Bears Outlast Cardinals
The Bears improved their record to 6-9 following a 27-16 win at home over the Arizona Cardinals and in doing so kept their razor thin, yet wholly unrealistic playoff hopes alive. Justin Fields led the way going 15 for 27 for 170 yards, 1 TD & 1 INT. He also added 97 yards & 1 TD rushing. Khalil Herbert was the other star piling up 112 yards on the ground with a TD. TE Cole Kmet was on his way to a monster day before a knee injury ended his day. He still wound up leading all receivers with 4 catches for 107 yards.
With Kmet out and DJ Moore playing with an ankle injury, Justin Fields and Herbert led the rushing attack as the Bears piled up 250 rushing yards.
Defensively, Kyler Gordon was the star as he had 7 tackles, 1 sack, 1 PD and 1 QB hit. The Bears defense stiffened when it needed to as the Cardinals cut a 21-point deficit to 8. The Cardinals had the ball with 4 minutes left to try and tie the game but the defense held strong and forced a turnover on downs at the Cardinals’ 27 yard line.
Grading The Bears
Offense: While the rushing attack led the day, the offense had the same story in the 2nd half – they couldn’t maintain the momentum of the 1st half. Fields’ red-zone INT didn’t help matters nor did Getsy’s play calling in the 2nd half. Grade: C+
Defense: Overall a solid day for the defense. No turnovers created but also kept the Cardinals from rallying back from 21 points down. Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker had standout games. Grade: B
Special Teams: 2 FGs for Cairo Santos. No blunders for the special teams unit. Grade: B
Coaching: The offense continues to struggle in moments. After 3 TD drives, the offense struggled mightily to get going. Part of it is on the players, most of it is on Luke Getsy. Grade: C+
Up Next: The Bears welcome the Atlanta Falcons in the home season finale.
Bulls Finding Themselves Sans LaVine
The Chicago Bulls hit a low point last month after getting blown out by the Celtics to drop their record to 5-14. The team looked disjointed and incapable of playing with effort on a day to day basis. Since that game G Zach LaVine went on the injured list and has been for about a month. Since then, the Bulls have become a different team – a team that hustles on each possession. This is a team that now plays hard on a nightly basis and it’s being spearheaded by its young players.
Since LaVine’s injury the biggest beneficiary of LaVine’s absence has been Coby White. Here’s how Coby has performed before & after LaVine’s injury:
| Before LaVine Injury | After LaVine Injury |
|---|---|
| 13.7 ppg | 23.7 ppg |
| 4.0 apg | 6.5 apg |
| 2.7 rpg | 6.3 rpg |
| 42.2 FG% | 49.1 FG% |
| 38.8 3PT% | 43.8 3PT% |
Coby is hearing whispers of All-Star consideration. I don’t believe this would have happened had LaVine not been injured. Coby hasn’t been the only Bulls player to benefit. Patrick Williams, Ayo Dosunmu, Jevon Carter and Andre Drummond have all stepped their games up over this 12 game period.
Add in tonight’s 118-113 win over the Atlanta Hawks and now the Bulls have gone 9-4 since Zach LaVine went out on IR. I’m not saying the Bulls are a better team without Zach LaVine. They’re a different team. I like watching this team play hard on a nightly basis.
Now that we are past the December 15 threshold of when teams can begin discussing trades for players I expect the Bulls to look into trading LaVine. They also need to be realistic in not expecting a king’s ransom. Get whatever you can get and move on. The LaVine/DeMar/Vooch era is over… and now the Bulls need to turn their sights on rebuilding.
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