The Chicago Bears head to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Fun times in Cleveland again! Still Cleveland! C’mon down to Cleveland town everyone! Peyton Hillis isn’t even on the Cleveland Browns anymore. Yet I went with that picture anyway. Because it’s funny. Look at him dancing. Don’t you want to get up and dance when you think about this game? It’s party time, it’s a great opportunity for the Bears to go 8-6 and get right back into the playoff race.
SPREAD: Cleveland Browns -1 does every home team in the NFL automatically be designated the favorite?? Seriously?
TV: Fox Sports Noon Sunday
TICKETS: start from $9!!!! Go Cleveland Browns small market demand and fan apathy!!!!
Cleveland Browns preview:
At 4-9 and riding a four game losing streak the Brownies are playing for the 2014 draft, not the 2013 postseason. Plus they have the Indianapolis Colts pick to boot, so it should be a fruitful next May for them. The present, not so much. The Cleveland Browns will trot out Jason Campbell and Willis McGahee against the Bears run defense ranked last in the NFL. However, the Brownies 28th ranked rushing attacked lacks the weapons to exploit that. Same with the Dallas Cowboys. The ‘Boys don’t have the ground attack and you saw what happened to them.
However, the Cleveland Browns do have Josh Gordon. (feature on him here) During week 12, Josh Gordon had 237 receiving yards and in week 13, he followed that up 261 yards. It marked the first time in NFL history a wide receiver had consecutive 200-yard receiving games.
Some more NFL records Josh Gordon has broken already in 2013:
Most receiving yards in a single season in Browns history
Most receiving yards in 4-game span (774) in NFL history
Single game record for receiving yards in Browns history (261)
So it will be fun to see what the Bears secondary against this. Chris Conte still does nothing at all. And Major Wright isn’t particularly good at his job. Watching Josh Gordon go into the area of the field where Conte is “playing defense” should make for good watching.
Chicago Bears preview:
Just a total complete effort by the Bears on Monday night. Well, sort of. The defense wasn’t dominant, but in today’s NFL it was as good a defensive effort as you’re going to see. 100 touchdowns! Yes, we’ve had 100 touchdowns this season. Hey, offense sells tickets. And defense wins championships. So the cliches are correct about the Chicago Bears. They are a very popular team with astronomically overpriced tickets; and zero Super Bowl prospects. If they even make the playoffs, which at this point means 10-6 or bust. I think the Bears have to win out.
They owned the night though versus the Cowboys. It was the highest rated Monday night game of the season and the highest rated program of the evening and all of television.
Josh McCown is 3-2 as Chicago Bears starting QB. He has 12 TD passes and one interception. He’s competing 70% of his passes. He’s thrown for 348 yards in three straight weeks. Josh McCown only has seven 300 yard games passing in his NFL career. His passer rating on the season is 103.6 For his career it’s 75.8.
Jay Cutler is 38-26 with the Bears as a starter. He’s 4-4 this year. Cutty’s passer rating is 88.4 for the season, 84.4 for the year. Time for a good old fashioned QB controversy. Even though there really shouldn’t be one. This really isn’t a discussion.
Brutally honest record: 75-31
Brutally honest pick Bears 37, Cleveland Browns 30
Man did I get the Monday nighter pick wrong. Oh well. I think the Bears get it done on the road. Even with the Cleveland Browns being the favorite.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the country; with regular weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS Catch him Tuesdays talking Illini and Northwestern for KOZN 1620 The Zone, Fridays talking Chicago Bears for WAOR 95.7 The Fan