Day 28 of the Chicago Bears offseason. I watched the Royal Rumble for the first time in years and was not disappointed. There isn’t a chance I get as invested in professional wrestling as I was when I was younger. But I can watch the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania the same way casual football fans watch the Super Bowl.
- ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports (via Twitter/X) that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, which means six more weeks of winter. I woke up and did not see my shadow. Six more weeks of Bears rumors are coming!
- You know an NBA trade is huge when I put it at the top of BN Bears Bullets. The Luka-AD trade blows my mind. Over on Twitter, I asked fans to explain it to me in NFL terms โ and y’all did not disappoint. Trading Lamar Jackson for Kirk Cousins? That checks out. Josh Allen for Matthew Stafford and spare parts? Yeah, that tracks. So does Justin Jefferson for Mike Evans.
- As a Bears fan, I see this huge NBA trade as a reminder that sometimes all you need in your rebuild is a little bit of luck, some good timing, and a general manager or ownership group on the other end of the line that is willing and able to do something so mind-numbingly questionable that you have to rush to push it through just in case the other side comes to their senses. I suppose Chicago’s football team already had that with their trade with the Panthers in March 2023.
- You might’ve missed how the Senior Bowl finished. If you did, then here is a treat for you:
A WALK-OFF WIN AT THE @SENIORBOWL!
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) February 1, 2025
Seth Henigan finds Jack Bech for the American Team win! @MemphisFB @TCUFootball pic.twitter.com/Z04yGiQSVH
- TCU’s Jack Bech winning the game’s MVP award after catching a game-winner just one month after his brother died in that attack in New Orleans is one of those moments that reminds me that some things are just bigger than football.
- I spent some time this morning reading about Senior Bowl winners and losers (NFL Media, Bleacher Report, Sporting News, The Athletic) so you don’t have to, and this is what I’ve come up with for players whose stocks gained the most from the college football all-star showcase: LSU DL Sai’vion Jones, Arkansas’ Landon Jackson, UCLA DL Olu Oladejo, Central Arkansas DL David Walker, Arizona OL Jonah Savaiinaea, Georgia RB Trevor Etienne, Bowling Green TE Harold Fannin Jr., Marshall DL Mike Green, Miami TE Elijah Arroyo, Kansas RB Devin Neal, Oregon OL Josh Conerly Jr., North Dakota State OL Grey Zabel, Toledo DL Darius Alexander, Iowa State WR Jaylin Noel.
- When I see analysts try to offer up losers in these situations, my mind often reframes those positions as examples of players who have things to work on between now and the draft to get their stock back on track. An issue with “winners and losers” posts is that they are so often over-reactionary and don’t often enough take into consideration a player’s body of work. It wouldn’t surprise me of some of these “losers” from Senior Bowl week end up as “winners” at their pro days or at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
- ICYMI: The Bears hired a high-profile position coach for Ben Johnson’s staff. Eric Bieniemy, who won Super Bowls as an assistant for Andy Reid in Kansas City, is set to join Chicago’s new-look offensive coaching staff as the team’s running backs coach. Bears backs were disappointing last year. D’Andre Swift didn’t live up to his free-agent contract in Year 1. Khalil Herbert never fully re-captured the magic of 2022, and Roschon Johnson’s development seems stalled. Maybe a new voice (and an experienced one at that) can help get the most out of Swift, RoJo, and another piece of the puzzle that comes via the NFL Draft or free agency.
- Back in the summer of 2023, there was a report about how Bieniemy’s coaching style was rubbing some Washington Commanders players the wrong way. This feels like a relevant piece of information to share when you consider that Bears players were asking their offensive coordinator to coach them harder back in September. Perhaps this team needs some tough love to get back on the right track.
- Another thing about the Bieniemy hire that intrigues me is that it marks the first addition to the Bears roster or coaching staff that comes with a yellow flag since Ryan Pace signed (and later released) Ray McDonald. Bieniemy’s Wikipedia page has a section on legal issues that fills in the gaps. For what it’s worth, Bieniemy has kept a clean profile for the better part of 20 years. I imagine that GM Ryan Poles and Chief Administrative Officer Ted Crews โ who both crossed paths with Bieniemy while in Kansas City โย were able to vouch for Bieniemy on some level. Also, Courtney Cronin (via Twitter/X) notes that Bieniemy overlapped with Kevin Warren from 2006-10.
- One for the road:
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