NEWSLETTER
Getting fresh air the last couple of nights has been good for the soul. Happy springtime, y’all!
• The NFL schedules are out. And in case you were missing out on the fun last night because 80-degree mid-May evenings are too good to pass up, here is what the Bears schedule looks like:
Haters will say it’s fake pic.twitter.com/tCCEl49lF0
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) May 13, 2022
• A commendable job by the Bears’ social media team, which put forth its most creative schedule release drop. More, please.
• The behind-the-scenes look at how it was made is worth your scrolling time on a Friday.
• This (thread) is art:
We commissioned some local artists to help with our schedule release.
A thread. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/jyy7nWZPLH
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) May 13, 2022
• The preseason schedule is out, too. And we’ll be seeing a familiar face back at Soldier Field:
Matt Nagy Returns to Chicago (With the Chiefs For Preseason Week 1)https://t.co/aRcfatcNQh pic.twitter.com/WgvPtpQ5lY
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) May 13, 2022
• I’m sure Bears fans will greet Nagy with a warm and hearty welcome in his return to Chicago. After all, he won the 2018 NFL Coach of the Year and led the team to the playoffs in two of his first three seasons as head coach.
• OK, I couldn’t even finish that with a straight face. The end of the Nagy era was so rough that it is hard to put the first part in proper perspective without recency biases muddying it up. Now is not the time to be re-hashing the Nagy era, but perhaps we’ll get to that point later in the summer before he and the Chiefs come into town.
• A major beef with the preseason schedule-makers: I don’t care if it’s preseason, it is TOTALLY out of pocket to schedule a Thursday game after a Saturday one. Was it really necessary to satisfy ESPN’s need for content to play an exhibition game on short rest? I realize that 90-player rosters are better equipped to handle the wear-and-tear that could come from a shorter-than-usual turnaround, but this is uncalled for on so many levels. Hopefully, nothing catastrophic happens.
• One minor beef with the regular season schedule-makers: Scheduling the three road games I was looking forward to the most at the most inopportune times for me is either a tremendous bit by the scheduling gods (in which case, I’ll tip my cap) or retaliation from the commissioner’s office for something I’ve written or said. WE WERE JOKING ABOUT EVERYTHING, ROG! WE LOVE YA!
• But seriously … a Week 14 bye? Who does that!?
• Fondly remembering the last time the Bears and Niners took the field…
REMINDER: This is a thing that happened the last time #DaBears played the Niners.
📹 @BraggsInStands pic.twitter.com/M4pCVNoCjp
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) May 12, 2022
Can’t wait to see Justin Fields make this throw against the Niners. AGAIN. pic.twitter.com/wF5xzkfaeA
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) May 12, 2022
… while also blocking out memories of the final score:
• 1️⃣2️⃣1️⃣ days until the Bears season-opener, but who’s counting?
• Waiting all day for Sunday night? Gathering all your rowdy friends for a Monday night party? Here’s what you need to know:
🎶𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 🎶@snfonnbc | @verizon
📺: 2022 NFL Schedule Release on @NFLNetwork pic.twitter.com/oWyhZcT1gK
— NFL (@NFL) May 13, 2022
This season’s Monday Night Football matchups: pic.twitter.com/Tp4ORQtJPN
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 13, 2022
• What primetime showdown are you most looking forward to? Other than the Bears games, of course. For me, Raiders-Chiefs on MNF (10/10) has my attention because the games between those two rivals are always entertaining. That Chargers-Niners SNF game (11/13) piques my interest, as well. A showdown featuring Justin Herbert and Trey Lance could be a treat – that is if the 49ers get Lance un-glued from being benched behind Jimmy Garoppolo. And that MNF opener with the Seahawks and Broncos should be a doozy. I’ve got no beef with the primetime scheduling this year.
• Primetime breakdown:
Amount of primetime games by team:
5: CIN, LAC, LAR, BUF, PHI, TB, GB, DAL, SF, NE, PIT, DEN, KC
4: TEN, IND, LV, ARZ
3: CHI, NO, BAL
2: CLE, WSH, MIA, SEA, MIN
1: NYJ, NYG, HOU, JAX, CAR, ATL
0: DET
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) May 13, 2022
• For all that offseason buzz the Lions were generating, for them to get no primetime games is laughable. I’m heaving a good, hearty laugh right now. Maybe Detroit will play its way into getting flexed into a primetime game late in the year. OK, that thought is funny, too. But, hey, their coach bites knee caps and says weird football-y things!
• I feel like the Lions will either surprise everyone (which is a realistic possibility due to the downside up nature of how the NFL changes on a yearly basis) or do something so comically bombastic that it sets the franchise back in ways we would’ve never otherwise come to expect. And that’s why we tune into the NFL weekly, my friends. We never know what we’ll get.
• This looks wild:
🚨 2022 Schedule Grid for all 272 games 🚨 pic.twitter.com/Lat8ilLOxW
— NFL Research (@NFLPlus) May 13, 2022
• The Chargers won schedule-release day (again):
Should we REALLY make our schedule release video an anime?
yes yes yesyes
yesyes yes yes yes
yes yes yes yes yes
yes yesyes yes yes
yes yesye yes yes
yes yes yesyes pic.twitter.com/A0TvmYJUOQ— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) May 13, 2022
• It’ll take some time to get used to the Al Michaels-Kirk Herbstreit TNF tag team:
It's here!
Click here to see the full Thursday Night Football schedule, only on Prime Video. #TNFonPrime
— NFL on Prime Video (@NFLonPrime) May 13, 2022
• For Bears fans worried about being unable to see their team’s Thursday Night Football tilt against the Washington Commanders (yeah, that’ll take some adjustment time, too), please note that it will air locally on an over-the-air network. If you’re out of market, you’ll still need to have some sort of Amazon Prime package to see that one. But locally, it’ll be on the air.
• I’m gonna miss waking up with Kay Adams on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football. Today was her last day on the show, and they spared no expense to make it a memorable one:
SURPRISE!!!!!!!
For @heykayadams we have to go back to our roots.
WELCOME @nateburleson TO THE BREAKFAST TABLE ALL MORNING LONG! pic.twitter.com/rsH9jLVH3F
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) May 13, 2022
• An old friend finds a new home (where a bunch of old friends are going these days):
Veteran LB Nick Kwiatkoski is signing with the #Falcons on a one-year deal, per source. A reunion with former #Bears GM Ryan Pace, who drafted Kwiatkoski in 2016 and is now a senior executive in Atlanta.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 12, 2022
• The following ex-Bears are now Falcons: Ryan Pace, Phil Emery, Dave Ragone, Charles London, Michael Pitre, Ted Monachino, Jon Hoke, Cordarrelle Patterson, Damien Williams, Rashaad Coward, Teez Tabor, Elijah Wilkinson, Germain Ifedi, and Nick Kwiatkoski. Long-snapper Beau Brinkley was briefly on the Bears’ offseason roster between February 16 and March 17 of THIS YEAR. I suppose we can add him to the list, too.
• That NFL on FOX graphic featuring former Bears on the Falcons will be a hoot. Can’t wait for the screengrabs on that one!
• Oof. This is a story NFL folks will be tracking:
More on Denver Broncos’ WR Jerry Jeudy being arrested and taken into custody in Colorado:https://t.co/9gu4uvTEOq
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 12, 2022
Jerry Jeudy was released on bond today, with full contact allowed between him and the alleged victim, per his attorney Harvey Steinberg, who added the judge stated “there was not probable cause to believe that there was the threat or use of any physical force against the victim.”
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 13, 2022
• Giancarlo Stanton took it personally:
Heckler Tells Giancarlo Stanton He's Overrated … and You Know What Happens Next – https://t.co/5I5NEPfMSo pic.twitter.com/jWSwu3UyQJ
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) May 13, 2022
• His name is Jimmy G. Buckets — and the G stands for Getting back to the Eastern Conference Finals:
NBA Playoffs Update: “Tobias Harris Over ME?!” Luka Dončić Did it Again, Morehttps://t.co/NEk8zYgj6m pic.twitter.com/7PPFxy3ugl
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) May 13, 2022
• A double whammy for Blackhawks fans, who watched Minnesota lose to despised rival St. Louis and watched the potential to add a first-round pick go out the window in one fell swoop:
How Minnesota’s Playoff Loss Impacted the Blackhawks Draft Positionhttps://t.co/BPKg3cbbvS pic.twitter.com/9cfNBt93iX
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) May 13, 2022
