This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.golongtd.com

Ben Johnson is working his magic. The holiday season is closing in and he has the Chicago Bears (7-3) at first place in the NFC North. Then again, the Bears haven’t beaten a team with a winning record and their quarterback ranks near the bottom of the league in completion percentage.

Without question, the most perplexing team in the sport is the same team we took a close look at back on the eve of the 2025 season.

Fresh off yet another absurd finish, it’s time we made the Bears the lead story here on the Ty & Bob Pod.

Is this a team capable of making the playoffs and winning some games or is the fairy dust about to wear off? Here’s their gauntlet ahead: Steelers, at Eagles, at Packers, Browns, Packers, at 49ers, Lions.

Pro Football Hall of Famer Bob McGinn dissects the film as only he can.

Elsewhere, the quarterback known as “Nine” didn’t get much help from his receivers, but… yikes. This was ugly. It’s shocking that Kevin O’Connell insists on pushing the ball downfield.

Jared Goff had a miserable night in Philadelphia. Dan Campbell kept saying “hit me” at the blackjack table. How concerning was Detroit’s 16-9 defeat to the offensively-challenged Eagles? We discuss.

And we finish with the Green Bay Packers sweating out a 27-20 win over the New York Giants. Speaking of drops, Jordan Love’s receivers apparently dipped their hands into a giant bowl of butter. Yet, he kept firing. Ignore the box score. This was one of Love’s finest games in a while.

Two programming notes to share…

* This episode, I made an age-old podcasting blunder in letting my headphones serve as the “microphone.” The audio above is a little better than what you’ll hear on the video below.

* All podcasts in full are accessible right here at Go Long and the Substack app to our paid subscribers. But if you subscribe — and prefer to listen on Apple — bang it here to sync your account. Instructions on syncing on Spotify are also here.

Thank you, all.

Here is the video: