well, they just failed to score very many touchdowns. I’d like to see that progress continue and have them put the ball into the endzone more. To do that, they’ll have to slow down Aaron Donald, a tall order given their current offensive line issues, but hopefully they do just enough to put a couple of touchdowns and a couple of field goals on the board.

On defense, I expect them to continue to get better as well. That unit has been getting stronger and stronger and has really shut down opposing teams. I expect they’ll pressure Goff, get him rattled, bottle up the run game enough so their entire offense is unable to effectively perform.

Again, like last week, I’d like to see them get a lead and hold it throughout the game. I doubt the game ever seem like a lock. The Bears have a knack for allowing their opponents to hang in there and keep it exciting right up to the very end. I don’t see that changing in this game. In the end, the Bears come out of this at 6-1 and people have to start admitting that just maybe the 2020 Bears might just be for real while the Rams demonstrate that when they face a good team, they just aren’t able to compete.

Final score
Bears: ~20
Panthers: <=13

Well, that went almost as I expected, except for the offensive line looking awful. I mean, c’mon, the Panthers rush three and still get pressure on the QB? But I digress. The Bears did put up 20+ points and I’m not sure what I was thinking when I thought they’d hold the Panthers to under 10. That’s not very realistic in today’s NFL. However, they did take an early lead and never looked back all while holding their opponent to under 20 points again.

Offensively the Bears need to figure things out. I’m no expert at evaluating game play or play calling but it seems to me Nagy is calling a different game plan with Foles under center than he did with Trubisky. I would actually expect that since they’re different quarterbacks and folks have said that Foles’ style of play more closely resembles the kind of game Nagy likes to run. Foles operates better out of shot-gun where he has a couple of extra moments to survey the field and make his decisions whereas Trubisky seemed to do better under center with play-action and rolling to the outside to make his throws. So it should be a good thing that Nagy has changed his play-calling to match the skills of his starting QB. The problem is the offensive line seems incapable of executing the kind of offensive plays Nagy wants to run and that’s getting them killed. This is feeling like 2019 all over again when everyone said nobody, not Trubisky, not Mongomery, not Cohen could be successful with such poor offensive line performance. What we seem to be seeing now is, it is possible for the QB to be somewhat effective with the o-line unable to execute but this isn’t a strategy that will work for them long-term. I have no idea what the answer is. I don’t think they should go back to Trubisky – he’s shown he’s not capable of running any type of NFL offense, but if the line you have is incapable of executing the kind of offense you want to run, and what they are capable of executing is not what your QB is good at, you have a problem on your hands. I sure hope Nagy can find a way to solve this.

The Bears are at 5-1 and are in first place in the NFC North. They have a tough three game stretch coming up against the Rams, Saints and Titans. I hope they come out of that at least 1-2. After that they have games against some teams they should be able to handle even with their shaky offense. They’re in a good position to make the playoffs, but right now they don’t look like they’d get very far if they do. Until then, I’m going to keep watching and keep being entertained by the 2020 Chicago Bears

Actual Final score
Bears: 23
Panthers: 16

I just don’t have a lot to say this time and I missed last week’s prediction, so first let’s go back a week. I thought the game would be a toss-up leaning toward a Bears loss. I wasn’t convinced the offense would put enough points on the board and Brady would pick apart the middle of the Bears field. Didn’t happen. Bears hung in there and pulled out a win. Good for them.

I think this week we’ll see an improved Bears offense. Might get back to a solid running game but overall we’ll see yet more incremental improvement from Foles and Nagy as they learn each other’s preferences and styles. As a result, I think the Bears finally put up a solid 20+ points with the arrow pointing up for the Bears’ offense as a whole.

On the defense side, I think its apparent that when the offense is struggling to score points, the defense becomes cautious and “safe”. They aren’t nearly as aggressive and just don’t look as good as they actually are. When the offense is firing on all cylinders (or at least some of them), then the defense becomes more confident and aggressive and really starts to shine. So today against the Panthers, the offense is productive and as a result the defense shuts down Carolina completely and looks like the dominant defense people have been expecting.

Final score
Bears: 20+
Panthers: <=10

The Bears come into this game as the hometown underdog but take an early lead and hold on to it throughout the game. Foles looks competent, the defense has a chance to go after Rivers and the end result is a Bears team at 4-0 leading to the national media reassessing the 2020 Bears.

In his first start for Chicago, Foles turns in a solid performance. Nagy continues his balanced attack, but with Foles he has a quarterback who can finally read defenses and make strikes downfield. The Bears are able to hold onto a comfortable 3–10 point lead throughout the game and it never feels in doubt.

With the offense looking competent, the Bears defense is energized and Pagano is able to take more risks and put pressure on Rivers. This results in turnovers but also allows the Colts to score as the Bears continue to be ineffective against the run.

Overall, this ends up being a feel-good game for Chicago and leaves the fans excited for the future.

Final score
Bears: 30+
Falcons: 20s

I couldn’t be happier to have been more wrong. Though you have to admit, I was pretty spot on for the first half of the game, I just never thought Nagy would pull Trubisky mid-game and put in Foles. Thank goodness he did.

With about 10 minutes left in the third quarter, after Trubisky tossed an interception which Atlanta turned into a field goal, the Falcons lead 26-10. I was looking at that thinking, the Bears get a field goal or a touchdown, the Falcons score another touchdown and I’m pretty much spot on. Sadly. But then the unthinkable happened! Foles is put in the game and after a couple of shakey possessions but the defense looking a bit rejuvenated, he puts up 20 points via 3 touchdowns and the Bears win 30-26.

Next up, Colts at Bears. No idea yet what will happen, though I’m feeling a Bears win is in the air.

JIm

This is the week the wheels come off the wagon. The defense doesn’t pressure Matt Ryan and he picks apart the middle of the field with a combination of short passes and a running game that gashes the D. On the other side of the ball, the running game never gets established, the Bears get behind, Nagy throws out the playbook and starts calling too many passing plays Trubisky can’t handle and it ends up in disaster. Fans start crying the season is over, the past 2 weeks are forgotten, there are calls for Pace and Ryan to be fired immediately and demands they trade away all their good players and start the rebuild NOW.

For several years now, the Bears have had difficulty stacking wins and winning the games they should win. As a result, this feels like one of those times when things all fall apart. I’m not pessimistic though. Although it will be a bummer, the team will rally. This one game will not define their season nor start some sort of downward spiral. They’re still a good team.

Final score
Bears: Somewhere in the teens
Falcons: >= 2x whatever the Bears score

Shoulda written this last night but life intervened. Frankly, I wanna say I nailed it. Sure, I didn’t get the score right, but it played out just about how I said. Bears offense started hot, but then trailed off and was frankly up and down the rest of the game. The defense was never really able to put much pressure on Jones and as a result he was able to string together several good drives and kept them in the game right up to the last minute. [As an aside here, I’ve noticed the Bears always seem to be able to keep these damn games close and exciting right up until the end. It’s exciting, but can be nerve-wracking at times.] I think the Bears D caught a big break when Barkley went out injured. Had that not happened, I’m not sure they would have been able to stop them.

As predicted, there was some good in there on both sides of the ball as well as some very concerning things. I think it’s OK to be optimistic at this point. The fan in me wants to believe Trubisky will become more consistent and the defense will stabilize into a regular force to be reconed with. The pessimist in me thinks if this keeps up they’ll once again be an 8-8 team at best because they can’t put together a regular stable performance.

This is what keeps me watching!

JIm

I’m going to wimp out on this one and not actually predict a winner. Allow me to explain.

It’s hard to know this early in the season just what teams are going to be. Especially this season with no training camp and no pre-season, teams are more sloppy and less prepared which makes the prediction business even more difficult than usual. In the case of the Bears and Giants we have two teams both of whom show some inklings of being better at times, while still showing lots of inconsistency and problems they’ve yet to overcome.

The Bears should be able to consistently run the ball, but I’m not convinced that will be enough to score many points. Trubisky should be able to take advantage of what’s considered a weak secondary and make some big plays. However, we’ve not yet seen he can do that on a consistent basis so I expect we’ll see him take plenty of shots down field but have a lot of near misses—and some not so near.

For the Giants, their QB appears to be improving yet is still turnover-prone and it’s easy to rattle him. If the Bears are able to generate significant pass rush against him they should be able to force turnovers but again they’ve not done that consistently for a while now. The Bears’ defensive front and their middle linebackers need to play much better than they did against the Lions if they hope to stop Saquon Barkley from doing them what Peterson did all too often last week.

In the end, I expect this to be a sloppy, inconsistent game for both teams on both sides of the ball, leaving fans able to find hope for the future while still allowing critics to point to the many flaws they’ve yet to overcome. I predict a final score of 13-10 but I honestly can’t say which team will have the 13 and which the 10.

Final Score
Giants: ?
Bears: ?

Wow. Just wow.

For three quarters I was spot-on in my prediction for this game. Trubisky looked totally lost and as bad or worse than he had in any game in 2019. Missing wide open receivers, overthrowing, throwing behind. He sucked. Bad. I seriously believed they should bench him at half and bring in Foles, he was that bad. Defense also sucked. The pass rush was virtually non-existent, Mack was having a hard time beating single blockers, Stafford was having his way throwing the ball and AP was gashing them in the running game.

Finally, at the end of the 3rd quarter Bears get the ball back and I swear to God I texted my brothers and said:

Going totally homer here: OK, now it clicks and Mitch balls out and scores 3 TDS in a row here. Bears win 27-23.

And sure as shit he does that. All of a sudden Trubisky is completing beautiful passes down field and completely took charge of the game. I don’t get it. Had this game ended in a loss, I could easily see them starting Foles next week. As it is, I don’t see how they can not start him.

As usual, the Bears gave me my full 3 hours of excitement and entertainment. Sometimes utterly heart-breaking other times thrilling. Can’t wait til next week!

JIm