Only Pain In Chicago As Every Team Disappoints

In partnership with

Good morning Chicago fans! Did you find yourself reminiscing about what happened over the last 4 years after Election Day? I did too.

The 8-8 Bears lost a “playoff game” in 2021 when Javon Wims couldn’t catch a ball. The new look Bulls won a single playoff game against the Bucks in 2022. The Cubs and Blackhawks haven’t sniffed the playoffs. Now here we are - watching the Bears lose to the 2-7 Patriots in Chicago.

Receive Honest News Today

Join over 4 million Americans who start their day with 1440 – your daily digest for unbiased, fact-centric news. From politics to sports, we cover it all by analyzing over 100 sources. Our concise, 5-minute read lands in your inbox each morning at no cost. Experience news without the noise; let 1440 help you make up your own mind. Sign up now and invite your friends and family to be part of the informed.

Sign up today!

RESULTS

L - Patriots 19, Bears 3: The “get right” game turned into a “get fired” game (hopefully)

• Lifeless, embarrassing, uninspiring performance by the Bears offense made it THREE straight games without the ability to move the ball down the field

• I’m at a loss for words that we are in this place again. This high-powered offense with the #1 QB and high-profile WR/RB acquisitions has fallen further than most despicable offenses we’ve watched over the many decades of defense-first football in Chicago.

• 9 slow starts in 9 games…well, I’m not sure you can call it a slow start when they never got going 🤷‍♂️

• Just like the last 2 weeks, there was no rhythm. Timing was off. Play calling was questionable. Route combinations were confounding. The backup offensive line struggled. The quarterback looked lost. The Bears have bad days that are worse than any other franchise’s bad days.

• Caleb Williams (16/30, 120 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 9 sacks!!!!!!) took way too many sacks, seemed to be hesitant, and looked like a scared rookie that had no confidence in the team or gameplan

• Bears had 142 total yards, 2.4 yards per play, gave up 9 sacks, and went 1 for 14 on 3rd down 🤢

• The defense bounced back despite some big plays allowed. They held fellow rookie QB Drake Maye to 184 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT and returned to their under-20 points allowed tendency.

• The beaten up o-line to start the game: Borom/Jenkins/Shelton/Bates/Pryor and Doug Kramer played LG after Jenkins went down with another injury

• False starts killed every string of positive plays, the defense gave up points in the last second of the 1st half AGAIN, and even Tory Taylor had a tough day

SEASON RECORD: 4-5 (Last place, 4 GB)

⭐ STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐

TJ Edwards

The only guy who wanted to make plays! 13 tackles, 1 INT

🎥 PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥

TJ Edwards interception

NEWS & NOTES

Traded RB Khalil Herbert to the Cincinnati Bengals for a 2025 7th round pick

• Not surprised by this move - Herbert has not been utilized in this year’s offense due to scheme fit and his issues with pass blocking and catching

• The Ryan Pace roster purge continues - Herbert was a 2021 6th round pick and one of the last few Pace players on the roster

• He was a fun player to watch! Definitely an impressive runner with solid cutting ability and good vision

• Finished his Bears career with 1,791 rushing yards, 9 TDs, and 4.8 yards per carry. His 5.7 yards per carry in 2022 is higher than any season in Walter Payton’s career 😮

How ugly was the Bears offense yesterday???? ⬇

Andrew Billings had pec surgery and will most likely miss the remainder of the season

Activated Ryan Bates from IR, Billings and Jaylon Jones were placed on IR

Promoted DB Ameer Speed from the practice squad, signed former Bear RB Darrynton Evans and S JT Woods to the practice squad

One interception to add to the takeaway totals on the season:

Next up ➡ the beginning of the NFC North gauntlet as the Packers come to Soldier Field

TROPHY TRACKER (6/10 ➡ 🏆)

RESULTS

L - Red Wings 4, Blackhawks 1: Patrick Kane wins again in Chicago!

• Evenly matched game displayed what we have seen for most of the season - the Hawks’ solid team structure but inability to score with their lack of Top 6 firepower

• Alex DeBrincat scored the first goal with 1.5 seconds left in the 1st period

L - Stars 3, Blackhawks 1: Back-to-back 1 goal stinker

• A Tyler Bertuzzi 3rd period power play goal made it 2-1 after a terrible first 2 periods for the Hawks

• Stars won the faceoff battle 40-16 🙄

• Arvid Soderblom played great again and stopped 37 of 39 shots

W - Blackhawks 2, Wild 1 (OT): Hard-fought win against a top team!

• Hawks played an impressive defensive game in the 1st 2 periods and only allowed a tying goal in the 3rd to stay alive

• Wild outshot the Hawks 19-4 in the 3rd period as Petr Mrazek capped off his shutdown night with 32 saves on 33 attempts

• Philipp Kurashev finally did something…and scored the overtime game winner!

SEASON RECORD: 6-9-1 (13 points)

⭐ STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐

Arvid Soderblom

He didn’t even get a win and only played in one game…but with Laurent Brossoit out longer than expected, Soderblom’s improvement this season has been a major bright spot.

🎥 PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥

Petr Mrazek save

NEWS & NOTES

Lukas Reichel got an extended look on the first line with Connor Bedard as Luke Richardson continues to mix and match lineup combinations. Without Teuvo, Kurashev, or anyone else producing at a Top 6 level, it’s been a struggle to find production.

TROPHY TRACKER (2/10 ➡ 🏆)

RESULTS

L - Jazz 135, Bulls 126: The winless Jazz stormed into Chicago for their first win…

• The Bulls defense was non-existent as the low-scoring Jazz had their best shooting night of the season and pulled away with a 40-point 4th quarter

• Coby White (28p/6a/4r) led the Bulls as Zach LaVine missed the game due to injury

L - Mavericks 119, Bulls 99: Outmatched from tip-off

• Bulls had 23 turnovers and shot 28.6% from 3 😕

• Nikola Vucevic was the leading scorer for the Bulls with only 14 points as 13 players got minutes in the blowout

• Luka Doncic had 27 points and 13 assists

L - Timberwolves 135, Bulls 119: 4th quarter collapse extends losing streak to 4

• A 45-point (!!!) 4th quarter for the Timberwolves erased the Bulls’ 9-point halftime lead and 5-point lead after 3

• Both teams had huge shooting nights (54.3 & 53.4 FG%), but Anthony Edwards took over with 33p/6a/8r as LaVine missed his 3rd straight game

W - Bulls 125, Hawks 113 : Ayo always dominates the Hawks!!!

• Another game, another slow start, a 70-point 1st half for the Hawks, and another 18-point deficit early on

• The Bulls flipped the script with a 35-15 4th quarter clinic as 8 players reached double figures in points

• Ayo Dosunmu was the star off the bench with 19p/4a on 7-10 shooting, and LaVine returned from injury with 18p/7a

SEASON RECORD: 4-6 (T/7th place in East)

⭐ STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐

Nikola Vucevic

The Vooch renaissance has been incomprehensible!

This week: 20p/9.3r per game, 35-55 FG (63.6%), 7-16 3PT (43.8%), 3 double-doubles

🎥 PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥

Ayo Dosunmu crossover

TROPHY TRACKER (1/10 ➡ 🏆)

NEWS & NOTES

Seiya Suzuki was named as a finalist for a National League Silver Slugger Award

Kyle Hendricks signed a 1-year, $2.5M contract with the Los Angeles Angels

• Not looking forward to seeing Hendricks in a different jersey

• He gets to head home to California and play for the team that originally drafted him in 2008 before he attended college

• Angels manager Ron Washington was the Rangers manager in 2012 when minor leaguer Kyle Hendricks was traded to the Cubs from the Rangers organization

• He said the Cubs made it clear - he is welcome to return to the organization in any capacity after he retires 🙂

Japanese superstar starter Roki Sasaki WILL be posted and can sign with an MLB team for the 2025 season. He’s only 23 years old, throws 100 mph, and can only earn a limited amount of money on his contract due to the timing of his posting. Pairing Sasaki and Shota would be a dream for the Cubs. Jeff Passan’s article even mentioned Sasaki’s friendship with Yu Darvish who always talks up the Cubs organization. Add in Jed Hoyer’s scouting trips to Japan, their need for pitching this offseason, and their confidence in their sales pitch and organizational support for Japanese players…the Cubs could make this happen.

Claimed former Cub LHP Rob Zastryzny off waivers, DFA’d RHP Jimmy Herget

These players cleared waivers and entered free agency: Yency Almonte, Christian Bethancourt, Colten Brewer, Enoli Paredes

Prospect Owen Caissie was specifically named as a desired trade target among MLB teams…I wonder how willing the Cubs would be to move him 🤔

Prospect Matt Shaw has 7 hits in 2 games at the Premier12 tournament, including 7 RBI in yesterday’s game!!

TROPHY TRACKER (5/10 ➡ 🏆)

Travis Homer

Homer is the Bears nomination for the NFL’s Salute to Service Award!

He has been blessing military families in honor of his father and other family members who served in the Army and Navy.

This season, he gifted tickets to military families for every home game through the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS)!

Shane Waldron is more at fault than Matt Eberflus.

The head coach is responsible for the entire operation on any team, and Eberflus does not have a shiny track record to back him up.

With that said, I’m more disappointed in Waldron’s orchestration of the offense over the last 3 weeks.

The Bears entered the season with a new franchise quarterback paired with everything he could possibly need to succeed. Or so we were told. This was the blueprint. The ultimate design to develop a star QB and win games in the NFL.

Somehow, a group that was trending up through 6 games and left London with sky-high confidence has sunk to Craig Krenzel and Chad Hutchinson levels. This hasn’t been a step back. This has been a complete collapse and catastrophic failure.

I don’t believe anyone is performing well on offense, and the players should take the heat for their lack of production. But the bye week must have caused a change in philosophy for Waldron. Instead of keeping their momentum and building on their strengths, nothing works anymore.

This team can’t run the ball, pass the ball, or even avoid moving before the snap.

I have to believe there is talent on this offense. They’re proven in the NFL. They proved it in Chicago earlier this season.

There could be a billion reasons why the Bears can’t score points, but the architect of the entire system since his hiring in January is at fault. He had experience and turned Geno Smith’s career around. He seemed like a good fit. Now the entire unit looks like wandering students searching for a way to get out of class.

Brad Biggs - Ryan Poles needs to overhaul the offensive line (Chicago Tribune)

Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney - Cubs’ plan: More analytics and fewer scouts (The Athletic)

Ben Pope - Kyle Davidson pleased with Blackhawks’ play, Luke Richardson (Chicago Sun-Times)

Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney - Cubs won’t target top free agents (The Athletic)

Jamal Collier - Josh Giddey and the Bulls hoping for the next step (ESPN)

Scott Powers and Mark Lazerus - One telling stat for every Blackhawks player this season (The Athletic)

Scott Powers - How Lukas Reichel got his groove back (The Athletic)

Chicago Cubs - PCA’s Inside-The-Park Home Run | The Breakdown (YouTube)

Chicago Blackhawks - Every Shift Season 3 Episode 2 (YouTube)

Thanks for reading! Maybe we’ll hear about major changes at Halas Hall this week. If not, we can continue to complain together as all our teams let us down even more!

If you enjoyed this newsletter, forward it to a friend! If you are the friend, you can subscribe here: