In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, the Packers are getting ready to take on the Bears this Sunday in Green Bay. While we are still in early December, the Bears are somehow sitting at the top of the NFC. Who would have thought at the beginning of the season that the Bears and the Patriots would be the top teams in football this year? If the playoffs started today, they would be getting a bye while the Packers would take on the Eagles. But the playoffs are not starting today, and before we get to that point the Packers and Bears will face each other twice.The Bears are winning games against hard-to-beat teams, but at the end of the day Oates doesn’t think they’ll be on top for the rest of the season. Caleb Williams has been doing alright for himself under Ben Johnson, especially considering the Bears’ long history of squandering quarterbacks, and the Bears have a decent running game. But Jordan Love showed some really great stuff against the Lions last week, while LaFleur made some gutsy calls that paid off. While losing Devonte Wyatt is a big loss, says Oates, they’ll still put up a good fight against Chicago.

Meanwhile in Minneapolis, the Badgers ended their season on a whimper of a loss. The axe will stay in Minnesota for another year, it seems. This year racked up very few wins with an offense that’s at the bottom of the pile. They garnered a little bit of good will after a few wins, but they lost it all on Saturday once again. Oates has a big statement to make: Luke Fickell has botched up the two most important things in college football - the quarterback and the offense. Why wasn’t Carter Smith utilized more in the second half on Saturday? We can say that it’s because we don’t know how well he does passing back from the pocket, but still. 

Finally, the Badgers men’s basketball team will make their Big 10 debut this season on Wednesday night when they take on Northwestern. They showed a few weaknesses against TCU last week, mostly in their inability to react when under defensive pressure. But after Northwestern comes Marquette in a Saturday afternoon game. Marquette coach Shaka Smart has a philosophy not to use the transfer portal too much, a move which is respected by Oates. But it might still kill the team, as it is vital to college basketball today. Either way, it’s always an exciting game when Wisconsin takes on Marquette. 

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.