Tony

From the story:

NFL is weird. On a day where Jacoby Brissett completed 47 passes yesterday, I watched almost the entire SNF game, and Jared Goff, a guy that came into the game with a 70% completion rate this year and last year...was missing guys all over the place, went 14/37 last night. Eagles defense is obviously great, but he was missing guys in bunches last night.

The Bears are in 1st place in the NFC North

They'll lean on "rebuilding" and "development" and add a few C level free agents, I'm sure 1 or 2 will be tagged with the "veteran leadership" tag and it will be another similar season to last. And in some regards, based on where this organization is at, plus the upcoming CBA issues...I can understand that general philosophy to a degree. There isn't one free agent name that screams "this guy would be a perfect addition, they must do anything in their power to sign them" But, as a fan...we're entering the 4th season in a row where the there is virtually no path for the team to even play .500 ball. I'm tired of that, and want to see them make a real effort to improve. Signing a 31 year old Cedric Mullins and a 32 year old Ryan O'Hearn doesn't really accomplish that for me. But I know not to expect anything significant, they've given no indication of that.

For Bears fans especially, the evidence seems very obvious. In 2023, after the Browns game in late December, it was the third time that season the Bears lost a game after leading by 10+ points in the 4th quarter. Then you had the Lions game on Thanksgiving last year, the Washington game...etc. And it's all those little things that lead up to blowing those games. Good coaching prevents those things from happening, Ben Johnson is a really good football coach, and the Bears aren't hurting themselves when the pressure is on. Flukes happen. But when they keep happening, and seemingly keep going your way...they kind of stop becoming flukes and start becoming opportunities to cash in on.

Before the season started, If someone showed me the standings in the NFC North after Week 10…I would have “Yes please” After losing 10 in a row last year, winning six out of their last seven feels pretty good. Probably not going to stay that way, but if they can just go .500 the rest of the way, they have a really good shot at playing meaningfull football in January.

I mean, even last year, he put them in a position to win a lot of games at the end. He has that “clutch” gene, whatever that is.

That’s my quarterback

Truly have never seen so many drops in one game

For some perspective, not that it makes the 1st half anymore enjoyable… The Bills are down 16-0 at halftime, in Miami, against the 2-7 Dolphins. Allen is 9/15 with 73 yards.

Been a bad half for Ben Johnson, don’t like the half he called at all.

Seriously, the drops have been a joke today. On BOTH sides of the ball, Wright should have two picks today already

I'd kick the tires on Fedde again. I know Katz is gone, but no idea who the influencer was on him that made him successful here, but it worked, very little risk in trying it again.

One of the worst passes I’ve ever seen 😂

No you are correct there. It was the most logical move given all the circumstances, but they've seemingly never won a true bidding war on a player that was in high demand.

God damn you. 😂

If Caleb throws for 4,500 yards with a 41/16 TD/INT split, think the Bears will be in really good shape

This is me being nitpicky, but I wouldn't lump Grandal into the category of bad signings. It made all the sense in the world at that moment in time. James McCann put up a great 2019 with the Sox but everyone knew it was kind of a fluke season. The "core" was starting to come together in 2019 with Abreu-Anderson-Moncada-Eloy-Giolito-Cease, with Robert and Madrigal on the way. They added Grandal in November, and wanted to sign Wheeler next. Wheeler ended up signing with the Phillies on December 9th, and the Sox settled for Keuchel on December 30th. Sox really needed some balance in the lineup as their entire core was made up of RHH and his switch hitting power profile made a lot of sense to add to the team. We all know how it ended up going, but that was the right move at the time.

Man, you're so absolutely full of s%*#. First, get the f*** out of here with "recency bias" Since 2015, the White Sox have 726 wins. Only the Rockies are worse, with a 723. Don't act like Sox fans have been "spoiled" with great baseball over the last decade. Second, the goalposts SHOULD move. That's how sports work. Expectations get raised. In 2006, when the White Sox came off their World Series Championship...they went 90-72 and it was one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history. If the Sox got anywhere close to 90 wins in the next two seasons, fans would be thrilled, understandably so. Also, in the reply you made to me earlier, you said "All fan bases except the championship winner hate their teams' owners." If the Blue Jays beat the Dodgers in the World Series, fans in LA will not be calling for Mark Walter to step down anytime soon, so that statement is objectively false. Lastly, and probably most importantly, having the second worst record in all of baseball over the last 10 years should not be acceptable in the third largest market. We should expect more. If you expect White Sox fans to be more "grateful" for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, I don't really know what to tell you other than going 162-324 over the last three years makes those seasons feel like a LONG time ago. This franchise has been around since 1901 and 2020-2021 was the first time they ever made the playoffs in back to back years. The Astros just ended a streak of going to the ALCS seven years in a row. I'm not asking for a run like that, but really don't think it's asking a lot to see our favorite team have some sort of sustained success for 3-4 years. And if you think it's too much to ask....then congratulations, you found the right team to root for apparently. Jokes on us.

People can have different opinions on Caleb, and understandably so, given his non-consistent performances thus far in his short NFL career. But what can't be debated is the Bears will take the rest of this year, and all of next season to see what they have in him. It's just how it works. Going into Year 4, they're going to have to decide on the 5th year option before Year 4 starts, and that's when a decision needs to be made. And if he stays healthy, they'll have more than enough information to make an informed decision. And as others have mentioned with Jones, Baker, Darnold, if the Bears move on and Caleb finds success elsewhere...then it's a failure on the Bears part but at the end of the day, they need to find the QB that can thrive in Ben's offense. And this all goes back to the Bears insistence on always having the timelines fucked up, having a lame duck coach be in the room when you draft a QB in the first round, then firing him the next year...then eventually firing the GM, and having that GM inherit a coach and QB they didn't draft....and having the cycle just continue.

You are correct, they did make the playoffs in 2020 and 2021. Now tell the other part. What happened in those playoff series? They blew things up in the 2016 off-season, and tanked, on purpose, in 2017-2018-2019 (Not to mention when they were "trying to win" in 2013-2014-2015-2016 they went a combined 290-358) But even removing those years, fans had to watch awful baseball for three seasons, to be "rewarded" with two playoff appearances that lasted as long as a fart in the wind. Then they embarked on one of the worst .500 seasons anyone can remember in 2022, and followed that up with having the worst record in baseball the last three years. So you claim fans here "ignore" the 2020 and 2021 seasons. How should fans be acting about those seasons? You clearly don't agree with how those years are perceived, so please enlighten us on how they should be viewed.

That went away quickly. Offense hasn’t been looked at super closely because of the 4 game winning streak, but the passing game has looked like s%*# for way too much of this season.

Yikes

Which I personally believe is one of the main issues they need to solve, among a few others. There is not going to be one solution to baseball's problems, because it isn't that simple, but I believe most of this falls on the current group of owners in the sport. There have already been articles written about the Brewers possibly shopping Freddy Peralta because of his incredibly team friendly deal, as well as the Tigers considering the market for Tarik Skubal, a year before he hits free agency. Both teams made the playoffs in 2025 and have a solid foundation, and both Peralta and Skubal are huge parts of their teams, respectively. Both players are in the primes of their career, but Milwuakee and Detroit believe they don't have a good chance to keep either, so why not get some prospects? We've seen it for a long time, and it's simply not good for baseball. The Crochet deal was slightly different, but certainly in the same ballpark of moves that shouldn't happen on regular basis. The problem isn't the Dodgers or Mets. The problem is the White Sox and Pirates. The sport has evolved and you have owners with deep pockets that view their organizations more than an incredible investment. On the other hand you have someone like Jerry who literally laughed with reporters during Ohtani's free agency tour, that the White Sox wouldn't be making an offer. Yet they all play in the same league, competing against each other. Some teams have tried to keep up, while others are seemingly content to keep trotting out payrolls that look like they are from 2004. And history has shown us small market teams can be ultra competitive, even with lower payrolls. If owners don't want to keep up with 2025 prices, then get out of the game. Sell your team, make billions in profit, and go home.

Today seems like it would be the day if he's going to go on Sunday. If he doesn't practice today, feels like him coming back for Sunday is a long shot.