Happy New Year! Welcome to 2024. And within the eyes of the Chicago Bears, welcome to a 12 months that appears to carry unimaginable potential.
The Bears put an exclamation level on their dwelling finale Sunday afternoon, hammering the Atlanta Falcons 37-17 for his or her fifth consecutive win at Soldier Field. The inspired vibes have been in every single place contained in the victorious locker room with gamers feeling extra assured than ever that the group is in the midst of a big breakthrough.
Later within the night, the Bears have been formally eradicated from the NFC playoff image. But they’ve yet one more recreation to play in Week 18 with an opportunity to punctuate at their late-season surge in emphatic style.
Here within the last week of the season, Tribune writers Dan Wiederer and Colleen Kane discuss by means of 4 Bears-related subjects in a “True or false” format to set the stage for all that’s forward.
True or false: A Week 18 journey to Lambeau Field to face the rival Green Bay Packers is the perfect last check for this Bears group.
Dan Wiederer: True. Very true. One-hundred % true.
God, is there some excellent theater constructed into this season finale? For starters, the Packers can punch their ticket to the NFC postseason with a victory. But the all of the sudden surging Bears would love nothing greater than to play bouncer to that playoff get together and ship their rivals into the offseason as a substitute.
Just as significant for the Bears is the prospect to get a real progress report on how a lot enchancment they’ve made this season. Don’t neglect, the Bears misplaced their season opener 38-20 at dwelling to the Packers 17 weeks in the past. And belief me, the Bears gamers haven’t forgotten.
“Yeah, yeah,” cornerback Jaylon Johnson mentioned Sunday, “we’re on their ass for sure. We have to bring that to them next week for sure.”
Eddie Jackson appeared equally enthused for the rematch.
“When it’s Green Bay, man, it’s like a championship game,” he mentioned. “You’ve got to beat Green Bay. You have to. Especially after the first game of the season? Everyone still has that taste in their mouth. So we know this has to be a statement game for us.”
Colleen Kane: Absolutely. I actually like this check for the Bears as a result of it must be more difficult than the final two wins over the Arizona Cardinals and Falcons. But it’s additionally a winnable recreation if the Bears proceed to play the way in which they’ve throughout their final 4 wins.
Quarterback Justin Fields and the offense might want to overcome a tricky street setting. Plus I’m actually to see how a protection that now has 22 interceptions fares in opposition to Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who has thrown just one in his final seven video games.
And, as you talked about, I believe the Bears gamers will stay motivated. I appreciated this assertion from veteran tight finish Marcedes Lewis final week about what gamers want to bear in mind.
“To protect the culture, you have to win ballgames,” Lewis mentioned. “To win ballgames on Sunday, sometimes on Thursday and Monday, you’ve got to win the day. In the building, you’ve got to win the day. … Having a bunch of turnover, that’s not good for a young quarterback or for a young team. So if you want to protect the culture, if you do love what you’ve got going here, then you’ve got to do things the right way.”
True or false: DJ Moore has been every thing he was marketed to be for the Bears this season.
Kane: True. In reality, Moore actually has been greater than was anticipated when Bears common supervisor Ryan Poles acquired him within the commerce for the Carolina Panthers’ No. 1 decide in March.
Moore has a career-high 1,300 yards and eight touchdowns on 92 catches, and he has been extremely dependable, on tempo for a career-high with a 70.8% catch price. That 32-yard, over-the-shoulder catch Sunday — through which Moore mentioned he couldn’t see the ball within the snow — will probably be one in a protracted line of highlights from this season.
On Sunday night, Fields recalled how Moore made “like maybe two mistakes” on performs throughout coaching camp after studying the offense. He was locked in from the beginning and hasn’t upset since. And his play has helped Fields elevate his recreation too. Plus, Moore has accomplished it with a workmanlike angle.
“Just the way he has dedicated his time to this team and to learning the playbook and coming in and making plays like he has has been great for us,” Fields mentioned. “Shoot, I love him here. He makes my job way easier. Just hats off to him. Glad that he’s my teammate.”
Wiederer: Fields’ sentiments are shared by everybody on the group, everybody on the teaching employees, everybody within the group. Moore is an animal.
He’s productive. He’s dependable. He’s low upkeep. And he’s robust as hell. That’s how he was in a position to ship 9 catches, 159 yards and a landing to Sunday’s victory only a week after injuring his ankle in opposition to the Cardinals.
Moore’s first-quarter landing was a factor of magnificence, a well-placed ball from Fields within the nook of the top zone that Moore snared thanks, partly, to “late hands” upon the ball’s arrival. Moore waited simply lengthy sufficient along with his reception efforts to delay a cross breakup try from Jessie Bates. Touchdown, Bears.
We all knew after the March commerce that Moore could be a serious weapon on this 2023 offense. But he has exceeded expectation with the way in which he has produced and the way in which he has dealt with himself.
Justin Fields’ ridiculous 13-yard scramble Sunday was an ideal instance of the type of playmaking brilliance that makes it a no brainer determination for the Bears to maintain him for 2024 and past.
Wiederer: False. And that’s to take nothing away from that play, which left each jaw inside Soldier Field on the bottom as Fields escaped a certain sack three totally different instances and in some way transformed third-and-8 along with his newest mind-blowing trick.
“Just another day at the office for Houdini,” Johnson mentioned.
Added tight finish Cole Kmet: “I really believe he’s the only guy who can do that in this league. I think that’s what is so captivating about him. It’s pretty special to watch.”
That may need been Fields’ most spectacular play in a formidable efficiency in opposition to the Falcons that noticed him rack up 313 complete yards and two touchdowns within the Bears’ second highest-scoring output this season. If that type of manufacturing from Fields was the norm? Then sure, the choice for common supervisor Ryan Poles could be, because the query framed it, “a no brainer” to remain the course with the present QB1.
But Poles has sooooo far more to think about from a three-season physique of labor from Fields. And he has a lot to judge past the quarterback’s finest performs and massive video games. Poles nonetheless should weigh whether or not he sees Fields on a developmental trajectory that may make him the engine of championship runs for the subsequent decade or whether or not a prospect within the upcoming 2024 draft class is extra suited to turn into that driving power. It’s a high-stakes determination for sure. It’s additionally complicated. Involved. Full of nuance and guesswork.
Kane: Right, it’s not a “no-brainer.” It’s a sophisticated determination. But Fields is certainly making it harder on Poles with not solely performs just like the above-mentioned magic act but in addition, as evidenced in opposition to the Falcons, he’s taking good care of the ball, ending video games and making extra throws downfield.
Or, I suppose, that would make Poles’ determination simpler if he have been leaning towards holding Fields. A day like Sunday actually makes me marvel how Fields’ season may need performed out if he hadn’t missed 4 video games with a dislocated proper thumb. But I suppose what-if eventualities aren’t going to unravel something.
That’s why I’m so intrigued to see how Sunday’s recreation in Green Bay unfolds. Fields desires to make a convincing final impression this season? Lead the Bears’ first win in opposition to the Packers since 2018.
True or false: The Bears’ cigar celebration within the postgame locker room was excellent punctuation on their newest win.
Kane: True. I do know, I do know, the Bears are solely 7-9 and have been formally eradicated from the playoffs with the Packers’ victory later Sunday. I perceive the argument that such celebrations ought to possibly be saved for division championships or postseason berths.
But it was New Year’s Eve, and the Bears have overcome quite a bit this season. Things have been fairly rocky there in early October after an 0-4 begin. So I’ve the identical response as I do to baseball groups’ early-round champagne celebrations. Eh, why not? It’s group bonding. And over the past couple of months Bears gamers have appeared to remain grounded about the place they’re at in constructing their group.
I don’t know if common supervisor Ryan Poles lit a cigar, however of all of the individuals who in all probability deserved one Sunday, it was him. The fruits from his commerce of final 12 months’s No. 1 decide confirmed up in a fairly loopy means Sunday. From acquiring this 12 months’s No. 1 decide because of the Carolina Panthers’ loss to the way in which Moore carried out to 2 interceptions from cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, who was a product of an additional second-round decide from the commerce, it was a superb day for Poles.
Now he has an opportunity to do greater issues because of the group’s 2024 draft place.
Wiederer: I laughed out loud at Kmet’s candid response to Sunday’s postgame victory celebration.
“Maybe a little much with the cigar smoke,” Kmet mentioned.
That was simply the tight finish’s effort to precise perspective because the Bears embrace their progress whereas additionally realizing how far they’re from the game’s mountaintop. And I appreciated Kmet additional elaborating on why Sunday’s euphoric postgame vibes mattered.
“No, it’s good,” he mentioned. “I think the results are showing up. The results have been there. We’re coming together as a team. I think you can see where this is going. We’ve got some really good pieces. We have a really good team coming together. I really believe that. And I couldn’t have said that in the past.”
He’s proper. And you’re proper, Colleen. Sunday was New Year’s Eve. Couple that with the Bears’ blowout victory and there was a transparent inexperienced mild for a festive second at Soldier Field. Normally, I’m the “Pump the brakes” man, as you already know, against exaggerated celebrations or untimely proclamations of a breakthrough or arrival.
But even for a 7-9 group whose postseason hopes have been dashed, this was a special event and a chance to justifiably acknowledge how a lot enchancment these Bears have made.
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com