I also agree. As a Packers fan, I was getting nervous when Da Barce were were close to the GB goal line. I was actually relieved when they went for something cute instead of just pounding it for that one yard. In recent years, the Packers defense has steadily improved. Now it's pretty darn good. My final thought: that was a close game between two good teams.
Chicago Bears 2025-2026
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Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
TBH the Super Bowl win in 1985 was in spite of ownership & not because of them. Jim Finks laid the groundwork in the early 80's with great player acquisition. They also hit lightning in a bottle with Budd Ryan developing a groundbreaking defense at the time with the perfect batch of talent to execute the 46 that no one had ever seen before. Mix that with some pretty good offensive talent including the best RB that has ever lived & you had total dominance.
As was proved in the years after that, the front office could not/would not do the things necessary to keep the Bears at the top of the league. They were good but the talent just kept leaving town 1 by 1 after the 86 season.
It was one of those blind squirrel catching a nut scenarios. And kill me for saying it but if Ginny had died 15 years ago it'd been better for the organization. As someone else mentioned similar to the Blackhawks scenario.
mattcoldagelli
- Script Illinois Enthusiast
Agree. You can't have it both ways of 1) being mad about the playcall and 2) being upset that he didn't run it or throw it to another WR.
3 potential options to achieve the result you need is the mark of a pretty good play.
The defense is brutal and if they don't get turnovers they give up way too many big plays. They need lots of help. Having said all of that if they stop Josh Jacobs and keep Green Bay from the first down, they only get a field goal and the Bears go down the field and could have sent to over time with a field goal.
Williams makes some amazing plays. Maybe only him, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes could make. But, he misses way too many throws and can't stay in the pocket. Confident he will continue to improve though.
Williams makes some amazing plays. Maybe only him, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes could make. But, he misses way too many throws and can't stay in the pocket. Confident he will continue to improve though.
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
Allen was a dart without feathers at times early in his career. Mahomes is that rare breed that was exceptional from day one. In my lifetime of 54 years I only recall Marino, Brady, Montana joining Mahomes in that instantly awesome & flawless category. It's a very rare breed.
I've seen enough from Caleb that he is on a trajectory to be a top 10 QB at worst with potential to be much higher. You can win lots of games & win a Super Bowl with a guy with that talent profile. Especially one that has the esapability to make the occasional jaw dropping play.
Mahomes didn't play in year 1. He sat the entire season and learned from Alex Smith, who had a phenomenal season. He didn't start a game until year 2.
Given the clown show that Caleb dealt with last year, this is really his year 1.
Who is down on Caleb? I think that most believe the trajectory is WAY up. Whoever is down on this guy doesn't know what they're watching. This is really year one for him. Last year, it was criminal the staff they surrounded him with. The improvement under Johnson has been insane.
Back to the play. I don't mind the decision to pass because Green Bay loaded up the box and stuffed Monangai on 3rd and 1. I think they were set on doing it again on 4th down and Johnson knew it.
The play call with him rolling out with options was fine, but I didn't like him rolling left forcing him to throw across his body. That is an insanely tough throw.
The first issue is that the Packers LB didn't bite on the play action and when I rewatched the play, he was going to have to outrun three Packers and it didn't look like he was going to beat all of them to the sticks, so that option was dead.
A lot of people say Moore was open and he did break free, but he was dragging left, with Williams rolling left.....that's just an impossible throw to make. Throwing across your body to a player running at full speed in the same direction just isn't going to work. So, that option was dead.
Throwing the ball to Kmet was the only shot and unfortunately, he was just a hair late and didn't get enough depth on the ball. That had to be placed towards the back of the end zone, where Kmet could have used his size to bring it in. Again, rolling left.....that's a really, really tough play to make.
I would have liked to see him roll right, though I believe that would have been to the short side of the field. If they drag Moore across the field in that direction, it's a much more realistic throw. It's also a much more manageable throw to deliver to Kmet. The only issue, again, is that I believe rolling right would have been to the short side.
There was nothing easy about that situation.
Hindsight being 20/20, I might have run the 4th down play on 3rd down, so it wasn't a do or die situation and he wouldn't have had to force it. If it didn't work, I would have run the ball on 4th down because Green Bay might have expected pass and wouldn't have loaded up the box. They would have been a little more off balance.
It's always easy to Monday morning QB. I don't think that Johnson ever thought that Monangai was going to be stopped short on that third down play. I know that I thought he would have been able to pick up a yard with the way the O-Line was rolling. That was the play that set everything else into motion.
Caleb is 24.
Mahomes had a great season as a 24 year old. But if you look at any list of the top-10, -20 qbs of all time, that’s more the exception than the rule. There were certainly others - Marino, Tarkenton, P. Manning, to name some more - who had great seasons at 24. But 24 year old seasons tend to look a lot more like what Brees, Brady, Favre, etc did.
Joe Montana wasn’t even the starter at the beginning of his 24 year old season. Took over about mid-way through after sitting behind Steve DeBerg for a year and a half.
I’m not saying Williams will be an all time great. He certainly has a lot of areas to improve. But it’s obvious he has the tools, and nothing about this season says he won’t be a long term quality qb.
I agree with you 100000%. If his progression continues at the rate it is, he's going to be a top 5 QB in the league.
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
I guess on Mahomes I meant once he hit the field he was top shelf from day one. Forgot he sat year one.
And yes Caleb got no coaching last year from anyone competent.
From the recap of last night’s game. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...alen-hurts-first-commit-2-turnovers-same-play
“Hurts also was… the first NFL player with zero touchdowns and five turnovers in a game since Justin Fields in 2021.”
How did I memory hole that? Puts Caleb’s “struggles” into perspective.
“Hurts also was… the first NFL player with zero touchdowns and five turnovers in a game since Justin Fields in 2021.”
How did I memory hole that? Puts Caleb’s “struggles” into perspective.
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
That was just my perception from reading X and a couple of Bear facebook groups I am in. There seems to be an underlying dislike for Caleb by a lot of Bear fans. I find that unjustified at best and perhaps blatantly wrong. Seems you & I agree on it. Is he perfectly polished, absolutely not. Few are in year 2 (more like year 1 as you pointed out). Does he show a lot of positive traits & the occasional incredible plays. Absolutely.
To me his best trait (last play vs GB aside) is that he rarely throws it to the other team. That's a heck of a positive to build around. He has that inate sense to value ball security. Give me a guy that values the ball, has escapability & can make some big throws and I'll take my chances on his development.
Hurts had 2 turnovers in a single snap last night. That is not an easy feat to achieve. Probably a record.
Just looked this up. That was the debacle of a game they had in Fields' rookie year down in Tampa. It was a nationally televised game on CBS. Fields threw 3 picks and had 2 lost fumbles. The Bears were down 35-3 at half. Brady had 4 TD passes in the 1st half, 3 of them to Mike Evans.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Another great trait that isn't brought up very much is that he has stayed healthy, starting every game since coming to the Bears.
Kyler Gordon to IR with a groin injury. He's done for the regular season.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Disappointing but a surprise to no one.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Was looking up the team offense stats, Bears are #5 in team offense (what an improvement compared to what happened previously), #2 in rushing, #14 in passing. Last in completion percentage, the Bears and Jacksonville are the only teams below 60%. If they could figure out a way to be more efficient in the passing game, it would really be spectacular. I don’t think it’s all on Williams, it’s on the entire unit to get better. Bears defense is #27 overall.
Today's Bears inactives:
Bagent was added to the injury report this morning with an illness so Case Keenum will be the back-up QB today.
Bagent was added to the injury report this morning with an illness so Case Keenum will be the back-up QB today.
I don't like this. Caleb has been tough as nails. Bagent wants to play, Caleb won't go down. Bagent isn't there today......................................
Bears fans seriously need to get over this stuff with Bagent. Barring an injury, it would take a pretty drastic downturn in play from Caleb for Ben Johnson to even consider making a change.
Odunze reaggravated his foot injury in warmups and has been ruled out.
saw that
ugh
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Opening drives have been a$$ lately.
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