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Bears running back Khalil Herbert celebrates a touchdown Sunday. | Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

To earn a meaningless win in a Seattle snowglobe, the Bears played veterans in the last year of their contract — instead of young players who  might have a chance to be on their next good team.

SEATTLE — In a span of two plays Sunday, Nick Foles threw a third-and-14 touchdown pass to a double-teamed tight end Jimmy Graham with about a minute to play to trail the Seahawks by one — and then found Bears receiver Damiere Byrd along the back of the end zone to take the lead on a two-point conversion.

The 25-24 victory, sealed when the Seahawks turned the ball over on downs, must have been great justification for coach Matt Nagy — and for quarterback Foles, who started his first game in more than 13 months only because the two men in front of him on the depth chart are injured.

In a long, draining season, it was a moment of justified jubilation.

Don’t confuse the little picture for the big one, though. To earn a meaningless win in a Seattle snowglobe, the Bears played veterans in the last year of their contract — instead of young players who might have a chance to be on their next good team.

In a game with no postseason or draft implications — the Bears are eliminated and don’t have a first-round pick — why would Nagy decide to play someone who might not be on the team next season in favor of someone who could be? For the feeling at the end of the game.

Was it worth it? Nagy — and general manager Ryan Pace — like to talk about making decisions based on whether they’re in the best interest of the Bears. That was their rationale for drafting Justin Fields despite knowing they needed to win right away. Having a slight upgrade at a position on a who-cares afternoon with no stakes is not in the best interest of the Bears.

Giving up five inches and almost 40 pounds to the man across the line of scrimmage, Bears rookie cornerback Thomas Graham lined up one-on-one against Seahawks receiver D.K. Metcalf about six minutes into the game. At the snap on third-and-5 from the Bears’ 41, Metcalf stutter-stepped, broke to the right of Graham and sprinted along the Bears’ sideline. Quarterback Russell Wilson, the best dep ball passer in the NFL, dropped the ball effortlessly into his hands at the 9. Metcalf caught it and glided into the end zone as Graham dove fruitlessly into the snow.

But that one play wasn’t a loss for the Bears. You know what was? Deciding to keep Graham on the bench to start the game. Six days after an eye-opening debut — the Oregon alum was only on the active roster then because the coronavirus sidelined all four members of the defensive backfield — Graham was left to platoon Sunday. Artie Burns — who is on a one-year contract — platooned with him. The two alternated drives.

Graham couldn’t get promoted off the practice squad despite being a member of their most thin position group. Is he good? It’s the Bears job over the rest of the season to find out. They can’t do that with him on the bench.

The same goes for rookie tackle Larry Borom. Nagy, amazingly, decided to keep him on the bench Sunday. He instead started Germain Ifedi at right tackle. The same one who shoved rookie Teven Jenkins after he committed a penalty last week — and somehow was named a team captain against the Seahawks, a former team.

Pro Football Focus ranks Ifedi as its 60th-best tackle. Borom is No. 69.

Only one, though, has a chance to be on the next great Bears team. Ifedi is in the final year of his contract.

As it often does to cancel out Nagy’s questionable decisions, fate stepped in. When Jenkins hurt his shoulder in the first quarter, Borom got to play the rest of the game — albeit on the left side, which is not his natural position. That it came at the expense of Jenkins, the second-round pick, makes it a pyrrhic victory.

Rookie running back Khalil Herbert scored a touchdown Sunday. Dazz Newsome, another sixth-round draft pick this year, returned punts. Over the last two weeks, Nagy needs to make sure every other young player gets an opportunity to show the Bears what he can do.

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Bulls guard Lonzo Ball has been placed in the NBA’s coronavirus protocols. | Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

Ball, as well as Tony Bradley and Alfonzo McKinnie, each tested into the health and safety protocols leading up to Sunday night’s game with the Pacers.

The Bulls continued dealing with the NBA’s coronavirus health and safety protocols on Sunday, as Lonzo Ball, Tony Bradley and Alfonzo McKinnie were each shut down hours before the team was set to host the Indiana Pacers.

“Y’all jinxed me,” Ball tweeted.

Coach Billy Donovan will also miss tonight’s game at the United Center.

By late afternoon Sunday, the official overall number of players disclosed by teams as being in the protocols was up to 111 — the real number, considering some teams had yet to update injury reports, was believed to be slightly higher. And some teams were stuck simply trying to piece rosters together just to try and play.

Golden State’s Draymond Green was the latest big name added to the protocols list on Sunday, less than 24 hours after the Warriors beat Phoenix in what was the best game on the league’s five-game Christmas lineup and probably one of the more anticipated games so far this season.

The numbers may continue to rise, now that the league’s expanded testing for players who have not received booster shots started on Sunday and will continue into early January.

“This is the reality of this association right now,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Contributing: Associated Press

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The Stars returned from the NHL’s holiday break Sunday with numerous new COVID cases. The Blackhawks will hope to avoid a similar situation. | AP Photos

The taxi squad and new emergency recalls hopefully will help teams keep playing games and fielding full rosters in spite of inevitable COVID outbreaks.

The NHL will return from the holiday break looking a lot more like its spring 2021 version than its fall 2021 version.

And the Blackhawks’ first game back — Tuesday against the Blue Jackets — has become one the guinea pigs of the new approach.

With the NHL extending the break by a day to allow more time to process the leaguewide COVID-19 test results Sunday, 14 games scheduled for Monday were postponed. The Hawks weren’t scheduled to play Monday, however, and therefore will become one of the first eight teams to resume play Tuesday.

First and foremost, the Hawks have to hope they remain as relatively COVID-free in the coming days as they were before the break.

Defenseman Calvin de Haan presumably will remain on the COVID protocol list until Thursday, 10 days after he went on it, but the results of testing Sunday should provide an early indication about whether the NHL’s extended break worked to slow the leaguewide spread.

Realizing COVID will be a bigger factor in the coming month than it had been earlier this season, however, the NHL on Sunday wisely reinstituted several rules to help teams with roster flexibility.

The taxi squads from last season temporarily will return between now and the All-Star break in early February, CapFriendly reported.

Teams can assign up to six players to the taxi squad at a time, although they aren’t required to assign any if they want to keep their American Hockey League team flush with talent. There are a number of specific restrictions about which players are eligible for taxi-squad designation and how long each player can stay there (maximum of 20 days).

For salary-cap purposes, taxi-squad players will count as though they’re still in the AHL but will be present with the NHL team for immediate recalls.

Arguably more important, however, is that the NHL instituted a new roster emergency exception (REE) rule. The REE allows players with cap hits of less than $1 million to be recalled as replacements for NHL players who contract COVID without counting against the cap. Teams previously had to play one game short-handed before being eligible for emergency recalls.

That adjustment probably should have been put in place long ago, but it nonetheless should help outbreak-stricken teams avoid postponements, wage fair fights and not overwork their healthy players.

Stricter masking and distancing protocols implemented by the NHL shortly before the hastened holiday break will remain in place for at least the next few weeks, too.

From the Hawks’ perspective, the new rules might not seem particularly relevant because the team so far hasn’t had to deal with many of the COVID-related hardships other teams have.

But if an outbreak does occur this winter, the new rules should make it much more viable for them to keep playing games.

That’s the situation the Stars — the Hawks’ last opponent before the holiday break — found themselves in Sunday. Previously one of the few teams relatively untouched by COVID, they put Jason Robertson, Miro Heiskanen, Radek Faksa, Joel Kiviranta, Michael Raffl and two staff members in protocols after receiving their end-of-break test results.

The Hawks should find out in the coming days whether any of their upcoming opponents — several of whom (Jackets, Predators and Flames) endured large outbreaks before the holiday pause — still have ongoing health situations that might jeopardize the scheduled games.

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Curie’s Phoenix Bullock (1) drives the ball past Leo’s Tyler Smith (1). | Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times

Lyons and Rolling Meadows both return to the rankings.

Seventeen of the Super 25 teams didn’t play a game last week, so there hasn’t been much movement.

DePaul Prep drops out after losing to Hinsdale Central in the second round of the Red Devils’ holiday tournament. The young Rams were sailing by on an undefeated record before that. They lack a high quality win.

St. Rita also drops out. Homewood-Flossmoor knocked the Mustangs off in the second round at Hinsdale Central. St. Rita’s young talent is so tantalizing, but it just isn’t consistently beating quality teams.

Lyons joins the rankings at No. 24. The Lions only losses are to Glenbard West and Riverside-Brookfield and they have a nice win against Hinsdale Central.

Rolling Meadows also rejoins the rankings. The Mustangs don’t have a major win yet, but their only loss is to Wheaton Warrenville South and that keeps looking better as the Tigers rack up wins.

So this is where things stand as we head into the wild holiday tournament week. Expect everything to look totally different next Sunday. We should learn so much about so many teams.

Super 25 for Dec. 26, 2021

With record and last week’s ranking

1. Glenbard West (10-0) 1

Favorites at York

2. Kenwood (8-2) 2

Favorites at Proviso West

3. Simeon (6-1) 3

Favorites at Pontiac

4. Glenbrook South (9-1) 4

Heavy favorites in Wheeling

5. Curie (12-0) 6

Two-time defending Pontiac champs

6. Young (4-3) 5

AJ Casey playing well

7. Hillcrest (8-1) 7

Favorites at Rich South

8. Bolingbrook (9-0) 8

Defending champs at York

9. Bloom (7-2) 9

Could surprise at Pontiac

10. Brother Rice (9-1) 10

Contenders in Bloomington

11. Oswego East (13-0) 13

Beat Marian Catholic

12. Mount Carmel (11-0) 12

Contenders in Pekin

13. New Trier (12-1) 15

Faces Manual Tuesday

14. Orr (6-0) 11

In Minneapolis

15. Lake Forest (7-2) 16

Contenders at York

16. Thornton (5-2) 17

Big draw at Rich

17. Riverside-Brookfield (9-1) 18

Withdrew from York

18. Leo (4-1) 19

Interesting underdog at York

19. Evanston (6-2) 20

Playing in Centralia

20. Wheaton Warrenville South (11-0) 21

Contenders in Bloomington

21. Proviso East (7-0) 22

Opens with Bogan at Proviso West

22. Benet (6-1) 24

Faces Pontiac on Tuesday

23. Larkin (12-1) 25

Beat Crystal Lake South

24. Lyons (7-2) NR

Opens with Wheaton North Monday

25. Rolling Meadows (9-1) NR

Contenders at York

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Here’s a look at this week’s events.

Joe Hendrickson break down the favorite, top contenders and top storylines at this week’s high school basketball tournaments.

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Atlanta Hawks forwards John Collins and Jalen Johnson have entered the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The Hawks now have 10 players in the protocol, including starters Collins, Trae Young and Kevin Huerter.

Collins led the team with 20 points in Atlanta’s 101-87 Christmas Day loss to the New York Knicks. Johnson had four points and seven rebounds off the bench Saturday.

The Hawks are planning to sign guard/forward Chaundee Brown to a 10-day hardship deal, sources tell Wojnarowski. Brown is expected to sign on Monday.

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There’s renewed momentum for the creation of a future in-season NBA tournament among the league’s 30 teams, sources told ESPN.

The NBA and National Basketball Players Association have been discussing elements of the tournament, which could become part of the calendar as soon as the 2022-23 or 2023-24 season, sources said.

Negotiations have centered on an in-season tournament that would begin with pool play as part of the regular-season schedule prior to teams with the best records advancing to an eight-team, single-elimination tournament that would culminate prior to Christmas, sources said. The proposal also would shorten the regular season from 82 to 78 games, sources said.

The sides have discussed a purse of $1 million per player for the winning team, and the players could see more financial and competitive incentives before an agreement on the format, sources said. The NBA has been motivated with the prospects of lucrative television and sponsorship revenue that it is hopeful would deliver long-term financial growth.

The league has had to work to make certain that the financial reductions for teams and players because of the shortened regular season would initially be break-even — with the hope of more considerable financial gains in the long run. The success of in-season tournaments in European soccer have intrigued NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who believes that players and fans would become enthusiastic over the tournament with time.

The idea has been percolating for a few years, and the early success and acceptance of the play-in tournament appears to have built a bridge for the league to intensify plans for the event. The union has been talking broadly with players on the idea in team meetings, and those conversations are expected to become more serious during the NBPA’s February winter meetings on All-Star weekend in Cleveland, sources said.

Previously, there’s been some apprehensiveness over the idea among big-market owners — especially those who generate larger home-game revenue streams, sources said. Teams had expressed uneasiness on absorbing short-term losses by dropping two home dates to introduce the tournament, especially when those games can be worth between $2.7 million and $4 million for the most profitable big-market teams, sources said.

Nevertheless, Silver has been an immense champion of the idea and has shown an ability to rally ownership on his priorities. In recent months, there’s been an increased confidence that the tournament is within reach of negotiations.

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Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball became the team’s third player to enter the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols on Sunday, joining forward Alfonzo McKinnie and center Tony Bradley as players sidelined ahead of the Bulls’ matchup against the Indiana Pacers.

Chicago will also be without coach Billy Donovan, who landed in the protocols on Friday.

The Bulls have had 14 players enter health and safety protocols in December, although Devon Dotson tested out two days later with a pair of negative COVID-19 tests. Nikola Vucevic also landed in the protocols in early November.

Sunday was the first day of the NBA’s ramped-up testing during the holiday season, a two-week period during which players and staff will be tested on game days unless they have recently contracted the virus or have received a booster shot within 14 days. Players who enter health and safety protocols must produce two negative PCR tests within 24 hours or spend 10 days in isolation.

Ball had been the only Bulls player to appear in all 29 games this season, his first in Chicago. He is averaging 13.2 points, 5.0 assists and 5.4 rebounds.

“I don’t really do too much; I just play and go back home, really,” Ball said about avoiding the health and safety protocols after Monday’s game against the Houston Rockets. “I’m just thankful that I haven’t got it yet.”

After news broke Sunday afternoon, Ball tweeted: “Y’all jinxed me.”

Chicago endured a team outbreak at the start of the month that led to the NBA’s first two postponed games of the season. However, earlier this week the Bulls had cleared all 10 players from the league’s protocols.

McKinnie had initially joined the team on a pair of 10-day contracts, but earlier Sunday morning, the Bulls announced they had released forward Alize Johnson and signed McKinnie, who had 16 points and five rebounds in their last game, against the Rockets, to the main roster.

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Ball, as well as Tony Bradley and Alfonzo McKinnie, each tested into the health and safety protocols leading up to Sunday night’s game with the Pacers.

The Bulls continued dealing with the NBA’s coronavirus health and safety protocols on Sunday, as Lonzo Ball, Tony Bradley and Alfonzo McKinnie were each shut down hours before the team was set to host the Indiana Pacers.

Coach Billy Donovan will also miss tonight’s game at the United Center.

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Fields has started 10 games and has a 73.2 passer rating. | AP Photos

The Bears will start third-stringer Nick Foles at quarterback against the Seahawks.

SEATTLE — Rookie quarterback Justin Fields won’t be even an emergency option for the Bears on Sunday after the team ruled him inactive 90 minutes before their game against the Seahawks.

Fields hurt his ankle in the second quarter of the Bears’ 17-9 loss to the Vikings on Monday. While he finished the game, the injury got worse overnight and he was unable to practice Thursday or Friday.

Bears coach Matt Nagy said Friday the plan was to start Foles, but he wanted to see if Fields was healthy enough to be an “emergency” option as Foles’ backup. The alternative was going with practice squad quarterback Ryan Willis as the backup, and he was hesitant do that because Willis has been with the team for only a week.

Willis, though, was promoted to the Bears’ active roster on Saturday — an indication he’d be the backup.

Sunday will be Foles’ first game action since getting some mop-up duty behind Mitch Trubisky against the Jaguars nearly a year ago. Foles replaced Trubisky in Week 3 last season and led an impressive comeback against the Falcons, but the Bears went back to Trubisky in Week 12.

Quarterback Andy Dalton is inactive because of a groin injury.

Others who will be out include returner/receiver Jakeem Grant [concussion], cornerback Xavier Crawford [concussion], tackle Jason Peters [ankle] and offensive lineman Lachavious Simmons.

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