When Roquan Smith intercepted Davis Mills with 70 seconds to play Sunday, Bears kicker Cairo Santos had a decision to make. Santos typically kicks his extra points from the right hash mark. A cross breeze during Sunday’s game, though, made him reconsider.

Santos told his coaches to put the ball at the left hash. That’s just what Justin Fields did when he took a knee at the 12-yard line, setting up a 30-yard try with three seconds to play that Santos made to clinch a 23-20 win against the Texans.

“It’s easy to kick from the left and just hit a straight ball,” Santos said. “So I just asked for a left hash kick and they got it. It takes all of us.”

That communication is a good sign from the Bears’ coaching staff. One of former head coach Matt Nagy’s most maddening losses came when, in a 2019 home game against the Chargers, Eddy Pineiro tried a 41-yard game-winning field goal from the left hash mark — and missed. He said later that his preference was to kick from the right hash.

Santos’ game-winner Sunday was his first since Thanksgiving Day last year, when he made a 28-yarder as time expired to beat the winless Lions.

“I kinda just had a feeling that this was one of those games that would come down to a big play in the end … ” he said. “From 30, I just had a feeling that, if Ii hit the ball well, the wind and all that wasn’t a factor.”

Lay flat

The Texans started a drive at their own 9 with 6:39 left in the game when running back Dameon Pierce took a handoff, was hit by cornerback Kindle Vildor and Al-Quadin Muhammad and fumbled. Bears linebacker Joe Thomas, who was called up from the practice squad Saturday, pounced on the ball. It squirted between his legs and into the arms of Texans right tackle Tytus Howard.

“I should have laid flat,” Thomas said. “I was on my knees a little bit. … Roquan made up for it. I can sleep better.”

Another pick

After going 30 games without an interception, Bears safety Eddie Jackson now has two in three games this season. Standing in the end zone, Jackson intercepted a Mills pass intended for Brandin Cooks on the last play of the first quarter. The pass was tipped into the air by cornerback Kindle Vildor and landed in his arms.

“That’s what happens when you hustle and play with intensity,” he said.

Jackson also forced a fumble.

This and that

Tight end Cole Kmet, who had no catches on two targets through the first two weeks, caught two of three passes for 40 yards.

“I knew it was gonna come at some point,” he said.

Receiver Byron Pringle, who left in the first quarter with a calf injury and did not return, had a walking boot on his right calf after the game.The Bears continued their rotation of right guards Lucas Patrick and Teven Jenkins, though Patrick started for the first time.Read More

I’ll give you three choices, Bears fans, none of them good:

– The powers that be have no confidence in quarterback Justin Fields.

– The powers that be should have no confidence in Fields.

– The powers that be actually think the point of this season is to win games, not to find out if they have a franchise quarterback.

As I said, not exactly options that put a spring in your step.

The Bears beat Houston 23-20 Sunday, and if you think that’s worth celebrating, you’re either a McCaskey or you haven’t had sunshine in your life for a long time. The Texans are a bad team featuring a quarterback (Davis Mills) with a name like an outlet mall. OK?

So where does that leave the Bears three games into the season?

At best, they still have no idea what they have in Fields.

At worst, they already know what they have — a guy who can’t hit open receivers. No, that’s not the worst. The worst is the possibility that the Bears don’t see a need for urgency in finding out about Fields.

“It’s always going to be about the football team,” coach Matt Eberflus said about Fields’ struggles Sunday weighed against the joy of a Bears victory. “So we’re going to develop this whole football team, and he’s one piece of that for sure.”

Treating a pawn and a bishop the same as a queen isn’t shortsightedness. It’s blindness.

Thirteen starts into his career, Fields is going backward as a quarterback. He threw two interceptions Sunday. He looked like he was down two quarts of confidence. That might have been caused by the Bears’ decision to run the ball so much, to run the ball on obvious passing downs and to not use timeouts to set up pass plays before halftime.

You’d be a mess, too, if your coaches did that to you.

After throwing just 11 passes in a loss to the Packers the week before, Fields finished 8 of 17 for 106 yards and no touchdowns Sunday. Add that up, and you have a 27.7 passer rating.

“Straight up, I just played like … trash,” he said.

He did, but the only way to find out if he’s a franchise quarterback is to let him throw the ball more often. To wade through the trash and (hopefully) get to the other side.

But the Bears rushed for 281 yards! They’re 2-1! Yay, right?

Nay.

They seem oblivious to the fact that they’re running in place developmentally as a franchise. In the NFL, it’s always about the quarterback.

Here’s all you need to know about where the Bears are with Fields: On third down and 1 with 46 seconds left in the first half, Eberflus declined to use a timeout to stop the clock and have offensive coordinator Luke Getsy call a pass play for Fields. Instead, they ran the ball once and watched Fields get sacked before time run out, leading fans at Soldier Field to let the head coach know what they thought of his decision. They were not pleased.

On an earlier third-and-6, Getsy called a run play for rookie Trestan Ebner that gained two yards. There were boos for that, as well.

There is only one purpose to this season for the Bears, and that’s to find out if Fields can play. The coaches and players might not like the lumps they have to take in the process. They might not like the final answer. But the franchise has to find out.

Let’s be clear about one thing: Fields’ struggles Sunday were not a product of the lack of talent around him. They were a product of his mistakes and his coaches’ decision to give him the cold shoulder.

It’s very difficult to understand how the passing game could be ignored two weeks in a row. After the loss to the Packers, Bears general manager Ryan Poles should have ordered Eberflus to fall out of love with the running game. On Sunday, he should have stormed into the Bears’ locker room at halftime, put Eberflus in a headlock and told him:

“This whole season is about seeing progress from Justin Fields as a passer — or at least to find out if he can actually throw a football. I don’t care about seeing Fields run with the ball. I don’t care about David Montgomery or Khalil Herbert. Good running backs. Probably fine people. Don’t care.

“The score of the game? That has as much meaning to me as the lint in my pocket. Got it?”

It’s hard to tell football coaches that. But these coaches, specifically Eberflus and Getsy, need to hear it.

Unless they’ve already decided that Fields can’t play.

In which case, uh-oh.

Read More

PITTSBURGH – Before the Cubs’ 8-3 win against the Pirates on Sunday, pitching coach Tommy Hottovy called building and improving on starting pitching depth, “crucial.”

“I know we’ve done some really good things this second half of the year,” he said. “But we struggled early in the year when we didn’t have the consistency and the depth quite as we wanted it. When you have good, consistent starting pitching in this league, you can do a lot of things.”

Case in point: right-hander Adrian Sampson held the Pirates to one run through six innings on Sunday, his fourth straight quality start. His strong stretch has been one of those second-half positives. But the Cubs have also continued to play shorthanded in the starting pitching department.

With the offseason fast approaching, the Cubs are identifying the holes they’ll need to fill. To vault into contention and close the rebuilding chapter of this cycle, the Cubs will not only need to add depth but do it by adding to the top of their rotation.

Look at how this season has played out. The injuries to the rotation began even before the lockout ended. Adbert Alzolay, initially expected to compete for a rotation spot, was sidelined for most of the season with a lat strain he sustained a few weeks before spring training opened.

Wade Miley was delayed in starting his season for inflammation in his left elbow. He’s only made eight starts due to a string of injuries.

Marcus Stroman has had two IL stints, for COVID-19 and then right shoulder inflammation. Drew Smyly missed six weeks for a right oblique strain and skipped his last start due to shoulder fatigue. Kyle Hendricks sustained a season-ending shoulder strain and has been on the IL since early July.

In the first half of the season, young pitchers Justin Steele and Keegan Thompson took on more responsibility than originally expected, and they thrived in those roles.

“If these guys continue to understand who they are, just keep learning about themselves and learn about pitching,” Miley said in a conversation with the Sun-Times a couple months ago, “they don’t have a lot of work to do in the starting pitching department moving forward to win. … If you can get a big-time horse, throw them in there behind them all day long.”

In other words, if the Cubs acquire an ace, that boosts the quality of the rotation throughout. Steele and Thompson would be high-quality middle-rotation options.

Late in the year, as Thompson and Steele have both missed time for low back injuries, in their first full major-league seasons, the spotlight has turned to rookies like Hayden Wesneski and Javier Assad.

“To expect them to all throw 180 innings next year is probably a little bit lofty of a goal,” Hottovy said of the Cubs’ young starting pitchers, also mentioning Thompson, Alzolay and prospect Caleb Kilian. “So, it shows you how important it is to have guys that can come in and eat up innings and be good starting pitchers to build those guys around, instead of making them the focal point of one of those main spots.”

As for the veterans, Smyly has a mutual option for next season. Stroman and Hendricks will still be under contract, with 2024 options- Stroman’s is a player option and Hendricks’ is up to the club.

Hendricks’ health moving forward is still a question mark. He’s building up in his strength program in Arizona and has not yet started throwing.

“I’m confident in [Hendricks] getting some rest,” Hottovy said. “I’m confident in him having a good normal offseason and build up. So, as of right now, we absolutely are believing in Kyle Hendricks to be a huge part of what we want to do next year.”

Read More

Justin Fields had a bad day in the Bears’ win over the Texans

There’s no way around it for Justin Fields. He played terribly in the 23-20 win by the Chicago Bears over the Houston Texans. Fields, who could only attempt 11 passes in Week 2, needed to show his coaching staff and fans that he could be trusted to throw more in games this season.

Fields responded by having one of the worst performances in his two seasons in the NFL. He finished completing eight of 17 passes for 107 yards. His interceptions looked horrendous.

Bears fans, long known for their longsuffering admiration of authority figures such as coaches, general managers, and ownership, continued their tradition of turning on the team’s quarterback after a bad game. (Why or how does this cycle of poor quarterback play happen exactly?) They took to Twitter to let their feelings be known that they think Fields is a bust.

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

Read More

Police misconduct investigators have recommended that Chicago Police Department Supt. David Brown move to fire an officer who “endangered numerous lives” when authorities say he caused a 2019 crash on the West Side that left a woman dead and 10 officers hurt.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability submitted its finding against Officer Patrick Brown to the police department in June of 2021, but the agency’s report wasn’t released publicly until Friday.

Officer Brown, driving an unmarked police van with five police officers inside, was responding to a call for officer assistance in May of 2019 when he ignored a red light and sped through the intersection of Division Street and Laramie Avenue, according to the COPA report.

Brown’s van collided with a police SUV with four officers inside, then crashed into a civilian sedan. A passenger in that car, 89-year-old Verona Gunn, died from her injuries at a hospital.

Two other vehicles were damaged in the crash, and 10 police officers in all were taken to hospitals, as was another man with less severe injuries.

COPA found that Brown failed to follow basic safety practices and violated the department’s policies, and called for Brown to be fired from the department.

“Officer Brown’s decision to continue driving the police van in such a manner that endangered numerous lives, caused multiple injuries and a fatality is unjustified and he should not remain a member of the Chicago Police Department,” investigators wrote.

More than three years after the crash, Patrick Brown is still “an active member” of the department, according to CPD’s News Affairs office. He made more than $95,000 last year, city payroll records show.

CPD officials didn’t respond to requests for comment on whether Supt. Brown has or will seek to discipline the officer.

Read More

From the night that Milwaukee sent the Bulls packing in the first round of the playoffs, “continuity” was the buzzword spewing from the organization.

And why not?

It’s very comforting for a fan base to accept.

It’s a hot dish on a cold night, it’s a pair of slippers after a long day at the office.

There’s something familiar about it that’s easy to embrace.

So hand Zach LaVine a $215 million max contract extension? Sure, the fans love LaVine. Bring back a DeMar DeRozan off a career year and now 33 years old? Absolutely, who cares if he can be on next month’s cover for AARP Magazine. Drink the Kool-aid on Nikola Vucevic just having a down shooting season in 2021-22? There’s no way he shoots 31.4% from three-point range again … is there?

But Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas didn’t just approach this mentality of “continuity” on a leap of faith based on his “Big Three,” either.

There’s a sample size that couldn’t be denied.

Back in November and December — when there wasn’t a line of bodies waiting to get into the training room — the Bulls were good.

On some nights, great.

A team doesn’t lead the Eastern Conference for weeks solely on luck.

The backcourt of Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, a healthy LaVine, and even rookie Ayo Dosunmu was as disruptive defensively as any collection of guards in the Association, while DeRozan was establishing himself as not only a mid-range maestro on the offensive end, but Mr. Clutch. Come late-game, DeRozan was an assassin in the fourth quarter.

It was a lethal combination, and one that appeared to have staying power.

That is until it didn’t.

So while “continuity” was a good plan on the surface, let’s grab some sand paper and varnish stripper, and see how durable this surface really might be.

While there’s no denying that the Bulls played like a first-place team when things were going well last season, there’s one issue that cannot be overlooked. Who were they beating? The reality of the situation was the Bulls climbed the mountain beating bum teams.

It was a much different story against the NBA’s elite.

Including the playoffs, the Bulls were a combined 3-25 against opponents with a winning percentage of .600 or higher. They were 1-14 against the top four teams in the Eastern Conference in the regular season.

The hill that Karnisovas & Co. chose to die on this summer was when they did face the rough part of the schedule, they did so with a banged up roster.

There is some truth to that, but a look at this roster leads to asking the next question: When aren’t some of these players banged up?

Ball, who is scheduled for a second left knee surgery on Wednesday, has played in an average of 50.4 games per season since being drafted in 2017, Caruso’s playing style should warrant a crash helmet, and LaVine seems to have a black cat living with him every season, especially when it comes to the league’s health and safety protocols.

So with media day kicking off the 2022 training camp on Monday, buzzwords like “continuity” are cute, but not always realistic.

“Leading into [this] training camp, there’s going to definitely be improvements being together for a longer time,” Karnisovas said earlier in the summer, when asked about keeping the gang together. “Again, you’re playing against Milwaukee, against Philly, against Boston, against Miami, they’ve been together for a long time. Continuity is valuable.”

Hopefully for the Bulls, it’s also not misleading.

Read More

The Bears celebrated a 23-20 escape against the Texans, but quarterback Justin Fields knew he’d been bailed out. It was a disaster game for him, salvaged only by linebacker Roquan Smith’s late interception to set up the game-winning field goal.

Fields’ dismal season continued, though. He completed just 8 of 17 passes for 106 yards and threw two interceptions. His 27.7 passer rating was the worst of his career.

He began his news conference with, “I didn’t play as well as I wanted to,” but quickly shifted toward a sharper critique of himself.

“I’ve just gotta get better, plain and simple,” Fields said. “Straight up, I just played like — I want to say the A-word, but I’m not gonna do that. I just played like trash. I played terrible. Really just gotta be better.”

When asked what specifically needs to improve, he answered, “A lot of things. A lot of things. A lot of things. So, yeah.”

Fields was already frustrated leading up to the game after throwing just 11 passes in the Week 2 loss to the Packers. He said he was getting up an hour or so earlier to spend more time studying as he tried to straighten out his play.

That frustration has a new level of urgency now.

“I’m about to go to the film tonight,” he said. “I played terrible. I’m see what I could’ve done better and get better for my teammates.”

Read More