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2025-26 NFL Season Thread


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1 hour ago, bmags said:

While still skeptical of Poles talent evaluation, it was hard not to appreciate his accomplishments yesterday. The offensive line is one of the best in the league, largely due to the offseason moves of Dalman, Jackson and Thuney.

One of the reasons it was easy for me to fly off on Poles when that group started slow (esp Dalman) was that despite it being commonly said that it takes oline and offense time to gel, as a bears fan it’s been pretty rare to see our groups improve in season. They are either good right away and slowly atrophy, or bad and stay bad.

The bears across almost every major position group have been improving, as people who watch functioning organizations say is possible. Quite a sight.

the one area that will still paint as disappointing is DLine, which is way too expensive to be this mid. But even they played great vs the run yesterday.

Poles has to feel so vindicated watch Ben not only take this draft class (injuries/Frazier aside) and turn them into producers, but turning around past moves as well. Ideally he spams defense this next draft.

Re: Improvements, I can't get past Johnson going into the bye-week talking about how the run game wasn't working and that it was an o-line/scheme issue, not Swift/Monangai and then turning it into this.

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2 hours ago, bmags said:

That’s funny I thought herbstreit was pretty kind to Caleb despite it being one of his rougher games. He was often pointing out the WR slips causing throws to look off.

 

Biggs 10 thoughts are so epic. With the athletic giving up on covering sports, he’s really taken the lead of must read bears reporters:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/29/chicago-bears-brad-biggs-10-thoughts-week-13/

I assume he’s still on The Score?

“BRAD.BIGGS.TALKS.FOOTBALL.WITH.YOUUU!!!”

🤣

Edited by WhiteSox2023
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2 hours ago, Quin said:

Poles has to feel so vindicated watch Ben not only take this draft class (injuries/Frazier aside) and turn them into producers, but turning around past moves as well. Ideally he spams defense this next draft.

Re: Improvements, I can't get past Johnson going into the bye-week talking about how the run game wasn't working and that it was an o-line/scheme issue, not Swift/Monangai and then turning it into this.

If Trapilo can be a long-term left tackle it really frees him to go all out on defense. 

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5 hours ago, chw42 said:

If Trapilo can be a long-term left tackle it really frees him to go all out on defense. 

If Trapillo is a legit top 10 LT it would be huge for the Bears in long run. I’m not saying anything one way or the other but last two weeks certainly give some hope of Trapillo on left side. Very helpful having Thuney over there to help the youth. 

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I’m cautiously optimistic since the Bears beat the Eagles. I did not have that one circled as a win and thought they would beat the Packers once, the Browns and 49ers and Steelers. I have a weird feeling, but think the Bears really need to beat the Packers to get over the hump in the NFC North even though they beat Philadelphia. I also want them to get a win in the playoffs and prove this isn’t 2018 and that they aren’t the Marvin Lewis Bengals. Are any of those concerns legitimate or am I off base?

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https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25303245-top-draft-needs-every-nfl-team-2026-entering-seasons-home-stretch

Caleb Downs would be the dream pick...or Arvell Reese.  Both long gone.

Dillon Thieneman from Oregon is intriguing.   

But three suggestions for OL line help later in the draft.  Edge rusher would be the other need.

Bears somewhere between 26th-29th in draft...likely go 3-2/2-3 to finish.

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53 minutes ago, The Beast said:

I’m cautiously optimistic since the Bears beat the Eagles. I did not have that one circled as a win and thought they would beat the Packers once, the Browns and 49ers and Steelers. I have a weird feeling, but think the Bears really need to beat the Packers to get over the hump in the NFC North even though they beat Philadelphia. I also want them to get a win in the playoffs and prove this isn’t 2018 and that they aren’t the Marvin Lewis Bengals. Are any of those concerns legitimate or am I off base?

I mean the thing with the Marvin Lewis bengals was he made the playoffs every year just never won. Big difference compared to going to the playoffs twice in 12 years and never winning.

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27 minutes ago, bmags said:

I mean the thing with the Marvin Lewis bengals was he made the playoffs every year just never won. Big difference compared to going to the playoffs twice in 12 years and never winning.

Fair, what do you make of the remaining schedule? What do the Bears have to do?

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1 hour ago, The Beast said:

Fair, what do you make of the remaining schedule? What do the Bears have to do?

Win 2 of 5 and they're in the playoffs. Win 3 of 5 and they win the division. I think they need to aim for at least a split with the Packers, beat the Browns at home, and then win 1 of 2 against the Lions and 49ers. 

Win 1 of 5 and they're gonna need the Lions to lose 3 of their last 5 and the Cowboys to lose 2 of their last 5. 

Edited by chw42
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3 hours ago, Chisoxfn said:

If Trapillo is a legit top 10 LT it would be huge for the Bears in long run. I’m not saying anything one way or the other but last two weeks certainly give some hope of Trapillo on left side. Very helpful having Thuney over there to help the youth. 

He went up against 2 of the best defensive lines and came out looking good enough. Keep in mind he went against Maxx Crosby in week 4 as well and did ok. They really threw him to the fire and he's survived so far. It won't get any easier though. He's gonna see Parsons and Garrett in the next 3 weeks. Just an absolute gauntlet for a rookie tackle to go through. He's basically gone up against a top 10 pass rusher in every game he's started so far. 

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On 11/29/2025 at 9:15 PM, The Beast said:

I’m cautiously optimistic since the Bears beat the Eagles. I did not have that one circled as a win and thought they would beat the Packers once, the Browns and 49ers and Steelers. I have a weird feeling, but think the Bears really need to beat the Packers to get over the hump in the NFC North even though they beat Philadelphia. I also want them to get a win in the playoffs and prove this isn’t 2018 and that they aren’t the Marvin Lewis Bengals. Are any of those concerns legitimate or am I off base?

The Bears were one blocked FG from sweeping GB last season. I wouldn't be shocked if they sweep them this season but I would be content splitting with them again, each winning at their own house.

Edited by MexSoxFan#1
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4 minutes ago, MexSoxFan#1 said:

The Bears were one blocked FG from sweeping GB last season. I wouldn't be shocked if they sweep them this season but I would be content splitting with them again.

Think a split would be fine, just don't get embarrassed in either of the games (which I don't think they will)

If they lose Sunday, take care of business next weekend vs. the Browns. Then beat the Packers at Solider the following week. That gets the Bears to 11 wins, and if they can't make the playoffs after winning 11 games, I'm not even going to be upset. 

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33 minutes ago, Tony said:

Think a split would be fine, just don't get embarrassed in either of the games (which I don't think they will)

If they lose Sunday, take care of business next weekend vs. the Browns. Then beat the Packers at Solider the following week. That gets the Bears to 11 wins, and if they can't make the playoffs after winning 11 games, I'm not even going to be upset. 

This - a split goes a long way to getting Bears in the playoffs. A sweep and things get a lot tougher, cause they need at least 2 wins.  A sweep and I think division becomes legit opportunity.  I'm very nervous going into this - but so excited Beras are at this point and I think we have to remember there can be some growing pains as they now work on trying to really beat the very good teams in this league.  

With that said - lets go!!! 

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18 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

This - a split goes a long way to getting Bears in the playoffs. A sweep and things get a lot tougher, cause they need at least 2 wins.  A sweep and I think division becomes legit opportunity.  I'm very nervous going into this - but so excited Beras are at this point and I think we have to remember there can be some growing pains as they now work on trying to really beat the very good teams in this league.  

With that said - lets go!!! 

Yes, really important to enjoy the ride. We have no idea what the future holds, but with BJ in the fold, seems like this could be the start of something really fun. Historically, the ride up to the top is always the most enjoyable, when the team comes out of nowhere and puts together a great season. Next year, there are going to a lot larger expectations from the Bears, and rightfully so. Expectations always change. But everyone will be more critical because of the heightened expectations.  

And given that the Sox, Blackhawks, Bears and somewhat Bulls are the teams I root for...it's been a long time since we've been 2/3 of the way through a season and we're looking ahead at the playoffs. Been incredibly refreshing and can't wait to see what this team has in store for us the rest of the year. 

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I rewatched highlights from both Bears Packers games last season and one thing that jumped out at me was that the Packers completed a bunch of big passing plays in both games, Bears D cut down on that front this season and if the Bears cut down of those plays in these two games vs GB, we should be in able to at least split.

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This is why coaching is so important. 
 

You pay these players millions and millions, while coordinators make a fraction of that and don’t count against your salary cap, yet teams will consistently bring in sub-standard people to run things. 
 

 

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On 12/5/2025 at 2:45 PM, MexSoxFan#1 said:

I rewatched highlights from both Bears Packers games last season and one thing that jumped out at me was that the Packers completed a bunch of big passing plays in both games, Bears D cut down on that front this season and if the Bears cut down of those plays in these two games vs GB, we should be in able to at least split.

I haven’t seen the Packers much this year but I also watched the highlights from last year and think if the Bears have a better pass rush, can force turnovers and the offense doesn’t crap the bed, they can split or even win two. 

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