No Easy Answers for Kicking Conundrum, Whitehair Talk, Embracing More Targets, and Other Bullets

I never sunk my teeth into “Game of Thrones” during its run, so I don’t have the “what am I supposed to watch now?” feeling some of you have expressed now that the show is over. But the way folks have talked about it on Twitter has me wanting to go back and re-watch “The Sopranos” some time soon.

  • Discussing the Bears’ kicking carnival among friends will bring out a variety of opinions, so why not even bring more thoughts to the conversation:
  • Unless the Bears can trade a non-consequential draft pick for Robbie Gould, I would venture to say there is no easy answer to the Bears’ kicking woes. Kicking at Soldier Field is an art form. And while there is no one way to put together a masterpiece, Bears fans have high expectations for the artist and are holding them to a high standard.
  • Are the Bears doing the right thing here? My gut tells me yes, because competition tends to breed excellence. Is it something they should have done years ago instead of simply handing the gig over to Connor Barth after parting ways with Robbie Gould? Also, yes.
  • It’s been a hot minute since we’ve discussed Cody Whitehair’s future in Chicago, but Arthur Arkush makes some good points:
  • The hints (yes, plural) of the Bears moving Whitehair to guard and James Daniels to center have been unavoidable. Perhaps OTAs will clue us in onto what the Bears’ line of thinking will be moving forward.
  • Even Mitch Trubisky chimed in to hint at change possibly being on the horizon. When it comes to the center-quarterback exchange, so long as Trubisky is comfortable, then there is a good chance I’ll feel good with whatever decision is made, too. But Trubisky’s comfort level is probably the most important thing here.
  • When it comes to Trubisky’s pass-catchers, his top target is embracing a new wave of teammates:
  • You don’t often hear receivers applaud the addition of competition because it generally means fewer targets going in their direction. But we saw that Robinson didn’t need a high volume of throws his way to be productive. In a perfect world, Trubisky spreads the pigskin around the field to any number of receivers/tight ends/backs and keeps defenders guessing. And if he needs to go to Robinson because a matchup is too favorable (as he did during the second half of the Wild-Card game against the Eagles) then so be it. Set up mismatches, isolate them, and take advantage of them – those are the three keys to the Bears offense taking the next step in 2019.
  • One of the position battles to watch once things get into gear in the land of Bears is what happens at the other defensive end spot. We know Akiem Hicks has one side locked down, but Bilal Nichols, Roy Robertson-Harris, and Jonathan Bullard each do things that stand out on the football field. Seeing Robertson-Harris do this takes me back to the Bears’ biggest regular-season win of the year:
  • No, he didn’t get the sack. But every hit on the QB matters.
  • Twitter threads are hit-and-miss, but this one featuring Earl Bennett sharing a tale of the time he had to block Julius Peppers in practice is a treat:
  • Everyone who dreams of being a football player growing up never envisions having to block a guy like Julius Peppers.
  • I love seeing stuff like this at this time of year:
  • https://twitter.com/SCAR_179NY/status/1130079375137955845

  • Another set of fun stuff in Amazon’s Deals of the Day, with grills, smokers, Dyson vacuums, and swimwear among the big sales. Summer is coming.
  • There is considerable hype (and some dread) heading into tonight’s Cubs-Phillies matchup with Yu Darvish facing Jake Arrieta:
  • Not sure how much I’m looking forward to it. Maybe tonight is the night I start GoT?
  • written by

    Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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