NFL 2025 Weekly Predictions Contest: Week 1

[milani]

If losing the first game of the season is criteria to dump a coach or consider your team as losers, we'd start by saying that 50% of the coaches should be fired after the first game.

Approximately 17.65% of all Super Bowl champions lost their first game of the season, as nine out of 51 winners had an opening-game loss. More recently, from 1993 to 2017, this figure rose to nearly 30%, with seven of the 24 Super Bowl winners starting the season 0-1.

What you need to avoid as a team is losing the first two games because that can take you out of it pretty quickly. An interesting stat is that 8 out of the last 25 Super Bowl matchups had a team in it that lost the first game of the season so maybe there's too much emphasis put on winning that first game.

Maybe one of the biggest problems there is coaching the Bears is that any losses at the beginning of a new coach's tenure is enough to make the fan base throw them under the bus, and the team along with them. Nothing speaks to esprit de corps like everyone turning on them before they even get started.

You might also consider that the Vikings defense might be just that good, and not an easy team to play against.

To your point Lombardi lost the first game in the year of his first championship and began with a tie in his last one. And I believe Belichick got pummeled in one of his SB titles in game one. Practice was not fun that week.
But rather than firing someone the Bears staff has to input more discipline. 12 penalties for 127 yards are preseason numbers. It is like a hockey team that is in the penalty box all the time. Very hard to win.

If losing the first game of the season is criteria to dump a coach or consider your team as losers, we'd start by saying that 50% of the coaches should be fired after the first game.

Approximately 17.65% of all Super Bowl champions lost their first game of the season, as nine out of 51 winners had an opening-game loss. More recently, from 1993 to 2017, this figure rose to nearly 30%, with seven of the 24 Super Bowl winners starting the season 0-1.

What you need to avoid as a team is losing the first two games because that can take you out of it pretty quickly. An interesting stat is that 8 out of the last 25 Super Bowl matchups had a team in it that lost the first game of the season so maybe there's too much emphasis put on winning that first game.

Maybe one of the biggest problems there is coaching the Bears is that any losses at the beginning of a new coach's tenure is enough to make the fan base throw them under the bus, and the team along with them. Nothing speaks to esprit de corps like everyone turning on them before they even get started.

You might also consider that the Vikings defense might be just that good, and not an easy team to play against.

 

[Calebs Revenge]

Same team I've been watching for 35 years...... just different names......
Offense struggles, the defense scores a touchdown, and you still can't get it done done they fold in the end......

 

[Calebs Revenge]

Spot on as usual Voyageur.

While seeing Calebs Revenge throw in the towel after one game is, might I say....glorious, it's also unwarranted. You saw three quarters of what the Bears could be and one quarter of what they have been. I'd be more optimistic than any disappointment I felt over a Week 1 loss. The Bears played better than the Lions!

Don't forget that the Vikings were missing their long-time veteran safety, Harrison Smith. Not having him surely affected the overall defense in the beginning of the game.

Let's also not forget that many Bears players exited the game with injuries in the 4th quarter, including in the backfield. There are always deeper reasons for losses than just blaming the coaching staff.

I'm not throwing in the towel. I'm just extremely disappointed.
Especially after y'all look like freaking Super Bowl champs

 

[Calebs Revenge]

Spot on as usual Voyageur.

While seeing Calebs Revenge throw in the towel after one game is, might I say....glorious, it's also unwarranted. You saw three quarters of what the Bears could be and one quarter of what they have been. I'd be more optimistic than any disappointment I felt over a Week 1 loss. The Bears played better than the Lions!

Don't forget that the Vikings were missing their long-time veteran safety, Harrison Smith. Not having him surely affected the overall defense in the beginning of the game.

Let's also not forget that many Bears players exited the game with injuries in the 4th quarter, including in the backfield. There are always deeper reasons for losses than just blaming the coaching staff.

That's also true but in every game, I think there's a play that you can point to that if that doesn't go that way, maybe we win and for me it's that third two when we're up seven........ I cannot stress enough HOW DUMB THAT CALL IS....to throw the ball 4 yards behind the line of scrimmage to get 2 yards. Just ridiculous. I loathe the WR screen play.
Philly doesn't do that.....they lineup man to man...and beat you
Anyways, I hope Ben learns from it and hopefully will do better next week

 

[Calebs Revenge]

We're just soooooooooooo
Tirrrrrrrrreeedddddddd of incompetence

 

[milani]

I'm not throwing in the towel. I'm just extremely disappointed.
Especially after y'all look like freaking Super Bowl champs

It is a 17 game schedule. Many teams lost very close ones. One play was the difference. Koo missing one for Atlanta. The Texans fumbling when they were deep in LA territory. The Niners back up TE makes a crowded catch in Seattle. Henry fumbling and Baltimore blows it 41-40. The Browns kicker blowing it 17-16. Cowboys fumbling deep in Eagle territory. Butker of KC missing a crucial PAT. The teams that came out on the losing side may be on the winning end of those Heartbreakers this week.

 

[El Guapo]

I'm not throwing in the towel. I'm just extremely disappointed.
Especially after y'all look like freaking Super Bowl champs

...and both teams could look completely opposite after Week 2.

Your highs and lows on this forum are legendary at this point

 

[Calebs Revenge]

I'm crazy....... I got the paperwork and the boots to match

 

[Voyageur]

We're just soooooooooooo
Tirrrrrrrrreeedddddddd of incompetence

Think about this for a moment. The stats say that only 30% of the teams that lose the first game make it to the Super Bowl over the last several years. Sounds like it's the kiss of death more often than not. But that's not reading it properly.

It doesn't come close to telling the whole story, because only 2 teams out of 32 make it that far, so that's 1 team in 16. That's 6.67% of the teams make it to the Super Bowl. That 30% is a pretty solid figure when you figure that the real odds of getting there is less than 7%. Always remember, wild card teams have captured the whole show as well. Ask Packer fans, we did it not all that long ago.

Years ago, when I first started coaching as an assistant, I was fortunate enough to work with a really good head coach who knew more about the psychology of the game than anyone I'd ever met. He told me something that I've carried since and always remember when I see the same thing happening around me. He said that you can't teach players how to play better after they win because in the back of their minds they have already decided they know how to win without any help. He believed that you have real teachable moments from losses, and rarely from wins.

You know your team has a no-nonsense coach who doesn't accept excuses. You can rest assured they're going to go into Detroit and it's going to be a barn burner because you have a coach smarting from a loss to a major rival and the Lions have the same thing. It's going to be a game where both teams will be facing a long road back if they lose this one but getting this win under their belt, they're in the thick of the race in the division.

The last thing the Bears and their coaches need right now is fans calling them losers just like in the past. Nothing can destroy the confidence faster than fan apathy and calling them losers.

 

[Calebs Revenge]

I agree. With what you're saying. And it is a long season.....we just wanted to start with a win soooooooooooo bad.
It is what it is.
Also......I always said this to my wife about Nagy and Eberflus.......it's not just that you lost.....it's how u lost.
17-6 w ball 2 min in 3rd left iirc.

 

[Voyageur]

I agree. With what you're saying. And it is a long season.....we just wanted to start with a win soooooooooooo bad.
It is what it is.
Also......I always said this to my wife about Nagy and Eberflus.......it's not just that you lost.....it's how u lost.
17-6 w ball 2 min in 3rd left iirc.

I'm not going to defend the past coaching staffs in Chicago, but I am going to say that it all starts with the front office and how they handle the entire structure of management and coaching. You establish a culture from the top down and it doesn't happen overnight. It takes time to establish a winning attitude top to bottom, and it doesn't happen until the fan base buys into it. Chicago, my friend, is a city where you're either a hero, or the fans will push you under the bus in a heartbeat. I have a dear friend who played with the White Sox for a period of time, and he said it's the most unforgiving fan base he's ever seen, anywhere in sports. In my opinion, he's right.

I have said for a long time now that the Bears will never be a consistent winner until they find a front office who will have the patience to create a new team from the bottom up. You might look at how it happened in Green Bay, bringing in Bob Harlan who turned it all upside down by rebuilding the entire organization with a new culture and direction. He did not bring anyone in and give them a deadline or expect the impossible, he brought them in because they had the skills to do the job and then let them do their thing to make it happen. That culture has been with the Packers now for 35 years and it's also why we're one of the better teams in the NFL every year.

From day one, Harlan had an open-door policy to the public. You could call him on the phone, and he'd talk to you if you had something relevant to say.

In Chicago, the whole thing seems to stem around an edict of win it all in 3 years or you're out of here. That is not building a culture that's creating a fear factor that means everyone involved becomes frantic and will do anything short term to insure they win. That is no way to run a program.

But, as long as the culture stays like it is, the Packers are going to feast on the carcasses of the Bears. (I had to throw that in there. Kind of a dig. Sorry!)

 

[weeds]

I agree. With what you're saying. And it is a long season.....we just wanted to start with a win soooooooooooo bad.
It is what it is.
Also......I always said this to my wife about Nagy and Eberflus.......it's not just that you lost.....it's how u lost.
17-6 w ball 2 min in 3rd left iirc.

I get it,CR ... but your guys will be just fine. Implementing a whole new system, new coaching staff... they'll be fine.

 

[Calebs Revenge]

Who would have thought a bunch of Packers fans would be telling me it's gonna be OK........
That might be the most ridiculous and hardest part of all this
Hahahahhahahahahhahahahaha
Siiiiiiiiiiiggggggghhhhhhhhhh

 

[Canadian Cheddar]

I believe I got a Bingo for the Vikings game as well as Griffin

Yep! I missed that. I'll update the standings. My apologies for any stresses or hardships incurred due to my omission.

 

[Canadian Cheddar]

I hate to say this because I thought the Bears could win it but under the circumstances I don't have any choice.

"Out of the jaws of victory the Bears snatched defeat!"

Those last two games of the week were a late rounds punch to the jaw for my picks.

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[Canadian Cheddar]

The standings have been updated on page 5 to include Griffin and Albert Park's Bingo on last nights game. I'll try to get the Week 2 games list out tonight.

 

[Canadian Cheddar]

Caleb just

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[Poppa San]

I'm crazy....... I got the paperwork and the boots to match

Do your boots look like Nancy Sinatra's?

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Or is Jessica more your style?

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[Canadian Cheddar]

Do your boots look like Nancy Sinatra's?

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Or is Jessica more your style?

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Gotta go with NS for the song version and performance. Willie wasn't enough to to save this Jessica sk@#k-fest.

 

[milani]

Gotta go with NS for the song version and performance. Willie wasn't enough to to save this Jessica sk@#k-fest.

This song hit #1 on the charts in early 1966.

 

[Raptorman]

Do your boots look like Nancy Sinatra's?

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Or is Jessica more your style?

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Sometimes less is more. This is one of those cases. Nancy killed it; Jessica should have kept it as simple.

 

[Voyageur]

Do your boots look like Nancy Sinatra's?

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Or is Jessica more your style?

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I had the opportunity of acting as a bodyguard for her up at Lake Tahoe. Just a 2-day gig. She was a pleasant enough person who liked her privacy. Was very cordial and friendly. Not pretentiousness about her whatsoever. I never did actually spend time talking to her except in the line of duty.

 

[milani]

I had the opportunity of acting as a bodyguard for her up at Lake Tahoe. Just a 2-day gig. She was a pleasant enough person who liked her privacy. Was very cordial and friendly. Not pretentiousness about her whatsoever. I never did actually spend time talking to her except in the line of duty.

She married Tommy Sands way too young.

 

[weeds]

Who would have thought a bunch of Packers fans would be telling me it's gonna be OK........
That might be the most ridiculous and hardest part of all this
Hahahahhahahahahhahahahaha
Siiiiiiiiiiiggggggghhhhhhhhhh

Don't expect it though, OK?

 

[weeds]

Do your boots look like Nancy Sinatra's?

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Or is Jessica more your style?

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THIS is one the worst songs EVER recorded and if you say otherwise "You've been lyin' when you shoulda been truthin'".