The Bills have gone wide right as Super Bowl favorites.

Buffalo, which Caesars Sportsbook had listed as the favorite to win this season’s title, has been displaced by the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs moved from +450 to +400, while the Bills swung from +380 to +450.

“The big reason for the Chiefs becoming Super Bowl favorites is the Josh Allen factor,” Adam Pullen, assistant director of trading at Caesars Sportsbook, said in a statement, referring to the Bills quarterback. “We just don’t know if we’ll see the same Josh Allen that we saw before the [elbow] injury. Obviously he’s not 100%.”

The Bills still lead in Super Bowl action, leading in tickets at 11.1% and handle at 16.3%. The Chiefs are third in both categories at 6.4% and 7.9% respectively, while the 49ers are second with 6.8% of the tickets and 9.2% of the handle.

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This hasn’t happened often in the last three decades or so, but the Packers might actually be just as much of a mess as the Bears when the teams meet at Soldier Field on Sunday.

They’re fresh off giving up 40 points and 363 yards rushing to the Eagles, and the loss dropped them to 4-8. As badly as this season has gone for the Bears, the Packers are only one game better.

Furthermore, Aaron Rodgers looks just about done. He was already staggering well below his typical play, then he left the Eagles game with a rib injury. Backup Jordan Love looked good and nearly left the Packers to a comeback, but coach Matt LaFleur said Monday he was “feeling better” and Rodgers said he expects to play against the Bears “as long as I check out fine.”

Bears quarterback Justin Fields could be thinking the same thing after missing the game against the Jets because of a separated left shoulder. Coach Matt Eberflus said Monday that Fields was improving, but the next checkpoint would be whether he’s able to practice in full when the team resumes Wednesday.

“It’s Packers week — certainly we will have more optimism and more excitement for those decisions,” Eberflus said. “But it will still come down to [whether] he’s ready. That’s going to come down to strength and mobility. If [he has those], he’s got a green light.”

So for all their maladies, it might be Fields versus Rodgers on Sunday for the fourth time — far more enticing than Love facing Trevor Siemian.

Rodgers is 3-0 so far, pushing his all-time record against the Bears to 24-5. The Bears haven’t beaten the Packers since 2018, and in the seven losses since, they’ve been outscored by 92 points.

It has been an embarrassment for the franchise.

“I grew up watching this game, and this game means a lot to me,” said tight end Cole Kmet, a lifelong Bears fan from Arlington Heights. “Regardless of where each team is at in the season, it’s a big game. It’s a good opportunity to… feel good about yourselves.”

He also hopes Rodgers plays.

“Bring it on,” Kmet said. “If we get an opportunity to go beat him, that would always be a good feeling.”

The Bears have their own issues in a rebuilding season, but seriously, how much disarray must the Packers be in for the Bears to beat them?

It’ll look absurd for the Packers to have a disaster season but still sweep the Bears — and the Bears potentially go winless in the division — after general manager Ryan Poles opened his tenure by vowing to “take the North and never give it back.”

By beating the Packers on Sunday, the Bears would assure them of their first losing season since 2018 and just their fifth during the run of having Brett Favre and Rodgers.

Little accomplishments mean a lot in a season like this.

Draft positioning is always a concern at this point in a lost season, but the Bears won’t mess that up if they win one or two more games. If they’re not looking for a quarterback, it won’t hurt them to slide back a spot or two. They’re probably picking in the top five either way.

Eberflus said the team is ascending despite drastically descending in the standings, and that’s true as long as Fields keeps advancing. It’s surely a weird time for Bears fans: All this team does is lose, yet there’s a prevailing sense that it’s on the right track for the first time in years.

Wins and losses generally aren’t that significant in a rebuilding season, but this week the outcome matters. The Bears need to produce some concrete evidence of their theoretical progress. And if Fields plays, they certainly have a shot.

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First baseman Jose Abreu’s time on the South Side is officially over.

The White Sox slugger, who had played his entire nine-year career in Chicago since signing out of Cuba before the 2014 season, is reportedly in agreement on a three-year, $60 million deal with the World Series champion Houston Astros.

It had become increasingly apparent since the end of the season that the Sox were prepared to part ways with Abreu, 35, and move on with Andrew Vaughn moving from the outfield to his customary position. Vaughn was drafted as a first baseman with the first pick in the 2019 draft as a first baseman. The Sox also have numerous designated hitter options, including Eloy Jimenez and Yasmani Grandal.

In losing Abreu, the Sox say goodbye to one of their most productive hitters of all time. He batted .292/.354/.506 with 243 homers and 863 RBI in a Sox uniform. Only Frank Thomas and Paul Konerko have hit more homers in a Sox uniform.

Abreu had six seasons with 25 or more home runs and six with more than 100 RBI but recorded 15 homers and 75 RBI this season while batting .304/.378/.446. He signed a six-year, $68 million contract to leave Cuba for the Sox and just completed the third year of a $50 million contract.

For the Astros, Abreu’s signing brings an end to Yuli Gurriel’s tenure as their full-time first baseman.

Besides his value as a hitter, Abreu was a fan favorite and respected teammate. At the general managers meetings in Las Vegas last month, GM Rick Hahn spoke of Abreu’s accomplishments and value in the clubhouse as a tireless worker who led by example. Abreu was often the first player to show up for work, arriving around noon for night games, and he often played hurt.

“If he’s not with us next year he’ll be missed,” Hahn said. “It’s good that we’re insulated from a production standpoint against that departure. But certainly would never disrespect the importance he’s meant to this organization.”

The Astros open the 2023 season in Houston on March 30 against the Sox.

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Bears WR Darnell Mooney out for the rest of the season, per Head Coach Matt Eberflus.

Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus has confirmed that wide receiver Darnell Mooney is headed for IR and will have season-ending surgery on his injured left ankle.

“He’s likely to have surgery and he’ll be done for the season,” Eberflus said. “It’s unfortunate.”

Mooney suffered the injury on a run play during the Bears’ 31-10 loss to the Jets on Sunday.

The development comes as a big blow to an offense with few established playmakers, and it’s especially unfortunate timing for Mooney with the possibility of a contract extension ahead of him in the offseason. Next season marks the end of his rookie deal.

Mooney, 25, has been a gem for the Bears since drafting him in the fifth round out of Tulane in 2020. He quickly assumed a key role in the offense as a rookie and followed with a breakout season of 81 catches, 1,055 yards and four touchdowns last season.

He was the 25th wide receiver picked in that draft, but ranks fifth in his class in receptions (182), sixth in yards receiving (2,179) and seventh in touchdown catches (10).

Mooney leads the Bears with 40 catches for 493 yards and two touchdowns. Among wide receivers, Equanimeous St. Brown is next in catches at 14.

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The Bears have long loved Darnell Mooney.

Former head coach Matt Nagy called him a “steal” after the Bears drafted the Tulane receiver in the fifth round in 2020. When new general manager Ryan Poles sat down at the NFL Scouting Combine in March to break down the roster he inherited, he singled out one person.

“The bright spot,” he said, “was Mooney.”

It was Mooney who traveled to Georgia with quarterback Justin Fields to work out during the offseason — and who has become one of his best friends, biggest cheerleaders and most vocal hype men. It was Mooney who didn’t complain publicly when the offense sputtered to start the season — or when, after it surged, the Bears traded for fellow receiver Chase Claypool.

So when the Bears lost Mooney for the season Sunday with a left ankle injury, it was a particularly cruel blow on a day full of them.

“You feel it,” tight end Cole Kmet said Monday. “When you have guys like that who do things the right way consistently and don’t complain about everything — he does what he’s told to do and does it at 100% all of the time. Those are the type of leaders that you want in the locker room, and the type of guy that other guys in the locker room gravitate towards.”

Mooney will go on injured reserve and miss the rest of the season, head coach Matt Eberflus said. He likely needs ligament surgery, but will discuss the details during an upcoming doctor’s appointment.

He hurt his ankle while blocking on a third-quarter run play during Sunday’s 31-10 loss to the Jets. Safety Jordan Whitehead rolled up on his ankle while trying to tackle David Montgomery.

“What I told him [Sunday] was just, ‘Hey, just hang in there — things happen,'” Eberflus said. “‘Still be around. We want you to be around and be in that leadership role and helping the younger players out.’

“He’s a great Bear, for sure.”

Time will tell if the Bears pay him like one. The 25-year-old Mooney is eligible for a contract extension for the first time this offseason. His current deal expires after next year.

He was the 25th wide receiver picked in 2020 but ranks fifth in the class with 182 receptions, sixth with 2,179 receiving yards and seventh with 10 touchdown catches.

One year after catching 81 balls for 1,055 yards, Mooney’s numbers were down this season. He caught 40 balls for 493 yards, both team highs, and two touchdowns in a 2022 Bears offense that has never been prolific through the air. Mooney was tied for 47th in the league in receiving yards entering Monday night’s game.

The Bears appreciate his run-blocking and his effort. GPS trackers show that Mooney doubles up some teammates in how far he runs during practice.

How much Ryan Poles and the front office values all of the above will be compelling; the Bears have the most salary cap space in the league this offseason and Mooney is open to a deal. He’s one of a half-dozen or so Bears who have a chance to be top contributors on their next good team, whenever that may be.

“I think he’s been doing a great job,” Eberflus said. “Obviously, it was a slow start for everybody. Once we got going into the offense, I think he really started to shine. Outstanding at blocking the perimeter. He had a really nice connection with Justin throughout that stretch.

“He is our leading receiver. But more importantly he is a great teammate. He’s a great leader.”

And now he’s out.

“He just brings light in the room … ” Kmet said. “Whenever you lose a guy like that in the huddle, it’s definitely tough for the team.”

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In April, Blackhawks forward Reese Johnson signed a two-year contract extension. It was a one-way deal, meaning his $750,000 and $850,000 annual salaries will be guaranteed even if he’s sent to the AHL.

And with the newfound financial security, he did something atypical for NHL players but quite fitting with his own down-to-earth personality.

He bought 37 acres of land along the Red Deer River in Alberta, Canada, fulfilling a lifelong dream to live in the country.

“I never grew up on a farm, but I always loved being outside and I have lots of buddies that farmed and lived on acreages,” he said Sunday, a smile spreading across his face while just talking about it. “I always thought it’d be super cool to have your own chunk of land to invite friends and family out and host big dinners and smoke some good meat.”

Johnson does far more than cook and party on his new land, though. Taking care of it requires plenty of hard work, which — during hot summers on the Albertan plains — provides most of the conditioning necessary to prepare for hockey season.

Fifteen of the acres are pastureland. He rented that out to a friend’s cattle herd but performed much of the manual labor himself. And while the cow-calf pairs that fill the pasture easily keep the grass down there, mowing the rest of the yard still takes him more than three hours.

“I would check the cows, feed the cats and keep everything in line [each day],” he said. “Fallen trees along the path, I’d cut them up with the chainsaw and use them as firewood. Myself and my girlfriend planted a garden with a lot of veggies, too.

“We had pretty much everything: carrots, potatoes, kale, radishes, raspberry bushes. We’re definitely going to limit it next year, because things were just blooming and growing as we came [to training camp] in September, so we basically gave our whole garden away to friends and family. But it was fun to keep you busy.”

Johnson grew up one province over in Regina, Saskatchewan, but played four seasons of junior hockey in Red Deer — a town of 100,000 located halfway between Calgary and Edmonton — and met his now-girlfriend there.

His land purchase has begun something of a westward migration for his own family, too. They came to visit during the summer, and some of them are staying the winter in the farmhouse to keep the plumbing from freezing. Johnson also inherited from the land’s previous owners a farm dog, Rufus, who keeps a constant watch out for coyotes or other problems.

During the season, however, the updates Johnson receives from up north feel like almost a planet away.

“You miss the land,” he said. “I always say we’re very fortunate to live the best of both worlds. We get to go home in the summer and have a nice peaceful acreage, and then we get to come and live in a Chicago highrise downtown. [They’re] completely different lifestyles, but we’re definitely fortunate.”

On the Hawks, Johnson has carved out a steady fourth-line role with his physicality and contagious work effort, appearing in 14 of the team’s last 15 games despite recording only one point (a goal on Oct. 27).

He seems safely in the NHL to stay, regardless of his contract type — especially considering the Hawks’ forward corps could thin out even more via trades over the next few months.

“He’s an ‘energy guy’ who brings a lot of feistiness to our lineup,” coach Luke Richardson said. “He’s vocal on the bench [and] in the dressing room. You need those guys. He’s going to do whatever it takes to help the team, and the guys appreciate that. He makes the most of what he’s got.”

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The Bears’ rebuilding season is on tilt. But it’s going to take a little more than five consecutive losses, eight losses in their last nine games, an injury to Justin Fields, the departure of two respected captains, a defense that has allowed an average of 29 points over the last five games, concussions to rookie starters Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker and serious injuries to team leaders Darnell Mooney and Eddie Jackson to break them.

“This team is closer than you think,” said defensive tackle Justin Jones, a team captain. “So morale is never the problem. That’s the one thing I don’t worry about. I know guys will play hard. We’ve just got to make sure we’re prepared when your number is called. That’s the only thing.”

Throughout a difficult rebuilding season, the Bears indeed have held up well. It’s not that they’ve accepted losing, but they’ve accepted the notion that losing is part of the rebuilding process. But after Sunday’s 31-10 loss to the Jets at MetLife Stadium, they run the risk of inching closer to a breaking point. They need to hold this thing together.

“I can’t look at it like that,” linebacker Nick Morrow said. “No matter who is on the field, we’ve got to play the best we can play. That’s just got to be the mentality, no matter who it is.”

The defense will be hard-pressed to do that. They started Sunday’s game against the Jets without Brisker and Gordon (concussions) and lost Jackson in the first half to a foot injury. After Jackson and Dane Cruikshank (hamstring) left with injuries, the Bears had just two safeties available, both of them back-ups — DeAndre Houston-Carson and seventh-round rookie Elijah Hicks.

Football players are wired to ignore the impact of a departed player, whether it’s Roquan Smith and Robert Quinn being traded or Jackson getting injured. “It’s gotta be next man up,” Jones said.

But the Bears’ current plight is stretching that to the limit.

“Eddie’s a great player. It’s hard to replace a guy like that,” Morrow said. “He’s instinctual. He can make every play. He can make every tackle. When the ball’s in the air, it’s his.

“It makes it hard. You’ve got to put a young guy in there, a guy who hasn’t played as many snaps. You’ve got to adjust. It’s tough, but they [opposing teams] don’t care. So we’ve got to adjust and make plays. I think Elijah did a pretty good job of making a couple of plays that helped save bigger gains than what they were, and that’s what a free safety has to do.”

If Fields returns against the Packers, or even after the bye week, the Bears will have a chance to right their listing ship. The loss of Mooney — who is likely out for the season with torn ligaments in his ankle — is painful, but Chase Claypool could fill that production void after playing 39-of-57 (68%) snaps against the Jets, with two receptions for 51 yards.

But as the injuries and losses accumulate, it’s going to be more difficult for the Bears to finish strong and head into a key 2023 season on an upswing. This thing can’t go off the rails. There’s still six weeks left in the season.

Center Sam Mustipher is ready for that challenge.

“That’s what you’re called to do as a center. You’ve got to be the glue guy — keep everybody going in the right direction,” said Mustipher, who has started 34 of the Bears’ last 35 games. “But we’ve got a lot of great guys on this team and great coaches that preach morale and preach the right things. So I don’t really have to do much. These guys are going to keep this ship going in the right direction.”

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Bears wide receiver Darnell Mooney will go on injured reserve and miss the rest of the season after Jets safety Jordan Whitehead fell into his left ankle Sunday.

“He’s likely to have surgery and he’ll be done for the season,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “It’s unfortunate.”

That’s a big blow to an offense with few established playmakers, and it’s especially unfortunate timing for Mooney with the possibility of a contract extension ahead of him in the offseason. Next season marks the end of his rookie deal.

Mooney leads the Bears with 40 catches for 493 yards and two touchdowns. Among wide receivers, Equanimeous St. Brown is next in catches at 14.

“He’s been doing a great job,” Eberflus said. “It was a slow start for everybody, [but] once we got going into the offense, he really started to shine. Outstanding at blocking the perimeter. He had a really nice connection with Justin [Fields] throughout that stretch.

“But more importantly he is a great teammate. He’s a great leader. No one puts more yards in than Darnell Mooney [based on GPS tracking], I’ll promise you that. He laps people. He doubles them up. His speed in his numbers are outstanding. He works extremely hard.

“What I told him yesterday was, ‘Hey, just hang in there. Things happen. Still be around. We want you to be around and be in that leadership role and helping the younger players out.’ He’s a great Bear for sure.”

Mooney, 25, has been a gem for the Bears since drafting him in the fifth round out of Tulane in 2020. He quickly assumed a key role in the offense as a rookie and followed with a breakout season of 81 catches, 1,055 yards and four touchdowns last season.

He was the 25th wide receiver picked in that draft, but ranks fifth in his class in receptions (182), sixth in yards receiving (2,179) and seventh in touchdown catches (10).

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Bears wide receiver Darnell Mooney will go on injured reserve and miss the rest of the season after Jets safety Jordan Whitehead fell into his left ankle Sunday.

“He’s likely to have surgery and he’ll be done for the season,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “It’s unfortunate.”

That’s a big blow to an offense with few established playmakers, and it’s especially unfortunate timing for Mooney with the possibility of a contract extension ahead of him in the offseason. Next season marks the end of his rookie deal.

Mooney leads the Bears with 40 catches for 493 yards and two touchdowns. Among wide receivers, Equanimeous St. Brown is next in catches at 14.

“He’s been doing a great job,” Eberflus said. “It was a slow start for everybody, [but] once we got going into the offense, he really started to shine. Outstanding at blocking the perimeter. He had a really nice connection with Justin [Fields] throughout that stretch.

“But more importantly he is a great teammate. He’s a great leader. No one puts more yards in than Darnell Mooney [based on GPS tracking], I’ll promise you that. He laps people. He doubles them up. His speed in his numbers are outstanding. He works extremely hard.

“What I told him yesterday was, ‘Hey, just hang in there. Things happen. Still be around. We want you to be around and be in that leadership role and helping the younger players out.’ He’s a great Bear for sure.”

Mooney, 25, has been a gem for the Bears since drafting him in the fifth round out of Tulane in 2020. He quickly assumed a key role in the offense as a rookie and followed with a breakout season of 81 catches, 1,055 yards and four touchdowns last season.

He was the 25th wide receiver picked in that draft, but ranks fifth in his class in receptions (182), sixth in yards receiving (2,179) and seventh in touchdown catches (10).

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