Tying up some loose ends from last week as we prepare to turn the page to Week 12.
The Chicago Bears return to the practice field on Wednesday and I’ll be curious to see what the injury and participation report looks like for this team as it turns its attention to the Minnesota Vikings. Ryan Bates, who made the start at left guard, was limited to just seven snaps before being placed in concussion protocol. Safety Elijah Hicks missed 15 percent of the team’s defensive snaps because of an ankle injury, which might’ve been a driving factor in the team re-signing Adrian Colbert. Head Coach Matt Eberflus shared optimism that Teven Jenkins will be back in the mix this week after missing Packers Week with an ankle issue. Stay tuned.
I’d venture to guess that Colbert is happy to be back with the Bears:
The vibes have been off with Chicago’s football team since returning from London. Adrian Colbert was the ultimate vibes guy this summer on Hard Knocks. Maybe this works out for the Bears. Who knows? Sometimes, all one needs is a vibe shift to get back on a good roll.
Despite speculation to the contrary, the Bears did not nearly bench Williams ahead of Sunday’s game against the Packers.
Instead, as sources explained, the possibility of starting Tyson Bagent over Williams was brought up in a broader context during a meeting with team brass and several of the team’s leaders prior to Tuesday’s firing of OC Shane Waldron. The idea would have been to give Williams a break for a few games, similar to what the Panthers did with Bryce Young (the 2023 No. 1 overall pick) earlier this season.
Sitting Williams was never truly considered, but part of a thorough evaluation prior to Waldron’s dismissal.
We can laugh about it now, but what if Shane Waldron suggested benching Caleb Williams for Tyson Bagent and that was the last straw for Head Coach Matt Eberflus?
(Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
It’s funny that just days after it was suggested that Caleb Williams wasn’t up to speed enough with the offense, Williams responded by having his best game since before the bye. There is something about players who turn it up a little when they are doubted publicly that grabs my attention.
Rome Odunze getting 10 targets last week is something I’d like to see more of moving forward. It was only the second time this season that Odunze was targeted at least 10 times. The first such occasion came back in Week 3 when he turned 11 targets into six catches, 112 yards, and a touchdown. If Week 11 was any indication of what is coming, I think we’ll see Rome get a bigger bulk of the action while Keenan Allen gets slid down into more of a security blanket role.
Thomas Brown passed his first test as Bears offensive play caller. The difficulty level gets turned up a notch as he prepares to face a Brian Flores-led Minnesota Vikings defense. And now that Minnesota has some tape on Brown and the Bears, the chess battle can truly begin.
The Chicago Bears need to lean hard into rookies Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze down the stretch. The development of those two players (and their chemistry with each other) should be a top priority for the offense down the stretch. Let the rookies lead and see where they take you.
News of Joe Douglas’ firing as New York Jets GM didn’t surprise me because Aaron Rodgers has been the guy in charge since he arrived on the scene. This isn’t to say that Douglas is blameless in the Jets’ demise. After all, he picked the wrong coach and quarterback for his rebuild. But his drafting résumé looks good. So much so that I wouldn’t mind the Bears being a soft landing spot for Douglas in a scouting or player personnel role. There is no such thing as having too many scouting eyes in the building.
Some dot-connecting before I move onto another topic: Joe Douglas was the Bears’ Director of College Scouting under Ryan Pace in 2015. Douglas had crossover years with Chicago Assistant GM Ian Cunningham while in Baltimore (2008-14) and Philadelphia (2017-19).
And to answer why I’d show interest in a failed GM, it’s simple: I wouldn’t be asking him to be in that role with the Bears. Sometimes, guys get promoted to jobs they can’t thrive in, but just because they aren’t fit for one job doesn’t mean they can’t do any jobs. Heck, they must’ve been good at something along the way otherwise they wouldn’t have gotten to that big position in the first place. OK, I’m headed off the rails. Let’s reel this back in while we still can.
Connor Bedard broke out of a big slump in a major way on Tuesday night. (BN Blackhawks)
It isn’t a big-ticket free-agent signing, but the Chicago Cubs brought in someone who could impact the organization’s pitching infrastructure ASAP. (BN Cubs)
Patrick Williams is a dunk-missing machine. (BN Bulls)
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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