Chicago Sports

Sixty-four years ago this week, 92 children and three of their teachers died in the Our Lady of the Angels School fire on Chicago’s West Side. The anniversary of that tragedy takes me back to a fifth grade classroom in another Chicago Catholic school two miles to the south, the day after the fire.

The talk that day was about a boy named Frankie, who had transferred from our school to Our Lady of the Angels that fall. Was he among the victims? There was no internet back then, no source of instant information, so we waited and prayed that good news would work its way back to us through friends of our former classmate’s family.

The story of the Our Lady of the Angels school fire has been told many times, and it has often been cited for bringing about major changes in fire safety standards and building construction codes.

But for the families and friends of the victims, the sense of loss was overwhelming, the new construction standards would come too late, and the future was forever changed.

Although 5-year-old Marlene Ramelli was in kindergarten at a nearby school the day of the fire and did not see the flames, its impact hit close to home.

“My brother Michael and four of our cousins were in school at OLA that day,” Marlene Ramelli Sweeney told me years later. “They all survived, but four children on my block never came home.”

Why were they gone? she wondered. The answer was beyond the understanding of a 5-year-old. “I was forever changed that day, at such a young age, but I am grateful for the life lessons that remain in my heart. We need to live the hell out of every day and give our kids and grands that extra hug before we leave for the day.”

My friend Marc Perilli attended Our Lady of the Angels school and survived the fire. His fifth grade classroom on the first floor was evacuated early. The full impact of that day would not hit home until later, but he remembers the period after the fire as a strange and difficult time for the children, the parents and the neighborhood.

“There were no grief counselors back then,” he says. “Today I do not know if I could cope with 92 deaths of children ages 9 through 13.” Years later, the book “To Sleepwith the Angels” by David Cowan and John Kuenster would help him work through the complex emotions — sorrow, guilt, and empathy — of the survivor.

“The authors put me in rooms that I did not need to ever be in. Keep in mind, the school had two wings and housed 1,600 students. I was in a first-floor classroom, so it was the aftermath that affected me at first. Then at middle age. the book put me in those classrooms that suffered the greatest losses.”

Cowan and Kuenster described the far-reaching scope of the fire. It wasn’t only a “neighborhood calamity,” they wrote, but also “a microcosm of all great tragedies: swift, cruel, and unexpected.”

Although Marlene Ramelli did not see the flames, the smell of smoke would live in her memory for a long time. She remembers sitting with her mother at their family’s dry cleaners as mothers and grandmothers carried in the coats of victims and survivors and pleaded with her parents to get rid of the smoke smell.

“This was impossible with the technology of the time,” she says. “The smoke was embedded in those garments forever.”

The evening of Dec. 1, 1958, I sat in front of the television with my parents and older brother as veteran newscasters fought off tears. That night and all the next day I wondered about Frankie, who had sat in the desk behind me the previous year in fourth grade.

Two days later, we learned he had jumped from a second-floor classroom window and survived with minor injuries. As his story came back to us, he became a symbol of hope and survival in the midst of great tragedy.

Paul Cioe grew up on the West Side and now lives in Rock Island. He is a professor emeritus at Black Hawk College in Moline.

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SAN FRANCISCO – Goran Dragic wasn’t wearing a hat.

It didn’t stop Dragic from reaching up for an imaginary one on his head, pretending to take it off, and then giving it a wave in a direction where no one was actually located.

The game hadn’t even started, and Stephen Curry already had the veteran Bulls guard seeing ghosts.

“No,” Dragic said on Friday, when asked if he had ever seen a player that runs around on an offensive set as much as Curry does. “He’s a unique player, and that’s why he’s changed the entire NBA.

“That’s why, here, I tip my hat to him.”

Curry’s greatness isn’t even an argument these days. Even on a night in which the Bulls held him to just 19 points in the 119-111 loss to the Warriors, Curry’s presence was still felt with the ridiculous amount of time he spends forcing defenders to chase him around during offensive sets.

That’s the secret sauce to Curry’s game in what Dragic described as “relentless.”

“Most of the time he’s doing that without the ball,” Dragic said. “That’s what’s really unique is even though he doesn’t have the ball, he’s creating mismatches. It’s tough to guard if you have to do it by yourself.”

That was the focus going into the prep of defending Curry on Friday.

So much so that coach Billy Donovan changed his starting lineup to best try and remedy that, as well as spark something out of a unit that has been inconsistent all season long. Out was Ayo Dosunmu, and in was Alex Caruso to try and run with Curry.

Donovan also sat usual starter Patrick Williams in favor of Javonte Green.

“The decision to do this wasn’t just for this game [against Golden State],” Donovan said afterwards. “It was more to see, ‘OK, let’s see what this looks like here a little bit.’ That’s really what it was more about.

“I just wanted to take a look at something different and see what that would look like.”

Donovan’s decision was helped a bit by the blowout loss in Phoenix two nights earlier, and when asked about that change being necessary by the coach, guard Zach LaVine had a pull-no-punches answer.

“Nah, nah, I think that was [Donovan’s] opinion,” LaVine said.

As far as how the new-look lineup and rotation looked in its debut? Let’s just say it was a very mixed bag.

The Bulls fell behind as much as 19 in the third quarter, as Golden State’s Jordan Poole went nuts for 13 points off the bench in that stanza.

Then it was like the two teams switched places, as the Warriors (12-11) started turning ice cold and the Bulls started figuring it out.

A Green layup with 6:14 left in the game brought the Bulls to within four. With 2:27 left, a LaVine three cut the deficit to just one. But the champs are the champs for a reason, and when Draymond Green – of all people – hit a three on the very next possession, it seemed to be a gut punch from which there was no recovery, as Golden State closed it out the rest of the way.

So where does this all go from here?

Physically to Sacramento for the finale of this six-game road trip. Mentally with the new look, however, Donovan will watch it, evaluate it, and see how it holds up.

“I’m not trying to make a decision after two or three games, and then project,” Donovan said. “I think there was a pretty good body of work with the number of games we played. I just wanted to take a look at something different.”

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Benet was the story of the opening night of the Chicago Elite Classic. The crowd peaked during Fenwick’s win against Oak Park but any fans that stuck around saw the Redwings come out firing.

Brady Kunka scored 20, Nikola Abusara added 15 and Brayden Fagbemi made it all go. Benet played fast and together and looked impressive on the college court draining college three pointers.

There isn’t a high school three-point line on the court at UIC, as you can see from the picture above. But there was a 35-second shot clock.

“I decided not to say anything to our guys,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “I didn’t want it to get in their heads. But I don’t think we shot any fewer three-point shots. We shot some deep ones but we might have shot those anyway. We were a little unprepared but it was the same for both teams.”

Fagbemi enjoyed the space the larger college court provded.

“There was definitely more space available on offense but more to cover on defense too,” Fagbemi said. “But we play our best when we are in transition so I would say it helped us.”

The Redwings are off to a 6-0 start. They beat Proviso East in the championship game of the St. Charles East Thanksgiving tournament last week.

“I really like this group but we have a lot of work to do,” Heidkamp said. “We have to improve our defense and we aren’t the biggest team around. But we have some really good players that play well together. I like the potential.”

Friday’s top games

Fenwick 64, Oak Park 60: The Friars held off a late comeback from the Oak Park. Sophomore Ty Marcariola led the way with 20 points and junior Darshan Thomas added 18. Sophomore Justin Bowen had 16 for the Huskies.

Lincoln-Way East 62, Lincoln-Way Central 41: Kaiden Ross led the Griffins with 12 and sophomore Brendan Sanders added 10 points.

Bloom 56, Thornton 41: Vincent Rainey continues to put up big numbers for the Wildcats, he had 25 tonight but it wasn’t enough. Jordan Brown and Rae Harris each scored 12 for the Blazing Trojans and Jayden Watson added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Oak Forest 63, Richards 47: The Bengals are 4-1 in the post Robbie Avila era. Johnny Wiggins scored 18 and Chris Sieverin added 13.

Yorkville 64, West Aurora 60: Maybe the score of the night. The Foxes are 5-0 and this is a statement win. Jory Boley scored 18, LeBaron Lee added 14 and Jason Jakstys scored 12.

Father Tolton, Mo. 56, Hyde Park 55: Jurrell Baldwin had a breakout performance in the Thunderbirds’ first loss of the season, finishing wiht 22 points and 13 rebounds.

Bolingbrook 79, Stagg 62: DJ Strong with a big 27 points for the Raiders. Mekhi Cooper scored 17 and Keon Alexander added 18 points and eight rebounds.

Marist 67, Joliet Catholic 58: The young RedHawks win again. Justin Lang scored 19, Marquis Vance had 13 and freshman Stephen Brown added 10.

Farragut 77, Orr 49: Jonathan Calmese led the Admirals with 19 points, seven assists and five blocks and Justin Pickens added 12 points and eight rebounds.

Joliet West 79, Romeoville 71: A sold out high school gym in early December. Joliet is excited about the Tigers. Sophomore Jeremiah Fears scored 21 and Jeremy Fears Jr. had 20. Troy Cicero Jr. led Romeoville with 26 points.

Palatine 58, Hoffman Estates 43: The Pirates win the MSL opener. Connor May scored 21 and Sam Millstone added 13.

Homewood-Flossmoor 67, Andrew 64: The Vikings pull it out behind 23 points, seven assists and seven rebounds from junior Carson Brownfield. Senior Vincent Davis added 18 points and six rebounds.

Westinghouse 89, Clark 84: This must have been a fun one in Clark’s tiny gym. Isaiah Giles scored 27 and Terrell Craig had a triple-double with 15 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds.

Lemont 66, Eisenhower 46: Still unbeaten. Matas Castillo had 23 and Rokas added nine.

Hillcrest 69, Oak Lawn 53: Wow, the Hawks closed this one with a 30-5 run. Darrion Baker scored 19 and Quinten Heady added 20.

St. Patrick 59, Notre Dame 40: The Shamrocks dominate the rivalry game. I didn’t see any stats for this one, but I saw pictures of the crowd.

Evanston 61, Glenbrook South 59: No stats for this one either, but an important score. Big win for the Wildkits but also a definite sign that Phil Ralston and the Titans are rebuilding very quickly.

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Benet was the story of the opening night of the Chicago Elite Classic. The crowd peaked during Fenwick’s win against Oak Park but any fans that stuck around saw the Redwings come out firing.

Brady Kunka scored 20, Nikola Abusara added 15 and Brayden Fagbemi made it all go. Benet played fast and together and looked impressive on the college court draining college three pointers.

There isn’t a high school three-point line on the court at UIC, as you can see from the picture above. But there was a 35-second shot clock.

“I decided not to say anything to our guys,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “I didn’t want it to get in their heads. But I don’t think we shot any fewer three-point shots. We shot some deep ones but we might have shot those anyway. We were a little unprepared but it was the same for both teams.”

Fagbemi enjoyed the space the larger college court provded.

“There was definitely more space available on offense but more to cover on defense too,” Fagbemi said. “But we play our best when we are in transition so I would say it helped us.”

The Redwings are off to a 6-0 start. They beat Proviso East in the championship game of the St. Charles East Thanksgiving tournament last week.

“I really like this group but we have a lot of work to do,” Heidkamp said. “We have to improve our defense and we aren’t the biggest team around. But we have some really good players that play well together. I like the potential.”

Friday’s top games

Fenwick 64, Oak Park 60: The Friars held off a late comeback from the Oak Park. Sophomore Ty Marcariola led the way with 20 points and junior Darshan Thomas added 18. Sophomore Justin Bowen had 16 for the Huskies.

Lincoln-Way East 62, Lincoln-Way Central 41: Kaiden Ross led the Griffins with 12 and sophomore Brendan Sanders added 10 points.

Bloom 56, Thornton 41: Vincent Rainey continues to put up big numbers for the Wildcats, he had 25 tonight but it wasn’t enough. Jordan Brown and Rae Harris each scored 12 for the Blazing Trojans and Jayden Watson added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Oak Forest 63, Richards 47: The Bengals are 4-1 in the post Robbie Avila era. Johnny Wiggins scored 18 and Chris Sieverin added 13.

Yorkville 64, West Aurora 60: Maybe the score of the night. The Foxes are 5-0 and this is a statement win. Jory Boley scored 18, LeBaron Lee added 14 and Jason Jakstys scored 12.

Father Tolton, Mo. 56, Hyde Park 55: Jurrell Baldwin had a breakout performance in the Thunderbirds’ first loss of the season, finishing wiht 22 points and 13 rebounds.

Bolingbrook 79, Stagg 62: DJ Strong with a big 27 points for the Raiders. Mekhi Cooper scored 17 and Keon Alexander added 18 points and eight rebounds.

Marist 67, Joliet Catholic 58: The young RedHawks win again. Justin Lang scored 19, Marquis Vance had 13 and freshman Stephen Brown added 10.

Farragut 77, Orr 49: Jonathan Calmese led the Admirals with 19 points, seven assists and five blocks and Justin Pickens added 12 points and eight rebounds.

Joliet West 79, Romeoville 71: A sold out high school gym in early December. Joliet is excited about the Tigers. Sophomore Jeremiah Fears scored 21 and Jeremy Fears Jr. had 20. Troy Cicero Jr. led Romeoville with 26 points.

Palatine 58, Hoffman Estates 43: The Pirates win the MSL opener. Connor May scored 21 and Sam Millstone added 13.

Homewood-Flossmoor 67, Andrew 64: The Vikings pull it out behind 23 points, seven assists and seven rebounds from junior Carson Brownfield. Senior Vincent Davis added 18 points and six rebounds.

Westinghouse 89, Clark 84: This must have been a fun one in Clark’s tiny gym. Isaiah Giles scored 27 and Terrell Craig had a triple-double with 15 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds.

Lemont 66, Eisenhower 46: Still unbeaten. Matas Castillo had 23 and Rokas added nine.

Hillcrest 69, Oak Lawn 53: Wow, the Hawks closed this one with a 30-5 run. Darrion Baker scored 19 and Quinten Heady added 20.

St. Patrick 59, Notre Dame 40: The Shamrocks dominate the rivalry game. I didn’t see any stats for this one, but I saw pictures of the crowd.

Evanston 61, Glenbrook South 59: No stats for this one either, but an important score. Big win for the Wildkits but also a definite sign that Phil Ralston and the Titans are rebuilding very quickly.

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SAN FRANCISCO – It was a question that led to Billy Donovan going story time.

In the wake of his contract extension leaking out this week, the Bulls coach was asked about his own longevity in the profession and if there was a stop date in mind.

After all, the 57-year-old has been going at it since 1989 when he became an assistant at Kentucky, and what’s been unique about Donovan’s career is he’s never been fired.

A rarity for a coach on any level.

“When I was younger and I first started working, and I was with Coach [Rick] Pitino, he would always say, ‘Hey, 50, 55 years old, that’s it for me, right?’ Here he is 70 still doing it,” Donovan said laughing.

And that’s just one of the reasons Donovan isn’t going to make that same mistake, especially with his current situation with the Bulls and the relationships he has with the front office and ownership.

“I do think as you get older, the years are draining, they are,” Donovan said. “For me, when the year is over with it’s, ‘OK, are you excited about, do you tweak this, tweak that? Did you get better here, get better there?’ Whatever it may be. ‘Coaching, team, what we’re running …’ As long as I’m inspired by that, and enjoy that challenge, I’ve never really put a timeline on it where, ‘This number, I’m done, I don’t care what happens, and that’s it for me.’

“What I love is when you’re with a group of guys on a team and you’re trying to work towards a common goal. There’s a level of sacrifice that goes into that by everybody.”

While Donovan also had a good relationship with his bosses in Oklahoma City, when his contract was up after the 2020 season, a mutual decision was reached to go their separate ways, especially with the Thunder wanting to go young and rebuild.

Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas wasted very little time pursuing Donovan and getting him on board, and with the original contract set to expire after the 2023-24 campaign, the extension was done.

What’s Donovan’s shelf life with the new deal in his mind?

“If that goes where I wake up and it’s, ‘You know what, I don’t like working in this environment, I don’t feel we’re working together, we’re all separated, so far apart.’ That’s when the joy of the job gets totally taken away,” Donovan said. “I’ve been fortunate that I haven’t had that. ‘I’m wiped out, I’m drained, I’ve got a few more years left.’ As long as I continue to enjoy it, I’m going to do it.”

Night watch

It’s been awhile since Zach LaVine and knee load management have appeared in the same sentence, but that doesn’t mean the two-time All-Star has completely moved out of that protocol.

The schedule spreading out like it has just put things on hold.

According to Donovan on Friday, while LaVine has been a full participant in all the recent practices and shootarounds, there is still constant dialogue on his availability in the wake of the offseason left knee surgery.

As long as there are no setbacks, the next real test won’t come for a few weeks, when the Bulls have a back-to-back in Miami and the next night in Atlanta.

“It’s not like every back-to-back he’s going to sit one of them,” Donovan said. “But it’s definitely going to be evaluated. Absolutely.”

LaVine has sat four games so far this season with the load management.

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There was a moment in the first half when Shaheed Solebo leaped into the air a solid foot higher than the other nine players on the court, he was above the rim and looked ready to stylishly drop the ball into the basket.

That didn’t go well. The shot rimmed out from point-blank range. But the startling image of Lane’s 6-5 junior guard athletically outclassing everyone on the court was impossible to miss.

“He’s the most talented player I’ve coached at Lane,” said Champions coach Nick LoGalbo, who has been at the helm of the North Side school for 15 years. “He’s beginning to understand that its not just what you do between the lines. It’s what you are as a leader and how you bring the guys together. Tonight he did that.”

Solebo helped lead a fourth-quarter charge that gave Lane a 51-46 win against Taft in the first game of the Chicago Elite Classic on Friday at Credit Union One Arena.

The Champions have regularly featured on the first night, which serves as an undercard before the main event on Saturday. Solebo is good enough to turn Lane into a Saturday team next year, especially if 6-6 sophomore Dalton Scantlebury continues to improve.

Solebo finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Scantlebury had 15 points, seven rebounds and five blocks.

[Scantlebury] has good timing and length,” LoGalbo said. “He’s been wonderful for us and really impacted the game on both sides of the floor. Tonight he took a big step offensively.”

Taft (3-3) led by seven at halftime and four after three quarters. The Champions (4-2) stepped up defensively early in the fourth quarter and held Taft scoreless for the first three minutes.

“Those defensive stops turned into big energy plays for us,” Solebo said. “And once we started looking for other guys it opened things up offensively and got a lot easier.”

Junior Parker Williams added 13 points for Lane.

“We’ve been up and down because we are young,” LoGalbo said. “We are figuring out how to win games and playing off one another and building chemistry. We knew Taft was going to come out with a chimp on their shoulder because this is a rivalry game.”

Junior Lyle Scibor led Taft with 17 points and seven rebounds and senior Armin Aliloski added eight points and 13 rebounds. Junior Frank Paszkowski scored 10.

“Our boys are playing extremely hard,” Eagles coach Andre Harris said. “We just got some of our football players back last week and we are still jelling. Lane is a tough team but I think we played well.”

The shootout features a shot clock, which is a first for a Chicago high school basketball event. However, the floor at UIC doesn’t have a high school three-point line. The CEC has been held at UIC several times and there has always been a high school three-point line in the past.

“Well, we showed up and asked where it was but it just wasn’t there,” Harris said. “There wasn’t much you could do about it.”

Lane’s players said they barely noticed. Taft had three-point shooters setting up in the corner on several offensive sets and the player was camped out at the college three-point line. The Eagles made three threes and Lane made four.

“It was certainly a unique one, playing with a shot clock and a college three line,” LoGalbo said.

Watch the final minute of Lane vs. Taft:

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The excitement over Justin Fields escalated to an all-time high before everything unraveled for him at the end of the Falcons game with an interception and a separated non-throwing shoulder.

He was playing better than ever and looked miles ahead of where he was while languishing in Matt Nagy’s offense as a rookie. He established himself as the best running quarterback in the NFL, and his passing proficiency progressed as well.

For some, that was enough to proclaim him the franchise quarterback with such certainty that they wanted him protectively shut down for the rest of the season when he got hurt. And while the overexuberance to declare Fields a superstar is very understandable for a fan base that has been starving for good quarterback play, there’s still work to do.

Fields is on schedule, no doubt. But he has not arrived.

“He knows there’s a lot ahead of him in terms of improvement,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “He wants to take that jump — that leap — here in these next few games.”

That’s why, as long as it’s not considered reckless to his health, it’s important that he plays as much as he can. And a showdown with the Packers gives him a chance to topple Aaron Rodgers and deliver a signature moment for the season. That’d be riveting theatre for the audience and a major mile marker in his career.

That’s a big part of what Fields has brought the Bears this season. Not only has he inspired optimism about their future that’s been missing for years, but he has made the games compelling television again.

The Packers will probably score 30-40 points Sunday. Can the Bears keep up? That hypothetical used to be terrifying. Now it’s thrilling. Thank Fields for that.

There’s talk of shutting Rodgers down, too, by the way, but that’s completely different. This is his 18th season. Fields has 21 career starts.

Yes, there are indications that he’s headed toward stardom.

Yes, he’s hurting.

Yes, the Bears are done even dreaming about the playoffs.

But there’s nearly one-third of a season left, and a young quarterback still seeking to prove himself needs those games.

Forget about whether Bears general manager Ryan Poles needs to be convinced of Fields. This is more for his own benefit than anything else. Fields is still in the stage where every snap he takes, every coverage he reads and every blitz he identifies helps build his mental database.

It’s reassuring, though, that it appears he is advancing in all areas.

“You can see it in his fundamentals, you can see it in his confidence, you can see it in the way that he delivers the ball — the timing of it, the rhythm of it,” Eberflus said. “You can see that every day in practice. We’ve been seeing that for a long time [in practice], and you’re starting to see it in games.”

While he’s an incredible runner, he’d be the first to say he has to get better as a passer. Even in his seven-game run where he flourished and led the Bears to 25.3 points per game, his passing was efficient, but hardly game-changing at just 167.3 yards per game.

He aspires to be a quarterback who can win with his arm and his legs, and that’s what the Bears need. That’s what Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen do. Fields has the potential to get there, too, but the only way to do that is through games.

There will be games when running isn’t much of an option. Good defenses can minimize those opportunities and force Fields to win via air. There already are situations like that within games, like third-and-long or two-minute drills. Obvious passing scenarios are the biggest challenge a quarterback faces, and Fields will have to conquer that.

There’s much for him to gain down the stretch. That’s a good reason for him to play.

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The last time the Packers defense took the field, they gave up 363 rushing yards — 13 shy of an Eagles record that was 72 years and six days old.

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and running back Miles Sanders combined for 300 yards, numbers that must have echoed through the heads of Bears players as they prepared to face their rivals Sunday at Soldier Field.

No team has rushed for more yards — per game and carry — than the Bears this season. The Packers have given up the most rushing yards and the fourth-most per carry.

Running back David Montgomery, though, didn’t want to sound too excited.

“We’re just going to play our game to the best of our ability and play with the H.I.T.S. principle and carry ourself in the manner that’s going to win this game,” he said.

That will probably be on the ground. Sunday against the Jets, Montgomery ran for 79 yards, his second-highest total this season, on 14 carries. His 67 rushing yards a week earlier against the Falcons was tied for his third-best total this year.

Even late in the Jets blowout, Montgomery was plowing through defenders.

“It’s just who I am — any opportunity I get to perform and play the game I love playing,” Montgomery said.

Head coach Matt Eberflus said Montgomery “was a big part of that the plays we did well” against the Jets.

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Packers tackle David Bakhtiari had his appendix removed Friday and will miss Sunday’s game against the Bears. Bakhtiari Tweeted that he woke up Friday thinking he’d strained his abdomen, mentioned it to his team doctor and was soon in surgery.

He was limited to 27 snaps last year while recovering from a torn left ACL that required three surgeries. He missed the first Bears game but has appeared in nine contests this year.

The Bears’ starting right tackle, Riley Reiff, is likely to play after being a full participant Friday while recovering from a back injury. Reiff, who turned 34 Thursday, is the honorary captain this week. Bears backup tackle Larry Borom was ruled out with an ankle/knee injury.

Busy week

Tim Boyle got a phone call from his agent at 10 p.m. Tuesday — he was watching a Christmas movie — saying the Bears were claiming the quarterback off the Lions practice squad.

Four hours later, he woke up to catch a 5 a.m. flight from Detroit to Chicago.

Boyle, who is the Bears’ third-stringer, knows the offense. He appeared in 11 games for the Packers from 2019-20 while Luke Getsy, the Bears’ offensive coordinator, was on staff.

He’ll spend the bye week going back to Detroit to get his car and move out of his house.

“The first 24 hours were hectic …” he said. “But being a quarterback is being able to roll with the punches and be flexible in those moments.”

This and that

o Cornerback Kindle Vildor is questionable because of an ankle injury but was a full participant Friday.

o Receiver Dante Pettis, who has been sick since Sunday, practiced in full for the first time Friday and will play.

o Packers safety Darnell Savage is doubtful with a foot injury.

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There’s a chance Sunday will be the last time Aaron Rodgers saunters into Soldier Field as Chicago’s biggest villain since the burglars from “Home Alone.” Unlike Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, though, he usually walks out with what he came to take.

Justin Fields will have something to say about it in a showdown that belies both team’s dismal records. But it’s fair to wonder if Sunday will be the last chapter in Rodgers’ one-sided rivalry with the Bears.

Rodgers has 59.5 million reasons to return to the Packers in 2023 — that’s his guaranteed salary, in dollars — but he said Sunday night that he’s still putting off making a decision about retirement until after the season. That could come soon. Once the 4-8 Packers are eliminated from the playoffs — and they have only a 3.6 percent chance of making them, per Football Outsiders — then Rodgers will likely shut down for the season, rest his injured thumb and ribs, and ponder his future. Jordan Love would finish the season at quarterback.

For an athlete who’s not been shy about pursuing outside interests, from hosting “Jeopardy!” to drinking ayahuasca tea, it’s impossible to rule out Rodgers moving onto his next chapter, even with the guaranteed money awaiting him.

If so, Bears fans wouldn’t be sorry to see him go. But it’d be a shame.

Sports are better when athletes embody greatness — and Rodgers has done that, beating the Bears in 24 of 29 tries and 11 out of 14 at Soldier Field. When he told Bears fans he owned them last year, he wasn’t wrong.

Sports are better, too, when fans have someone to root against. Rodgers, who grew up watching WGN, knows that the Cubs are only elevated by their rivalry with the Cardinals — and vice versa. The Bears, in a strange way, are made more relevant by their duels with Rodgers, even if they end up scraped off the bottom of his cleat.

Rodgers, who turned 39 on Friday, spent the last few seasons outrunning Father Time by a few furlongs. He was the NFL MVP in 2020 and 2021, He made the Pro Bowl seven times in his 30s.

“Year-in and year-out, he kind of changed his way,” said Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, Rodgers’ former coach who remains his friend. “He used to be a heavier guy — now he’s not a heavy guy anymore. Just things like that.

“He’s always been naturally gifted, so the throwing part of it has always been something that he’s always been really good at. That hasn’t changed.”

This season, though, has made Rodgers mortal. Slowed by injuries, he ranks 13th with a 93.5 passer rating, 19th with a 64.8 completion percentage and 22nd with 6.8 yards per pass. He’s thrown as many interceptions in 12 games this season as he did in his previous two years combined.

He’s not alone. Tom Brady won a Super Bowl in 2020 and finished second in MVP voting last year but has been surprisingly average in his age 45 season. Matt Ryan, the third-oldest starter in the NFL, was benched earlier this season by the Colts, only to return.

Matthew Stafford, the sixth-oldest NFL starter, is having the worst season of his career just months after leading the Rams to the Super Bowl. Russell Wilson, also 34, has been one of the league’s most terrible quarterbacks since being traded to the Broncos.

The Packers’ dropoff is just as surprising. Rodgers has been their starter since 2008; their next loss will cement only their third losing season when he hasn’t missed more than half his games due to injury.

Father Time is catching up to Rodgers. Perhaps he’ll retire before it gets any closer.

Or maybe he’ll do what he’s done in so many games against the Bears before: rise from almost certain defeat to torture them even more.

Either way, Bears fans would be wise to take a long look at him Sunday.

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