Bears Roll To 4-2 With A Revitalized Ground Game

GOOD MORNING, CHICAGO FANS

What a week! The Bears won their 4th straight game, and the Blackhawks are playing an exciting brand of hockey. Wasn’t this supposed to be spooky season when our teams falter really early in the season? Not this year! Are you not entertained?

CHICAGO BEARS

W - BEARS 25 COMMANDERS 24

REVENGE OF THE MIST

This lived up to the hype.

Caleb Williams vs. Jayden Daniels. Hail Mary redemption. Dan Quinn vs. Ben Johnson. Caleb’s 2nd homecoming.

The Bears sneaked out their revenge against a Washington team that sent the Bears’ 2024 season into a tailspin before making it to the NFC Championship game.

They overcame slick conditions, questionable refs, frequent mistakes, and a replacement kicker in a thrilling, last-second win. Jayden Daniels lost his handle of the football on a handoff attempt with 3 minutes left to give the Bears a final drive. Jake Moody drilled a 38-yard field goal as time expired.

Standouts:

• D’Andre Swift averaged 7.7 yards per carry (108 yards) and scored on a 55-yard reception. Ben Johnson was on a mission to fix the run game during the bye week. What a turnaround!

• Moody had 1 low field goal attempt blocked but otherwise filled in admirably for the injured Cairo Santos (4/5 FG)

• Jaquan Brisker had a clutch interception in the 1st quarter

Quick Hits:

• The refs threw way too many flags, including when a Rome Odunze TD was negated due to a phantom illegal formation

• Bears had 9 penalties for 84 yards

• Caleb Williams became the first QB in Bears history to throw for 200+ yards and 1+ TD in each of the team’s first 5 games in a season

• 3rd game in a row with 3 takeaways!

• 2nd 25-24 win in a row 🤔

W - BEARS 26 SAINTS 14

THE MONSTERS GO MARCHING IN

Dennis Allen’s defense made a statement against his former team! In the Bears’ 4th straight win, they came away with a lot of 4s: 4 takeaways, 4 sacks, 4/4 field goals, and only 44 rushing yards allowed.

Caleb Williams and the passing offense was stagnant, but the ground game picked up right where it left off against the Commanders. This was a hard-nosed, Lovie Smith-era football game led by takeaways and the trenches.

The Bears of old would have folded after failing to head into halftime 20-0, allowing a 5-play 91-yard TD drive before the half and 10-play 80-yard TD drive right after the half. Instead, the defense had 2 more interceptions and didn’t allow anymore points for the rest of the game. This team is built different!

Oh, and Caleb Williams probably enjoyed beating his former teammate Spencer Rattler who he stole a job from back at Oklahoma 😂.

Standouts:

• Swift (124 yards, 6.5 yards/carry, 1 TD) and Kyle Monangai (81 yards, 6.2 yards/carry, 1 TD) dominated in the run game

• Montez Sweat was in the backfield early and often for the 2nd straight game and had 1 sack, 2 TFLs, and a forced fumble

• Kevin Byard picked off a deep pass on the sideline for his 4th INT of the season, and Tremaine Edmunds grabbed a tipped ball for his 3rd INT of the season

Quick Hits:

• First win against the Saints since 2008

• Bears now lead the NFL with 16 takeaways and a +11 turnover differential

• Moody was the kicker again and went 4/4 on field goals!

• Bears had 10 penalties for 92 yards

• Drew Dalman took the blame for some terrible snaps between himself and Caleb in this game. Luckily, the Bears committed a false start on one of them, and it allowed them to keep the football.

• The 2022 2nd round duo (Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker) had back-to-back sacks on DB blitzes!

• Tyrique Stevenson and Cole Kmet left the game early with injuries

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ D’Andre Swift

33 carries, 232 rushing yards, 3 receptions, 81 receiving yards, 2 total TDs

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 D’Andre Swift stutter move TD

Former Bears LT Charles Leno Jr. announced his retirement 🫡

Activated RB Travis Homer off IR, opened the 21-day window for Amen Ogbongbemiga to return from IR

SCHEDULE 📅 SUNDAY @ Ravens

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

W - BLACKHAWKS 3 MAMMOTH 1

OVER THE BLASHILL

• Jeff Blashill’s first win as the Blackhawks’ head coach 🫡

• Ilya Mikheyev scored 2 goals and made plays all game long

• Spencer Knight saved 21/22 shots and singlehandedly kept the Hawks alive in a brutal 2nd period

W - BLACKHAWKS 8 BLUES 3

POND HOCKEY REMIX

• Hawks scored 8 goals for the first time since 2022 for a national TNT audience

• Lukas Reichel made his season debut and scored 2 goals!

• Ryan Greene scored his first NHL goal and Connor Bedard had 3 assists

L - CANUCKS 3 BLACKHAWKS 2 (SO)

BERTUZZ-INTERFERENCE

• A potential game-winning goal by Tyler Bertuzzi was disallowed because of a “goalie interference” call. It should have been a non-call…

• Hawks had a strong 2-goal 1st period and played much worse to allow the Canucks back into the game

• Canucks won their 11th straight game vs. the Hawks

W - BLACKHAWKS 2 DUCKS 1 (OT)

DUCK DUCK DONATO

• Ryan Donato scored the OT winner after a strong Connor Bedard effort by the net

• The Hawks held a 1-0 lead until Wyatt Kaiser cleared the puck over the boards, leading to a Ducks power play goal with 36 seconds remaining

• Coach Q made (another) return to the United Center to a mix of cheers and boos

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Ryan Donato

3 goals and 2 assists (5 points) on 9 shots

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Frank Nazar goal and delayed celebration

Nick Foligno stepped away from the team for his daughter’s heart surgery. Prayers for a successful operation and full recovery 🙏 The Foligno Family started The Heart’s Playbook Foundation to fight against heart disease and continue to give to others in honor of their daughter.

Jeff Blashill has been using an 11 forwards and 7 defensemen lineup most nights. The main reason is to have more options when a young defenseman isn’t on his game.

Activated Landon Slaggert off IR, sent Joey Anderson to the AHL

Bedard and Nazar are roommates on the road this season! Bedzar is already a legendary duo!

SCHEDULE 📅 TH/SUN

CHICAGO BULLS

OFFSEASON

PRESEASON

L - NUGGETS 124 BULLS 117

• Bulls outshot the Nuggets but sent the Nuggets to the free throw line 41 times!

• Josh Giddey impacted the game in all phases (25p/9r/6a)

W - BULLS 126 TIMBERWOLVES 120

• 7 Bulls had double digit points

• 40-point 4th quarter for the Bulls as they finished the preseason 3-2

Season Prediction:

45-37, Play-In Tournament

Can I copy and paste my season prediction from the last few years?

This team is still stuck in the same place. Not in a rebuild. Not in contention. Just wandering around the no man’s land called the Play-In Tournament, streaking at the end of the regular season, and getting trampled by superior teams in Game 83 or 84.

The Lonzo Ball for Isaac Okoro trade was the main offseason roster move, and it won’t really move the needle. Hopefully, Okoro provides a spark defensively to a group that struggles on that end and contributes huge minutes (maybe as a starter!). I actually really like the Bulls’ guard rotation this season with Josh Giddey and Coby White starting and Ayo Dosunmu, Tre Jones, and others coming off the bench.

Why am I predicting a 6-game improvement? Matas Buzelis. He’s laser-focused, clearly one of the most talented players on the floor, and he will definitely be more of a leader on and off the court this season. If he plays significantly better, others will feed off of him, and the whole unit will be more successful.

It will be another frustrating year filled with meaningless games and lapses in physicality, but at least there are good to great players to watch develop.

Zach Collins will miss at least 4 weeks after having surgery for a wrist fracture

Coby White is still expected to play in the season opener despite missing the entire preseason

Signed F Trentyn Flowers to a two-way deal, waived Yuki Kawamura due to a medical condition (I’ll miss Yuki with his elite highlight reel passing and trash talking with Matas!)

Season Opener ➡️ Wednesday vs. Detroit

CHICAGO CUBS

OFFSEASON

SIX Gold Glove Finalists!

Fielding a squad with 6 finalists is unbelievable. Not having 2-time Dansby Swanson on the list makes it even more impressive, although his numbers didn’t quite live up to the eye test this year compared to other shortstops in the National League.

Special shoutout to Matt Shaw who switched positions a year ago, commuted back and forth between AAA and the majors, overcame adversity as a struggling rookie, and STILL played excellent defense.

Jed Hoyer held his end-of-season press conference

• They will talk to Kyle Tucker about a possible return

• They want to approach multiple players about extensions this offseason

• The entire coaching staff will be invited to remain with the team next season

The Milwaukee Brewers hung on against the Cubs in a dramatic 5-game NLDS just to…get swept by the Dodgers. Classic Brewers losing in the playoffs again!

Prospect Kevin Alcantara had surgery for a sports hernia

RHP Nate Pearson, one of the Cubs’ prizes at the 2024 trade deadline, signed a 1-year contract with the Houston Astros after 2 disappointing seasons in Chicago

SAY WHAT?

A CITYWIDE SALUTE

Cairo Santos

When Jake Moody stepped in for Santos against the Commanders, he was forced to kick in terrible weather conditions in Maryland. Instead of taking a backseat, Santos let his voice be heard and helped out the young kicker in every possible way. Moody later kicked the game winner! Watch this portion of Moody’s press conference here:

MILD TAKE

The Ben Johnson effect has exceeded expectations.

4-2 is exactly what I predicted after 6 games.

I knew the offense would take time to figure it out. New schemes on both sides of the ball would look sloppy at the start of the season.

We made it to that exact point in the season, and I think we’ve seen enough to be even more impressed with Ben Johnson than we expected.

I know they got destroyed on primetime TV. They barely hung on to a 25-24 win twice in a row. The inconsistencies have been maddening, the penalties have been frustrating, and the overall performance each week could be so much better.

Despite all of the issues, Ben Johnson has managed to turn around a football program that hasn’t had a legitimate head coach in 15 years. 4-2 is a nice record, but the foundation appears to be in place for improvements and real success later.

I didn’t think the Bears would lead the league in takeaways. I didn’t know Ben Johnson could singlehandedly fix a broken rushing offense in a single bye week. I didn’t understand how much the new coaching staff would get out of a mostly returning defensive unit.

The Bears haven’t hit their stride, but Ben Johnson is already steering the ship that direction.

HITTING THE LINKS

Ben Pope - Blackhawks owner Danny Wirtz 'very pleased' with GM Kyle Davidson's performance (Chicago Sun-Times)

Mark Lazerus - Why Blackhawks’ Wyatt Kaiser has become the perfect partner for ‘unpredictable’ Artyom Levshunov (The Athletic)

Gabby Hajduk - Fast Facts: Jake Moody (chicagobears.com)

Chicago Blackhawks - Always an Original: Episode 1 | The Originals (YouTube)

TWO MINUTE WARNING

Thanks for reading! High fives all around after the next Bears game? 5 straight??? Have a great week!