Day 7 of the Chicago Bears’ offseason is here. I’m glad I made soup yesterday, but I am looking forward to tasting the cheesecake I made now that it has had 12+ hours to set in the fridge.
- ICYMI: One of the most popular head coaching candidates in this cycle has landed a job. And it isn’t with the Bears. Mike Vrabel is the new head coach of the New England Patriots. The standout linebacker replaces Jerod Mayo, a standout linebacker in his own right who was fired one week ago today. New England moved quickly to hire Vrabel, although their interviews with Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton to satisfy the Rooney Rule are being perceived as sham interviews. Nevertheless, the Pats have their coach. Chicago football fans who had their hearts set on Vrabel are left to move on to Plan B.
- This tweet’s phrasing is interesting (to say the least):
- I don’t know how strong pushes from the Bears could have been when the team has not fulfilled Rooney Rule requirements. Heck, this team still has coaching candidates (Brian Flores, Kliff Kingsbury) who are set to interview this week after this round of playoff games. The reality is that the Patriots fast-tracked their Vrabel hire by flouting the Rooney Rule in the most obvious ways possible. I’ll be curious to see if NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has something to say about this at some point in the future.
- The Tennessee Titans announced that they successfully completed a virtual interview with Bears Assistant GM Ian Cunningham. This is the second time Cunningham has interviewed for the Titans’ GM vacancy. But the first such interview came in 2023. Tennessee firing Ran Carthon earlier in the week has opened that position again.
- Brett Favre tells TMZ Sports that Mike McCarthy would be a “perfect” fit for Chicago’s football team. Learning this information will cause me to drop McCarthy in my next head coach candidate power rankings release.
BLEACHER NATION ON BLUESKY: Bears … Cubs … Bulls … Blackhawks
- Circling back to Brian Flores, this is an interesting catch:
- I don’t think you need to squint in order to see a scenario in which Brian Flores and Ryan Grigson link up as a tandem deal with the New York Jets. That certainly seems to be a reasonable fit for both parties. Keep an eye on this one.
- Legendary broadcaster Jim Nantz talked to the folks at Awful Announcing about calling his 500th game (and more).
- FINALLY! C.J. Stroud has defeated Jim Harbaugh. After falling behind 6-0 to the Los Angeles Chargers, the Houston Texans rallied to pick up a 32-12 win on Wild Card Saturday. We even got a Scorigami out of it. Stroud went 22-for-33 for 282 yards with a touchdown throw. He also threw an interception, but did add 6 rushes and 42 yards on the ground.
- The Justin Herbert haters are going to have a field day after he completed just 14 of 32 passes and threw four interceptions. Herbert had some tough luck with balls bouncing off receivers’ hands and turning into interceptions, which apparently isn’t an experience that is limited to Bears quarterbacks. Who knew? Support group meets on Wednesdays, Justin.
- Justin Fields made his playoff debut on Saturday night, throwing one pass (it fell incomplete) in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 28-14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in a game that never even felt that close.
- Fun fact: Throwing that incomplete pass netted Fields a 39.6 passer rating. Not-so-fun-fact: Fields had two games in which he was a Bears starting quarterback in which he posted lower passer ratings. The first came in 2022 when Fields put up a 27.7 rating in a 23-20 win against the Houston Texans. A year later, Fields finished with a 36.7 passer rating in a 19-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Fields left that game with an injury and was subsequently out for the next few weeks. But things weren’t looking good when before left.
BLEACHER NATION ON TWITTER: Bears … Cubs … Bulls … Blackhawks
- Farewell, Jorge Lopez. After an impressive in-season turnaround with the Chicago Cubs following a disastrous ending with the New York Mets, the reliever is signing with the Washington Nationals. (BN Cubs)
- Over at BN Bulls, Eli shares what might be his favorite Matas Buzelis quote yet.
- Tab Bamford revisits (and updates) Jason Dickinson’s Selke Trophy rรฉsumรฉ at BN Blackhawks.