I too, lack optimism, and see this as a sloppy, shitty 2 bad team match up in a prime time slot or if the Packers just continue stomping this team 2x a year in a "rivalry" that hasn't been a rivalry in a hot minute, as you point out. Where I still stupidly let myself get pissed off is how Poles gives away a draft pick because apparently its "Halloween season" (which no, its fucking not--Halloween can have all the bullshit it wants next month) or he's generous or who fucking knows why, but the guy he traded it for, Feeney, isn't even listed as the starter from the depth chart the team released today. Good to know draft collateral is expendable on backup positions and Lucas Patrick is coming to save the day on Sunday. Or is Feeney incapable of being better than Lucas Patrick and this what Flus and Getsy want? Because I don't see Patrick starting Saturday as a positive, and I'm not sure how you spin it as one other than "we're paying him like one." I see this as a shitbag student who keeps trying to do his homework 2 minutes before class then wonders why they're getting shit grades. Is Feeney banged up and can't go/is an emergency player? Because I'm running out of reasons to logically consider this move. Peterman is listed as QB 2, not Badgley. Velus Jones being listed as WR4? The weed at Halas Hall must be immaculate. I wish I didn't laugh at this as hard as I did. This fucking team...
My general thoughts on the outlook for this game and season match everyone else. I had quite a lot of optimism in the off-season but as the season got closer and closer reality has started to sink in. I'm prepping for another down year. Hoping for 8-9 wins. Worst part is I'm now having to watch my son's hopes get up only to know how it'll end. Same spot generations of bears fans have gone through. One thing I'll be keying into in game 1 is just the game plan. Last season it was shit. I believe last year was Getsy's first year of NFL play calling and it left a lot to be desired. In the off-season part of my hopes was that it was part of the tank, but I'm not allowing myself to buy that anymore. I'm looking to see some schemes that work to our advantage and get our playmakers open. I know it's preseason but DJ has already shown what he can do with the ball in just a little bit of space. I'm also interested in watching Sanborn. I was a big fan of his last season. I'm hoping it wasn't just because of low expectations with his background and the fact we had no one else to make plays. It'd be a big win if he can still make plays with the other LBs out on the field.
Im not gonna look at that full 53 again for a long while, cos i know if i look at it long enough i'll actually want them to lose cos fuck em. Some of that roster is so bad i can't believe it. Lucas Patrick starting week 1 is a straight F. No ifs no buts, literally like 10 names you could've replaced him with this offseason and upgraded yet there he is. Your only G depth is J'Tyre Carter. Even if you just HAVE to go CB3 over arguably the best C in the draft in the 2nd round......there were still plenty of value picks in rounds 3,4 & 5, many of whom had C/G positional flexibility, wouldn't that be handy right about now! But noooo, cos you just had to have that RB3 & WR5 didn't you Poles! So fucking bad. I wasn't gonna rant about this shit before the game cos i really don't want to start the season like this, but yeah that 53 triggered the fuck out of me. Poles inherited a team full of holes, we all know that. But his approach to roster building has been to cut corners on the OL while spending THREE 2nd round picks on DB's and throw big money at the LB position. 2 years of roster building and you have 1 pass rusher(on a 1 year deal) and your starting interior is Justin Jones & Andrew Billings, 2 meh players on 2 & 1 years contracts respectively. If this give a F about everything but the trenches approach works, it'll be the first time. Thats it. Roll on Monday. Fuck the Packers.
Im glad he's starting too. Hope he can play well. Thought Sewell might push him out but guess not. The whiff he had on the goal line in PS3 when he hit his gap and should've nailed the RB in the backfield only to miss his tackle resulting in a TD, was ugly. That was in the 4th Q too i believe so last impression he left the coaches with. Might've played a role.
I had more hope this year going into the offseason with a GM that had everything going for him including a #1 overall selection and cap space unmatched by any team, and this is what we got. There are two fundamental keys to focus on starting a rebuild, pressure, and protection, but Poles would have none of that nonsense, and his 11th-hour epiphany to address these issues missed its mark. Yes, Fields will turn out to be a retard too, and the same can be said for Bears GMs. When Poles final day comes and he's pushing up the daisies may his epitaph read, "Never has a man done so little with so much". Poles DOES suck. Fuck this team. Go Bears (Da fuck, here I am rooting for a team with such blind allegiance, and without a gun to my head, must make me a retard too)
***Drive by Alert*** Cubs are fun, 5th best run scoring offense in the MLB, as a braindead Tigers fan, Im pulling for them. Go Fields (love that QB)... Flat out destroy the freeking Packers, NO quarter, NO prisoners, take NO shit... show NO love!!!
Christian Watson officially ruled out for the Packers. Doubs is questionable, but he's telling people that he feels good, wants to play, etc. So we'll see. That's GB's top WR, and potentially top two WR's, out for week one. They really are trying to make it as easy as possible for this defense to show up and have a good week. No excuses.
Erin's gone, but yet I'm still having PTSD moments in the past when big name players are out for the cheese dicks but it didn't matter anyways. I remember when we would say this shit about Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb or Donald Driver, and it didn't fucking matter. But looking at what's left of their WRs, I'm not sure how the bears secondary, specifically the corners will play. They took the silky smooth kid from Michigan St in the 2nd, Jaylen Reed. Kid wasn't a bum in college, but Tyrique Stevenson is probably covering this rookie, and I don't like that match up for the bears. Dontayvion Wicks in college, of his 57 catches at Virginia last year, 28 of them were all 20+ yard passes. He's the deep threat and creating zero pressure gives this kid a chance to do what he's good at. They also drafted some other rookie from Nebraska late rounds, but the kid runs a 4'4 Samori Tour. Luke Musgrave from Oregon State was the 2nd best pass catching TE in this past draft after the kid from Utah who ended up being taken by Buffalo. After seeing the Loins heavily use their early drafted rookie TE, can see GB doing the same and Brisker/Gordon will be busy with this guy because in college he'd line up in the slot (and X and Z), and we know LaFleur is smart enough to recognize the weak link on the D, kinda like how he would line up Davonte Adams on Buster Skrine in the slot a few years ago because LOL free yards/probably a TD/smart coaches attack weak links of a defense. I can see LaFleur being smart enough to attack Tyrique Stevenson with this kid, and I see Alan Williams being inept enough to not adjust, and Stevenson dumb enough for a couple of painful PIs or just blown coverages altogether. Doubs and a kid named Heath are the slow, lengthy 50/50 guys, and of course you've got to be ready for 2 very capable halfbacks. I expect LaFleur to run at Ngokue a lot in 'iffy' situations that can be either pass or run look presnap before PA to set up deep shots/use Love's cannon arm/Wicks' and Tour's speed on top of quick passes to the quick WRs/Doubs to body whoever he lines up on.
Ehhhh.... I don't know how they beat Atlanta or LA in a best of 5/7 unless they both go ice cold, but you can't count on that and Atlanta is always too good. LA they have a better chance at because half the dodgers' pitching is hurt. Then there's the problem of Cody Bellinger. If you can't get past ATL/LA, he's a goner. Ricketts is a cheap POS who's more interested in paying politicians than he is his own baseball team. I'm not optimistic they're going to pay him but think they absolutely should, or thought they should have dealt him at the deadline for a blue chip prospect, which is better than the comp pick in the 40s/50s this draft they'll get when he leaves in FA. But hey, since Jeff Samarzdija, then Zambrano before him, then Wood/Prior--the cubs are finally drafting and developing competent pitching prospects again. A+ for Wicks/Steele, I'd even throw in Alzolay too. The Jaxon Wiggins kid they drafted has crazy good potential to be another ace.
NFL Picks Against The Spread - Week 1 Expert Picks ATS Across the board, like I said. Jordan Love is the next coming. That said, with the injuries on the Packers even, while I think this is the best shot they've had in years, I just have this absolute feeling we are going to lose AGAIN. I want this to not be the case, I will definitely be watching, but everything says on paper that the Bears are better and the Packers definitely did NOT get better, no matter what their idiot fanbase thinks. Here's to it though, FOOTBALL IS BACK BABY. See you assholes in the game thread tomorrow.
