1. Rest in peace to Bears legend Mike Ditka, who starred for Chicago as a revolutionary tight end and then delivered the city its only Super Bowl. Keep those sweater vests in rotation this whole year, especially for when the Bears return home in a few weeks.
2. Let’s keep it real: the Green Bay Packers whooped the Bears on Sunday. They earned their right to talk a little trash. This is a rivalry, after all, and they must’ve been wanting that lick back something awful after getting embarrassed twice
at Soldier Field last season. I just want to say…you better be that brave when you’re not facing a backup quarterback at Soldier Field on Christmas.
3. That Washington franchise is just cursed. I’m not sure how else to say it. Every single time they get a sniff of hope—notably, in the form of No. 2 overall picks Robert Griffin III and Jayden Daniels—injuries and subsequent bumbling screw it all up. It all looked great for them after they forced a Cam Skattebo fumble with just under two minutes on the clock. (Seriously, what was it with both these teams and not wanting to just WIN THE GAME?) And it looked even better when they got the ball down to the New York 24-yard line with under a minute to go and the Giants having no ability to stop the clock. But, because a 41-yard field goal is too daunting a prospect, apparently, the Commanders decided to drop back and throw the ball with 14 seconds left, only for Jayden Daniels to scramble and get tackled inbounds with no timeouts. Please fire everyone involved.
4. You know who got this scenario right? The Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football, and you can beat the Commanders-Giants fiasco informed their decisions. Could things have gone wrong for them if Tyler Bass had missed that 45-yard field goal on 2nd-and-10 with two minutes left in the game? Sure. But they didn’t. Why? Because Joe Brady trusted Bass to do his job and go win the football game instead of half-heartedly trying to gain a few extra yards. Is that the difference between Brady being an offensive-minded coach and the likes of John Harbaugh and Dan Quinn not being so? I don’t know. But NFL coaches need to quit being scared of taking chances to win a game when it’s right in their grasp. Because if you keep playing around and waiting for someone else to screw up, a win can slip right through your fingers in the process.
5. Shoutout to Snoop Huntley for showing what a real professional backup quarterback can do in the Ravens’ overtime win over the Atlanta Falcons. The numbers weren’t super flashy (201 yards passing, two TDs), but the execution was just about flawless for the longtime Lamar Jackson understudy. That’s the difference between someone like a Huntley/Case Keenum type who’s been around the block and a young gun like Tyson Bagent with main-character energy. The old heads did all the little things right, and their teams won as a result. Take notes, youngblood.
6. My personal mantra when it comes to sports: never talk smack to opposing fans in the middle of a game. That approach served me well as I watched alongside a Packers fan friend of mine—no, seriously, great guy—as the Bears ripped the Packers’ hearts out twice last season. But I digress. This video of an Eagles fan hoping on the phone to trash-talk his Jacksonville Jaguars friend only to watch his team lose on a last-second field goal moments later is the definition of karma. Just sit and watch, y’all. Our teams will be better for it.
7. The Marvin Harrison Jr. saga is why you never pick the wide receiver, no matter how talented, over the potentially franchise-altering quarterback. While we won’t pretend that the Arizona Cardinals stand out as a beacon of organizational stability and development, the third-year pass-catcher out of Ohio State never came close to living up to the billing of a No. 4 overall pick. Can you imagine how fired Ryan Poles would’ve been if he’d passed on Williams to build around Fields and Harrison? I always pull for guys to rebound after tough starts to their career (see: Bryce Young), and maybe things can improve for him with his old buddy CJ Stroud, who needs a comeback of his own. But boy am I glad the Bears didn’t have to be the ones to trade him.
8. One week, Drake Maye looks completely cooked. The next, he’s putting up a 93.5 passing grade and lighting the Raiders up like that annoyingly early Christmas tree someone’s going to put out right after Halloween. Such is the maddening talent and instability of the ex-No. 3 pick from that aforementioned draft. The talent is undeniable. But the brain worms still exist. Here’s hoping he’s turning the corner toward figuring things out—just not so much it causes a problem for the Bears when they play the Pats two weekends from now.
9. Bring back excitable announcers! Charlotte Hornets play-by-play man Eric Collins went viral for his call of his Ja’Marr Chase touchdown grab on Sunday, which reminded me of when they used to let Gus Johnson do NFL games on occasion. I don’t care if it’s a little over the top. It’s at least different from every other guy sounding exactly like Kevin Burkhardt. (No offense.)
10. Question of the week: what happens when the NFL’s best offense over the last three weeks (which is playing at home next week) meets one of the worst road defenses in the league so far this season? A shootout? A bloodbath? An anticlimactic stalemate? Your answer is your prediction for the Bears’ visit to Atlanta to play the Falcons (hopefully with Williams back behind center).
