Do you want the good news or the bad news first about the Bears’ general manager and head coach hires? Sure, of course, what was I thinking? You’re hopeful people. The good news:

It’s all about guesswork and luck.

Now the bad news:

It’s all about guesswork and luck.

My Twitter feed is filled with people arguing about whether the Bears did the right thing in hiring a defensive coordinator, Matt Eberflus, as head coach when the prospect of success for the team appears to rest on whether Justin Fields turns out to be a good quarterback.

Hiring a coach with a background in offense made more sense to me, especially with all four head coaches left in the NFL playoffs being offense-minded. Seems like a trend, a good one.

But wait! The other side says the Bears already went that route with Marc Trestman and Matt Nagy, and look where it got the team. The best man this time around was a defensive coordinator, the pro-Eberflus crowd screams. The most amazing thing about any of this is that there’s already a pro-Eberflus crowd. Three weeks ago, few people in Chicago would have been able to tell you who Eberflus and new Bears general manager Ryan Poles were. Now too many people know where the men buy their suits and what their favorite Life Saver flavor is.

Both sides are missing the point, which is that the whole thing is a crapshoot. All of it. Poles could turn out to be the second coming of Jim Finks or he could be a carbon copy of Ryan Pace, his unsuccessful predecessor. Eberflus could turn out to be George Halas or Dick Jauron. The long line of fired NFL GMs and head coaches indicates that the crapshoot is not in the favor of the one rolling the dice. The McCaskeys’ filament-thin playoff resume indicates that … uh-oh.

Nobody knows what’s going to happen here, not even Hall of Famer Bill Polian, who led the Bears’ search for a general manager and coach. His presence lent weight and legitimacy to the proceedings. He’s the guy who drafted Peyton Manning over Ryan Leaf for the Colts in 1998.

But as I’ve pointed out a million times, these are the Bears, whose guesswork the past 30 years has been poor and whose luck has been poorer. There’s a decent chance that, just by being exposed to the Bears, Polian has lost all his football acumen. Science calls this long-haul McCaskid.

The skeptical Bears observer, the one who has been through much pain and suffering, knows that arguing about whether the team should have hired a defense- or offense-minded coach is like arguing about the color of a coffin.

The optimistic Bears fan is finding all sorts of things to be excited about with Poles and Eberflus. Poles spent the past 13 years working for the Chiefs, meaning he had a hand in building the 2019 Super Bowl winner, the 2020 Super Bowl runner-up and the 2021 team that finds itself in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game. Was it a Shaq-sized hand or a Danny DeVito-sized hand? We’re not sure yet. But at least there’s hope. Eberflus was the coordinator of a good Colts defense the past four seasons. Maybe he can give a boost to what was an underachieving Bears defense in 2021.

If you’re the type of person whose sees the glass half full, you see Bill Belichick when you look at Eberflus.

If you’re the type of person who sees the glass in bits on the floor because it’s the Bears, you see Matt Patricia when you look at Eberflus.

The question is how much you believe in luck. I’m sure Polian would argue vociferously that luck has nothing to do with anything. His ability to find players and coaches put him in the Hall of Fame. But his involvement in the Bears’ hiring process will put to the test the idea that the franchise is doomed as long as the McCaskey family owns it. His insight and shrewdness might have met its match in these people.

So guesswork and luck. The good news and the bad news.

Who really knows? It’s why fans keep coming back to the Bears, I assume. The anger has receded from chairman George McCaskey’s painfully clunky news conference earlier this month, when he discussed the firing of Pace and Nagy. What has taken the place of some of that anger? A bit of hope, from the looks of it. Some of you think Poles and Eberflus might be the answer. Some of you are excited about the possibility of a new stadium. Some of you have already forgotten a 6-11 season.

And? And here we go again. Maybe this time something different happens. Good luck. I guess.

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There was total fixation on who the Bears would hire as general manager and coach over the last three weeks, but neither Ryan Poles nor Matt Eberflus stands as the most important employee at Halas Hall.

It’s Justin Fields.

No one will have more influence on the Bears’ success or failure over the next three seasons than Fields. The entire rebuild is centered on his development, and Poles and Eberflus wouldn’t have even sniffed this job unless they thought Fields could carry them to contention. Every hire they’ve made and will make should be examined through the lens of what it’ll mean for Fields.

That’s one reason it was curious that the Bears bypassed offensive-minded coaches like Jim Caldwell, Brian Daboll and Eric Bieniemy in favor of a defensive coordinator in Eberflus.

Any team must brace for potential instability on the opposite side of the ball of its head coach’s specialty. If things are going well, the incoming Bears offensive coordinator will be a prominent head-coaching candidate quickly. If it remains a slog, Eberflus will need to find someone new.

He has been working on the crucial hire of an offensive coordinator since taking the job Thursday morning, and the frontrunner is Packers quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Luke Getsy.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Friday he had an offer in hand, but Getsy is likely to draw interest from around the NFL as teams fill their coaching vacancies. He’d also be a logical candidate in Green Bay to replace outgoing coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.

The Bears also planned to interview longtime quarterback guru Pep Hamilton, most recently of the Texans, for the position Saturday. Hamilton was their quarterbacks coach under Lovie Smith from 2007 through ’09.

Kevin Patullo, the Eagles’ passing game coordinator, is another name worth watching. He was a Colts assistant from 2018 through ’20, when Eberflus was defensive coordinator.

Whomever Eberflus picks as his offensive coordinator has to be someone with a better plan for Fields than former coach Matt Nagy had. It’d be hard to do worse, considering the variety of ways Nagy held Fields back and how egregiously unprepared he was to game plan for him as the starter.

The new coordinator would also be wise to at least consider trying to retain quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo, though he doesn’t have any work history with Getsy, Hamilton or Patullo.

DeFilippo had a great relationship with Fields and spent the most time of any coach working closely with him during his rookie season. Much like Nagy kept quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone from the previous staff in 2018 in order to give Mitch Trubisky some continuity, DeFilippo would be an asset to the Eberflus and his new coordinator as long as he’s aligned philosophically.

The coaching staff, along with the offensive scheme it implements, is only part of the equation for facilitating Fields’ emergence. Nagy wasn’t the only reason Fields struggled. Former general manager Ryan Pace set up some shaky infrastructure personnel-wise, too, and Poles needs to make substantive corrections.

The Bears, for example, allotted the ninth-lowest amount of salary-cap space to the offensive line in the NFL last season. They got what they paid for: Pro Football Focus ranked them the 11th-worst unit in the league.

How exactly was Fields supposed to blossom behind a line that allowed pressure on 24.1% of pass plays and gave up a league-high 58 sacks?

He certainly showed potential, but the final grade was inconclusive. Fields seems like he’s going to be a good player, but no one can say that definitively the way they did after the rookie seasons of Justin Herbert (2020), Dak Prescott (2016) and Russell Wilson (2012).

Over 12 games, including 10 starts, Fields’ production was underwhelming: 59% completions, 180 yards passing in his starts, seven touchdown passes, 10 interceptions and 12 fumbles. He also rushed for 35 yards per game and ran for two touchdowns.

Regardless of Poles’ realistic timeline to turn the Bears into a winner, he needs to support Fields immediately by reinforcing the offensive line and making sure he has a dynamic crew of skill players. Darnell Mooney was the only wide receiver who topped 410 yards last season, and young tight end Cole Kmet has yet to prove he’s a game changer.

It’s going to be nearly impossible for Fields to grow into a star if he’s always working with a limited or discounted cast and playing in an offense that isn’t tailored to his skills. The personnel and the coaching staff must be tilted toward helping him emerge, and that needs to be the priority for Poles and Eberflus.

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The moment it happened hardly seemed significant at the time.

Red Wings forward Joe Veleno knocked into Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews with 8:45 left in the third period Wednesday. That forced Toews to collide into the boards, which caused his head to briefly spring back with whiplash.

But Toews got right back up, no penalty was called — rightly so, as it appeared legal — and the instance wasn’t even recorded in the NHL’s official play-by-play log as a hit for Veleno.

Come Thursday, however, it had become clear Toews suffered another concussion on the play. And come Friday, Toews was officially placed in concussion protocol by the Hawks with no specific timetable to return.

“He’s a huge part of our team,” interim coach Derek King said. “He’s our leader. We’re going to miss him. But we’re making sure we do the right thing by this. There’s no timeframe. It’s [about] when he’s feeling right. You can’t mess around with this stuff. We’ll just go day-by-day every day, see how he’s feeling, and then when he’s ready, he’ll come back and join us.”

The news is concerning given Toews’ history of head injuries earlier in his career, including one in spring 2012 that kept him out nearly two months, as well as the often exponentially increasing impacts of repeated concussions.

The Hawks have seen firsthand, particularly with Corey Crawford and Andrew Shaw, how that trend can derail a career. Shaw said earlier this month he’s still not feeling 100% healthy and recovered from his final career-ending concussion last February.

And although Toews hadn’t suffered any documented concussions during his most recent seasons, his other health issues — including the chronic inflammatory response syndrome that cost him all of last season — have left him in a vulnerable spot.

“Hopefully it’s his last one, because you don’t want to see another one,” King said. “[Out of] any injury you get as a player, this is the one you’ve got to really look after. … How major is it? I’m not sure. But we’re just going to take the steps and be precautionary.”

Toews took three more shifts, totaling 2:28 of additional ice time, after Veleno’s hit Wednesday because NHL concussion spotters evidently didn’t radio the bench and Toews didn’t immediately feel anything. Not until Thursday, after the Hawks returned to Chicago from Detroit, did the issue arise.

“He probably wasn’t thinking that [it was a concussion] at the time, and then it hit him later on the next day that he was off a little bit,” King said. “He did the right thing by calling it in.”

Beyond worrying about Toews’ health, the Hawks will be challenged to compensate for Toews’ absence in their roster and locker room.

He averaged 17:52 of ice time through his first 43 games this season, down slightly from his 19:47 career average but still fourth-most among Hawks forwards. The same could be said for his production, which — at four goals and 15 assists — had been an ongoing source of frustration but also still ranked fourth-most among Hawks forwards.

Without him, Dylan Strome, Kirby Dach, Sam Lafferty and Ryan Carpenter operated as the team’s four centers Friday against the Avalanche, with the former two also helping fill the hole on the power play and the latter two doing so on the penalty kill. Toews’ 17:52 average ice time had included 3:25 of PP time and 1:30 of PK time.

“[We’ll miss] his leadership,” Seth Jones said. “He’s always giving us something to be better at, after periods and throughout a game and even on the bench during timeouts. … We’re going to lose a big part of that. So we’ll [need] to have guys definitely fill in and have a next-man-up mentality until he gets back.”

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The 2022 NBA trade deadline (Feb. 10, 3 p.m. ET) has already started buzzing with some moves, including a voided trade, to put players with new teams for the 2021-22 regular season.

The Atlanta Hawks traded Cam Reddish to the New York Knicks for Kevin Knox II in a swap of former first-round draft selections. The deal between the Denver Nuggets and Detroit Pistons involving Bol Bol was voided after the Pistons didn’t pass Bol on his physical with the team, which led to Bol eventually being traded to the Boston Celtics after undergoing surgery.

And to kick off the start of 2022, the Cleveland Cavaliers turned to the trade market to help replace point guard Ricky Rubio by acquiring veteran point guard Rajon Rondo from the Los Angeles Lakers.

Get all of the news, intel and analysis from our experts here, including trade grades and potential destinations for the top players on the market.

TRADE DEADLINE RESOURCES: Trade Tracker | Potential deals for all 30 teams

Jan. 28 update

2:28 p.m. ET: The Sacramento Kings — one of the most aggressive teams in the trade market and once an eager suitor for Ben Simmons — have ended their pursuit of a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers and turned elsewhere in trade talks, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Kings, who have lost five straight and sit 13th in the Western Conference, are determined to reshape their roster and remain engaged on several other fronts, sources said.

Three realistic Simmons trade options

Jan. 26 update

7:17 p.m. ET: The Brooklyn Nets are not engaging with any teams inquiring about potential James Harden trades, a resolve rooted in Harden’s repeated insistences to ownership and management that he’s committed to staying and winning a championship with the franchise, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Jan. 25 update

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6:57 p.m. ET: Jerami Grant‘s representation has offered the Detroit Pistons a list of trade destinations should the franchise choose to move the 27-year-old forward before the Feb. 10 deadline, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported on The Hoop Collective podcast.

Jan. 21 update

3:30 p.m. ET: How does Joel Embiid‘s play affect how Philadelphia team president Daryl Morey and the Sixers are thinking about the possibility of trading Ben Simmons? “We are looking for a deal that makes us a championship contender,” Morey said during a radio interview on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia on Jan. 20. “I think it’s less likely than likely,” Morey said. “It won’t be from lack of trying.” ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne said during Friday’s NBA Today: “I think that was the purpose of that interview was to manage expectations and say, hey, listen [Embiid’s] having a historically great year. We have to get this trade right.”

Jan. 18 update

11:23 p.m. ET: The Denver Nuggets are acquiring San Antonio Spurs guard Bryn Forbes in a three-way deal with the Boston Celtics, sources told ESPN. The Nuggets will send Bol Bol and P.J. Dozier to the Celtics and the Spurs will acquire Celtics forward Juancho Hernangomez and Denver’s 2028 second-round pick, sources said.

2:02 p.m. ET: Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner is expected to be sidelined beyond the Feb. 10 trade deadline with a stress reaction in his left foot, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The injury could complicate the franchise’s hopes to deal him prior to the offseason.

Jan. 13 updates

11:59 a.m. ET: The deal between the Nuggets and Pistons involving Bol Bol has been voided after the Pistons didn’t pass Bol on his physical with the team, sources confirmed to ESPN.

11:26 a.m. ET: The Hawks are trading forward Cam Reddish to the Knicks for a deal that includes a protected 2022 first-round pick via the Charlotte Hornets, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Knicks also acquire Solomon Hill and a 2025 second-round pick via the Brooklyn Nets in the trade.

Trade grades: What Cam Reddish brings to New York

Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images

Jan. 9 update

2:27 p.m. ET: The Pistons are finalizing a deal to acquire Nuggets forward Bol Bol for Rodney McGruder and a 2022 second-round pick via the Nets. Bol, 22, has shown flashes of promise with Denver, but he has never found traction in a deep and talented Nuggets frontcourt.

Jan. 4 update

4:08 p.m. ET: The Oklahoma City Thunder are acquiring Miye Oni from the Utah Jazz and a 2028 second-round pick. The Thunder will waive Oni and open up a roster spot ahead of the Feb. 10 trade deadline. Utah saves money and opens a roster spot, too.

Jan. 3 update

11:22 a.m. ET: The Knicks are acquiring Denzel Valentine in a three-way deal with the Lakers and Cavs, also getting $1.1M and two draft-rights players but ceding the draft rights to Louis Labeyrie. New York will make a decision on keeping Valentine or providing him an opportunity to sign elsewhere.

Dec. 31, 2021, update

11:06 a.m. ET: The Cavaliers have agreed to trade Denzel Valentine to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Rajon Rondo, who is eager for the chance to play a bigger role with an ascending Cavaliers team. He has been positive on the deal since it was presented to him as an option.

Trade grades: How Rondo fits in Cleveland

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NEW YORK — Orlando Magic guard Cole Anthony has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for directing profane and derogatory remarks toward a game official.

The incident occurred at the conclusion of Orlando’s 111-102 loss to the LA Clippers on Wednesday night at Amway Center. Byron Spruell, the president of league operations, announced the fine Friday.

The Magic (9-40) have endured a frustrating season and own the NBA’s worst record. They host the Detroit Pistons on Friday night.

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Riccardo Muti has performed and recorded a vast variety of works in his long and distinguished career, emphasizing composers like Giuseppe Verdi, but the music of the baroque has never been at the forefront of his conducting.

Much the same could be said for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. While the ensemble has not ignored the baroque era — roughly 1600-1750 — it has not paid the epoch much heed, either. And that’s not surprising, considering that it tends to focus on later musical periods where larger-scaled pieces are the norm, and considering that Chicago boasts a first-rate group known as the Music of the Baroque that specializes in such repertoire.

Given that background, it was intriguing Thursday evening at Orchestra Hall to see the Chicago Symphony and Muti, who serves as the orchestra’s Zell Music Director, devote the first in a pair of programs entirely to the baroque. They took on four works by two of the era’s biggest stars — George Frideric Handel and Antonio Vivaldi.

The conductor and orchestra brought the same skill, care and commitment to this music as they do to everything else they take on, and there were some notable musical moments throughout the evening, but it seems fair to say that this repertoire is not their forte.

Since the 1960s and ’70s, with the rise of groups like the Academy of Ancient Music, baroque playing has come to come to be dominated by ensembles that use period instruments like gut-string violins and employ historically informed performance practices, leading to a lighter, earthier and more translucent sound.

As Muti has made clear in interviews over the years, he has objections to aspects of the period-instrument movement, but Thursday’s performance conformed to at least a few of its tenets. These included the use of a harpsichord to provide continuo and the small ensemble sizes — just 20 instruments for a couple of the Vivaldi selections.

Moreover, Muti cultivated a real sense of intimacy in these works, as tough as that is to do in a venue as large as Orchestra Hall, forgoing his usual use of a baton and just relying on his hands to lead and shape the musicmaking.

Few if any composers have written more concertos and in more dizzying variety than Vivaldi, who produced more than 500 works in the form. The orchestra took on three of these works, none of which it has performed more recently than 1975 and one of which it had never before played.

The most fascinating was the Flute Concerto in G minor, “La Notte (Night),” Op. 10, No. 2 (RV 439), Vivaldi’s eerie conjuring of a nighttime realm. Although this unconventional work runs just 10 minutes, the composer packs a great deal into its six highly varied movements, none more memorable than the slow, spare fifth, “Il sonno (Sleep).” It was delicately rendered with playing so soft at the beginning that it was barely audible.

The featured soloist was Stef?n Ragnar H?skuldsson, the orchestra’s principal flutist, who delivered a stunning performance, playing with ease and sensitivity and subtly altering his tonal color to fit the work’s ever-changing moods. He possesses a pure, shimmering sound that ideally suited this often spare work.

The first half opened with the Concerto in B minor for Four Violins, Op. 3, No. 10 (RV 580), which showcased concertmaster Robert Chen and associate concertmaster Stephanie Jeong as well as assistant concertmasters David Taylor and Yuan-Qing Yu, who are both first-rate players but are rarely heard in such solo roles.

All four delivered fine individual performances, but the interpretation overall never really came together and sparked. It didn’t help that the tempos in the fast sections seemed to lag just a bit, something that occurred a few times elsewhere in the program as well.

Rounding out the first half was the Concerto in C major (“Per la solennit? di San Lorenzo”), RV 556, a kind of concerto for orchestra, spotlighting players across the ensemble including guest harpsichordist Mark Shuldiner, who acquitted himself admirably all evening.

Culminating the evening was the Suite No. 1 in F major from Handel’s spirited “Water Music,” which he famously wrote in 1717 for an excursion by King George I and his court on the Thames River that lasted well into the night.

NOTE: An abridged version of this program will be presented by the CSO at 7 p.m. Friday at Apostolic Church of God, 6320 South Dorchester Ave. The concert is free and open to the public.

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