Alaskan Grizzly

While perusing recent sports columns, one in particular caught my attention—it ranked all the current NFL quarterbacks, supposedly based on a list from Sportsnaut. I’m not too familiar with them or how reliable their rankings are, but they had Caleb Williams at 19th overall, behind journeyman Jacoby Brissett (18), former fellow overall No. 1 pick Bryce Young (17), and fellow second-year quarterbacks Bo Nix (14) and Drake Maye (2). Below was their reasoning for his ranking specifically. I was more curious about where current Cleveland starter Shedeur Sanders landed, since there’s been some positive buzz around his recent performances. They ranked him at No. 27 and pointed out that he’s coming off a 364-yard, 3-touchdown game against the Tennessee Titans. It’s worth noting that Tennessee’s defense is ranked in the bottom third of the league overall—roughly in the same territory as our own defense this season so maybe something for us to be concerned with?

I’ll be happy if the newer-new Bears show up. The ones that play four quarters of solid ball. Not this 1/2-come-from-behind-late-in-the-game stuff. I didn’t want to have to test out my new BP meds this early.

Not generally a fan of Cowherds but he does make some good observations here. https://youtube.com/shorts/gqbqWhqZ2YU?si=47VlMclpm_QklJPQ

Wasn't Bienemy technically the OC for most of those "yellow" times?

For what it’s worth, I may have mentioned before the ‘personal hell’ I live in surrounded by GB fans on either side of me. My one neighbor recently put up some annoyingly bright LED holiday lights. One thing he can do is change the colors of them remotely. It’s hard to see on the pic but the colors are green and yellow. The guy could land helicopters on his roof.

Agreed that we aren't out of the playoffs yet. Not by a long shot. I still believe the team can win against Cleveland, SF, Detroit and GB. Will they? Depends on what they've learned in their losses. The Detroit game earlier this year was a mass killing whereas yesterday's loss was much more palatable...but still sucks considering who it was. If for nothing else it does show some improvement over the season. And it really highlights how vulnerable our team was with only a +6 point winning differential going into yesterday's game, versus +36(?) for GB.

This. I agree that yesterday’s loss wasn’t all on Williams. I’d put it closer to an 80/20 split, with the defense carrying most of the blame. Aside from the early sack and INT, they really didn’t make any impact plays the rest of the game—even with several key starters back on the field. Williams did flash at times, especially late (why can't he do this the WHOLE game?). That second-to-last drive—where they chewed up a ton of clock—was a thing of beauty. The run game was wearing the defense down, and Williams’ passes were quicker and more controlled. Honestly, they should’ve stuck with more of that approach and leaned into the basic WCO concepts that worked so well against Philly. Also saw a GB fan point out on social media that the interception play was basically identical—in formation and personnel—to the Bears’ game-sealing score against Philly the week before. His comment was, “You don’t think we watch game film?” Hard to argue with that.

Yeah from what I saw today he and Brisker can be cut loose. Unfortunately JJ appears to be going backwards and getting into lazy mode. Or he’s more injured more than we know.

What I noticed today was whether by design or by Caleb ad-libbing, he’s cutting the field in half each time he rolls out (which was a lot). Early on there were a few plays where a lone receiver was one on one with a defender and relatively open for space on the opposite side. Later on the defenders were cheating to the side Caleb would roll out to because they knew he’d never look that way. Why they didn’t stick to the ‘game manager’ setting with the west coast offense is beyond me .

Yup. Right in his line of sight too. 🤬 oh well, try again in two weeks.

Not translating so well today. With a fair number of starters back in on defense they looked better when the backups were playing.

Johnson has been in the wrong place during two huge gains by the Pack. The Bears paid him big money for this?

Dennis Allen, “one of the greatest Defensive minds in the NFL” looking like Eberflus. 😖 And the offense being absolutely stagnant doesn’t help.

I’m trusting Ben will make some miraculous adjustments for the second half. So far the master class we saw last week is non-existent.

Why are we not back to doing WCO like last week? Don’t think Caleb’s looked underneath for any pass yet.

So far two runs called? One each for Swift and Monangai. It’s what worked against Philly. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Saw this the other day and was amazed at how they have a +6 point differential which is the first time in history a team with a 9 win record has ever done that. Compared to the Packers who currently have a +68 differential? Yikes…. 😳

Evidently that’s a thing. Neighbor from that area says it’s part of the ‘ownership’ experience. They show up early to help out.

Totally. I think if they lose today like last week all is not lost (unless they get blown out 😬). Nice thing is they only have to wait a few weeks to redeem themselves.

Agree 💯

Odunze still out with a nagging foot injury. https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2025/12/04/bears-injury-report-kyle-monangai-rome-odunze-nfl-ankle-foot-nfl

Mystery solved: video after this showed Odunze jumping a little too high during the celebration.

Went to the NFC North crap talking site I visit periodically. GB fan posted this as if to suggest should they lose, this is why. Lol.

I'd beg to differ that you could add Nix in there. Sure he doesn't have the arm strength that Williams might have but he did manage to QB a team (as a rookie) to the playoffs last year and is on the verge of doing that again. Heck the books aren't closed on the other contenders of the class. If Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold can show former 1st round talent resurgence, anyone can. Besides that, I feel as though most of us agree that in order to get a true measure on a player we need at least 5 years to assess their true ability (probably why rookie contracts are generally that long). Would agree wholeheartedly. If the team manages to make the playoffs because of him, I would be willing to rescind more of my doubts. I'd even agree that he's one of the top three in his QB class. There's no denying that Maye is due his recognition; especially with talk of him being an MVP candidate. From the numbers alone, he's performing especially well. So too (IMHO) is Nix but for different things. So what if he doesn't have the arm strength to launch a ball 70 yards? (Although he did have the record for the longest pass by air last season). Neither did Brees or Manning and they both had HOF careers. The type of offense Williams commanded last week (WCO) was identical (or very similar) to the one that Nix has been in now for almost two seasons. At the end of the day I'm glad we got at least one of the top three QBs and what appears to be a viable HC leading him.

Interestingly, he and Caleb’s stats are pretty close, if not nearly identical, up to this point—even in rushing yards. I couldn’t help but notice that in the last game against Philly, it appeared Johnson leaned more toward a West Coast offense while still utilizing outside/inside zone blocking for the run game. Both Swift and Monangai eclipsed 100 rushing yards, which I suspect is because Johnson recognizes that Williams isn’t yet ready to make “splash” plays and wants to continue developing his learning curve. Williams’ passing looked much as you described: primarily short passes, with the occasional longer attempt when available (like the TD to Kmet late in the game). What you observed with Nix is largely what I saw in Williams as well; the difference, in my opinion, is that Nix simply looked more polished executing it.