O’Donnell: Bears, Cubs, Kimmel and Pritzker — a marathon Chicago weekend
WHEN AN EXTENDED POSTSEASON RUN by the Cubs passes closely to a barometric “Monday Night Football” game involving the Bears, fate can present a marathon weekend.
The fact that Sunday's Chicago Marathon squeezes in between fresh wind chimes of Saturday’s Cubs game and Monday's Bears-at-Commanders is a pleasantly diverting trivergence.
The CHI-WAS game will command its time slot (7:15 p.m., ABC; AM-1000).
Two teams, both in search of a future, will square off at Northwest Stadium.
ODDSMAKERS SAY the Commanders are 4½-point favorites.
The people who put the letters up on the billboard suggest the game is a showdown between Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels — two sophomore QBs in search of further upward mobility.
But if the game is played organically — a huge “if” on an NFL Monday night — the Commanders breeze.
PRIMARY REASONS:
· Williams and Daniels will offset by throwing against spotty back sevens;
· Washington can run the football (a No. 1 156 yards per game) and the Bears can't stop the run (31st in the NFL at 164.5 yards allowed).
Ergo, the home turf should steadily slope toward Daniels and Co.
But back to that organicness.
THE LEAGUE IS REVELING in the number of “competitive” games presented through five weeks this season.
According to Richard Deitsch of The Athletic:
· “There have been 24 games in 2025 with a game-winning score in the final two minutes of regulation or in overtime, the most through Week 5 in NFL history”; and,
· “There have been 44 games decided by 7 points of fewer, the third most through Week 5, trailing only 2024 (47) and 2022 (45).”
That is theatricality.
COMPELLING CLIFFSIDE DRAMA like that pumps show-biz profits.
Organically, a speculator would project a Washington wa-tusi in the neighborhood of 31-17. (With Williams throwing more times for more yardage than Daniels.)
But the dramatist within would opt instead for a close first half, fueled as necessary by foibles, and then a water-cooler close certain to provoke extensive Tuesday NFL chatter.
ALL IS SO VASTLY PREFERABLE to first-run editions of “Celebrity Family Feud.”
So please hold all barometers — the Bears could still hit Halloween at 4-3.
* * *
AS THE CUBS-BREWERS NLDS WAS HEADING for its Game 5 climax, Jimmy Kimmel called upon Gov. JB Pritzker and Kimmel's own deep sports roots for a sharp bit on the ABC late-nighter.
The Governor — wearing body armor and speaking into a TV news microphone from a bridge in Chicago — looked into the camera and solemnly said:
“This is JB Pritzker reporting from war-torn Chicago. As you can see, there's utter mayhem and chaos on the ground. It's quite disturbing. The Milwaukee Brewers have come in to attack our Chicago Cubs.”
“We've seen people being forced to eat hot dogs with ketchup. And our deep-dish pizza has gone shallow. So it's a challenge to survive here in the city of Chicago — but there's no hellscape that I'd rather be in.”
KIMMEL COMPLETED A GRAND MONOLOGUE DOUBLE with a remote involving his “favorite wide receiver,” Georgetown's Jimmy Kibble.
Among other things, the Hollywood star told the senior hopeful, “Every single game, when I hear that name, I imagine the announcers have a cold and it's me catching those touchdowns.”
STREET-BEATIN':
With Eddie Vedder and John Cusack occupying Alpha Fan status at Wrigley Field, questions about the whereabouts of Bill Murray have come up. He's been monitoring things primarily while tending to matters in South Carolina. Some think Murray has also been banking on a deeper playoffs window for his seventh-inning solo. …
Struggling North Carolina (2-3) is in a bye week and Bill Belichick's next media availability is scheduled for Monday. He has retained at least one NFL-seasoned imaging whiz to help get him through the growing crisis at UNC. The school is on the hook for almost all of his five-year, $50M deal, and whether he'll be coaching the Tar Heels next Saturday night at Cal is indeed blowing in the wind. …
An odd couple of rat-ta-chat-chat Chicago sports talkers is handling a very different sort of dilemma: The unmatched pair have been being reprimanded for spending too much time texting while on-air rather than listening to each other. (Given what each has to say, who can blame them?) …
For those handicapping the Chicago Marathon, post-time favorites will likely be defending champ John Korir, Jacob Kiplimo and Mohamed Esa (7 a.m., Sunday, NBC-5). It was so much easier picking winners back when Abebe Bikila, the barefoot Ethiopian, ruled the long run. …
Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.