There’s still one more wildcard game to go on Monday night, but the NFL has already announced next week’s Divisional Round Playoff schedule and the Championship Sunday schedule for the following week.

All times are Central

Saturday, January 18

AFC: 3:30 p.m. - Houston Texans at Kansas City Chiefs (ESPN/ABC, ESPN+, ESPN Deportes)

NFC: 7:00 p.m. - Washington Commanders at Detroit Lions (FOX, FOX Deportes)

Sunday, January 19

NFC: 2:00 p.m. - Minnesota Vikings/Los Angeles Rams at Philadelphia Eagles (NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, Universo)

AFC: 5:30 p.m. - Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills (CBS, Paramount+)

**The AFC and NFC Championship...

The Notre Dame head coach has led his team to a national championship berth for the first time since 2012.

The Chicago Bears apparently have their eyes on one of college football’s hottest coaches for their head coaching vacancy.

NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero reported Sunday that the Bears want to interview Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman, who has just led the Fighting Irish to the College Football National Championship against his alma mater Ohio State.

According to Pelissero, the Bears have done “extensive research for months” on the 39-year-old coach, who played inside linebacker for the Buckeyes and was actually a...

There are a lot of ways to try to measure the performance of an offensive line in football, and none of them should be taken too seriously until fans know what they are looking at.

The Truth is Out There

Most methods available for evaluating offensive lines are, honestly, pretty poor. A small handful of analytic tools do a decent job of isolating pieces of the puzzle, but they are often limited in their scope. Many are nothing more than “black box” metrics, where some sort of magical formula is applied, often mixed with or wholly dependent on the...

The NFL’s Wild Card Weekend of six games kicks off today!

The NFL’s Wild Card Weekend has produced some fantastic games in recent memory, and by the looks of these six matchups, we could be in for another treat.

We’ll refresh this open thread on Sunday and Monday night so you guys can discuss the games, the Chicago Bears head coach search, or anything else you need to get off your chest.

Just keep in mind that open threads are rated WCG-MA.

All times listed are Central.

Saturday, January 11

AFC: 3:30 p.m. - 5 Los Angeles Chargers at 4...

Fans are fed up with the Chicago Bears and we check out some Reacts survey results here.

The Chicago Bears win against the Green Bay Packers may have given our fans a slight bump in confidence, but the end-of-the-year press conferences from general manager Ryan Poles, team president Kevin Warren, and chairman George McCaskey likely dampened that.

Before the week 18 win game, our confidence in the franchise’s direction was at a season-low of 10%, and with the offseason underway, we’re only up to a robust 12%.

The continued boobery from Bears’ leadership makes it hard to drum up hope....

Mike Vrabel seems headed to the Patriots, so if the Bears don’t land Ben Johnson, who do you want as the head coach?

The Chicago Bears reportedly have 16 names on their head coaching candidate list. The two names that the Chicago Bears fans keep talking about are Ben Johnson and Mike Vrabel. Many signs are pointing to Vrabel heading to the New England Patriots and with Ben Johnson, he’s taking three interviews other than the Chicago Bears so you never know if the Bears can land the plane and bring Johnson to Halas Hall.

**Question of the Day:...

The Bears have made a roster move.

On Friday, the Chicago Bears claimed offensive lineman Jordan McFadden, who was waived by the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler was the first to report. The Bears have yet to announce the claim, but when they do, they will need to make a roster move.

The 25-year-old McFadden was originally a fifth-round draft pick in 2023 from Clemson, and during his Chargers career, he appeared in 13 games with two starts.

While he made the Chargers 53-man roster in 2024, he was inactive most of the year and only dressed...

No Bears made either All Pro Team, but there were some votes that came Chicago’s way.

The NFL announced the 2024 All-Pro Teams earlier today, and not surprisingly, no Chicago Bears made the cut. When you stumble through a five-win campaign, it’s tough to expect any individual accolades, although cornerback Jaylon Johnson was their lone Pro Bowl selection.

Johnson was also one of three Bears who received votes for the All-Pro team, picking up four second-place votes. Kick returner DeAndre Carter had two second-place votes and long snapper Scott Daly had one first-place vote and four votes for the second...

Tracking team health throughout the entire NFL by tracking the big plays!

Welcome to the final 2024 Toxic Differential Plus.

Click on the link above to get a more detailed explanation of the stat or roll with the equation below:

Explosive Play Differential + 2(Turnover Differential) + Sack Differential = Toxic Differential Plus

We have both the best and the worst season-long TD+ since at least 2006. We almost had positive scores for all 14 playoff teams, which would have been a first in the 14-team era. Similarly, we didn’t really have a team that was high in the standings...

Dan Wiederer joins the Bears Banter Podcast!

The latest Bears Banter Podcast has dropped!

The Chicago Bears season is (finally) in the rearview mirror, and the Bears head to the offseason looking for a new head coach, but plenty happened before the search even began!

Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune joined the podcast and discussed everything that went down this past week, from the win against the Packers, the decision to retain Ryan Poles, the year-end press conferences at Halas Hall, and, of course, the Bears’ coaching search.

Dan was excellent on all fronts, but the point he made...

More interviews between coaching candidates and the Bears brass dominate the day

WE WANT YOU!

Would you like to show your Chicago Bears spirit to the world? I’m starting a feature where Windy City Gridiron readers can share pictures of themselves and their families and friends in Bears attire. Simply email a picture to me at the following address: denmasterken at aol dot com. The pictures need to be clear, and full resolution (i.e. full size from your phone if that’s how you take them). Include any description information you like along with the photo!

THE DAILY SPONGIE SPECIAL

**DENMASTER...

The Bears interviewed the Super Bowl winning head coach on Thursday

The Chicago Bears have been working through their extensive list of head coaching candidates this week. Thus far, they have 16 names on the list, and a couple more names may be added before they are done.

Today, they completed their fourth interview with none other than Pete Carroll.

Carroll is an interesting choice for the Bears given his age. Carroll will be 74 at the start of the 2025 football season. If the Bears eventually choose Carroll, it will certainly be questioned how much longer Carroll wants to...