NEWSLETTER
May the new year bring health, happiness, success, growth, and meaningful football throughout January and into February.
• Three cheers for Charles Leno Jr.:
https://twitter.com/NFLPA/status/1345037282278060032
• It’s always encouraging to see see players get recognized for their charitable efforts. A tip of the cap to Leno for his work. There are few things I like more than seeing players give back to the community.
• Oof. This stinks for the Packers:
Source: #Packers standout LT David Bakhtiari suffered a season-ending knee injury today in practice. The belief is that he tore his ACL. Just crushing.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 31, 2020
• Green Bay will be without its starting left tackle on Sunday and beyond. David Bakhtiari is an excellent blocker. One of the best in the league. He is a fierce rival and respected foe. I hate it for him that he suffered a significant injury during a practice. The Packers do have offensive line depth, but it’s still a significant blow to lose PFF’s second-highest-graded offensive tackle.
• The last Coffee With Coach of the 2020 football season is the first of this calendar year:
• A Bobby Massie update:
Bears OL Bobby Massie been easing back into practice. Matt Nagy says: "I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that he'd be back this weekend, but it was good to see him out there."
— Mark Grote (@markgrotesports) December 31, 2020
Bobby Massie, who is still on IR but is allowed to practice, has been working with the scout team this week.
— Patrick Finley (@patrickfinley) January 1, 2021
• I’m doing my best not to look forward into the offseason. After all, the Bears are playing an important game on Sunday. But I wanted to highlight a pair of Bleacher Report pieces that do just that. Brent Sobleski’s first mock draft of the new year has the Bears taking Michigan offensive tackle Jalen Mayfield with the 20th overall pick. Chicago’s quarterback conundrum aside, building the offensive line should be a priority. With that being said, landing on a player like Mayfield (or someone who goes after him such as Notre Dame’s Liam Eichenberg or USC’s Alijah Vera-Tucker) makes sense.
• Brad Gagnon, Sobleski’s BR teammate, offers up who he believes is the best player each NFL team can acquire this upcoming offseason. For the Bears, Gagnon says it’s BYU quarterback Zach Wilson. Considering the team’s long-term future needs and cap situation, I understand where Gagnon is coming from with is assessment on Wilson. I just don’t think Wilson or Trey Lance will drop to the middle of round one. But those are the types of targets Gagnon sees as realistic grabs for the Bears.
• If you’re one of those pie-in-the-sky types, then you can appreciate this angle: “In a perfect world, they’d land Matthew Stafford in a trade with the Detroit Lions or sign Dak Prescott away from Dallas, but neither of those scenarios seems realistic with Detroit in Chicago’s division and Prescott likely to be too expensive even if he somehow became available.” Hence, Wilson is the “exciting alternative” Gagnon puts on our plate.
• Kudos to the Bears’ broadcasting crew for putting in that work in what has been a challenging season for a variety of reasons:
Jeff Joniak and Tom Thayer have had to get used to their setup for calling road games this season — from a makeshift studio in downtown Chicago.
Welcome to the show during the COVID-19 era.
Adapt and make the best of things.@danwiederer's story.https://t.co/1fiOTp9sBO
— Chicago Tribune Sports (@ChicagoSports) December 31, 2020
• For your listening pleasure:
https://twitter.com/TheAthleticCHI/status/1344726542887378956
• Let’s leave this energy in 2020:
BOWL GAME FIGHT pic.twitter.com/xm6OHg96cm
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) December 31, 2020
