Monday, December 1st, 2025. This will be my only audio recording this week. I have coming to the end of a semester. For those of you who don't know, I'm getting my PhD in American Studies from Rutgers. So I don't have a ton of time this week, but I wanted to get a couple of things out. Number one, Tom Stoppard saved my life. And Tom Stoppard, one of the great playwrights that ever lived, died this past weekend. Now, how did Tom Stoppard save my life? About 20 years ago, I was getting off the subway in Brooklyn where I lived. Rainy night, dark, rainy night, cold. I'm crossing the street and a car runs the red light, drunk driver, caming towards me. And there's very little reason that I wasn't killed that night. As the car is coming towards me, I just get the idea to put my hand on the hood and sort of leap. And I did, and I got my legs banged up pretty good, really serious bruising, couldn't walk for a few days. But I was able to put my hand on that hood and jump because for some reason on that wet night, I was holding the hard copy version of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia. I literally used it to brace myself on the hood and to get on that car. And that book saved my life. And as I've moved 40 times since then, relocated, gotten rid of books, got new books, my copy of Arcadia, that copy of Arcadia never leaves my bookshelf. It is my good luck charm. And if you're interested in Tom Stoppard's work, I truly recommend Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead and the Invention of Love. They are brilliant plays, but he is responsible for some of the great rewrites in movie history, including just about every good line in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. But let's get back to football. There is right now a fact to be reckoned with. And that fact is the Chicago Bears on December 1st, 2025, are the one seed in the NFC. That is a fact. That is not a negotiable, that is a non-negotiable. It doesn't mean anything about the football team. It doesn't denote the quality of the football team, but it is a fact. But one thing we need to start reconciling when it comes to the 2025 season is there are no great teams. The 14 teams that make the tournament in January are all going to have a plausible path to the Super Bowl. Do you not think a seven seed Niners can knock off a two seed Packers at Lambeau? Do you not think a six seed, who's it going to be, a potentially six seed Packers could go into Tampa and beat them up? All of these teams, put them in a pot, they're all the same. The Panthers can beat the Rams. The Broncos have to go to overtime with Marcus Mariota. Buffalo looks like they can't play for half a game, then look like World Beaters the other half. I don't know if any of these teams can make the claim that they're good enough to beat three good teams in a row, but somebody's going to do it. If you were going to map out a year to have a quote unquote fluky run to a Super Bowl, this is it. But one thing I need to just keep reiterating, because I just don't think people are seeing it. I got more texts from my friends in the league after Friday's game and during Friday's game that I had the rest of the season combined. That performance in Philly sent a message to the sport. And the message was, if these guys can play defense like that and run the ball like that in January, they are going to be an extremely difficult out. This is starting to look like a team that is no longer on the progress scale. They may just be one of the best teams in the league when this thing comes to the finish line. The Philly game was the statement game. The tactical, the pragmatic, the logical, the game that's going to set the tone for the rest of the season, however, is Green Bay this weekend. If they win this game in Green Bay, if they go back-to-back wins in Philly in Green Bay, I think the argument is over. I think they immediately become one of the teams to beat in the NFL this year. If they lose this game in Green Bay, it's not a killer, right? It doesn't end anything. They're going to lose games here down the stretch. But if they lose this game, we can get back into the mindset of, OK, Green Bay is going to be in first in the division. We're going to have to beat them at Soldier Field, wrangling for wildcard spots. How many wins is it going to take? Nothing changes if they lose this week. But if they win this week and they have those two back-to-back wins on their resume, then I do not think it is jokes anymore. I do not think it is comical anymore to start talking about this team as the one seed. Because I don't know what else you can do in the current structure of the NFL to be quote-unquote impressive. Go to Philly and win. Go to Green Bay and win. That's impressive. Look at how hard it was for the Rams to go to fucking Charlotte and win. Go to Philly and go to Green Bay. You win those two games, the debate is over. You are one of the teams to beat, if not the team to beat, in the conference. Lose this game in Green Bay, no matter how you lose it, the path becomes more difficult. The scoreboard watching changes. The game at Soldier Field against the Packers becomes the must-win game in the early Ben Johnson tenure. But this team, with that win Friday, legitimized themselves. And it is not far-fetched to start thinking about them as a potential Super Bowl team. Say it. Believe it. This is the season to do it. There are no great teams. But there might be one starting to emerge in Chicago. Bear down.