First Day of School Vibes, Snacks Are Important, Cap Gymnastics, and Other Bears Bullets

I keep thinking I forgot to put something in my calendar for Friday. But when I check the calendars on my phone, laptop, and desktop, there’s nothing there — even though it *FEELS* like something is missing. Can’t wait for it to bop me on my head on Friday afternoon (if it is to come at all).

  • Today marks the first practice session of the Matt Eberflus/Ryan Poles era. As for yesterday, the first day of school vibes were off the charts:
  • One thing I find necessary to drive home early (and often) this year is the importance and value of a clean slate. That Jaylon Johnson is talking about it freely and painting such a picture with his words serves as a reminder that it is as important to the players to get a fresh start as it is for us as fans. The last two years of the Matt Nagy/Ryan Pace era were a drag. Even the year in which the Bears made the postseason was a tedious taffy pull. This first year under Matt Eberflus won’t be a walk in the park, but there isn’t this ominous cloud hovering as there was around this time last year.
  • But seriously … you can really tell that the consensus was that folks were at the end of their rope with the previous regime:
  • Circling back for more from Johnson, who appears to have taken a fellow DB under his wing:
  • The Thomas Graham Jr. pick was an inspired one during Pace’s final draft with the team. Selecting a player who opted out of playing during the pandemic-altered 2020 college football season and slow-playing his rookie year development could turn out to be a nice parting gift from the previous regime to its successors. And that Graham spent a chunk of time during the offseason working with the Bears’ top cornerback suggests he knows what could be at stake this year. Graham has been set to compete for some sort of starting job in the secondary for some time. But after drafting Kyler Gordon, it sure looks like Graham and Tavon Young are competing to be the Bears’ top nickel cornerback.
  • It’s been a rough offseason for first-year GM Ryan Poles, but much of that is to be expected when you embark on a teardown and rebuild after your hiring. But I must tip my cap for these cap shenanigans:
  • The NFL’s best teams excel in these types of cap gymnastics. And for the Bears to get to that upper echelon, they’ll have some contracts along the way that look something like what they did to get Riley Reiff and Michael Schofield. Then again, my preference would be to bring on better long-haul options for the line moving forward. But bolstering the line with vets like Reiff and Schofield will do (for now).
  • Necessary roster maintenance after signing a pair of new offensive linemen:
  • What was your favorite part of the Willie Wright era? Mine is that he is the answer to the trivia question “who was Ryan Poles’ first free agent signing as Bears GM?”
  • This rookie gets it:
  • Snacks are important! And don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise.
  • Some Bears-adjacent news came through with the 49ers publicly saying what we’ve long been assuming — this is Trey Lance’s team:
  • Trey Lance vs. Justin Fields in Week 1 at Soldier Field has the potential to be all sorts of fun.
  • After signing Julio Jones as a free agent, the Bucs embarrassment of riches at receiver grew even larger. Given this collection of reserve talent, I’d be into the Bears kicking the tires on someone like Scotty Miller or Tyler Johnson to round out the depth:
  • WELP, I can’t imagine Jonathan Toews is alone in feeling this way:
  • I hope LaVar’s crystal ball isn’t cloudy:
  • ‘Tis the season to be obsessing about MLB trade rumors. Although, this one would drive me away from watching the Cubs for a while:
  • 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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