Chicago Sports

A driver was killed and a passenger was wounded after they were attacked on the West Side, then were followed downtown where more shots were fired.

The man, 27, and the woman, 20, were driving on the West Side about 3:10 a.m. when someone in a silver truck pulled up and opened fire, Chicago police said.

The driver of the truck then followed the man and woman toward downtown, where the gunman continued to fire gunshots in the 600 block of East Grand Avenue, police said.

The man was shot several times and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died, police said.

The woman was shot in the back and was taken to the hospital in good condition, according to police.

No arrests were made.

The attack happened in the 18th police district, where shootings are up about 40% and overall crime is up 52% from last year, according to police data.

Read More

OAKLAND, Calif. — Elvis Andrus hit the second pitch of the game for a home run. Yoan Moncada followed him with another.

The White Sox came out swinging Thursday in the land of the old Swingin’ A’s in the opener of a four-game series against the Athletics, and they didn’t stop there.

Moncada homered again in a four-run second, and Eloy Jimenez slammed his 11th homer in the fourth, giving the Sox their first four-homer game of the season. Romy Gonzalez homered in the sixth for his fourth hit and the Sox’ fifth homer, making it 14-0.

Moncada singled, doubled and singled in his next five at-bats, giving him five hits and five RBI in six innings. The five hits tied a career high.

It was plenty of cushion for Cy Young candidate Dylan Cease, who opened with five scoreless innings and notched his career 200th.

Moncada’s first four hits came against left-handers JP Sears and Zach Logue. He was hitting .177 with two home runs and only three multi-hit efforts over 34 games since the All-Star break.

Andrus and Moncada marked the seventh time Sox batters opened a game with back to back homers. It was the first time since Tim Anderson and Moncada on Aug. 17, 2020 at Detroit.

The A’s, who own the worst record in the AL (50-88) released Andrus before he signed with the Sox on Aug. 19.

Riding some momentum after taking two of three from the Mariners at Seattle this week and looking for their seventh win in nine games, the Sox were trying to get within 1 1/2 games the first-place Guardians, who were idle, in the American League Central. They were also trying to stay even in the standings with the Twins, who beat the Yankees.

Cease’s milestone

Cease became the seventh pitcher in Sox history with multiple 200 strikeout seasons, joining Ed Walsh (five) Chris Sale (four), Lucas Gioltio (two), Javier V?zquez (two), Tom Bradley (two) and Gary Peters (two).

It was Cease’s first start since coming one out away from throwing a no-hitter against the Twins Saturday. He was coming off career highs in each of his last two starts with eight innings against the Diamondbacks and his complete-game shutout against the Twins.

Robert still out

Luis Robert was available only to pinch run or possibly defense as he deals with soreness in his left wrist.

“We’re going to see how he feels tomorrow and we’ll go from there,” Cairo said, repeating the standard take on Robert’s wrist.

“We hope so,” Cairo said of Robert possibly playing in the series. “Let’s see how he feels [Friday]. Today he was feeling better. Just got to see.”

Hendriks, Diekman nominated for Clemente Award

Sox pitchers Jake Diekman (Gut It Out Foundation) and Liam Hendriks (South Slydah Society) were named 2022 club nominees for the Roberto Clemente Award, the annual recognition of the major league player who best represents the game through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.

Sept. 15 is the 21st annual Roberto Clemente Day, established to honor Clemente’s legacy as a humanitarian.

This and that

Five home runs matched the Sox’ most ever at the Coliseum. Harold Baines, Wayne Nordhagen, Chet Lemon and Carlton Fisk (two) did it on Sept. 27, 1981.

*The Sox were 11-21 against the A’s, including 3-12 at the Coliseum, since the start of the 2017 season.

Read More

George McCaskey vowed Thursday the Bears would “be good neighbors” with Arlington Heights residents if the team follows through with a plan to build a massive stadium in the northwest suburb — but the chairman cautioned “we will need help” from taxpayers to fulfill their complete vision for the football mecca.

Putting a preliminary price tag of at least $5 billion on the ambitious development slated for the shuttered Arlington International Racecourse, McCaskey noted that most of his family’s wealth is vested in the team — so they’d need some of the costs subsidized to cross the goal line.

“We are not financiers,” McCaskey said during a public meeting hosted by the team at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, the Bears’ first direct pitch to residents of their potential new host city.

“A tremendous opportunity is present today. But we will need help to make it a reality,” McCaskey said. He reiterated the team’s announcement earlier this week that they won’t seek taxpayer help for costs directly tied to the stadium — but will look for public dollars to support the massive mixed-use development they want to fill out the rest of the 326-acre property.

“Without infrastructure support and property tax certainty, the project as described to you will not be able to move forward,” McCaskey said, without offering specifics so early in a plan he said could take 10 years to come to fruition.

That didn’t faze most of those who attended the meeting, a largely supportive crowd whose applause interrupted McCaskey and team president Ted Phillips repeatedly as they noted that the possible suburban stadium will be larger than Soldier Field — and that they’re not even thinking about renovations at the lakeside stadium.

Residents started lining up outside the school two hours prior to the team’s tightly orchestrated public relations presentations, which didn’t include any public officials. Bears reps had advised observers to show up early due to the gym’s 2,000-person capacity — but barely half that many people showed up.

They were treated to additional stylized renderings of the proposed development, which also would include office space, a sportsbook, small residential neighborhoods, retail and park space — all leading to the stadium on the west end of the property. The team hasn’t yet released a potential stadium design.

Many filed into the gym wearing Bears jerseys and carrying signs calling on the team to “rise to new heights in Arlington.”

“I’m extremely excited to know they could be coming,” said William Gebavi, a resident of Palatine, which borders the Arlington property.

The construction worker hailed the work that the project could generate. “You’re talking about five, six years of steady work. Maybe a decade,” Gebavi said. “That’s huge for the community.”

And the idea of tax breaks for the team didn’t rile him. “You get out of it what you put into it,” Gebavi said.

Other potential neighbors of the Bears didn’t offer as warm a reception.

“I’m not dead-set against it, but I’m not happy about what it’s going to do to our community,” said Carolynn Leiding, who has lived within earshot of Arlington in Palatine for more than 20 years. “Route 53 [to get to the potential stadium] is already a mess. The traffic is going to be absolutely awful, and that’s not what residents signed up for.”

Nick Jacob, whose Arlington Heights home is also within a few blocks of the site, said he doesn’t want to see public dollars thrown at the project.

“It’s a billion-dollar team. Why should they get handouts?” he said.

But Phillips, the team president, suggested they’re not asking for anything more that other developers ask for similar neighborhood developments — and less than other professional sports teams have.

“The stadium construction itself is privately financed, even though about 20 stadiums built in the last 25 years or so — the vast majority of those had public dollars go to stadium construction,” Phillips said.

“We’re talking about roads, talking about sewers, storm-water utilities. We’re not talking about money that goes to construct either the stadium or the mixed-use development,” Phillips said. “We aren’t trying to play any kind of game to have buildings constructed with the public money.”

In a phone interview before the public meeting, state Rep. Mark Walker, whose district includes the suburb, said he opposes public funding for the stadium, but when it comes to other tax incentives, “it’s what we’d do for any other developer.”

Read More

Plainfield North’s first big play was a shocker.

Joliet West had started well over the first few possessions and seemed to be hanging in with its unbeaten opponent. And then suddenly, Plainfield North junior Braxton Bartz was as open as any receiver has ever been on a football field.

Senior quarterback Demir Ashiru found him for a 61-yard touchdown pass.

“It’s a little nerve racking [throwing to someone that wide open] because you don’t want to leave it too short,” Ashiru said. “We watched film, and we knew the safety would play down and out so I just waited for him to get open.”

The big plays continued as visiting Plainfield North rolled to a 48-0 running-clock win against Joliet West.

Ashiru connected with senior Sean Schlanser on a 57-yard touchdown in the first quarter and then Plainfield North’s defense got involved.

Senior Jason O’Boye and senior Logan Rooney each returned interceptions for touchdowns in the first half. Plainfield North led 42-0 at halftime.

“This was their first home game, and we knew they were hungry for a win and we just wanted to establish our dominance,” Ashiru said.

Ashiru threw three touchdown passes and passed for more than 230 yards on fewer than a dozen attempts.

“[Demir] is one of the better quarterbacks in the area,” Plainfield North coach Anthony Imbordino said. “He’s very efficient, he’s smart. He gets the open guy. I lot of times high school quarterbacks miss the open guy. He gets them every time and he’s a great leader.”

Plainfield North (3-0) opened some eyes with a win against Naperville Central last week and has established itself as the early favorite in the Southwest Prairie.

“We’re putting so much work in and we have such high expectations it feels really good to see it played out on the field,” Ashiru said.

Joliet West (0-3) had its offense humming early in the first quarter behind quarterback Carl Bew, but things fell apart for the Tigers on both sides of the ball after Plainfield North’s first two big plays.

“We’re proud of the way our kids are performing and executing,” Imbordino said. “We have a big crosstown game [next weekend] against Plainfield South. We have a long journey ahead of us once we get into conference play.”

Read More

The Bears are saying “if” as often as possible when it comes to building a stadium in Arlington Heights, but it’s clear they’re proceeding like it’s a certainty.

“We don’t have a Plan B,” team president Ted Phillips said during a town hall at Hersey High School on Thursday. “Our singular focus is on this property.”

Chairman George McCaskey prefaced everything with “if” when he opened the meeting, but the overall tone of the presentation was that the Bears are pushing with full force to leave Soldier Field, the NFL’s oldest and smallest stadium.

He imagined securing “a world-class home for the Chicago Bears after a more-than-100-year search,” started by his grandfather, George Halas.

“We will not be discussing any other alternative sites, including renovations of Soldier Field,” Phillips said, drawing applause from the half-full gymnasium.

He went on to get cheers from the crowd when he said the stadium will be “enclosed,” — he later specified the roof probably will be fixed, not retractable — and become a destination for major events like the Super Bowl and concerts. He also said there will be significant increases in capacity and parking over Soldier Field’s 61,500 seats and limited spaces.

“It will be designed to provide our fans with the first-class experience they deserve,” Phillips said. Then he mused, “I’ve never had so many claps in my life.”

It’s difficult to imagine such a jarring transformation of Arlington Heights, where the 326-acre proposed stadium site is just down the block from Wayne’s Pizza and a cat clinic.

In some ways, the high school gym was an ideal setting for the Bears’ aw-shucks approach.

“My family and I are not real estate developers,” McCaskey said. “We are privileged to own a beloved football team that is a community asset… We do recognize a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

And he surely recognizes how ill suited his team’s current home is.

When the Bears open the season Sunday against the 49ers, it’ll be clear to anyone there or watching on television that Soldier Field falls far short of the modern standard for an NFL stadium — even with its newly installed Tahoma 31-brand Bermuda grass.

It stands as another sign that the Bears haven’t cleared the cobwebs of their past and stepped into the new millennium. The playing field usually looks like a driving range, there are cracks in the exterior and it’s missing the amenities and luxurious concourses of football palaces that have opened or been overhauled in the past decade.

The Bears and the city already tried renovations, spending $632 million in 2002 to make it look like a spaceship landed on the iconic pillars.

Phillips said the Bears will honor their lease, which runs through 2033. That does not, however, preclude them from buying out the agreement and leaving early. It’ll still take a while, as the organization is working toward closing on the property purchase by early 2023.

Meanwhile, McCaskey has seen firsthand what an NFL stadium should look like. The Bears played at sparkling SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles in 2020 and ’21 and visited Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas last season.

Those are the NFL’s newest gems, and the Bears would be highly unlikely to go anywhere near SoFi’s $5.5 billion price tag, but they don’t have to match the latest and greatest to build something impressive. The Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium, for example, opened in 2016 at $1.1 million. Phillips called the total development a $5 billion project, but that includes a lot more than the stadium.

Strictly from the standpoint of having an NFL-worthy stadium, it’s time for the Bears to start fresh with a blank canvas.

Read More

OAKLAND, Calif. — The White Sox were 6-3 with acting manager Miguel Cairo at the helm during Tony La Russa’s absence going into the opener of a four-game series against the Athletics in Oakland Thursday night.

In other words, if La Russa returns soon after undergoing tests for medical issues, he might find his team in better shape than when he left it before a 9-7 home loss to the Royals last week.

The Sox then won six of their next eight games and are enjoying one of their better runs at a most crucial time, with 25 games left and two games to make up on the first place Cleveland Guardians.

The difference of late?

“The energy,” veteran slugger Jose Abreu told the Sun-Times through translator Billy Russo. “It’s all about the energy right now. The energy we have now, we didn’t have it for most of the season. The guys are doing their job, everybody is motivated. And it’s showing up on the field.”

La Russa wants to be on the field in Oakland when the Sox play the A’s Sunday in the last game of the series. The A’s are retiring former pitcher Dave Stewart’s number in a special ceremony that was planned for when the Sox and La Russa were in Oakland, where he managed the A’s from 1986-95.

La Russa also hopes to return to the dugout as early as next week, per a New York Post report, and “is going to be OK” according to friends, although the Sox say “nothing has changed” about La Russa’s status.

“He is continuing to undergo tests and until we hear outcomes from those tests, not sure anyone knows plans or timings,” a Sox spokesman said.

If nothing changes and Cairo stays in charge, that will be OK with players who say their focus is on winning regardless of whether the 77-year-old Hall of Fame manager La Russa is in charge or the 48-year-old bench coach Cairo, who is enjoying his first go at managing.

“I love the challenge. I love the adrenaline. I love the butterflies that you get during the game,” Cairo said. “Just if he comes back, he’s the manager, I’m the bench coach.”

To what degree Cairo is responsible for the 6-3 stretch and a better clubhouse vibe is the million dollar question.

“I don’t know, honestly,” Abreu said. “I can’t blame Tony. It’s about the players. If he comes back, we have to play hard, we have to give it the same energy. We’ll see what happens.”

Reliever Kendall Graveman said “a sense of urgency of ‘hey, it’s now or never’ ” in the last 10 days made a difference.

“Sometimes you get your back pinned against the wall and you see what you’re made of,” Graveman said.

As for the Cairo effect, “I just know we’re winning baseball games,” Graveman said.

And if La Russa returns, “we’ll see what happens when that time comes,” Graveman said. “I haven’t heard anything. I don’t know.”

The mission, Gavin Sheets, will be the same — get to the playoffs.

“Whoever is leading us,” Sheets said. “Obviously it would be great to see [La Russa] back but if Miggy is the manager we’re going to do the same thing with Miggy and keep it going. We saw the report. The No. 1 thing is we’re happy he’s healthy enough to do it. In terms of us, the goal is the same.”

Players know La Russa’s pride and desire to win are large and know he wants to come back, but they share concerns he’ll try to come back too soon for his own good.

“It’s tough having Tony out, it’s scary when someone goes down for health issues,” Andrew Vaughn said.

“If he comes back, we’re going to be here,” Abreu said. “This is his home and he’ll be welcome.”

Read More

Three-time Pro Bowl tight end George Kittle missed 49ers practice for the second consecutive day Thursday after injuring his groin Monday. His participation in the season opener Sunday at Soldier Field appears to be in jeopardy, as the 49ers typically equate availability Thursday to readiness for a game Sunday.

One of the sport’s elite tight ends, Kittle caught 71 passes for 910 yards in 14 games last year. He missed three games with a calf injury, including the 49ers’ win at Soldier Field.

Kittle posted 1,377 receiving yards in 2018 and 1,053 in 2019 before an injury cost him half the 2020 season.

The Bears’ injury report remained clean except for rookie receiver Velus Jones, who remained out with a hamstring injury, and defensive end Dominique Robinson, who was limited with a knee problem.

Lucas Patrick, who was penciled in to start at center before needing surgery to fix a broken right thumb in late July, was a full participant for the second consecutive day. It’s unclear if his hand is healthy enough to snap — or whether the Bears would move him to starting right guard if it’s not.

Offensive line coach Chris Morgan left open the possibility Thursday.

“He played everywhere in Green Bay,” he said. “He has a cool versatility. He always has.”

Robinson to play?

Asked about the Bears’ two prominent rookie defenders, defensive coordinator Alan Williams stopped and tried to correct the number. It should be three, he said — not just safety Jaquan Brisker and cornerback Kyler Gordon, but Robinson, too.

On the surface, Robinson seemed primed for a redshirt year. He was a wide receiver at Miami (Ohio) until switching positions in 2020. The Bears’ decision to keep him on the roster when he had a knee injury around final cuts, though, sent a different message. Williams said he expects him to be healthy and on the active roster Sunday.

“The guys that are up, we expect to use them, and use them a lot,” he said.

Roquan on captaincy

Linebacker Roquan Smith had an unusual route to becoming a captain — he demanded a trade and published a statement trashing new general manager Ryan Poles for negotiating in bad faith. Smith said the honor means something because it was voted on by his teammates.

“That’s what truly makes a team, the guys in the locker room,” he said. “How the guys in the locker room view you, how they see you from their eyes, that’s all that matters to me. I think that speaks volumes. Everything else can go to rest.”

No cash

The Bears won’t accept cash at Soldier Field starting Sunday.

Fans must use a credit or debit card or mobile payment. Those with cash can exchange it for a prepaid Visa at the Bears’ ticket office at Gate 8 or at the pro shops near Gate 0, the “water wall” and the Club 100 levels.

The Bears claimed in a statement making Soldier Field cash-free increased safety, reduced touch points and shortening wait times. Wrigley Field, Guaranteed Rate Field and the United Center have been cashless this season.

Read More

In past seasons, Ian Happ may not have executed the diving and sliding plays he made Thursday with the same conviction.

“Just over the course of the year, as you get more and more of those, you get more comfortable with the read off the bat,” he said, “where you know you can give yourself a chance, and you’re making decisions based on game situation, based on, ‘OK, I can go after this ball and dive or slide, I know I can come up the last second, I know I can keep it in front of me and it’s not going to turn into a double.'”

It’s been clear from the way Happ has moved in left field this season, and even some of his defensive numbers, that he has been more comfortable defensively. But on Thursday, after Happ made two standout plays in the Cubs’ 4-3 loss to the Reds at Wrigley Field, manager David Ross took it a step further.

“I haven’t looked at the rest of the league, but it feels like he’s played some of the best defensive left field in the league for me,” Ross said. “Hopefully he’s starting to get into that gold-glove conversation.”

Happ is outspoken about his mistrust of most defensive stats, but in this case, several support Ross’ point.

Happ, who came up as a utility player but has consistently played left field this season, entered Thursday with a career-best 10 defensive runs saved in the outfield, according to FanGraphs. He ranked No.1 among qualified left-fielders in ultimate zone rating (7.1) – but No. 4 in UZR/150, behind Christian Yelich, Andrew Benintendi and Steven Kwan. He was also in the Top 3 in outs above average (1), behind Kwan and David Peralta.

How to best quantify defensive prowess is a fraught subject. But scoring high in defensive metrics helps a player’s Gold Glove case; 25 percent of the selection process goes to the sabermetrics community. Votes from managers and coaches account for the other 75 percent.

“It’d be really cool,” Happ said. “We still have a lot of baseball left, and you come to work every day and do your job, and then you look at that stuff at the end of the year. But honestly, that’s one of those honors that I thought about a lot as a kid – when I was playing shortstop, not as much as a left fielder. But it’d be really cool.”

Either way, days like Thursday are a reminder of the growth Happ’s shown in the field this season.

“A lot of character plays too, for him,” Ross said. “Just continues to stay in compete mode. The way he’s playing the game right now, there’s a lot of leadership qualities and how he’s setting the example day in and day out, an everyday player.”

The third inning began with Reds designated hitter Nick Senzel pulling a short line drive directly at Happ. Those are some of the hardest to read, and Happ froze momentarily to make sure the ball didn’t have enough carry to get behind him. Then, when he got the right angle to see its trajectory, he charged hard, diving in and rolling to secure the first out of the inning.

Later in the frame, with two outs, TJ Friedl hit a line drive into the left-field gap. Happ wanted to get his “eyes under it,” as he put it. Reaching down for a shoestring catch or diving horizontally would jostle his sightline. So, he slid to his left to make the inning-ending grab.

Starter Adrian Sampson, when asked about the plays Happ made behind him Thursday, quipped: “Just today? Nah, he’s been doing it all year.”

Read More

Bears tackle Braxton Jones stopped to think in front of his locker this week. While he tried to come up with the best pass-rusher he faced at small-college Southern Utah last year, someone offered to pull up the FBS school’s 2021 schedule on their phone.

He settled on defensive lineman Travez Moore, who played for Arizona State when the Sun Devils hosted SUU in a 41-14 season-opening win.

“He was really quick and shifty,” the Bears’ rookie tackle said.

Moore, an LSU transfer who is in his fifth season this year, has 2 1/2 career sacks in college.

He’s no Nick Bosa.

Jones will find that out in the Bears’ season opener Sunday when he lines up across from the two-time Pro Bowl defensive and 2019 Defensive Rookie of the Year.

How he fares will be a reflection of new general manager Ryan Poles, play-caller Luke Getsy and the Bears’ player development capabilities.

And, of course, Jones himself.

Jones is the first Bears rookie left tackle to start in Week 1 in 30 years. His development has been steeper, and quicker, than even Poles expected when he drafted him in the fifth round. If Poles is right and Jones can be a long-term answer at one of the most important positions in the sport, the Bears’ rebuilding timeline will fast-forward.

“We thought he definitely had starter potential and he could develop,” Poles said last week. “I’ve been blown away by how fast he has developed ….

“And, then, now that next phase is Week 1 — he’s going to see a ‘big dog.’ And I told him, too, there’s going to be ups and downs and I think part of being a really good player is the short memory. How can you overcome some of those bad plays?”

Sunday won’t be perfect.

“I hope none of y’all expect him to win every rep vs. Nick Bosa in a game,” quarterback Justin Fields said. “I mean, he knows not going to win every rep. At the end of the day you just gotta move on and focus on the next play.

“So we’re gonna try to help him out as much as possible. But yeah, just being real, knowing that he’s not going to win every play. That’s everyone in the league. Everyone gets ‘got’ on one play, but you’ve just got to come back the next play and execute.”

Jones knows that.

“It’s just one play at a time for me — looking at the play, diagnosing it and doing everything I can on that one play,” he said. “And then that play is over? ‘OK, let’s go.'”

How well he can forget the previous play will be a reflection of offensive line coach Chris Morgan’s techniques. The Bears have praised Morgan’s teaching abilities, even citing him as a reason they believe they can get more out of former first-round pick Alex Leatherwood than the Raiders ever could.

Morgan has educated Jones about Bosa without making the matchup intimidating.

“I don’t think you make a big deal,” Morgan said. “But you study and learn about the player inside and out. You just prepare.”

Guard Cody Whitehair, who made his own rookie debut lined up against the great Vince Wilfork, said being at home should help settle Jones’ nerves.

“There’s going to be some rookie-year jitters out there,” he said. “I think the biggest thing is staying calm.”

The fifth-round pick spent all offseason matched up against Robert Quinn, who set the franchise’s sacks record last year with 18 1/2 sacks.

Still, they’re different kinds of pass rushers. No one in the world gets lower when he turns the corner than Quinn does.

“In my mind, they can be two different players,” Jones said. “But they can also do the same thing. It does help. Just confidence, right?”

His new play-caller can help build that confidence. How much help Jones gets — from tight ends and running backs, and from screens and counters –will show just how creative Getsy can be in his first-ever NFL game as a play-caller.

“It’s a great challenge for him,” Getsy said. “Any time you play someone of the caliber as Mr. Bosa presents for you, you’ve got to have a plan. Regardless of who your right or left tackle are, you’ve got to make sure you’ve got a plan. Because he’s someone that can change the game, and you’ve gotta do your best to make sure that you minimize that as much as you can. “

Getsy’s Packers never could. Bosa has four sacks in four career games against Green Bay– with three coming in two playoff contests.

“He’s the real deal,” Getsy said.

Maybe Jones is, too.

Sunday, the Bears will start to find out.

Read More

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle is dealing with an injury ahead of Week 1 vs. the Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears could catch a break in Week 1 as San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle is dealing with an injury already.

Pro Football Networks, Aaron Wilson reports one source characterized Kittle’s status as being fluid but emphasized the groin injury is “not good,” adding that it would be optimal for him to rest and rehab for a week or two:

One source characterized Kittle’s status as being fluid but emphasized the groin injury is “not good,” adding that it would be optimal for him to rest and rehab for a week or two.

Another source called it a Grade 2 strain that has limited Kittle’s top-end speed. One of the top tight ends in the game and well known for his toughness, Kittle wouldn’t shock anyone if he opted to play through the injury. Nonetheless, his chances of playing nearly the entire season are considered much more likely if he sits out the season opener and doesn’t further aggravate the injury.

Kittle has been battling the injury since Monday and didn’t practice Wednesday, according to head coach Kyle Shanahan.

“I’m not sure,” Shanahan said Wednesday when asked about Kittle’s status. “I was hoping he would be good today. He did it a little bit on Monday and not feeling good today, so we’ll have to see day by day.

Nonetheless, George Kittle’s chances of playing nearly the entire season are considered much more likely if he sits out the season opener and doesn’t further aggravate the injury. Kittle is a three-time Pro Bowl tight end and is considered amongst the best in the league.

If George Kittle were to miss Sunday’s season opener, first-year-starter Trey Lance will be without his number one weapon. This would be a massive break for the Bears who have had their own injury woes and a golden opportunity to get a win.

For More Great Chicago Sports Content

Follow us on Twitter at @chicitysports23 for more great content. We appreciate you taking time to read our articles. To interact more with our community and keep up to date on the latest in Chicago sports news, JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE

Read More