Three takeaways from Monday’s Bears loss:

Jenkins flags

In the first significant playing time of his career last week, rookie left tackle Teven Jenkins committed two false starts and two holding penalties at Lambeau Field. Three of the four — all but one hold — were accepted by the Packers.

Monday night, he added three more: a hold on the first play of the game, a third-and-1 false start in the second quarter — in which he actually lined up on the right side before being corrected — and an unsportsmanlike flag in the third. He scrapped with a defender after quarterback Justin Fields was hit out of bounds.

Graham crackles

For all the Bears’ struggles at cornerback this season — they benched Kindle Vildor for Artie Burns and watched starting slot corner Duke Shelley head to injured reserve — it was curious that Thomas Graham Jr. never earned a promotion from the practice squad. Graham, after all, was a sixth-round pick this year.

Pressed into action Monday, Graham might have been the brightest spot in a bad situation. He was credited with seven tackles and three passes defensed. He’s undoubtedly earned another chance to play next week, regardless of the health of his teammates.

Cairo misses

Cairo Santos’ 49-yard field goal in the final minute of the first half was blocked by defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson’s thumb and landed harmlessly in the end zone. It was the second kick of 40-49 yards he’s missed in the last five tries — the other being a 40-yarder he pushed left in Week 11 vs. the Ravens.

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Bulls center Nikola Vucevic wasn’t merely sticking up for a former college teammate; he was preaching.

Vucevic was explaining why Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan’s skills have been somewhat glossed over and disrespected through the years and why his former USC teammate never has been considered one of the NBA’s elite players.

”In Toronto, they were one of the best teams in the league for a long time,” Vucevic said. ”In the playoffs, it was tough for them at times because they ran into the best player in the world in LeBron [James] for years. There were some people unfairly going at [the Raptors] for losing. I think it was unfair because they just happened to run into a guy that at that time was too dominant.

”It is what it is. Media and people have their views on certain players. I think the NBA and the players know how good DeMar is and what he brings to the table. I think at the end of the day that’s all he cares for.”

That and winning, which DeRozan again helped the Bulls do Monday against the Rockets.

After scoring 19 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter in a victory Sunday against the Lakers, his follow-up wasn’t as necessary.

Thanks to a season-high 66 points from the Bulls’ bench, as well as a Rockets team that had crashed back to reality after a hot streak a few weeks ago, DeRozan didn’t need any fourth-quarter heroics. He still scored 26 points, however, in the Bulls’ 133-118 victory.

It was relaxing night for DeRozan, who entered the game fifth in the NBA in scoring at 26.8 points per game but led the league in fourth-quarter scoring at 8.2 points.

”I mean, you guys have seen it all year,” Vucevic said of DeRozan’s game. ”When he gets to his spot, there’s no stopping him. Analytics got too involved in the game of basketball, and that’s what happens.

“One of the reasons people were hating on DeMar’s game [is] because everyone is shooting threes. I’m not totally against [analytics], but I think they have too big of a part.

”At the end of the day, if a player is really, really good at something, like [DeRozan] is at shooting that mid-range [shot], you can’t take that away from him to shoot threes. Why would you not let him shoot it? Find a way to make it work with him and the players around him. I think that’s where things have gotten confused. Teams are trying to change players rather than make it work with the players they have.”

That’s not an issue for coach Billy Donovan, who has continued to mix and match rotations from his short-handed roster and still is getting stellar results, with the Bulls now 19-10.

That was on display early against the Rockets.

With a starting lineup of Javonte Green, DeRozan, Vucevic, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso, the Bulls got off to a fast start, even with Caruso leaving the game with a sprained left foot. They led 35-26 after the first quarter and 73-54 at halftime.

The only suspense at the United Center after that was how big the Bulls could make the lead, as well as updates from the Vikings-Bears game.

One of those went well.

”I give those [bench] guys a lot of credit,” Donovan said. ”They provided a huge lift on both ends of the floor. It’s good seeing their hard work get rewarded.”

Coby White scored a season-high 24 points, Alfonzo McKinnie added 16 and Tyler Cook chipped in 11.

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It’s the kind of play that Justin Fields was built for.

The Bears faced fourth-and-1 from the Vikings’ 21 in the third quarter of Monday night’s 17-9 loss Monday night. They lined up receiver Darnell Mooney behind and to the right of the rookie quarterback. He took the snap from under center, rolled right and looked downfield for someone — anyone to pop open. Fields ran across the hash and toward the numbers. He took two jabs steps, as if he was going to run, only to see two Vikings defenders line up to tackle him.

Mooney was covered in the flat. Tight end Cole Kmet slipped and fell, stood up and was covered. Running back Khalil Herbert flashed open running a crossing route from left to right — but not for long.

Tight end Jimmy Graham ran up the field when Fields scrambled and put his left hand in the air as he sprinted toward the navy NFC logo in the north end zone.

He was wide open — but, by then, Fields was worried about the oncoming tacklers. Fields kept running toward the sideline and eventually swallowed the ball. He was tackled by three Vikings defenders; in fact, the six closest players to Fields when he fell to the ground were wearing purple.

Vikings ball.

It encapsulated Fields’ rookie season perfectly. He’s shown flashes of being special — but not special enough to overcome the circumstances of the Bears’ season. And not often enough, either.

Some are of his own making — Fields had three fumbles and lost one Monday night, continuing a disturbing trend — and many aren’t. He played on a roster ravaged by the coronavirus Monday night. By the time the Bears went for it on fourth down, Fields was down three receivers — Allen Robinson, Marquise Goodwin and Jakeem Grant — and both his starting tackles from the previous week.

Fields ran a fourth-down play that seemed misguided from the get-go, called by a head coach — Matt Nagy — who spent another game punting in cases when he should, given the fact he’s coaching a 4-9 team with nothing to lose — go for it.

How much of the Bears’ struggles is Fields? How much is inexperience to blame? His coaches? The personnel that’s been inferior to their opponent in almost every game?

The Bears have three weeks to try to find some answers. After that, new leadership — definitely at head coach and perhaps at general manager — will do the same.

Amazingly, the Bears rookie quarterback has played four of his 12 NFL games — including Monday night — in prime time. Whether he’s actually ready for prime time, though, is a different question. And one that could be answered on the next three anonymous Sunday afternoons — against the Seahawks, Giants and Vikings again.

Fields did little to separate himself again Monday night, the latest in a disturbing series of popgun performances.

Throw away Fields’ second half in Pittsburgh, and here’s what Fields’ stat line looked like entering the Monday night game: 121-for-213 for 1,356 yards, five touchdowns and 10 interceptions. That’s a passer rating of — wait for it — 64.21.

The lack of results has sent panic through Bears fans. If he were special, would it be apparent by now? That would seem obvious, until you scan the bottom of the NFL’s passer rating list. Jets quarterback Zach Wilson is 32nd. The Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence is 30th. The Texans’ Davis Mills is 27th. All are rookies. Fields was 31st.

Fields’ stats looked better than they were Monday. He went 26-for-39 for 285 yards and one touchdown — but 36 of those yards and the only score came on the final two plays of the game, when the Vikings were playing shell coverage.

Another glimpse of Fields’ talent came later in Monday night’s game. The Bears methodically marched 81 yards — they had seven first downs — in which their best play was Fields getting bullied. Twice, the Vikings were flagged for hitting Fields late.

On third-and-goal at the 9, Fields rolled left, scanned the end zone and saw Graham boxing out his defender near the front left pylon. Graham was covered, but that has rarely made a difference — few tight ends in the history of football have been better in the red zone. Fields threw the ball to Graham, who reached out with both hands — and dropped it.

On fourth down, Fields lofted a pass in the back right corner to a leaping Mooney, who got his right foot down — but no more — as he fell out of bounds.

It was another near miss. It’s too soon to say the same about Fields — but the next complete game he plays will be his first.

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The criticisms of Bears coach Matt Nagy have been endless — and warranted — as his team has perpetually plunged to new lows. The exasperation has erupted in droning boos, fans at Soldier Field chanting for him to be fired and surely unspeakable insults barked at him as he has exited the northwest tunnel of the field.

To Nagy’s credit, he has remained remarkably composed through all of it, even when the hostility toward him spilled into his son’s high school football game with the opponent’s students taunting Nagy as he sat in the bleachers.

The first sign that any of this is pushing Nagy to a breaking point came between the first and second quarters of the Bears’ 17-9 loss to the Vikings on Monday.

With about a minute left in the first quarter and his team down 7-0 in another feeble offensive performance, Nagy thought his defense had come up with a key pass breakup on third down — only to be delivered a gut punch when back judge Terrence Miles flagged safety Deon Bush for unnecessary roughness because of a hit to the head on tight end Tyler Conklin.

The call, which NFL officiating immediately said on Twitter was made correctly, triggered an uncharacteristic tirade by Nagy after the first quarter. He got in Miles’ face and was livid as he screamed, occasionally covering his mouth with his play sheet.

Coaches tend to get a lot of leeway in those arguments, but Nagy apparently took it too far with Miles, and Miles launched a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct. Miles flung it as Nagy walked away, and Nagy turned back to keep yelling as he left.

There are questionable calls every week, often in critical situations. There’s no doubt Nagy’s explosion was rooted in frustration that has been accumulating all season. It was a flare up from a man who knows that with a margin of error as thin as the dying grass at Soldier Field, he needs everything to go perfectly.

And it almost never does. The Vikings got a fresh set of downs at the Bears’ 35-yard line and eventually kicked a field goal for a 10-0 lead.

Nagy had a few other animated discussions with the refs, though none rose to the level of a second flag. That would’ve been an automatic ejection.

His rage seemed to ripple through the Bears as they trudged through another loss to a team that isn’t any good.

It boiled over for rookie left tackle Teven Jenkins, who has endured only three games of this but already had all he can take.

Jenkins worked through his feelings in a post-play altercation with Vikings defensive ends D.J. Wonnum and Sheldon Richardson late in the third quarter. He swung at Richardson’s head and earned his third penalty of the night: an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that dropped the Bears to an impossible second-and-22 from their own 13-yard line.

After the inevitable punt, Nagy grabbed Jenkins as soon as he reached the sideline and covered his mouth with his play sheet during whatever he had to say.

What could he have said, though?

It wouldn’t have been credible whatsoever for him to lecture Jenkins about self-control after Nagy cost the team yards with his own outburst.

At least Nagy isn’t going out with a whimper. But he is leaving in futility as he inches dangerously close to ending his Bears career with a losing record. The Vikings, a team he dominated his first three seasons, dropped him to 32-30 in the regular season. He’s also 0-2 in the playoffs.

He’ll exit knowing he didn’t fix any of the things the Bears hired him to handle, and the Vikings game was a harsh reminder of that.

This has been falling apart gradually for three years.

And now, it has crumbled entirely.

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The Chicago Bears are a horrid football team. They played against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football and were blown out on national television (for a second straight week). They came into the game with a 4-9 record and now have a disgraceful 4-10 record. They don’t even have that top-five draft pick to make up for having such a bad year either. It is just all bad.

The organization should be ashamed of itself. They have a lot of key players out on the COVID-19 protocol list but that is no excuse. It wasn’t an excuse for their first nine losses so it won’t be now. It is nice to watch Justin Fields make good plays but there are also plenty of plays where he is left out to dry.

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The holiday break reportedly will start early for the Blackhawks and the rest of the NHL.

Faced with the impossible task of trying to slow a massive surge in COVID-19 cases, the league has decided to give up on this week. The holiday break, which was scheduled to run from Friday through Sunday, was pushed up to start Wednesday and will run through Saturday, according to multiple reports late Monday.

The vast majority of the originally scheduled games around the NHL this week already had been postponed before the announcement, but one that hadn’t was the Stars-Hawks matchup Thursday at the United Center. That game now will be postponed, too.

Players, coaches, staff and all other members of each team’s traveling party will report to team facilities Sunday rather than Monday for mass testing before hockey activities resume next week, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported.

The leaguewide schedule change came just hours after the Hawks became the NHL’s 24th team to have a player enter COVID-19 protocol, with veteran defenseman Calvin de Haan going on the list.

De Haan is one of 120 NHL players on the COVID list as of Monday night, but he’s the first Hawk on the list since Tyler Johnson and Isaak Phillips came off in early November.

Fortunately, de Haan had been held out of the Hawks’ last two games — Friday against the Predators and Saturday against the Stars — with an illness, even though it was considered non-COVID-related at the time. That, combined with the fact the Hawks didn’t practice Sunday or Monday, hopefully will reduce the likelihood of his infection turning into an outbreak.

”It’s probably driving [the players] nuts that we’re reminding them every day [about] the hygiene part of it and to make sure we do all the right things to follow the protocols,” Hawks interim coach Derek King had said before the game Saturday.

The NHL already had tightened safety measures, shut down nine teams with outbreaks through the holiday break and halted U.S.-Canada cross-border travel before Monday, but the new policies proved unable to stop the virus’ spread.

Of the five games originally scheduled for Monday, one — Blues at Stars — took place. Only two of the 10 games originally scheduled for Tuesday are still on, with the Hawks’ matchup against the Panthers among the casualties. The pushed-up holiday break officially will postpone four games Wednesday and 15 more Thursday.

Even after the break, however, much remains uncertain. The Hawks are scheduled to host the Blue Jackets on Dec. 28, visit the Jets on Dec. 29, visit the Predators on Jan. 1 and host the Flames on Jan. 2. But the Jackets, Predators and Flames already had been shut down before Monday because of internal COVID outbreaks, and the game against the Jets would require cross-border travel.

As of now, the Hawks need three home games to be rescheduled. With the NHL looking likely to pull out of the Winter Olympics, the three-week break in February has been floated as a logical time to play postponed games, but arena booking logistics might get in the way.

NOTE: The Hawks sent prospect Josiah Slavin to the American Hockey League on Sunday for playing-time purposes, but there’s a good chance he’ll be called up again once the Hawks resume play.

Slavin has played well despite his lack of production (one point in nine games) and spent much of the game Saturday centering Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat.

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In the aftermath of his record-breaking game last week at Madison Square Garden, Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry has launched a new NFT collection to celebrate each and every one of those 2,974 made 3-pointers.

The “2974 Collection” launched Monday at 2974SC.com, and it features a series of nonfungible tokens that are each individually numbered out of a total 2,974 — the number of 3s required to eclipse Ray Allen‘s previous mark of 2,973. Each unique NFT will be priced at $499, with Curry planning to donate 100% of his profits to the “Eat. Learn. Play” foundation that he and wife, Ayesha Curry, established in 2019.

“I’m truly grateful to be able to share this moment with all of the fans, the entire Bay Area community and everyone who has supported me throughout the years,” Curry said.

The custom-created artwork of digital moments represents each make in the entire sequence of 2,974 3-pointers by Curry throughout his NBA career, leading up to the record-setting wing heave just five minutes into the Warriors’ matchup against the New York Knicks on Tuesday.

The artwork was hand drawn by recent college graduate and artist Andrea McDonald and designed by combining a repeat “2974” print throughout to reproduce a memorable image from each made 3-pointer. Each piece includes the game’s location and date along with Curry’s digital signature.

The “2974 Collection” is a series of nonfungible tokens that are each individually numbered out of 2,974 and features custom artwork representing every 3-point make throughout Stephen Curry’s NBA career. SC30 Inc

Curry announced a multiyear equity agreement with FTX cryptocurrency exchange in September that includes both an ambassador and shareholder role. FTX will serve as the host platform for users to own NFTs from the 2974 Collection and sell them at a later date. Participating owners may also receive autographed memorabilia, tickets to games, additional NFT drops and early access to Curry Brand limited-edition items in the future.

In addition to the full series of NFTs, owners will be gifted a bonus NFT as part of the launch. Curry commissioned 86-year-old pioneering artist Floyd Norman, Disney’s first Black animator, to create an additional series of two storyboard animations. Norman is credited with contributions in several of Disney’s most iconic films throughout his 65-year career, and he was the subject of a Netflix documentary.

4dNick DePaula

6dKevin Pelton

6dNick Friedell

2 Related

The bonus animations are based on Curry’s two favorite 3-point shots from his career. One celebrates Game 2 of the 2018 NBA Finals, when Curry connected on a Finals-record ninth 3-pointer to lead the Warriors to a 2-0 series lead against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The other highlights a late February visit to Oklahoma City in 2016 and his memorable “BANG!” game-winning shot versus the Thunder from just across half court.

“I’m honored that two incredibly talented artists, Floyd Norman and Andrea McDonald, have been able to add their creative touches to my career,” Curry said.

Two hundred of the 2974 NFTs will be gifted by Curry to the people who have helped him on his journey, including school teachers, Warriors fans, Davidson University, coaches, neighborhood friends, mentors, Stephen’s SC30 team, teammates, rivals and family.

While all moments will be priced at $499 each, the #2974/2974 NFT highlighting the record-breaking shot will be auctioned for 72 hours to the highest bidder.

Curry’s foundation has provided meals, groceries and books to families and youths in the Bay Area. It also has helped refurbish local recreation centers and build basketball courts in the region.

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It was not the ideal scenario as far as Billy Donovan was concerned.

Two games postponed, very limited practice time, and a handful of players coming out of the league’s health and safety protocol, the Bulls coach was hoping to be able to ease his players back into heavy minutes.

The Sunday game against the Lakers didn’t corporate, however.

DeMar DeRozan put in 34 minutes plus, as did Javonte Green. Fresh off a tweaked hamstring, Alex Caruso notched just under 38 minutes. And of course just minutes into the showdown with the Rockets, he had to leave the court and go to the locker room.

Then there was Lonzo Ball, who has led the Bulls in minutes played all season and was due for a break. In a game with his former team that was back and forth the entire fourth quarter, breaks weren’t really available.

Ball finished with a team-high 38:04.

The back-to-back with Houston, and then a third game in four nights on Wednesday wasn’t doing many favors either.

“It’s kind of the hand we’re dealt with a little bit,” Donovan said Monday. “You try and navigate it, and more than anything else instead of those guys going really long periods of time where they’re playing a lot of consecutive minutes in a row, can you get them out a little bit and then pull them back in? The teams that have been hit the way we’ve been hit are probably in a similar situation.”

Then again, not many teams had 10 players go into the protocol at one time, forced to basically be shut down from all team activities.

That’s the other concern Donovan is dealing with. Yes, the time off was good for a break, but it also led to some guys losing their wind.

“The hard thing is being hit with all this and then not being able to practice,” Donovan said. “It would be one thing if we had the group and we could kind of work collectively as a unit, but we really haven’t been able to do that.”

The good news for the Bulls is the schedule smiles on them after Wednesday.

The team will have three straight days off and won’t play again until after Christmas. They’re also expected to have most of the roster back then, as Zach LaVine, Ayo Dosunmu, Troy Brown Jr., and Alize Johnson should all be back from the protocols.

Jones update

Derrick Jones Jr. left Sunday’s win with a strained left hamstring and didn’t return, but Donovan didn’t expect the forward to be on the shelf very long.

All the tests came back as relatively mild, so Jones will be re-evaluated after Wednesday’s game, and have the three-day break to work his way back.

Jones had been sidelined for almost two weeks in the protocol, and the game against Los Angeles was his first one since he was cleared.

Ten count

Alfonzo McKinnie will be staying home for a bit longer, as the Bulls announced that the forward was signed to a second 10-day contract.

MicKinnie, who played at Curie and then Marshall High School, was added as a hardship exemption when the Bulls sent a handful of players into the league’s health and safety protocol while they were on a road trip to Cleveland and Miami.

McKinnie entered the game with the Rockets with two games under his belt, averaging 23 minutes and 4.0 points off the bench.

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Robert Quinn’s renaissance took another step Monday night when the Bears outside linebacker was named to the Pro Bowl. Punt returner and wide receiver Jakeem Grant made it as well, earning his first career selection.

Despite playing in only 12 games entering Monday night’s contest, Quinn ranked fourth in the NFL with 14 sacks. He’s dominated opponents — it’s already the second-highest sack total of his career — despite spending more than half the season without running mate Khalil Mack, who was put on injured reserve with a foot problem.

The Bears signed Quinn to a five-year, $70 million contract in March 2020, only to watch him post the worst season of his career. Quinn had only two sacks in 15 games.

“From last year, just trying to redeem myself, personally,” he said earlier this month. “That was a disappointing season. And this year, I just try to not to let the unnecessary weight or negativity weigh me down — or keep it off my plate. So this year, I’m just able to have fun, been able to bond with the guys more, so it turned into a brotherhood. So I think just that alone allows you to play more comfortable and fast and make plays.”

Before this season, Quinn had reached two Pro Bowls — in 2013 and 2014 with the Rams. Quinn’s career-best season — he had 19 sacks in 2013 — is actually within reach.

“There are only a few guys who have had as much success as he’s had in this league and then continue to work like they’re a rookie still,” said Bears outside linebacker Bruce Irvin, another respected veteran. “Him and K-Mack, that’s another one, they’re just different types of guys. It’s just impressive playing with them.”

The Pro Bowl will be held Feb. 6 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

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