Caleb Williams Shines In His Preseason Debut

Good morning Chicago fans! I turned 30 yesterday and am officially old.

In those 30 years, I witnessed my favorite teams win 4 championships that I was old enough to remember: Blackhawks 3 (2010, 2013, 2015), Cubs 1 (2016), Bulls 0 (I was 3 in 1998), and Bears 0.

Here’s to another 30 years with way more trophies 🏆

RESULTS

L - Twins 3, Cubs 0: This offense insists on falling flat on their faces.

• Twins starter David Festa entered this game with a 6.98 ERA and left it with a 5.55 ERA after pitching 5 shutout innings with 9 Ks

• Kyle Hendricks delivered a quality start (6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K)

W - Cubs 7, Twins 3: The Isaac Paredes Game ™

• Shota Imanaga tied his career high with 10 strikeouts (7 IP, 2 H, 2 ER)

• Isaac Paredes hit a missile 3-R HR straight through the wind in the 1st inning and finished 2-for-3 with 4 RBI

W - Cubs 8, Twins 2: The bats showed up again for a series win!

• Twins starter Joe Ryan left the game in the 3rd inning with an arm injury

  • Trevor Richards replaced Ryan and ended up walking 5 Cubs and giving up 3 runs

• Michael Busch and Ian Happ hit HRs

W - Cubs 7, White Sox 6: The day after the White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol, a 30-hit slugfest nearly turned into a disaster for the Cubs.

• Jameson Taillon struggled after he was spotted a 7-0 lead (5 IP, 9 H, 5 ER)

• Thank you, Sox! Not trading Garret Crochet paid off as the Cubs scored all 7 runs in his 2.1 IP

• Insane 16-hit night for the Cubs featured 3-hit efforts from Cody Bellinger and Pete Crow-Armstrong (and they still left 8 men on base and struggled with RISP)

W - Cubs 3, White Sox 1: Another tight game for a season sweep of the Sox!

• Miguel Amaya was the hero with a 2-R single to break the 1-1 tie in the 8th inning

• Justin Steele was dominant (6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K) and lowered his season ERA to 3.16

WEEK RECORD: 4-1

SEASON RECORD: 59-60 (3rd place, 9 GB)

⭐ STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐

Isaac Paredes

The new Cub is settling in with his new team. After some initial struggles, he had a great week, hitting 5-for-19 (.263) with 2 HR and 8 RBI!

🎥 PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥

Nico Hoerner HR and bat drop

ROSTER MOVES

Tuesday: Signed RHP Adrian Houser (who has a strong Craig Counsell connection from his time with the Brewers) to a minor-league contract

Wednesday: Signed LHP Lucas Luetge to a minor-league contract

Wednesday: Activated Keegan Thompson from the 15-day IL and optioned him to AAA

NEWS & NOTES

Adbert Alzolay will have Tommy John surgery 🙏 Prayers for a quick and successful recovery! We need the people’s fist back at Wrigley soon!

Dansby Swanson recorded his 1,000th career hit on Saturday AND watched his wife Mallory win gold with the women’s soccer team at the Olympics!

The Cubs reportedly pursued Angels C Logan O’Hoppe at the trade deadline and were turned down. Their pursuit of catching help this offseason will be intriguing!

The new White Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore may actually have a leg up on Craig Counsell in something:

AAA utilityman Bryce Windham retired to take over the family business and spend more time with family

Matt Shaw won the Southern League Player of the Week award for July 29 - August 4 prior to his promotion to AAA

1st-round pick Cam Smith is joining the Low-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Prospect Cade Horton’s season is most likely over after a setback in his recovery from a shoulder injury

The Cubs are very much alive…they are currently 3 GB of the final Wild Card spot in the NL. If they take 2 of 3 from the Guardians, they will be sitting at .500.

Upcoming schedule:

Guardians - 3-7 in their last 10

Blue Jays - 10 games under .500

Tigers - 7 games under .500

Marlins - tied worst record in the NL

Pirates - 5 games under .500 and 7-game losing streak

Nationals - 11 games under .500

TROPHY TRACKER (6/10 ➡ 🏆)

RESULTS (PRESEASON)

W - Bears 33, Bills 6: 

• Caleb Williams looked the part of an NFL quarterback in his 2 drives: 4/7, 95 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT

• LB Micah Baskerville jumped a route over the middle for an impressive Pick 6

• RB Ian Wheeler scored 2 late touchdowns and finished with 5 carries, 43 yards, and 2 TD

• DE Austin Booker dominated the backup offensive linemen: 5 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 2 TFL

• The full Velus Jones Jr. experience was on display: he scored a TD in his debut at the running back position, and he muffed a kickoff return 🤷‍♂️

• Old friend Mitchell Trubisky played the majority of the game for the Bills and showed everyone what we already knew: he can put up stats in the preseason, and he can also overthrow receivers and throw near interceptions

Caleb Williams looked smooth and poised in his preseason debut. We have seen a laundry list of quarterbacks in this city, and they tend to play a different game than the rest of the NFL.

Williams managed the pocket well, seemed in control of the cadence, threw with velocity and accuracy, and made impressive plays on the move. He flipped a ball at the last second to D’Andre Swift for a 42-yard gain on a screen, and he also found Cole Kmet on the sideline with a missile throw on a bootleg.

There was no panic. There were no consistent misses. There was no unnecessary scrambling. He showed us that he already belongs.

HARD KNOCKS

Even HBO knows about the windy conditions in Chicago…

Episode 1 released this week! I will share my favorite moments from each episode in the 5-week series as we get an inside look into Bears training camp.

🏈 Xs and Os: Legendary coach Nick Saban, who used to coach Matt Eberflus at Toledo, talked ball with Eberflus. He mentioned standing behind the quarterback in practice to hear his perspective, and Eberflus was then shown doing that exact thing with Caleb Williams.

😎 Favorite Scene: DJ Moore was called up to Ryan Poles’ office in the middle of practice to sign his contract extension. It was cool to see the whole process from Poles’ perspective and also hilarious to see how laid back Moore was. He was grateful, thanked everyone, and casually returned to practice. Some teammates congratulated him, and he basically shrugged them off to say it’s time to get back to work. At least he gave a thumbs up to the camera 👍

🤢 Disturbing Scene: OL Theo Benedet’s rookie karaoke performance of God Bless the USA in only a speedo…

😂 Funny Scene: Caleb Williams’ rookie karaoke performance of Ordinary People by John Legend ended in his teammates throwing stuff at him and booing him.

💲 Showoff: Matt Eberflus’ house is NICE. They showed clips of a coaches party in his backyard, and he is living well by the lake.

❌ I’m Done: The narration was BAD. Corny writing, unnecessary jokes and descriptions, and nothing of substance connecting scenes together. “There’s a bond growing between Eberflus and Williams. That’s a good thing.” No way!?!

NEWS & NOTES

The Bears’ Week 1 opponent, the Tennessee Titans, had a couple setbacks lately: starting guard Saahdiq Charles retired and WR DeAndre Hopkins injured his knee and may miss Week 1

TROPHY TRACKER (6/10 ➡ 🏆)

NEWS & NOTES

Signed 1st round pick Marek Vanacker to a 3-year, entry-level contract ($975K cap hit) - Vanacker will reportedly return to the OHL for the next 2 seasons.

TV studio host Pat Boyle will return in the same role with new network CHSN 👏 great news for Blackhawks fans! Pat has always been extremely polished and professional and will be a familiar face as fans adapt to a new network.

TROPHY TRACKER (2/10 ➡ 🏆)

NEWS & NOTES

Josh Giddey’s Olympic run came to an end as Australia lost to Serbia 95-90 in the quarterfinals.

Giddey’s averages in his 4 games: 17.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 turnovers, 47.4% 3PT

Hired old friend E’Twaun Moore as a scout

TROPHY TRACKER (1/10 ➡ 🏆)

Josh Giddey

Giddey was interviewed after Australia was eliminated from the Olympics and showed real emotion about not winning for his teammates and his country.

This was Giddey’s first Olympics after being named as an emergency alternate for the 2020 Olympics. You can tell how much his home means to him and how honored he was to have this opportunity.

After last year’s accusations against him proved to be false, there were questions about his character and humanity. It’s cool to see he genuinely cares for people, and I’m excited to see him represent the Bulls in the same way in the future.

Pete Crow-Armstrong will be the next great Cubs leadoff hitter.

PCA has come around at the plate lately, and even though it’s still early in his development, I am way too excited to watch him play baseball for the next decade.

Even if he turns out to be a below average hitter at the major league level, PCA could be the Cubs starting center fielder for many years because of his other skills.

He will most likely be the best defensive center fielder in all of baseball. He is also one of the fastest players and most effective base stealers in the game.

But what happens if he lives up to the hype of being a top prospect with impressive production at the minor league level?

2022 (A): .312 AVG, .376 OBP, .896 OPS, 16 HR, 61 RBI, 32 SB (101 games)

2023 (AA/AAA): .283 AVG, .365 OBP, .876 OPS, 20 HR, 82 RBI, 37 SB (107 games)

PCA was as high as #16 on top MLB prospect lists before becoming an everyday player for the Cubs, and his bat is a big part of the evaluation.

Last 15 days: .326 AVG, .340 OBP, .818 OPS, 5 R, 6 RBI, 5 SB, only 5 K

His strikeout rate is dropping, and he has a hit in 10 of his last 14 games.

Please sign me up for a lefty at the top of the lineup for 162 who can get on base and automatically be standing on 2nd in the blink of an eye. The Cubs have had a hole at the leadoff spot since Dexter Fowler left, and PCA could reasonably fill that role for the next era of Cubs baseball.

Adam Jahns - QB Coach Kerry Joseph is perfect for Caleb Williams (The Athletic)

Sahadev Sharma - Pete Crow-Armstrong improving on offense (The Athletic)

Gabby Hajduk - RB Coach Chad Morton brings energy (chicagobears.com)

Josh Schrock - Caleb Williams’ preseason debut (NBC Sports Chicago)

K.C. Johnson - Josh Giddey’s and Zach LaVine’s Olympics experiences (NBC Sports Chicago)

Tony Andracki - The Isaac Paredes Game (Marquee Sports Network)

Chicago Bears - Rookie Diaries: Austin Booker & Tory Taylor - Week 3 (chicagobears.com)

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a great week! Maybe it will be less disappointing than the USA tying China for gold medals and the White Sox not breaking the losing streak record.

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