November 5, 2023: The Expectation Game

I feel… OK. This latest Bears loss was same ol’, same ol’… With the lower expectations, wait scratch that… with ZERO expectations, this loss… didn’t hurt as much. Each and every loss hurts, don’t get me wrong, but… playing this expectation game is making me feel a little less bad. Did I mark this game against the Saints as a win before the season started? Yes, yes I did. Did I think we were going to win this game the day before? No, no I did not. That adjustment of my mind set is a powerful thing; you should try it.

Let’s start with Tyson. To be fair, I didn’t watch this game as I normally do; I saw bits and pieces, and of course, the highlights and low lights. Sounds like he did some good things; he definitely did some bad things. Sounds like every other QB we’ve ever had in our lifetime. However, keeping my mind set about Bagent focused on the fact that I think he’s a good backup QB; I feel OK about this performance. This still leaves the starting QB question. Hoping we’ll get back to locking that guy in if/when Fields comes back on Thursday night vs Carolina. I think this is still the most important question that we need a definitive answer on by the end of the year, yes?

I can go back through the game and talk about some of the good things that Bagent did; talk about the defense maybe. But you know what, I’m tired of that. The time for moral victories is over; I don’t care really. What I do care about are actual victories in the standings, and a quick peek there, shows only 2 out of 9. This is NOT what I expected heading into this year… With 8 games to play, mathematically we can get to the 10 wins I predicted; realistically, if we can win half of the remaining games, that would double our win total from last year. I think this would be deemed as the minimum of acceptable for this season. More importantly, is Fields the guy or not?

With so much still to focus on, we need a decision at QB; I thought we had this locked up? Glad we signed Sweat to his extension; wouldn’t have made much sense to trade for him without it… glad the Bears aren’t that dumb. Signing Jaylon Johnson should be a priority I think. But where we go with the draft, trades, and free agency, hinges on the decision at QB. If we say we’ve locked in our backup with Bagent, that still leaves the starting QB position open. Could Bagent hold it down temporarily if we go the route of drafting another one? Is it possible that Bagent develops into something more than that? Does this factor into our decision? I want Justin Fields to be the guy, yet I’m not totally convinced; we’ve been over this. Honestly, just talking about the Bears at this point is exhausting…

Let’s wrap it up. Let’s sit back, take a breath, and relax. Any wins will be welcome; any losses will not hurt as much. The QB decision should hopefully clear up in the next 2 months, but just like with the zero expectations for the week in week out result, I don’t have any real faith that we’ll make the right decision there, whichever way we go. This is fun, right? Let’s talk about something a little more fun, shall we?