NFL 2024 Season - Week 14
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Week 13
Mile High Hopes
Top and Bottom
Fourth Time the Charm
Bounce Back
Engage Spark
Line Up
Out in the Cold
Thanksgiving Visitors
Good Enough
Motivation on Steroids
Week 12
Second Best
Heavyweight Bout
QB's Ins and Outs
Everybody In
Too Easy
Walk the Plank
Hot to Trot
Try, Try, Try, Try, Try Again
Week 11
Mouse Trap
Must Game
Malfunction
Easy Does It
Old Foes
Falcons Fly into Mile High
Matter of Time
Improv
To the Brink
Week 10
Odd Man Out
Lions come Calling
Rookie versus Veteran
Call to Action
Full Reverse
When 8-0 is 4-4
Game of Contradictions
NFC West Bunch
Early Boarding
Week 9
Not Enough, Too Much
Real or Imposters
Groin Shot
Best Show
Saddle Up
Dull Edges
Telling Actions
Annihilation Formula
Week 8
No and No
Old Glory
Rookie Face Off
Adding it Up
Holding On
Jets Down
Unload and Reload
No Surprise
Career Paths
It Hurts
Week 7
Harbaugh Monday
Kids Camp
Barkley Back
Bird Battle
Mouse Time
Too Many?
Gone Shopping
Not Bad
40 for 3
Week 6
Try New
Night Vision
Trap Door
Looking Up
Wake Up Call
All Good Things
Bad Idea
Unexpected
Fire One
Week 5
Yes & Yes
Old Rivals
Rookie Sensation
So Close
Lunch in Seattle
Wake the Roosters
No Respect
Too Sweet
Turtle Flip
Week 4
Landmine
Bottoms Up
Winners and Losers
Call Me
Short Line
Reality Bites
Like Tonight
Uptick
Challenge Generates Performance
Week 3
Two Times
Reduced Value
Stars Down
The Other 21
Opportunity Knocks
Lots of Questions
Move Along People
Times Up
Week 2
Confidence Game
First and Second Picked QB's
Avoiding the Donut
Do or Die
One for the Road
Likewise
Adjustment Bureau
Down ... Not Out
Week 1
Time Marches On
Cashing the Trade
Start Here
Say What
Quick Up, Quick Down
Brazil Play Date
Top Two Open
Super Bowl Pick
Season Win Totals
Moving on Up
Breakout to Breakdown
Preseason 4
Preseason Wrap
Rookie Playoff Run
Preseason 3
Short Memory
Two In, One Up
Eagles Hunt
Winning Formula
Preseason 2
Quarterback Shuffle
One Two, or Two One
Starters Sit
Remote Control
Money be Damned
Preseason 1
One Season to the Next
Public Shift
Comets in the Night
Offseason
Mahomes Chasing History
All's Well that Ends Well
Ups and Downs
     
 
Public Shift
by Dennis Ranahan

A few months ago, my wife and I got intrigued by the Northern Lights being visible in our neighborhood. On the night they were predicted to be most spectacular we took our dog and drove to the park near our home where it was promoted that it would be best viewed.

We waited for a couple hours, past midnight, with a number of other would-be viewers who, like us, were disappointed.

Nothing.

There were a couple times when someone would claim they could see something, but it never was the Northern Lights we expected.

For football fans looking forward to viewing Thursday’s preseason opener between the Chicago Bears and Houston Texans, the results may be the same. That is, what you really came to see is not going to appear.

The Texans own one of the most watchable quarterbacks in the game in second year pro C.J. Stroud. He was the second overall draft choice last year and made the Carolina Panthers look like chumps for trading up to the first pick and take Bryce Young instead of Stroud.

The Panthers trade was a package deal that sent the Chicago Bears a bevy of draft choices including the first pick in last April’s allotment of college talent. The Bears used that pick to choose USC’s Calib Williams, who they figured was the best quarterback in the draft while many thought the top pick should have been LSU’s Jayden Daniels, the Heisman Trophy winner that went to the Washington Commanders with the second pick.

In all, half of the first dozen picks in this year’s NFL draft were quarterbacks. The New England Patriots took Drake Maye with the third pick, the Atlanta Falcons selected Michael Penix with the eighth pick, J.J. McCarthy went to the Minnesota Vikings with the tenth overall selection and Bo Nix was chosen by the Denver Broncos with the twelfth pick.

The rush to get quarterbacks was reminiscent of the 1983 draft when six signal callers were chosen in the first round. That year, the first player chosen was John Elway, while four other quarterbacks were selected before the Miami Dolphins took Dan Marino with their first round choice. For the record, the first and last players selected in the first round that year developed into the best quarterbacks in the draft.

So, now we have the Bears taking Williams and sending the man they chose with their first pick three years ago, Justin Fields, to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a fourth or sixth round draft choice depending on how much Fields plays this year for Mike Tomlin’s squad.

The Bears search for a franchise quarterback is a lot like the Northern Lights event Pam, Rosie and I went on in May. The search continues long after the promise of results. And if any of the other quarterbacks excel and Williams is a flop, the Bears could be looking at another situation like the selection of Mitch Trubisky while Patrick Mahomes was available in the 2017 NFL draft.

Chicago Head Coach Matt Eberflus has already declared Williams will not see any action in the Hall of Fame Game, and it is unlikely Texans Head Coach DeMeco Ryans will risk his top QB to possible injury in this opening scrimmage.

As soon as Eberflus indicated Williams would sit and Tyson Bagent would get the start on Thursday in Canton, the line shifted three points from the Bears, a 1½ point favorite, to the Texans by 1½ points.

Our early selection on Chicago in this game was not based on Williams, who we knew that if he played it would be no more than a series or two, but the overall direction and motivation of these two squads. Now, with Williams known to be out, the public has enhanced a wager on the Bears with a better point spread.