Let’s take a look around the internet and see what’s interesting.
- The legend that is Adam Jahns has perhaps the best piece of the off-season – a breakdown of Chicago’s plan to develop Justin Fields. While fans are obsessing over the pieces around the player, the Bears are focused on the player. And that’s the correct approach.
- Bears Care Gala tickets are now on sale and if you have the means, it’s an amazing event. (It’s not cheap.) For a grand you can be seated with a Bears legend AND a current Bears player/coach at the dinner, while also receiving an invitation to the VIP cocktail reception afterwards. It also supports the great work this organization does in the community, mostly under the radar.
- Brad Biggs does a mock draft, including the two second-round selections for the Bears. And apparently, if you follow the twitter mentions, it’s an outlier of mock drafts. (Again, I have no idea when it comes to this stuff. I’ll start my draft research in about three weeks. And that will be plenty. But Biggs gets sauteed for selecting someone called Jobe in the second round.)
- One thing: I do not believe Poles is targeting any particular positions with these picks. He’ll have a board and he’ll stick with it. He won’t reach at WR or OT because the closet is empty at those two spots. Poles is preaching patience, and his behavior has reflected that.
- Totally missed this excellent Kevin Fishbain piece on the origins of Matt Eberflus in Toledo.
- ACTUAL BEAR NEWS: Bears are starting to wake up from their hibernation and instructions on how to deal with that are circulating from New York to Michigan. I’m amazed by these people who live in places where bears are just hanging outside the local tavern at night. Just seems like a recipe for drunk guys losing bear fights.
- Good piece at WCG, as Jacob Infante breaks down which wide receivers in this draft class fit Luke Getsy’s scheme. If I’m Poles, I’m looking at one thing: speed, speed, speed.
- Missed this whole kerfuffle between Fields and some jackass at Barstool, a company I’ve hesitated to criticize because I really appreciated the work their top guy did to support struggling bars and restaurants during Covid. I get the appeal of Barstool. They speak directly to the kind of sports fan I avoid at bars, and there are A LOT of those guys.
- Speaking of barstools, this is a terrific read in Baltimore Magazine, arguing why sitting at the bar is often the best place to experience a restaurant. “When we go out, we like to sit at the bar,” Cooper, 79, says. “It’s fun to be close to each other. I think bartenders are sort of fun. They give you quite a bit of attention. It’s cozy.”
- Is Roquan Smith on the Mount Rushmore of college linebackers?
- Roger Goodell and George McCaskey are also preaching patience when it comes to the move to Arlington Heights. “They’ve got a lot of work still to even complete the purchase of the property, [and] they have a pretty lengthy lease still with the city of Chicago,’’ Goodell said. ‘‘But it’s important for teams to look long-term. How are they gonna solve these issues? They don’t get solved overnight.”
- If you don’t think public money will be involved in this project, you just haven’t been paying attention to how these projects get completed. From On Tap Sports Net: “Now, the Arlington Heights Mayor is flirting with some public help for the project. “People would love to see the Bears come, but they don’t want their property taxes to increase, and they don’t want traffic nightmares,” Hayes said. “We’re still in the process of evaluating what we might be able to do from a financial perspective…We want to make this happen, so we’ll have to see what their needs and our abilities are, and try to balance the two.”
- In honor of Will Smith, go to ebay and bid on these Chicago Bears slap bracelets.
