Bears Hunting, Searching For Wins, O-Line Evolution, Which Rookie Scores First? And Other Bears Bullets
Had you asked me to name a song by The National 24 hours ago, I’d have come up blank. But had you asked me this morning, I would’ve quickly answered “Abel” — a song I’d not even heard of until last night. Joining my friend to see The National was a good decision. Hard to find a better way to spend a Friday during the NFL’s offseason than discovering new music.
- Be on the lookout for Bears:
- You probably saw Bears fourth-round running back Roschon Johnson at the end. But you might’ve missed out on seeing Chicago’s other fourth-round pick — receiver Tyler Scott. Nothing like a Saturday morning game of “Where’s Waldo?” (Bears Rookie Version) to spice things up.
- The annual rookie premiere event allows rookies to get a glimpse of the business, marketing, and professional portions of life in the NFL. And they get to hang out with their contemporaries. Make some friends. Establish some bonds. Exchange some thoughts. Link up. Here’s to making the most of the weekend.
- It’s too early to be thinking about this, but part of me is thinking about the odds we’d set on a prop bet for the first Bears rookie to score a touchdown. Roschon is the favorite, right? You’ve gotta be when you’re a running back who might be active in the return game. But he is behind at least two rushers on the depth chart, so that might be a challenge. As for Scott, maybe he has a long-shot chance because it might be easier to envision him sneaking into a pattern as a WR4 in a given formation. Equanimeous St. Brown scored the first touchdown for the 2022 Bears. For me, it’s just fun thinking about the Bears having skill-position players who can find pay dirt.
- Because you’re curious, a Bears rookie didn’t score until Week 5 when Velus Jones Jr. caught this pass from Justin Fields. Kinda wild that so many things in my life circle back to Oct. 9, 2022. Cosmic stuff.
- I love playing the predict-the-record game in May:
- FWIW: Projections from ESPN’s Mike Clay have the Bears at 7.9 wins. But the most important read from me at this stage is that there are only 2 games in which the Bears have less than a 30 percent chance to win. And there are eight games the team has at least a 50 percent shot at winning. In other words, Chicago’s football team should be competitive this year. Win the games you’re supposed to (Packers at home, Bucs, Commanders, Raiders, Panthers, Lions at home, Cardinals, Falcons are at 50% win probability or better), find a way to split with the Vikings (steal that home game?), and steal a random game (Broncos? Browns?) and you can see a path to beating those projections.
- If you heard me humming Taylor Swift’s “The 1” after this got posted, no you didn’t:
- Whew! Sponsor patches aren’t coming to NFL jerseys anytime soon. (BN NFL)
- Before he balls all fall, Darnell Wright is hanging with the boys of summer:
- Some light reading for your Saturday: Bill Zimmerman’s goodbye to Sam Mustipher. (Windy City Gridiron)
- On the one hand, I’m glad Mustipher is gone because it allows the Bears to go in another direction along the offensive line. It also gives Mustipher an opportunity to get a fresh set of eyes and different coaches on him who could maybe help advance his career in ways that wouldn’t have happened in Chicago. And on the other hand, if you allow yourself to take a step back, it was a trip to see a guy go from UDFA practice squad fodder to starting in the NFL. Those are the kind of underdog stories we love rooting for as fans. I hope that we get more UDFA upstart stories starting this summer.
- Here’s how fast the NFL flips on ya: Cody Whitehair is the only offensive lineman projected to start for the 2023 Bears who was in the lineup on Week 18 of the 2021 season.
- The Bulls undergoing “significant changes” would be wild:
- Then again, “significant changes” are necessary.
- This is a storyline that is worth watching:
- The Cubs won on Friday to snap their losing streak. Before the game, they made a whole bunch of moves (including the jettisoning of Eric Hosmer):
