Chicago Sports

Chicago Bears fans have been accustomed to quarterback purgatory for quite some time now. It has seemed, at times, that this franchise would never reach a point where they can feel great about their quarterback situation going into the future.

Then, Justin Fields happened.

In his second season, Fields put on a show for Bears fans. Despite having an underperforming offensive line and not having nearly enough weapons around him, Fields did everything he could, week-in and week-out, to not only try and win, but give fans something to cheer for.

Fields made history on multiple occasions, finishing the season with three 50-plus-yard touchdown runs (in the span of a month, mind you) and breaking the single-game rushing record for a quarterback.

Putting all of that aside, now that the Bears have the number one pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, we’re starting to see plenty of smoke around a Justin Fields trade, and one ex-NFL player decided to add fuel to the fire this past week.

Ex-NFL player Warren Sapp foolishly predicted that the Chicago Bears will indeed trade Justin Fields, but couldn’t be more off-base

First of all, Warren Sapp has no connection with the Chicago Bears media. It’s hard to believe he has any inside information whatsoever.

At this point, he’s simply following some of the social media and national media trends of creating storylines out of nothing. Sure, the Bears own the first overall pick and could opt to draft Bryce Young while trading Fields. Yes, that’s a possibility.

It’s also a possibility that Fields comes out tomorrow, retires from the NFL, grows a beard, buys the best overalls Fleet Farm has on the shelf, and decides to leave football and go into full-time farming.

Come on, man. Let’s get real for a moment.

All of the smoke around a Fields trade is exactly that — smoke. That’s it. The Bears finally have something to cheer about under center, with a guy who can single-handedly flip the script in a game, and now you’re talking about trading him?

Chicago led the NFL last year in rushing and put up the fifth-most yardage by any team in the history of the league. Guess who led the way? Fields.

Why on earth would the Bears want to ruin the only good thing they have on offense right now? Instead of building off an excellent rushing attack, and around a quarterback with a big arm, you think they’d ship him off and start over again?

Look around at some of the best football minds right now. Many of them are calling this rumor out to be a hoax. Many of them have even said they would put Fields as the number one quarterback in this year’s class, above Young.

Listen to the guys who have been in this thing for a while. Listen to logic. Listen to your heart, I don’t care.

Just don’t listen to Warren Sapp.

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EDMONTON, Alberta — It’s funny how the timing of Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones getting the splint removed from his previously injured right thumb aligned with a sudden spike in his production.

”I’m not going to make an excuse for anything,” Jones said with a sly grin Friday. ”But it’s kind of weird how that set up.”

The splint finally came off about three weeks ago. Jones said his thumb doesn’t feel 100% yet, but it’s ”good enough.” And from Jan. 3 through Thursday, he broke for 12 points — three goals, nine assists — in 11 games, more than doubling his season total.

The points came in different ways. Jones made some smart breakout passes, jump-starting chain reactions that have led to goals by Jason Dickinson on Jan. 21 and Sam Lafferty on Jan. 24.

He drove to the net, positioning himself to score the Hawks’ first power-play goal by a defenseman in two seasons Jan. 3 and to score the overtime winner Jan. 17. Jones’ backdoor presence also forced Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak to stand in the crease Jan. 14, allowing Jonathan Toews to score by deflecting the puck in off him.

Most notably, he got shots cleanly through traffic, scoring the tying goal Jan. 17 by doing so and setting up Lukas Reichel, Philipp Kurashev and Toews for tip-in goals on Jan. 8, Jan. 17 and Jan. 19, respectively.

”Obviously, I’m playing better overall,” Jones said. ”I’m just trying to move my feet, take opportunities when they’re there and get the puck in some guys’ hands.”

The continued steadiness of his pairing with Jake McCabe also has freed him to take more chances offensively, some of which inevitably pay off.

”I try to jump when I see the opportunity,” Jones said. ”There’s not a lot of opportunity in our [team] game sometimes to jump up and make things happen. But when I get the puck at the blue line, I try to get pucks to the net and try to shoot quicker, [try] not to take so long to shoot it. When I can be that ‘second wave,’ that third or fourth guy in the rush, it’s nice to know someone’s back there and can handle weird situations.”

That was Jones’ most productive 11-game stretch since the spring of 2018 with the Blue Jackets. He exploded for 16 points in his final 11 appearances that season, powering the Jackets’ 13-2-2 season-ending run that pushed them into a playoff spot.

Coincidentally, his shot volume of 12.0 attempts per 60 minutes this season is the second-highest of his career, trailing only 2017-18 (15.1 per 60). He’s not kidding about shooting more.

Seasons such as 2017-18 helped to build Jones’ reputation as one of the NHL’s elite defensemen, and times such as these offer glimpses of what former Hawks general manager Stan Bowman daydreamed about when acquiring him, as misguided as Bowman’s plan was.

”Seth’s decision-making — on top of his ability and strength out there — is really getting back to where everybody is used to seeing [from] Seth Jones,” coach Luke Richardson said recently.

On the other hand…

Not every aspect of Jones’ game has been fixed this month, however. His zone-entry defense continues to be a significant weakness.

Opponents carry the puck into the offensive zone — rather than dump it in — on 61.3% of their five-on-five entry attempts against Jones, according to data from All Three Zones. That exceeds the NHL average of 58.2%.

He disrupts a respectable portion of those — his 12.9% entry denial rate is also better than the NHL average of 9.5% — but things often play out poorly when he doesn’t.

Jones allows 8.2 zone entries that lead directly to scoring chances per 60 minutes, which is by far the most in the league. The NHL average is 3.7. Only 11 other defensemen leaguewide allow more than 6.0.

”I’ve had a tendency to back up and not keep a good gap,” Jones said. ”There’s a lot of things that go into that.”

This isn’t a new problem. Opponents’ carry-in and entries-leading-to-chances rates against Jones have surpassed the league averages for years now, although not as excessively as they do now. In 2021-22, those rates against Jones were 65.0% and 4.7, respectively. In 2020-21 with the Blue Jackets, they were 66.0% and 4.1, respectively.

Jones said he reviewed a lot of video last summer in hopes of improving in this regard, but that work hasn’t proved fruitful yet. He admitted his instinct to back up on entry attempts is a ”habit that needs to be broken.”

”Maybe just being more aggressive on the entry [attempts could be beneficial],” he said. ”Trusting my feet, trusting my stick and making it tough for them. Sometimes on odd-man rushes, you can’t stay up. But if it’s a one-on-one situation or two-on-two situation, [I can] try to be more aggressive and make them chip it by me.”

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EDMONTON, Alberta — If the Blackhawks have proven anything this season, it’s that they cannot defend the Oilers.

The Hawks traipsed into their bye week with a 7-3 loss Saturday, concluding a chaotic and fruitless three-game season series against Edmonton. The Hawks previously lost 6-5 on Oct. 27 and 5-4 on Nov. 30.

“We pre-scout them and know what they’re going to do, and they still seem to do it,” coach Luke Richardson said. “They’re really good at it.”

An onslaught of three goals in a span of 2:33 during the second period transformed a relatively tight 2-1 game into a blowout. The Oilers eventually racked up 46 scoring chances, tied for the second-most the Hawks have allowed this season.

“We played well the first period, and even the first half of the game, other than the two [Oilers] power-play goals,” Richardson added. “Then we got impatient with ourselves… When we don’t play patient and we get spread out, we lose our pace and our game and we don’t really get much accomplished.”

Oilers star Connor McDavid toyed with the Hawks much of the night and finally exploited Seth Jones for a pretty goal after being barely denied several times earlier. He tallied three points, finishing with nine against the Hawks alone this season and upping his overall total to an NHL-leading 92 in 50 games.

Of course, McDavid partner-in-crime Leon Draisaitl also tallied three points Saturday as well as nine total against the Hawks this season. He ranks second in the league with 76 points.

“They obviously have two of the best players in the world, and they can create stuff out of nothing,” Taylor Raddysh said. “We all have to be aware of it and be on top of them, make it hard on them. It’s tough when they find the scoresheet like that.”

Raddysh, Jason Dickinson and Jonathan Toews scored for the Hawks. Goalie Petr Mrazek stopped 36 of 43 shots.

The Hawks, sitting second-to-last in the league standings with a 15-29-4 record, will now enjoy nine days off during the bye week and All-Star break before hosting the Ducks on Feb. 7.

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ORLANDO – Midway through his 15th NBA season, there hasn’t been a whole lot that Goran Dragic hasn’t seen.

“This is even a new one for me,” the veteran point guard said on Saturday.

Like many, Dragic feels this Bulls roster has playoff talent on it from top to bottom. What he couldn’t process was why this late in the season were they still searching for the missing ingredients?

“It is a little disturbing that the search is still going on with what, 30-some games left?” Dragic said. “This is something that as a player, as a team, you would have liked to already figure out those things because it’s coming close to the end of the season and every game matters for the playoffs. It’s not ideal.

“At the same time, where I think it’s positive is we have a lot of guys here that care. We’re trying to figure out the things that would benefit this team and get us on the same page. We still need to find that.”

Call the 128-109 win over Orlando at least a clue.

Yes, the Bulls built a seemingly insurmountable 25-point lead, and yes, like they did in losses to Indiana and Charlotte at the start of the road trip, they also blew those leads.

The difference was at least against the Magic, they found a way to bandage it up for a night.

After a 7-0 Orlando run cut the deficit to just eight with just over 10 minutes left, coach Billy Donovan called the timeout, settled things down, and watched his players react with five quick points.

That didn’t mean the young up-and-coming Magic were just going to go away, but neither were the Bulls (23-26).

Anytime Orlando looked to run down the visiting team, a big basket was made. DeMar DeRozan hit a clutch three-pointer at the 6:33 mark, and then quieted an eight-point run with a 12-footer from the baseline.

The Magic cut it to five, but Zach LaVine answered with a solid drive, and then 30 seconds later, Patrick Williams hit a clutch three.

There was give by the Bulls, but there was finally take.

“We just stayed together,” veteran center Nikola Vucevic said. “In every timeout, we just stayed calm.”

It didn’t hurt that the “Big Three” were able to flex their muscles all night either, as DeRozan and LaVine each finished with 32, and Vucevic had 26.

That doesn’t mean everything was solved on Saturday. It was a start, and one that Dragic hoped led to bigger things sooner than later.

“I would not say it’s a bad thing that guys in here are willing to search for those answers,” Dragic said. “It’s tough to say or point at names or by positions. I think we have a playoff team. But definitely I feel like most people would agree that we’ve underperformed.”

Eye on Ayo

Starting point guard Ayo Dosunmu only scored three points and handed out one assist in the win over the Magic, with Donovan admitting that he was still going through growing pains as he finds his way.

“There’s going to be nights he’s going to be good, and there’s going to be nights he’s not,” coach Billy Donovan said of Dosunmu. “But I think the growth part of it for him and the way he’s approached it, I appreciate it.”

Return of the “Dragon”

Dragic -nicknamed the “Dragon” from his Phoenix days – made the flight to Orlando on Friday, got in a workout with the backup players, and returned to the rotation against the Magic.

Dragic missed the first two games of the three-city road trip because of illness, and said, “I don’t know the last time I was that sick.”

Watching losses to Indiana and Charlotte probably didn’t help.

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Give Lake Park coach Billy Pitcher credit for honesty.

His first words after the Lancers knocked off Fenton 45-33: “That’s probably why people want the shot clock.”

It was a solid game for three quarters with two evenly matched teams going at it. Pitcher pulled things out in the fourth quarter and used a spread offense to run down the clock and hold on to an 11-point lead.

“We blew a 21-point lead last night against Batavia so we were extra cautious,” Pitcher said.

It worked. Lake Park made good decisions and saw the game out. It’s easy to see why killing off the game is so enticing for coaches.

“Our job is to win the game,” Pitcher said. “We forced a couple shots last night and let Batavia back in the game. We were not going to do that tonight.”

Lancers junior Cam Cerese is one of the season’s breakout players, averaging 23 points. He had 14 points and five rebounds against Fenton.

“I did not see [Cerese’s] breakout coming at all,” Pitcher said. “There is always a guy that surprises you every year but it is usually a sixth or seventh man.”

Cerese says it was simple, plain hard work that led to his improvement.

“I was up at 5 a.m. every day in the summer working as hard as I could,” Cerese said. “It’s definitely been rewarding seeing it pay off this season.”

Cerese said he’s definitely ready for the shot clock, which the IHSA has approved for use in shootouts and tournaments. It’s expected to be another few years before it is in place for every game.

“It really sucks when you are down and you have to watch the other team kinda do what we did tonight,” Cerese said.

Lake Park (15-8) led 18-10 after one quarter and never trailed. Fenton scored the first seven points of the second quarter to cut the lead to one but never mounted another significant threat.

Junior Dennasio LaGioia led the Lancers with 16 points and 6-5 junior Tommy Rochford added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Junior Alejandro Diaz led Fenton with 15 points and Caleb Lewis added 10. The Bison (18-7) are having one of the best seasons in school history.

Fenton has never won a sectional and won just two regionals, in 1976 and 2011. The 18 wins this season is already good enough for third best in school history. The Bison won 21 games in 1976 and in 2020.

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ORLANDO – It’s not like Billy Donovan enjoys playing the role of bearer of bad news, but the Bulls coach also believes in trying to be as honest as he can.

That’s exactly what he was on Saturday when asked about injured point guard Lonzo Ball and the possibility of the team just shutting his comeback attempt down for the remainder of the year.

It’s not there yet, but it’s moving in that direction, according to Donovan.

“My guess would be – there’s not been a specifically set date – my guess would be I think we get through the All-Star Break, I think there would probably be everybody sitting down to talk about length and time of the season, how realistic is it for him to get back, if he could get back what would the minutes look like, is it not worth having him back just because it’s too much?” Donovan said of Ball. “I think everything, at least in my conversations with medical about him, have always been geared towards helping him get back to playing. Certainly once you get out of the All-Star Break, with the amount of time that’s left, basically you’re at the end of February. You have all of March and not even two weeks in April, so you start to get to that point where I think there will be some conversations of, ‘OK, if he’s still not close to playing, what’s the plan moving forward?’

“As much as he’s made some progress, and some slow progress, I’d be the first one to tell you he’s nowhere near playing, he’s just not.”

Ball was initially injured over a year ago, eventually having a second surgery on the left knee. There was a push to try and get him back for the playoff series against Milwaukee, but he just wasn’t ready.

When the rehab on the knee continued hitting more valleys than peaks over the summer, a third procedure was done on Ball’s knee – the second within a year – with the hope he could be back for the second half of the season.

That came into doubt pretty quickly, however, the updates continually showing how slow the progress for Ball was going.

Ball did speak with the media last week in Paris, and wouldn’t rule himself out for the season.

“Obviously I want to play, that’s the goal,” Ball said. “Once I feel I’m comfortable enough playing, whether it’s 70, 80, 90, 100% then I’ll be out there.”

According to Donovan, while Ball is doing work on the treadmill, as well as everything else the guard posted on his Instagram page a few weeks ago, he’s still not consistently running, let alone cutting or jumping on the knee.

“If he can get to that place where he can do that consistently, and be able to come back the next day and do it again, do it again, and do it again, I think you would feel a little more optimistic about when he could return,” Donovan said. “Optimistic where we could say, ‘OK, here’s a date. We feel pretty secure about this.’ Until he can back to that it’s kind of hard to say here’s where he can get back.”

As far as how that affects the Bulls with the Feb. 9 trade deadline approaching, especially at the point guard position, Donovan wasn’t putting much stock into that.

With Ayo Dosunmu the starter and Goran Dragic coming off the bench, it’s been a point guard by committee, especially late in games.

“For me you’re always, every game, every day, looking at the hand you have and trying to figure out ways to help it,” Donovan said of his point guard position. “I think there’s been enough for us with the absence of Lonzo. Work with the group that we have and try to get better.”

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A former Chicago Bears WR will be in the AFC Championship Game

The Chicago Bears aren’t anywhere close to being a playoff team, much less a Super Bowl contender. But one player who was on the Bears this season has the opportunity to play in the Super Bowl after being cut by Chicago midseason.

According to Aaron Wilson with KPRC, the Kansas City Chiefs elevated Ihmir Smith-Marsette to the active roster for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game.

Smith-Marsette was signed off waivers by the Bears on September 1st. He was cut by mid-October following a fumble against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 5 that killed the Bears’ shot at a comeback win over their NFC rival. Not good enough to play for the worst team in the league this season, Smith-Marsette was soon signed to the Chiefs practice squad and will now have a chance to play in the AFC Championship game as the Chiefs battle several injuries at pass-catching positions.

Call it failing upward, if you will.

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EDMONTON, Alberta — Recently called-up Blackhawks forward Luke Philp might not be well-known in Chicago, but he has been the most popular man in Alberta this week.

The storyline does feel movie-scripted, after all. His Albertan connections are endless. He grew up in Canmore, a mountain town west of Calgary, and finished his Canadian junior-hockey career in Red Deer, a city halfway between Calgary and Edmonton.

The undersized 5-10, 181-pound center wasn’t drafted into the NHL and instead played three years of Canadian collegiate hockey at the University of Alberta, located in Edmonton. He then signed with the Flames and spent three years with their AHL affiliate.

Philp signed in the Hawks’ organization this season, correctly believing NHL opportunities would be easier to come by with them, and dominated throughout the fall with Rockford, tallying 30 points in 31 games.

He earned his first-ever NHL call-up Monday — at age 27 — after Tyler Johnson’s ankle injury and debuted Tuesday against the Canucks. That made him one of only three active players to successfully follow the rare Canadian college route to the NHL.

He was initially going to be healthy-scratched Thursday against the Flames, but Jonathan Toews’ illness prompted the Hawks to notify Philp around 4:40 p.m. he’d need to play after all.

“I was going to go for dinner before the game with a couple friends, and I got a call saying I’m playing,” Philp said. “I told them, ‘I can’t come,’ and then hopped on the bus. It all happened pretty fast. But I didn’t really have any nerves throughout the day. It was just, ‘Alright, we’re going, we’re playing.’

His friends and family scrambled to buy last-second tickets, and Philp rewarded them by earning his first NHL point with an assist on Boris Katchouk’s second-period goal. He protected the puck down low and passed to Katchouk for a one-timer in the high slot, although he “wasn’t even thinking this could materialize into a goal” at the time.

“I was just like, ‘No way,'” he said. “Apparently my mom screamed pretty loud.”

Philp was scratched Saturday against the Oilers, however.

Toews returned to the lineup but was only handed the third-line center role between Sam Lafferty and Colin Blackwell, who have both played very well recently. Jason Dickinson retained his top-line spot and Max Domi settled into the second line.

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Senior Maxwell Haack drained the first three-pointer for Downers Grove North. It was the second basket of the game and it set off an avalanche.

“When we are shooting the ball well it’s just a massacre,” Trojans junior Jack Stanton said.

No. 23 Downers Grove North knocked off visiting Lane 63-43 on Saturday. The Trojans were 7-for-15 from three-point range in the first quarter, scoring 28 points.

Lane (8-12) was never able to recover. Stanton finished with a game-high 18 points for Downers Grove North (20-3).

“We have five guys that when open should be shooting the ball,” Trojans coach Jim Thomas said. “We’re playing pretty well, and the guys are moving the ball and being unselfish.”

The Trojans have been in and out of the rankings this season. The exquisite first quarter demonstrated their very high ceiling.

Haack, Stanton, junior Owen Thulin and senior Finn Kramper can all shoot well. That’s complemented by post players with size and strength: 6-8 juniors Jake Riemer (seven rebounds, two blocks) and George Wolkow. Jacob Bozeman, a 6-5 senior, added nine points and eight rebounds.

“[Stanton] and I went and saw a trainer that worked with Bobby Durkin from Glenbard West last year,” Riemer said. “That definitely gave us a lot of help in our overall games. It improved our quickness and strength. Last year we got bullied a lot because everybody else was bigger and more physical.”

The post defense made things difficult for Lane’s two primary scoring threats, 6-6 sophomore Dalton Scantlebury and junior guard Shaheed Solebo, who was blocked at the rim multiple times.

“We were focused on keeping [Scantlebury] from catching it on the blocks,” Riemer said. “And we wanted to limit his rebounding.”

The Trojans outrebounded Lane 35-21. Scantlebury finished with six points and three rebounds and Solebo scored seven.

Sophomore Brayden Rosenkrantz led Lane with 15 points off the bench. It’s been a rebuilding year for the Champions, with the core of the team comprised of sophomores and juniors.

Downers Grove North has split with Hinsdale Central this season and owns a major win against Bolingbrook. The Trojans’ only other loss is to Lyons.

“We’ve got balance and depth and some guys that can get it to the second level and be willing passers,” Thomas said. “It’s been good for us, besides for three games this year.”

Downers Grove North is heading into the biggest week of its season. The Trojans host No. 16 Lyons on Tuesday and they have a major showdown against Glenbrook South next Saturday at Evanston. Those two games should reveal where they stand in the area’s pecking order.

“We were 16-10 last year and nine of our losses came from teams that were in the top 25,” Thomas said. “This is the same group. We earned those war wounds last season and we are seeing the pay off right now. And hopefully next year we will get a little better.”

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Mel Kiper Jr, and former Chicago Bears scout Greg Gabriel are on record that the top QBs this class aren’t as good as Justin Fields.

The Chicago Bears are supposed to be able to take a big step forward toward building their team around Justin Fields this off-season.  With over $121-million in cap room and the number one overall pick and Justin Fields locked in as their starting QB the Bears don’t need to draft a QB.  They can trade down, collect draft picks, and begin forming a young core of players around Justin Fields.

But what if the Bears can’t trade down because no one wants to trade up for a subpar QB?

What’s so ridiculous about this is Fields is way better than the top QB in this class. Why would Bears want to start over … again… with a lesser player? Sapp just making stuff up https://t.co/BWGa8VkxZ6

— Greg Gabriel (@ggabefootball) January 27, 2023

The Warren Sapp rumor started with the Chicago Bears packaging up Justin Fields and then drafting Bryce Young at number one.  But the absurdity of that is as Gabriel points out, none of the QBs are better than Fields so why would you start over?

Then comes Mel Kiper Jr weighing in with his thoughts on ESPN radio that the Bears won’t be able to trade down.  Kiper also added that’s a weak draft class without much talent for the Bears to add players.

Followed by CJ Stroud reportedly being the QB the Carolina Panthers are looking at in the draft, Stroud is also likely to be there at nine meaning they won’t have to trade up to get him.

CJ Stroud is reportedly the “apple” of the Carolina Panthers’ eye at the moment.

The Panthers currently hold the ninth overall pick in the NFL Draft.

The Ohio State QB is currently the favorite to be the second QB taken off the board 👀 pic.twitter.com/Hg1WRtPm0A

— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) January 27, 2023

With less than a month into the off-season for the Chicago Bears, it’s becoming clear that not only will the Bears likely struggle to gain more draft picks by trading down, but that the free agency class isn’t that great for the Bears to bring players in to rebuild their team.

It’s one thing to have resources at your disposal, it’s quite another for there to be a way to fill the holes in your team with resources available.  Historically speaking big-ticket-free agents don’t hit the market much anymore. Meaning that the Chicago Bears may struggle to field a competent enough team to make Justin Fields a better player.

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