Incredible…Wet Blanket

The Bears scored ten points with 2:04 left in regulation to force overtime against the Packers in a rocking Soldier Field last night and then went on to win on a 46-yard touchdown throw from Caleb Williams to DJ Moore. Nothing short of incredible. Now for the stuff that might otherwise be forgotten in all the excitement, like ten penalties for 105 yards. That can’t happen in the postseason. Same goes for time of possession. You can’t expect to beat a good team by letting them control the ball over twelve minutes more than you do. And you can’t expect to beat a good team by knocking out their starting quarterback with a concussion, which is what the Bears did to Jordan Love in the second quarter. And you can’t let the backup quarterback perform like he was the starter. Malik Willis went 9-for-11 for 121 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions. Willis also rushed for 44 yards on ten carries. Pout it all together, and he had a 142.8 rating. The Bears struggled to beat a Packers’ team without edge rusher Micah Parsons playing and Love playing just over a quarter; there were other Green Bay injuries as well that, together, probably explain why they went 0-for-5 in the red zone. You can’t expect the opposition to misfire like that in the postseason. Speaking of misfiring, Bears’ coach Ben Johnson must wondering how long his quarterback will keep scrambling to his right only to heave desperation throws; it isn’t pretty, and it isn’t effective. If I’m reading the stats correctly, Caleb Williams has been called four times for intentional grounding while doing his escape act, right, left or in the hands of an opponent. Of the four teams that have done it four or more times, only the Bears are going to the postseason, where you definitely don’t want it to happen. That said, a win’s a win, and a win against the Packers is always nice.

A Pulse

Not only have the Bulls won two in a row, they beat the same team, the Cavaliers, who have a winning record. What gives? In part, injuries and sickness, along with the truth of “what goes around, comes around.” The Bulls are only recently healthy, playing with everyone they need over the past week or so. They needed a full roster to beat back Donovan Mitchell, who scored 32 points against them Wednesday but sat out last night’s game due to illness, and All-Star guard Evan Mobley missed both games with a calf injury. Hence, maybe, the win. Next up are two games against the Hawks, with guard Tre Young, another Bulls’ nemesis, coming off of injury. The nice thing about being healthy is, coach Billy Donovan cand throw a lot of people at the opposition; when guard Kevin Huerter and center Zach Collins are getting significant playing time, it’s a good thing. Last night, they combined for 27 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Guard Tre Jones also contributed sixteen points and six assists in 22 minutes. If the Bulls can beat Atlanta both games, we’ll see. Otherwise, whatever.

Sign of the Times

The White Sox finished the overhaul of their coaching staff this week. Of the ten coaches who’ll suit up for a game, only one, bullpen coach Matt Wise, has major-league experience. The assistant pitching coach is 29, one of the bullpen catchers 22 (!). Journalist Jimmy Breslin once wrote a book, Can’t Anyone Here Play This Game?, about the hapless ’62 Mets (more hapless than the 2024 Sox?). Breslin wrote back when teams tended to hire people with major-league experience out of the belief they could impart lessons learned playing to current players. Those were the days. Now teams hire callow youth that already seems to know it all.

Road(s) to Nowhere

Bears’ President and CEO Kevin Warren is broadening the team’s search for worthy home for a “world-class stadium” fans can be proud of to include—wait for it—northwest Indiana. This is a ploy equally pathetic and funny. Warren sent a letter to season-ticket holders yesterday relaying the news. He also deigned to talk to the Tribune about the stadium situation. The one thing he failed to do was tell the truth and admit the Bears were issuing an empty threat in a sad, sad effort to gain some leverage. If Warren were being honest, he’d note how hard it would be for fans to get to a world-class stadium in Indiana, an oxymoron if there ever was one. Are fans going to take the Skyway? Sure, provided they’re ready to shell out $7.80 in tolls to get there, or $15.60 for a roundtrip. And then what, a site along I-90 or I-80? Pick your poison, unless bumper-to-bumper semis going 70 mph or more is your cup of tea. All those trucks on a Sunday night, all those fans slightly tipsy after a game. Imagine the possibilities World class? Hmm. The Bears think the 326 acres they own in Arlington Heights would be perfect, if only the General Assembly rolled over and gave them the power to negotiate property taxes with local governmental agencies. No doubt, they’d get that in Indiana, but where, exactly? For 326-plus acres of property across the state line, odds are it won’t be pristine. Far more likely, the land will be a brownfield in need of major remediation. Check that. It’s Indiana. Passing a magic wand over the site should suffice for cleanup. Bears’ fans might glow in Indiana, but it will have nothing to do with beating the Packers.

Regrets?

I wonder if Billy Donovan ever regrets saying “Yes” when Arturas Karnisovas offered him the Bulls’ head-coaching job? I would. The latest installment in “how low can they go?” came Sunday at the United Center with a 114-104 loss to the five-win Pelicans. Yes, two of those wins have come against the Bulls. I swear Zion Williamson comes off the injured list just to play the Bulls. In the Pelicans’ first win the big, fragile one scored 29 points; on Sunday, he came off the bench to rack up eighteen. It was his first appearance in two weeks. Everyone knows the Bulls have to do something. The players keep saying the right things while doing none of them. To watch Coby White and Nikola Vucevic on the floor is to see two players who have basically given up. How long until Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey join in? Yet Karnisovas sits sphinxlike, without a care what the public or the media think. How low can they go? Good question.

Double or Nothing

I’ll say this for writers in The Athletic—they’re not afraid of coming off dumb. For example, take Jayson Stark, who on December 3 wrote a column, “The gapper is dead: Who killed the double and triple — and what can MLB do about it?” According to Stark, analytics have dictated a switch in outfield defense. Everyone plays deeper, which reduces the number of extra base hits, that plus far more athletic outfielders. To help prove his point, Stark notes a precipitous decline in the rate of doubles since 1992 and triples since, well, forever. The answer to the problem? Draw a line in the outfield that outfielders would have to be standing at when a ball is hit. Sounds dumb to me. Even worse, at no point in his article does Stark note another, even greater, affect of analytics on baseball, that the expected result of every at-bat should be a homerun or a walk at the risk of a strikeout. Once that idea becomes standard operating procedure, doubles and triples become an afterthought at best, stolen bases something even less. With this mindset, the baseball establishment emphasizes power above all else. I wonder what kind of careers Lou Brock and Rickey Henderson would have today, or Dustin Pedroia. Albie Pearson or Freddie Patek, both 5’5”? Forget about it. I continue to believe female ballplayers could easily play at the level of Pedroia, but will be ignored for a perceived lack of power. Did I mention Pedroia has more than a few HOF supporters? Once upon a time (think before the computer), players were encouraged to “think two” the second they hit the ball. Think Kirby Puckett, who hit 39 doubles at the age of 35. Players without power contributed by going from first to third or stealing bases, the latter of which explains Maury Wills and Patek, who had 385 stolen bases over a fourteen-year career. Those days are gone. And drawing a line in the grass won’t bring them back.

Why, Why, Why?

The Bears couldn’t have asked for an easier opponent than the hapless, three-win Browns. After three bone-chilling hours of play (and windchill of minus-eight degrees at the friendly confines of Soldier Field), a final score of 31-3, Bears. The score was 28-3 going into the fourth quarter. So, why in heaven’s name did quarterback Caleb Williams play the entire game? Williams passed four times over the course of two possessions and was sacked once. Any one of those plays could have resulted in injury. Just ask Patrick Mahomes. Teams have backup quarterbacks for a reason, yes? While we’re at it, why oh why did FOX have to make a prophet out of me by showing some clown shirtless in the cold? I told Michele Saturday night this would happen. The prophets speaks again—expect FOX to show that same clown or one—or more—just like him doing the same thing Saturday night when the Packers come to town. Keep it on, and keep the Cheeseheads out of the end zone.