Chicago Sports Nation

The Chicago Bears report signing 39th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, CB out of the University of Washington Kyler Gordon, to his rookie deal. As per usual the earlier draft picks are the last to sign, and Gordon was one of only 2 of the Bears picks not yet under contract prior to the announcement this weekend. Gordon was the Bears first selection in this past draft and one that really excited the coaching staff and those involved in the draft process.

In 2022, NFL teams will have the option to include an additional alternate helmet in their uniform schedules. The Falcons and Saints have announced flashy new lids, and more are sure to come. The previous one-helmet rule was in place for safety reasons, supposedly to ensure players are fitted once...

Cubs pitchers have shined this past week with a couple of brilliant starts. One of those pitchers is Keegan Thompson. Keegan Thompson entered the season as a multi-inning relief pitcher. Thompson turned heads with his extended starts in his last two appearances. These two appearances were much better after a...

Here we are. Mandatory Minicamp has just concluded; Free Agency and the Draft are in the rear-view mirror, and we look ahead to the start of the 2022 training camp. There are plenty of questions and concerns about this year’s roster. It’s the first year of the Poles/Eberflus era, and there has been plenty of turnover. Key players from previous years have either been shipped off or let go in free agency. With this said, it seems like a good idea to begin an in-depth analysis of each Bears positional group, to give a better idea of where the team is at with their new roster. Each group will be given a letter grade based on multiple factors relating to the quantity and quality of the players. Starting from the top, with the most important position, the Quarterback group.

A couple notes on Madden ratings. Madden likes to keep players fairly close to where they finished the regular season the year before- very few offseason events will alter a player’s rating drastically. That said, they do use the offseason time to account for overcorrections, age regressions, opportunity, and situation. They use these player ratings to create team ratings and auto depth charts- if this leads to out of wack results, they have been known to alter them. Here, a player’s original Madden 22 rating (preseason 2021), where applicable, is listed under OR, then their final Madden 22 rating (Week 18 2021) is listed under ER, then my projection of their Madden 23 pre-season rating is bolded and listed under PR. My predictions are based on these previous ratings, my knowledge of EA’s rating system, particularly how it regards young players, my personal opinion of some players, and my personal projections of the depth chart.

The Chicago Bears are going into an important season, even if it is devoid of expectations of things like winning and making the playoffs. They need to figure out how their team of the future looks, mainly centering around 2021 first round selection, QB Justin Fields from The Ohio State University. But what can the Bears hope for at best in their 2022 season at every position? And on the other side, what can they prepare for as their worst-case scenario? Let’s run through each position group. This article leaves out injuries because they are an obvious worst-case scenario situation.

There hasn’t been much Chicago Fire soccer played recently, as the team has just returned to league play following the international break and an off week. They scraped a 1-0 win against DC United on Saturday, which is a decent result, though they played against the only other team that’s been just as bad as them.

Despite deficiencies elsewhere, the Chicago Bears are rich with hard-running halfbacks. Last year, Khalil Herbert proved he’s more than a special teamer and could play a more prominent role in the new and improved offense. Since Chicago parted ways with Matt Forte in 2016, the Bears have cycled through...

Though we are still a ways away from the regular season, and we have a lot of off-season work to go I’d say the starting receiver lineup is pretty locked in. Obviously Darnell Mooney is the clear cut number one guy and I’m willing to bet he’s followed by Byron Pringle as the number two and likely Velus Jones Jr. as the three. While Mooney is already making a strong case for himself as a proven WR in the league for the others it’s time to make a name for themselves. So, how do I think they’ll fare?

During the Cubs’ 10-game losing streak, the Northsiders fell from 3rd place in the NL Central to dead last. The losing streak began on June 4th, the night game of a doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs lost 7-4 at Wrigley Field. The streak continued until June 17th, a 1-0 victory against the Atlanta Braves.

Two weeks ago I wrote up a projection of the Bears season, predicting a 7-10 finish. Afterwards, I was thinking; why not project the whole league- so I did, using nothing but my own opinions. Then I saw the website I was using produced a draft order and I knew what my next article was going to be- a Too Early First Round Mock.

This weekend the Cubs will be playing one of the hottest teams in baseball, the Atlanta Braves. The Braves are currently on a 14 game winning streak. The Cubs meanwhile are on a 10 game losing streak. This is some of the worst baseball the Cubs have played since before the Theo and Jed era.

As Chicago’s turn in the Draft finally rolled around on day two, fans eagerly anticipated hearing “George Pickens, Wide Receiver, Georgia.” It didn’t happen. Instead, the Bears addressed an immediate concern in a porous secondary. Surprisingly, Pickens remained on the board as the Bears’ next pick came a few moments later. Again, GM Ryan Poles took a defensive player.

Anthony Rizzo, one of the cornerstones to the Cubs breaking the 108-year-old curse, faced the Cubs for the first time since being traded to the Yankees. It was an emotional weekend for Rizzo, as the Cubs traveled to Yankee Stadium, and Rizzo was greeted by familiar faces. Rizzo had one...

Many times this off-season Bears media has mentioned Fields taking that next step with the departure of Andy Dalton and the QB carousel under Matt Nagy. With those two out of the picture Fields can now take the reigns of this team like a true QB1, and in all of the team events so far it appears he has.

The Bears roster is in bad shape. I know the team is clearly rebooting, and thus it is better to focus on future potential as opposed to dwell on past mistakes. But the reality of the situation is that the past regime manifestly failed this team. Much has been said to this effect, and the criticism is well deserved. It is also incomplete.

Already king of cool sack celebrations, Trevis Gipson will look to enter the upper tier of pass rushers in 2022. Filling in for an injured Khalil Mack, Gipson recorded five forced fumbles and seven sacks last season. With Mack gone, Gipson is in position to take over a larger role in this Chicago Bears defense.

We are now less than 100 days from the start of the 2022-2023 NFL season and my excitement to see this new Bears team is mounting. Of course, beyond the new coaching staff, I’m most excited about the day two rookies from this years draft class and what each of them can bring to the team. But who will have the biggest impact on their rookie year? We cannot know for sure until it’s all said and done but here’s a glimpse at what to expect.

There are two essential aspects to rookies receiving quality playing time on the big-league roster. 1: The team is in rebuild mode, where all viable options are used. 2: The team is unhealthy, allowing players to move from AAA to the major league roster. The 2022 Cubs fit both of...