Bears Get To 10 Wins In A 31-3 Arctic Blowout

GOOD MORNING, CHICAGO FANS

Here’s to the hot coffee you’re drinking while reading this! Let me know if anyone you know was at Soldier Field yesterday getting frostbite 🥶

The Bears rolled in the cold, but the Bulls are ice cold. Connor Bedard is injured, too! And maybe the warmest news of all…

Congratulations, White Sox fans! The Sox won the #1 pick in the MLB Draft Lottery!

CHICAGO BEARS

W - BEARS 31 BROWNS 3

HANG TEN AT THE NORTH POLE

How do you set a city on fire? Prove that Bear Weather is not a myth.

Bring PCA to Soldier Field, cut off some sleeves, invite the pigeons, and dominate a football game in all 3 phases. From Devin Duvernay’s 52-yard opening kickoff return to the final whistle, the Bears reminded the Browns how it feels to be a dysfunctional NFL organization while earning their 10th win of the season.

The Browns hung around, only losing 14-0 at halftime, thanks to a missed field goal by Cairo Santos followed by a 3-and-out in the 2nd quarter. With only 1 offensive first down for the Browns in the 1st half, the game should have been over already.

3rd quarter interceptions by D’Marco Jackson and Jaylon Johnson fueled the beatdown as the Bears put the game out of reach.

There was too much “trap game” and “Shedeur Sanders could beat Caleb Williams” talk this past week. The rookie QB was flustered all day and made things look easy for the Bears defense. Cardiac Bears? Not this time. We got to kick back and relax for once and enjoy being back in first place in the division!

Standouts:

• Caleb Williams (17/28, 242 yards, 2 TD) was sharp as the passing offense looked way more in sync

• D’Andre Swift was electric on the ground (18 carries, 98 yards, 2 TD) and danced his way to an improbable 17-yard TD

• DJ Moore had 69 yards and 2 TDs, including a highlight reel grab in the back of the end zone

• D’Marco Jackson had the INT, a sack, and 7 tackles

• Devin Duvernay was explosive on punt and kickoff returns

• Luther Burden (84 yards) and Colston Loveland (63 yards) stepped up in Rome Odunze’s second absence

• Austin Booker had 2 sacks and was chasing down the ball carrier on every play

Quick Hits:

• Domination in every single stat! First Downs: 21-9, Total Yards: 361-192

• Bears defense had 5 sacks (!) and 3 takeaways to increase their league lead in takeaways to 30

• Bears were robbed of another takeaway on an Austin Booker sack when the ball clearly came loose

• Shedeur Sanders finished with an ugly stat line: 18/35, 177 yards, 3 INT

• Only 4 penalties for 25 yards!

• Myles Garrett caused problems as expected. He had 1.5 sacks and was in Caleb’s face for most of the game

• Browns injury report was massive - they started only 1 OL who was a Week 1 starter

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Caleb Williams

17/28, 242 yards, 2 TD

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Jaylon Johnson interception

Pro Bowl Voting update: Same as last week! Kevin Byard and Joe Thuney are still in 1st place at their respective positions

Kyler Gordon was placed on IR and may be able to return for the playoffs 😩

LB Carl Jones Jr. was claimed off the practice squad by the Baltimore Ravens

Signed LB Ty Summers to the practice squad, released OL Royce Newman

Micah Parsons, the elite pass rusher the Packers acquired in the offseason, tore his ACL yesterday and will be out for the rest of the season

NFC North

10-4 Bears

9-4-1 Packers

8-6 Lions

6-8 Vikings

SCHEDULE 📅 SATURDAY vs. Packers (Round 2!)

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

W - BLACKHAWKS 3 RANGERS 0

A HAPPY BIRTHDAY KNIGHT

• Spencer Knight recorded his 2nd shutout of the season on Jeff Blashill’s birthday! What a bounceback after the 13-1 weekend!

• Hawks controlled play despite going 0-for-3 on the power play, winning 31.9% of the faceoffs, and getting outhit 36-12

• A Ryan Donato goal was disallowed due to a hand pass, and Igor Shesterkin robbed the Hawks of other sure goals

L - BLUES 3 BLACKHAWKS 2

FINAL FACEOFF FOLLY

• Connor Bedard was tackled by Brayden Schenn on the last faceoff of the game with 0.8 seconds left and injured his shoulder

• The rest of the game was physical as well with bloody hits and frequent fights

• Having the extra attacker did not benefit the Blackhawks at the end of the game as they constantly turned the puck over and had to defend their own net

L - RED WINGS 4 BLACKHAWKS 0

A CHICAGO REUNION

• Alex DeBrincat (2g) and Patrick Kane (1g) combined for 5 points as visitors at the United Center

• Nick Lardis made his NHL debut and had a team-high 8 shot attempts

• Blackhawks won 63.6% of the faceoffs and outshot the Red Wings 26-24

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Spencer Knight

1 win, 1 shutout, 44 saves on 47 shots (.936 SV%)

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Louis Crevier shorthanded goal

Assigned Sam Rinzel and Landon Slaggert to the AHL, recalled Dominic Toninato

Recalled Nick Lardis from the AHL!

Connor Bedard had an MRI over the weekend, and the severity of his injury will be announced today 🙏

Mason West, shortly after winning his state football championship, made his season debut for the USHL’s Fargo Force. In his 2nd game, he had 2 goals and 1 assist!

Prospect Marek Vanacker was added to Team Canada’s World Junior training camp roster

Laurent Brossoit scored a goalie goal in the AHL!

Old friend Lukas Reichel was placed on waivers by the Canucks - only 2 months after the Blackhawks acquired a 4th round pick for him

Minnesota Wild traded for Quinn Hughes in a blockbuster trade with the Vancouver Canucks

SCHEDULE 📅 T/TH/SAT

CHICAGO BULLS

W - BULLS 129 HORNETS 126

THE HANDMADE CHALLENGER

• Bulls narrowly snapped their 7-game losing streak

• Billy Donovan’s challenge overturned a 3-point shooter foul even though Zach Collins definitely made contact with Kon Knueppel’s hand

• Collins earned closing minutes as Nikola Vucevic found himself on the bench for the final 16 minutes

L - PELICANS 114 BULLS 104

I CAN’T GO THE DISTANCE

• Both teams shot terribly from 3PT (Pelicans: 24%, Bulls: 27%)

• Pelicans went on a 16-6 run to pull away halfway through the 4th quarter

• Coby White was the Bulls’ leading scorer despite shooting 1/10 from 3PT

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Josh Giddey

18.5p/7.0r/8.0a per game, 1 double-double

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Zach Collins rebound & Tre Jones dunk

Strange mixed messages have been coming from the Bulls. Reports say the locker room is “splintering”, Billy Donovan says the players don’t “love” each other enough to dive for loose balls and show extra effort on the court, and the players all say they’re a tight-knit group. Either somebody is lying, or everyone is somehow partially correct about a team that can’t get its act together.

Coby White is reportedly drawing interest in potential trades, specifically by the Minnesota Timberwolves

Isaac Okoro, Jalen Smith, and Tre Jones all returned from injury on Friday 👏 This season’s intended starting lineup of Giddey/White/Okoro/Buzelis/Vucevic was finally together!

4-14 since their 6-1 start!

SCHEDULE 📅 W/F/SUN

CHICAGO CUBS

OFFSEASON

WINTER MEETINGS & OFFSEASON UPDATE

The Cubs walked away from the meetings with…nothing. They are active in trade talks and in the free agent market, but nothing big crossed the finish line this past week. Their biggest news was when this tweet dropped:

They met with Pete Alonso?!? I love it. Alonso is a proven slugger who can cut through the wind at Wrigley and provide much-needed power from the right side. What does it mean about the Cubs’ approach this offseason? No idea. Are they comfortable adding a pricy hitter? Are they prioritizing slugging? Do they think DH is the best opportunity to improve the lineup? So many questions.

Other news from the meetings:

• Cubs legend Kyle Schwarber re-signed with the Philadelphia Phillies (5 years, $150M)

• All of the elite closers are off the board: Edwin Diaz to the Dodgers, Robert Suarez to the Braves, Devin Williams to the Mets, Ryan Helsley to the Orioles

• Former Cub (yes, he was a Cub for 8.1 innings!) Mike Soroka signed a 1-year contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks

• Craig Counsell confirmed they expect Justin Steele to return from injury in the first half of the 2026 season

• Counsell mentioned Michael Busch starting every day next season!!!!!!

Signed LHP Hoby Milner to a 1-year, $3.75M contract

• Funky arm angle lefty added to a righty-dominant bullpen

• Played for Craig Counsell in Milwaukee (2021-2023)

• FIP between 3.13 and 3.39 in each of the last 4 seasons

• Groundball pitcher with solid control and is great against lefties (.608 OPS against in his career)

Rule 5 Draft

• Nobody in the Cubs organization was selected by another team

• Selected 3 players: RHP Adam Stone (Yankees), RHP Zane Mills (Cardinals), 3B Devin Ortiz (Padres)

Tyler Zombro’s new position with the Cubs is officially Vice President of Pitching

Signed RHP Collin Snider to a minor-league contract

Owen Caissie will play for Team Canada in the 2026 World Baseball Classic

SAY WHAT?

A CITYWIDE SALUTE

Nikola Vucevic

Vooch is a respected veteran in the Bulls locker room, and it showed on Friday night. After sitting out for the final 16 minutes of the game as Zach Collins finished out the Bulls win, he applauded his teammates and handled the situation with class. Watch his comments here:

MILD TAKE

The Cubs should have signed one of the elite free agent closers.

Diaz, Suarez, Williams, Helsley.

Pitchers who, like every reliever, are not a guarantee next season. Three of them signed a three-year contract, which the Cubs never do for relievers, and those years are not guaranteed to be good regardless of what name is on the back of the jersey.

Jed Hoyer has excelled at building reclamation bullpens. He digs deep for minor league free agents, waiver claims, small trades, and organizational depth to fill out a pen. Somehow, the Cubs continue to churn out successful groups using this method. Shoutout to Tommy Hottovy!

I don’t need them to throw cash at relievers as a whole. I don’t need them to change their entire philosophy. I DO need them to get a guy in the building who has velocity, who has a 9th inning demeanor, and has at least a GOOD chance of shutting down teams with a 1-run lead. Someone who has done it before.

They may find their next Brad Keller or sign a quality free agent like Pete Fairbanks. The offseason is still young, and their bullpen will be completely overhauled by the time spring training rolls around.

Unfortunately, the window has closed on the elite closer group, and the Cubs were simply hiding in the shadows. 9th innings better not be stressful this coming season.

HITTING THE LINKS

Dan Wiederer - Kevin Byard has not missed a game in 10 NFL seasons. Why is just as important as how (The Athletic)

Julia Poe - The Chicago Bulls offense is built on getting to the rim. So why aren’t they able to finish? (Chicago Tribune)

Ben Pope - Blackhawks defensemen have their own blind-spot detection system: Spencer Knight's voice (Chicago Sun-Times)

Mark Lazerus and Dom Luszczyszyn - Are the Blackhawks better than numbers suggest? A public vs. private analytics debate (The Athletic)

TWO MINUTE WARNING

Thanks for reading! Put on your best armor - Bears & Packers Round 2 is here!