The GameDay Opening Drive 12/14: Windy City Showdown
The Bears badly need a win and the Browns will try to spoil their magical season.
It’s gameday folks, and the Cleveland Browns head to Chicago for the first time since 2017. Believe it or not this is the first trip of any kind for the Browns to the Windy City since that 2017 matchup which is hard to believe. They have faced the Bears multiple times at home since then (2021, 2023), and they also had a preseason matchup in Cleveland during that time as well. So, this one will feel foreign to the team and fans to an extent.
The Bears enter today with a 9-4 record and are trying to setup a big NFC North division-leading contest next week with the Packers once again. They have to win today when you look at their remaining games on the schedule. The pressure is on. The Browns will try to play spoiler in this one but the injury list is long and the desire to be out in this cold weather for a meaningless game will be interesting to track.
We want to see what Shedeur Sanders can string together today on the road and build off his AFC Rookie of the Week performance last week, and Myles Garrett also hopes to keep pushing his way toward breaking the NFL sack record. He is just 2.5 sacks short of the record with four games left.
Luckily, I think at least, the entire midwest will be able to watch this game on FOX after the last two weeks where the Browns were only available in the local Cleveland markets. So, stay warm inside for as long as you can today and while you do that, we start your day with the podcast you all love and trust.
GameDay Preview Podcast: Week 15, Browns vs Bears
It’s your game day edition of the Browns Film Breakdown! The Browns are ready to face the Bears and some frigid conditions at Soldier Field in Chicago today. In this edition, we cover all the essential information you need for the game, including TV broadcast details, announcers, the injury report, weather conditions, and much more. As always, we provid…
Inside the weekly GameDay Opening Drive you will get all the pieces of information paired with your GameDay Podcast to enhance your Sundays with this team.
So, sit back, pour some coffee, turn on the best pre-game Browns song known to man, and enjoy a fresh delivery of crucial Week 15 information from yours truly.
Forecast calls for extremely cold temperatures but not quite as cold as some were anticipating. The temperature is likely to hover around 10 degrees throughout the game and the 10MPH wind should make it feel closer to 0 degrees, but this is a far cry from the -20 some were predicting earlier this week. Looks like the sun will be shining most of the day as well.
The Browns and Bears history dates well back into the early days of the NFL as both teams were staples during the 1950s. The first meeting happened in 1951 as the Browns beat the Bears in Cleveland 42-21. The Browns would go on to beat the Bears five of their first six meetings as they played five times from 1960 to 1972. Then the matchups slowed down being in difference conferences. From 1973 to 1992 the two franchises only played five times total. Since the return the new Browns and Bears have played seven total times with the Bears holding a slight 4-3 record edge despite the Browns winning the last two matchups.
Overall, the Browns lead the all-time series 11-7-0.
We got close once again last week, just missing the Quinshon Judkins anytime touchdown, so we’re back on some similar features for the parlay on FanDuel that gets us some nice odds where you can lock in another 25% profit boost and get some better odds. We turn to five total legs mostly built around what we have seen consistently with Shedeur Sanders at quarterback. Some reception totals, quarterback run yardage, easy Judkins screen yardage. This feels like a good one. Let’s win some money.
The Browns go to the uniform they should for non-AFC North games and rock the all-white uniforms with the traditional orange helmet. This is just the nostalgia look I don’t think they wear enough. The Bears also go with their historically clean look that has the navy blue helmet and jersey combination with the white pants. Two historic looks matched together today. I personally love it.
Let’s revisit the Browns comeback win over the Bears in the 2005 season. Trailing 10-6 with just over three minutes left to play, the Browns found three big plays to get the win. Trent Dilfer connected with Antonio Bryant on a deep ball up the left sideline to make the score 13-10. Then the Bears fumbled on their first play of the next series to give the Browns the ball back once again. On second down, Dilfer hooked-up again with Bryant on a play-action deep shot up the left side for another score. The Browns would go on to win 20-10 to improve to 2-2 while the Bears fell to 1-3.
The two teams went different directions after this Week 5 game with the Bears winning eight in a row to get to 11-5 and make the playoffs while the Browns would only win four more games the rest of the season to finish 6-10.
Catch us LIVE after the game on the Browns Film Breakdown Show where we will cover everything Post-Game at 4:25PM on our YouTube Channel.
As always, Go Browns!
