Bears Lose 10th Straight 6-3 on Thursday Night Football

Good morning Chicago fans! I hope you had a great Christmas! Thanks for making Windy Conditions a part of your weekly routine this year. 2024 was quite the year for Chicago sports, and it was a blessing to appreciate the chaos with all of you.

As we reflect on the year as a whole, let’s look back at the first newsletter of the year 👀

If you enjoy this newsletter, forward it to a friend! If you are the friend, you can subscribe here:

RESULTS

L - Seahawks 6, Bears 3: A primetime punch-in-the-face on Boxing Day

• 10 straight losses with 1 game remaining!

• “Sell the team” chants filled Soldier Field in the most boring, unimportant, unexciting game of football we have seen all season

• Both offenses were completely incompetent. Whether it was the short week, the Shane Waldron effect, or surprisingly good defensive play, it was hard to watch.

• Bears offense: 10 drives, 11 1st downs, 7 punts, 3.1 yards per play

• Seahawks offense: 10 drives, 12 1st downs, 6 punts, 5.2 yards per play

• Combined drive summary for the entire game: FG, Punt x6, FG, FG, Punt x3, Fumble, Punt x4, INT

• Caleb Williams (16/28, 122 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT) was sacked 7 times, threw screens all night, and was forced to make something out of nothing every single play. Nothing was working on offense, and no rhythm was ever established. This was his 8th game out of 16 with under 200 passing yards.

• The offensive line was Borom/Curhan/Shelton/Pryor/Wright because of injuries on the left side. Only Wright was supposed to be a starter headed into the season…

• Bears running backs combined for 58 yards on 16 carries 🤢

• Defense played their best game in ages! 6 points allowed was the best showing of the season, and they kept Geno Smith (17/23, 160 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT) and his trio of great receivers in check.

• Missed opportunities: Tremaine Edmunds dropped an interception in the red zone, Kyler Gordon forced a fumble and returned it for a touchdown that got called back because he was down by contact, and Darrell Taylor had a strip sack that was recovered by the Seahawks

• The last drive was a flashback to the Matt Eberflus school of clock management. Losing 6-3, the Bears got the ball at their own 11 yard line with 5:12 left and all 3 timeouts. After 3 minutes of game time, 27 yards gained, and a Jake Curhan false start on 4th and 1, Thomas Brown called a timeout on a 4th & 5 to change his mind from punting to going for it. They didn’t even get into field goal range…

• Caleb had 2 ridiculous throws on the last drive to DJ Moore and Rome Odunze to convert on a 4th & 5 and 3rd & 14, but he had no time to throw on every play and had to hurl up a prayer on 4th & 10 at the end of the game. Unfortunately, his no interception streak ended at 353 pass attempts, which is the 4th longest streak in a season in NFL history.

SEASON RECORD: 4-12 (Last place)

⭐ STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐

Kyler Gordon

I was tempted to give it to nobody.

Gordon (6 tackles, 1 PD, 1 fum rec) made some big plays and has been impressive all year.

🎥 PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥

Kyler Gordon fumble recovery

NEWS & NOTES

Braxton Jones fractured his ankle in the Lions game and will miss the remainder of the season. He should be healthy before training camp.

Streak officially ended at 9 full games without an interception:

Former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll reportedly has interest in the Bears coaching job

Tied their franchise record with a 10 game losing streak. The last one? In 2022.

Vikings vs. Lions this Sunday for the NFC North crown and the #1 seed. It wasn’t too long ago when the Bears beat them both in Weeks 12 & 14 last year.

If other Chicago teams were to lose the equivalent of 10 straight football games in a 17 game season, they would have to lose the following number of games in a row:

Blackhawks/Bulls: 49 games in the 82 game season

Cubs/White Sox: 96 games in the 162 game season

Next up ➡ season finale at Lambeau Field. What could go wrong?

TROPHY TRACKER (4/10 ➡ 🏆)

RESULTS

L - Wild 4, Blackhawks 3: 14th loss in 15 games against Minnesota

• 2-1 Blackhawks lead slipped away as they stepped off the gas. Hawks actually outshot the Wild 31-27 and won 50% of the faceoffs

• Anders Sorensen won his first NHL challenge as a Wild goal was overturned for goalie interference in the 1st period

L - Sabres 6, Blackhawks 2: First no-show in the Anders Sorensen era

• Sabres scored 4 early goals as they outshot the Hawks 13-1 in an ugly 1st period. Petr Mrazek was pulled after the 1st.

• Alex Tuch had a hat trick for the Sabres

• Arvid Soderblom allowed a soft goal when the Hawks were down 4-2 and pushing to make it a one goal game

L - Stars 5, Blackhawks 1: 2nd straight blowout and 4th straight loss

• An electric start highlighted by Connor Bedard’s early goal quickly faded as the 2 teams battled through a power play war (11 combined penalties)

• Everything went off the rails after Tyler Bertuzzi was ejected for elbowing old friend Colin Blackwell and the Stars scored 12 seconds into the PP

SEASON RECORD: 12-23-2 (26 points)

⭐ STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐

Connor Bedard

2 goals, 1 assist (3 points) and on a 4-game point streak

🎥 PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥

Pat Maroon to Seth Jones goal

NEWS & NOTES

Sent Kevin Korchinski to the AHL, recalled Wyatt Kaiser

Next up ➡ Winter Classic on New Year’s Eve at Wrigley Field!!!

TROPHY TRACKER (2/10 ➡ 🏆)

RESULTS

L - Bucks 112, Bulls 91: Worst offensive night of the season

• Against a Bucks team missing Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, the Bulls only made 10 3PT (tied season low) and scored a season low 91 points

• 17-point 1st quarter dug an insurmountable hole as the Bulls only shot 40.0% from the field and 20.8% from 3PT

• Bobby Portis revenge game: 19p/13r/6a

L - Hawks 141, Bulls 133: Historic collapse in Atlanta without Hawks-killer Ayo

• After a 44-point 3rd quarter for the Bulls, they gave up a 50-point 4th quarter and an 18-0 run to blow an easy win

• Bulls shot an impressive 22/43 (51.2%) from 3PT but only shot 6 free throws (Hawks shot 34)

• Zach LaVine scored 37 points, and Jevon Carter had a huge game off the bench with 26 points in 36 minutes

W - Bulls 116, Bucks 111: Redemption win against the NBA Cup Champs!

• Bulls actually took advantage of another game without Giannis and made clutch shots to seal the win

• Josh Giddey went off with another triple-double (23p/10a/15r) in his return from injury and possibly his best defensive effort of the season!

SEASON RECORD: 14-18 (T/9th in East)

⭐ STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐

Nikola Vucevic

Mr. Consistent! 19.7p/3.7a/11r per game, 2 double-doubles, 37.5% 3PT

🎥 PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥

Coby White game winner

NEWS & NOTES

Signed F Emanuel Miller to a two-way contract, waived G DJ Steward

Ayo Dosunmu missed the last 2 games and will be re-evaluated in 10 days for a calf strain

Saturday’s game vs. the Bucks featured the regular starting lineup of Giddey/Coby/LaVine/PWill/Vooch for the first time since November 18th 😮

TROPHY TRACKER (1/10 ➡ 🏆)

NEWS & NOTES

Traded 1B Matt Mervis to the Miami Marlins for UTIL Vidal Brujan

• This is a reasonable swap of fringe major leaguers. Brujan was designated for assignment a week ago, and Mervis struggled in AAA last season.

• Brujan is a former top prospect with the Rays who was ranked as high as #36 in MLB in 2021.

• Brujan can play all over the field and has appeared at 2B more than anywhere else. He’s a switch-hitting utility man who could be a valuable bench player for the Cubs this season. He hasn’t figured out his bat at the major league level (.531 OPS in 497 AB over 201 games) but has consistently hit in the minors (.839 OPS in AAA in 2023). He’s a solid defender with crazy speed (240 SB in his minor league career)!

• Smash Mervis was an underdog story after going undrafted in 2020 and going OFF in the minors in 2022 (.984 OPS, 36 HR). Unfortunately, he looked lost in his short stints at Wrigley, and his strikeout rates have been steadily high. Hopefully he figures something out with a change of scenery.

Sammy Sosa will officially attend Cubs Con!!!

The Hot Stove is still hot with Corbin Burnes joining the Diamondbacks. As far as Cubs news, things have taken a step back. I’m wondering if the mid-January Roki Sasaki decision is holding up other moves since they are operating under an internal baseball budget.

I’m still hoping for 2 more relievers, 1 starter, and 1 more impact bat (assuming 3 or C)!

How about a Roki Sasaki, AJ Minter, Kirby Yates, and Shea Langeliers (by trade) finish to the offseason?

TROPHY TRACKER (5/10 ➡ 🏆)

Pat Maroon

Maroon invited his friend and linemate Lukas Reichel to his home in St. Louis to celebrate Christmas since Reichel would not have any family in town from Germany.

The Maroon family included him in the festivities and made sure he had gifts to open!

Many details from this Bears season aren’t worth discussing.

Coaching incompetence ruined everything and clouded most of the possible evaluations from the year.

Big picture questions are in play for the Bears as they close out the season - firstly, will Ryan Poles remain the GM and does he deserve to keep the job?

When the GM’s job status is up in the air, any and all criticisms of the product on the field are fair and fall at his feet.

With that said, I’m sick of the outrage over some specifics that clearly don’t matter anymore because the coaching staff was awful. A new staff will be here soon.

Cole Kmet was targeted 1 or less times in 5 games. Should he be more involved in the offense? Of course. But the entire scheme was broken, and production was nowhere to be found across the board. I don’t care if he was targeted because nobody was used correctly.

The offensive line was terrible. Should they have added more talent to the line last offseason? Of course. But they switched run schemes from last season, had zero effective passing gameplans, lost their supposed starting center to injury in training camp, had their starting right guard walk away from the sport, and the LT and LG missed substantial time. They were average the last couple seasons and could have improved this year.

Caleb Williams was inaccurate on deep throws. Should he have been better down the field? Of course. But the route concepts were unimaginative, his receivers dropped a ton of passes, he had defenders in his face all the time, he had three different offensive coordinators, and he’s a rookie in the NFL. He’s a good passer. He’ll figure it out.

The defense was possibly the worst in the league from the bye week until now. Should they have been a great defense all year? Of course. But I’m fairly certain they quit after the Hail Mary, and the coach was not getting his message across to the team. They were elite to start the season, so hopefully a new staff can unlock their talent again.

There were a billion issues with this Bears team, but we can close the book on the minute details. A new coaching staff is coming to town.

Jesse Rogers - Breaking down Cubs’ plan for 2025 and beyond (ESPN)

Mark Lazerus - Blackhawks reminder of the folly of tanking and the 2019 draft (The Athletic)

Courtney Cronin - Bears’ Brown denies late-game confusion (ESPN)

Ben Pope - Four storylines to follow during middle portion of Blackhawks’ season (Chicago Sun-Times)

Thanks for reading! Happy New Year! Looking forward to more firings and zero playoff appearances in 2025!