NEWSLETTER
I goofed yesterday. It slipped my mind that ??? because the Chicago Bears were playing on Monday Night Football this week ??? their regularly scheduled media availability would be pushed back a day. So instead of getting Interim Head Coach Thomas Brown and quarterback Caleb Williams on Wednesday, we???ll get them today (Thursday). That means injury reports will be pushed today, tomorrow (Friday), and on Saturday. My bad, y???all.
- Yes, I still stand by everything I said at the top of Wednesday???s Bullets.
- All things being equal, I understand why folks use re-drafts for content creation. When given time, space, and perspective, conversations about NFL Draft re-dos can be productive, informative, and enlightening because they can help explain where a given team goes wrong (or right) with its evaluations. With that being said, doing a re-draft eight months later is mind-blowingly silly. And if I have to see it, then you do, too (I???m sorry):
- I don???t want to get too far in the weeds here, but drafting Jayden Daniels and Marvin Harrison Jr. still leaves the Bears with the same problems they have today. So ??? what is the point of the re-draft again?
- In quiet moments that have passed since the Bears were blown out in San Francisco, I found myself asking if this team went through too much change all at once. I was thinking about a quote my grandmother used to say ??? los ojos m??s grande que el est??mago. Translation: Your eyes were bigger than your stomach. Practical translation: You bit off more than you can chew. Now that the Spanish lesson is over, I can share this Jaylon Johnson quote (via 670 The Score) that made something my grandma used to tell me to pop into my head:
???It???s just trying to get foundation things set in place, in the direction you???re going, getting a new staff and then kind of going from there. It???s hard to say what we can do to be better, to change what???s going on. I mean, we changed the OC, we changed the head coach. We???re in the midst of a lot of change right now. Quite honestly, it???s just us trying to make plays. I feel like top to bottom, players got to make plays, coaches are trying to put guys in position to make plays.???
- Let me be clear: I am not excusing the Bears??? performance. But what I am trying to do is understand why it happened. Week 14 should be a wake-up call for this team, particularly the veterans. Another performance like the one we saw against the Niners would set off some alarms for concern about the locker room leadership because I don???t feel as if you can bang the drum so loudly for change and then not show up for back-to-back games. Once? Maybe you can consider that a blip. Twice? Twice would be a problem.
- It would be nice to see the Bears play with some pride this week.
- In dark moments, I have doubts about whether the Bears??? job is as appealing to outsiders as I think it should be. But reading this passage from the latest from Colleen Kane and Dan Wiederer (Tribune) made me feel a little better about what is on the horizon:
The passion of the Bears fan base is considered a plus throughout the league. The stage of Chicago and the tradition of the franchise are positives. So are the potential spoils of becoming the coach to unlock a door to sustained success for an organization that hasn???t enjoyed it since the late 1980s.
Now add the strength of the roster core, the allure of quarterback Caleb Williams, the health of the salary-cap situation and the draft capital to bolster the roster in 2025, and the line to get an interview at 1920 Football Drive should be long.
- In other words: The Caleb Williams era in Chicago will be only as good as the Bears allow him to be. And there is the potential that they could put him in a position that allows him to be great. But for that to happen, they???ll need to take some big swings. I hope this front office and ownership group are up for the challenge.
- The idea that Bill Belichick will be coaching college football blows my mind. However, this is what was said in the prophecy and I shouldn???t be all that surprised:
- I hope the Bears don’t regret passing on Belichick.
- The NFL is considering expanding replay assist to help with certain penalties ??? and it’s about darn time. Considering the high-profile facemask penalties that have happened in primetime this year, I feel as if this makes sense. How quickly can this be implemented? Can we start for the playoffs? (Pro Football Talk)
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- The Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees have reportedly made ???progress??? on a deal that could send Cody Bellinger to the Bronx. (BN Cubs)
- Over at BN Bulls, Elias Schuster points out how the numbers for the Chicago Bulls offense and defense couldn???t look more different.
- Some CBA/salary cap updates, Ovechkin-Gretzky stuff, and schedule changes are among the topics discussed in the latest look around the NHL at BN Blackhawks.
