We take a look at 3 Chicago Bears veterans who are on the bubble come training camp

When the Chicago Bears report for camp later this month, many battles will ensue to capture roster spots. The new coaching staff will get the opportunity to observe these players with the pads on. That makes for some fierce competitions across the board. The following players find themselves in an uphill battle to secure a spot on the final roster.

Nathan Peterman

Unless the Chicago Bears decide to keep three quarterbacks, this is probably the easiest cut to see coming. Nathan Peterman is firmly entrenched as the third option behind starter Justin Fields and backup Trevor Siemian. Barring the best camp of his life, Peterman finds himself on the short end of the stick.

It is probable that the Bears sign him to the practice squad once he clears waivers, but will most likely only see the active roster in the event of an injury to Fields or Siemian. There is also the possibility of a quarterback being let go by another team at final cuts that interests the Bears more, so being on the practice squad is no guarantee.

Kindle Vildor

Due to thin cornerback depth last year, second-year man Kindle Vildor found himself the starter opposite Jaylon Johnson for most of the season. His performance was underwhelming to say the least as he found himself ranked among the bottom five corners of the league with a 45.6 coverage grade according to PFF. He also produced zero interceptions.

With the arrival of rookie Kyler Gordon as well as veterans Tavon Young and Thomas Graham, Jr., competition will be fierce and Vildor could find himself as the odd man out.

David Moore

Darnell Mooney is a known quantity at wide receiver for the Chicago Bears. The rest of the crew, not so much. Dazz Newsome barely saw the field as a rookie last season. Velus Jones, Jr. is a talented but unproven rookie. Free agent signees Byron Pringle, Dante Pettis, and Equanimeous St. Brown were role players at their previous stops. Add in the recent arrival of N’Keal Harry from the Patriots and that is one crowded receiver room.

Then there is David Moore. He had a couple decent seasons with Seattle, but did nothing in limited opportunities with the Broncos last year. He faces long odds to secure a spot even if the Chicago Bears keep six or seven receivers. His offseason arrest doesn’t help his chances either.

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The National

The venerable indie rockers had their 2006 performance at Pitchfork Music Festival on the brain as they closed out Night One of this year’s edition. Dedicating a performance of their early days track “Mr. November” to the throwback occasion, it was a moment mired in nostalgia for many in the crowd as 2006 was also the very first year this homegrown Chicago event was fully sanctioned and operated by the music media group.

“It’s good to be back,” singer Matt Berninger exclaimed, adding how much the band had missed playing the park, commenting on the “cool vibe” that has become the festival’s aesthetic year after year.

Though they relied on the orchestral greatness of some of their most beloved tracks like “Bloodbuzz Ohio,” “Don’t Swallow The Cap” “Fake Empire” and “Slow Show,” The National didn’t stay stuck in the past too long as they also brought forth their latest material with a rollout of their new song “Ice Machines,” a downtempo slow burn that comfortably fits in their wheelhouse.

The group’s calm output was perhaps a little too somber at times for this headlining set — and a purposely glitchy light show and video feed didn’t help revive things. But focusing on the moments of beauty like the perfect placement of a live horn section and the band’s endearing musical chemistry (most members are brothers after all) made this set another one for the memory bank.

Tierra Whack

The unrelenting onslaught of showers Friday evening essentially rained on the parade that Tierra Whack was eager to bring to her anticipated set, which offered a smattering of her trifecta of EPs released in December, “Rap?,” “Pop?,” and “R&B?,” and of course her gatecrashing debut “Whack World,” that Pitchfork itself bestowed with a “best new music” honor in 2018.

“I really wanna move around but I don’t want to lose my life,” the Philly rapper joked as she tip-toed around the growing puddles on the Red Stage, her usual high energy halted by the soggy mess. Even her hype DJ had her cables crossed by the weather, cutting short a spin of Outkast that eventually led to a crowd singalong before being fixed.

Fans appeared downtrodden at first too, taking a while to get warmed up, leading Whack to ask if anyone in the crowd had a birthday in her best effort to try to connect. Though it didn’t take long to get people moving as the natural born performer ripped into gold like “Pet Cemetery,” the epitome of the short-and-sweet quick hits she’s known for — as well as her style icon status that was on full display, her colorful persona the rainbow the fest truly needed.

Dawn Richard

As a former personality on the reality series “Making The Band” and a member of R&B group Danity Kane, Dawn Richard is no stranger to the spectacle that often comes with the territory of a great pop show — and she delivered the goods without hesitation in her primetime spot at Pitchfork.

Dressed in a sparkling, crisp white ensemble that looked like a designer take on a spacesuit, and accessorized with an inexplicably long mane of hair that quickly became its own prop, Richard looked like a Vegas showgirl from the future. And her performance felt otherworldly too, the singer a strong purveyor of future-soul who, with the assistance of matching dancers in lit-up face masks and a voluminous live band, ripped through originals and some surprisingly reimagined covers like The Cranberries’ “Zombie” and “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt.

In all, the feel of Richard’s set took on the aura of her latest album, “Second Line” (named one of the best of 2021 by multiple critics), created in homage to the traditional processionals in her hometown of New Orleans. A banner moment was a performance of new track “Voodoo (Outermission)” that showed off Richard’s impeccable vocal range, imbuing so much emotion with every note that you believed the singer when she said, “Music saved me, it’s why I’m still here.”

Spiritualized

There are so many members now touring with Spiritualized that you’d have to almost believe it’s become something of a musical cult, if not even evident in the way their brand of psychedelic space rock can so easily transfix listeners with no control of giving their being to the sound.

The large ensemble — led by total showman Jason Pierce, with support from the mesmerizing guitarist/harmonica player Doggen Foster, a trio of backup vocalists and a sweeping band of nuanced professionals — is a master class in instrumental precision who somehow created a wall of sound in the middle of a muddy park field. The whole affair was a total team effort, aided by long outros and experimental interplay that gave an air of being a fly on the wall in one very special jam session.

While hypnotic orbs floated behind them, further aiding in the en masse trance, the English troupe didn’t miss a beat moving swiftly from the long-weaving track “Hey Jane” into the sweet splendor of oldie and goodie ‘Shine A Light,” which still may be one of the prettiest songs ever written.

Thirty years after their debut, Spiritualized continues to appeal to its rabid fanbase and find new converts and their performance at Pitchfork is a testimony to that continued longevity.

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Fortunately for manager Tony La Russa, the White Sox hung in there in Cleveland and got off to a good start in Minneapolis on a critical road trip heading into the All-Star break. Had things broken bad throughout the week, the heat on La Russa — from fans, at least — would’ve been on high.

Instead, it’s … high-ish?

In this week’s “Polling Place” — your home for Sun-Times sports polls on Twitter — we asked voters if they’d make a managerial change on either side of town. And even though the Cubs are on pace for 100 losses, David Ross came out smelling like a rose. La Russa, not so much.

“It’s painfully obvious that Tony has seen better days,” @ShawnaP79 commented.

“Rossy is at least getting an honest effort out of his team on a nightly basis,” @JeffreyCanalia wrote. “The Sox look like they’re sleepwalking through the season.”

We also asked about Sox left fielder Eloy Jimenez: As often as he gets hurt, should he be in the designated hitter role all the time? We asked about the job new Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson is doing, too. On to the polls:

Poll No. 1: If you were in charge of Chicago’s baseball teams, would you make a managerial change on either side of town?

Upshot: It’s hard to make a fair assessment of Ross’ performance because no manager could win with this Cubs roster. Someday he’ll leave — or lose — this job, and chances are we still won’t quite know what to make of him as a skipper. But with La Russa, things are cut-and-dried: He has the horses, he draws frequent criticism and here we are.

Poll No. 2: Has the time come to pull oft-injured White Sox slugger Eloy Jimenez out of left field and make him a full-time designated hitter?

Upshot: The other night, he ran at about three-quarters speed to catch a ball — a routine play, really — and ended up limping off the field (again), missing some games (again) and sending Sox fans over the edge (again). Many, including @den_manders_01, would like to see an outfield of A.J. Pollock, Luis Robert and Adam Engel. No doubt, it would be a much better one defensively.

Poll No. 3: New general manager Kyle Davidson has made a flurry of moves as the Blackhawks rebuild. On the whole so far, do you approve or disapprove?

Upshot: This vote is inconclusive. Then again, Davidson pretty much just got here. “Those who disapprove are too clueless to realize we needed a full rebuild,” wrote @TheAflacDach. Maybe so. But as @epicco77 sees it, “Davidson and his braintrust had two young talents in Dach and the Cat [and] received in exchange ‘maybes’ and ‘ifs.’ “

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With all due respect to the WNBA All-Star Game, which was played Sunday in Chicago, the NBA and NHL All-Star games and the NFL’s Pro Bowl, the only All-Star Game that offers great offense and great defense is Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game. Even ESPN’s Bob Ryan, my writing partner on ”In Scoring Position: 40 Years of a Baseball Love Affair” and a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, agrees. (But he does claim to remember great

defensive battles in the NBA’s midseason exhibition.) The first All-Star Game was held at Comiskey Park on July 6, 1933. It was the brainchild of Arch Ward, the sports editor of the Chicago Tribune. It was designed to lift the spirits of the country mired in the Great Depression. I like to hope the game continues to lift the spirits of those who watch and enjoy baseball.

This week’s quiz focuses on the All-Star Game. As David Letterman would say as he introduced stupid pet tricks: ”It’s not a competition, it’s only an exhibition. Please, no wagering.”

Have fun. Enjoy the quiz and enjoy the game.

1. Which Chicago player had the most All-Star Games in which he got a hit?

a. Ernie Banks

b. Ron Santo

c. Nellie Fox

d. Minnie Minoso

2. Who was the last Chicago pitcher to win an All-Star Game?

a. Lee Smith

b. Chris Sale

c. Mark Buehrle

d. Lucas Giolito

3. Which of these Chicago pitchers did not win an All-Star Game?

a. Early Wynn

b. Greg Maddux

c. Jack McDowell

d. Lee Smith

4. Two White Sox have homered in the All-Star Game. Who are they?

a. Jose Abreu

b. Frank Thomas

c. Magglio Ordonez

d. Paul Konerko

5. Six Chicago players have stolen bases in the All-Star Game. Who was the thief who swiped two?

a. Alexei Ramirez

b. Ray Durham

c. Luis Aparicio

d. Starlin Castro

e. Derrek Lee

f. Ryne Sandberg

6. The year was 2003, and the White Sox hosted the All-Star Game. It followed the 2002 Bud Selig mess when the NL ran out of pitchers and the game ended in a tie. Selig then made matters worse in 2003 by declaring that the All-Star Game winner would provide its league with home-field advantage in the World Series. ”This time, it counts!” was the slogan shouted by MLB and the networks covering the game. The AL did get home-field advantage by virtue of its 7-6 victory. Who won the 2003 World Series?

a. The Marlins

b. The Yankees

c. It was a tie

7. I feel obliged to put in a Home Run Derby question. The derby is a made-for-TV event that means even less than the All-Star Game but always draws a big viewing audience. There have been multiple formats over the years: league vs. league, nation vs. nation and now individual vs. individual. The first of these events took place in 1985, when the AL edged the NL 17-16 (although the Reds’ Dave Parker was the individual winner). The AL team had five players, four of whom hit four homers each. Who was the player who hit only one?

a. Jim Rice

b. Carlton Fisk

c. Cal Ripken Jr.

d. Eddie Murray

e. Tom Brunansky

8. Who has hit the most All-Star Game homers?

a. Ted Williams

b. Willie Mays

c. Stan Musial

d. Henry Aaron

9. I always love to end with a walk-off. There have been three walk-off homers in the All-Star Game. Which of these players didn’t hit one?

a. Stan Musial

b. Ted Williams

c. Ken Griffey Jr.

d. Johnny Callison

ANSWERS

1. Ernie Banks hit in seven All-Star Games to lead the Cubs, but Nellie Fox hit in 10 to lead Chicago.

2. Chris Sale of the White Sox was the winner in 2013, when the AL topped the NL 3-0.

3. Early Wynn won in 1958, Jack McDowell won in 1993 and Lee Smith won in 1987. Greg Maddux appeared in four All-Star Games in his magnificent career and had a record of 0-0.

4. Magglio Ordonez homered in 2001 and Frank Thomas in 1995.

5. In 2011, Starlin Castro came into the game as a pinch runner for Troy Tulowitzki. With the Angels’ Jordan Walden on the mound, he stole second and third.

6. The Marlins were the victors in six games, winning two of three games in Yankee Stadium. In spite of Selig’s proclamation, the All-Star Game didn’t count for much.

7. Cal Ripken Jr. hit only one homer, and his consecutive Home Run Derby streak ended at one (although he was the winner in 1991).

8. There are many reasons why Stan is ”The Man.” Hitting six All-Star Game homers is one of them.

9. Ted Williams hit the first in 1941. Stan Musial hit the second in 1955. Johnny Callison hit the third — and final one to date — in 1964. I think we’re due for another one.

There is one thing that I think should happen in the All-Star Game this year: My hope is that these male athletes find some way to remind the world that we are all behind Brittney Griner.

Have a peaceful and safe week. Don’t forget to write me at [email protected].

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Owner Joe Mansueto explained why the Fire stuck with Arlo White.

“I like Arlo White,” Mansueto told the Sun-Times. ”He’s one of the best soccer TV announcers on the planet, and I respect his right to work for whomever he wants to work for. I think that’s a slippery slope, trying to judge countries and evaluate them and determining who you want to have relationships with.”

White recently joined Saudi-backed LIV Golf as its lead commentator. The Saudi government is responsible for numerous human-rights violations, and the nascent tour is seen as an example of sportswashing. That said, relationships with the Saudis or other governments with poor track records are common in sports and geopolitics, including the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.

Mansueto understood the criticism of the decision to stay with White despite his new employer but said “everyone has a right to free speech.”

“It’s fine to criticize, it’s very fair if you don’t like a relationship someone has with a particular country, but I would draw the line at withdrawing employment from somebody because of those relationships,” he said. “Fine to criticize, but to deny somebody employment, I think goes too far. I think you’ll get more traction in changing countries by engaging with them rather than ostracizing them — engaging with them, setting a good example, exposing them to our values rather than trying to shun them, ostracize them and hope they’ll wake up one day and change. That’s my personal view.

“Which countries, which issues, it’s a slippery slope, and in many ways I think sports should be a bit of a safe haven from politics. [There’s] pretty much politics all around us, so that’s really what went into this decision.”

Training facility

The Fire are moving forward with the city to build a new training facility in the Roosevelt Square area of the Near West Side as they work through approvals with the Chicago Housing Authority, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the city council.

Mansueto said the team is hopeful the process will be finished by the end of the year.

In June, ProPublica reported on how that land was promised for affordable housing but is now earmarked for the Fire. Mansueto noted that the land has sat vacant and that he didn’t know of any plans to build affordable housing there. He also said the constraint in Chicago is not the land, but the funds to build the housing.

“We’ve relocated, working with the city, all of those affordable housing units to other land that the city has,” Mansueto said. “There’s been no lessening of the number of units of housing.”

He added that the Fire are paying a “premium” to build there and that it would be less expensive to go to the suburbs. Instead, Mansueto said he wants to spur development around the training facility.

“We’re making a significant community-benefit investment,” Mansueto said. “The land needs some remediation, so we’re investing quite a bit, and we think it’s for the good of Chicago.”

Soldier Field

The team’s initial three-year option on Soldier Field is up at the end of the season, and Mansueto said the current plan is to sign on for the next three-year portion. The 11-year pact begins with three three-year segments, then two one-year extensions.

Though Mansueto is pleased with the results and what the move has meant for the fan experience and isn’t looking for land to build a new stadium, the Fire aren’t satisfied with certain aspects of the arrangement. He wants to improve some of the economics, including the high costs of refreshments. Parking is another concern.

“It’s another example of the cost structure that we face,” he said. “We don’t control the parking price, that’s Soldier Field, but it’s an example of maybe other costs that are similarly a little higher than you think they should be.”

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There have been a few good moments.

Marko Simonovic’s 27-point, 13-rebound showcase, and rookie Dalen Terry putting up 14 points and five rebounds in a comeback victory against the Raptors. Then there has been Terry’s overall in-your-face demeanor on the court.

So, yes, there have been some nice stories during this Summer League for the Bulls.

But help?

Actual on-court, crunch-time help in a big late-March Eastern Conference showdown?

That likely won’t be coming from the Summer League roster.

And, frankly, Zach LaVine is fine with that.

When LaVine sat down with executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley to discuss the future and why he should stay a Bull for $215 million over the next five years, the two-time All-Star knew the current core would be leaned on to carry the load.

That means LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic remain the “Big Three,” and Patrick Williams, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso headline an important supporting cast buttressed by the additions of Andre Drummond and Goran Dragic.

“I mean, obviously [last season] was tough because we started off so good, and we could see the ceiling and the goal of the team in the first half of the season,” LaVine said. “But injuries happen, and you want to see a full roster and a full team all the way through. I think we had some key additions already, adding guys like Goran and Drummond, so I think it’s gonna be good. As long as guys stay healthy, I think that’s the biggest thing for any team. We get to go back at it again.”

But the five teams in front of the Bulls in the conference aren’t about to simply cede their territory.

The Celtics added Malcolm Brogdon, the 76ers grabbed P.J. Tucker and the Bucks kept their core together.

“People are going to move every year, and there’s still a lot of movement that I think can happen during the offseason,” LaVine said of the new-look landscape. “It’s just teams trying to get better and better, and I think we’re trying to do the same thing, as well. We made some additions but pretty much have the same core of guys intact and want to run it back.

“I think that’s what AK and Marc were going to go after and really see what this team is like when whole and healthy.

”I’m fine with it. I understood how good we were in the first half of the year, but we’ve got to put two halves together and really go after it. I’m excited for the competition.”

That sounds good, but will the Bulls even be fully healthy?

Karnisovas spoke on ESPN during theSummer League win Tuesday against Toronto and was asked about Ball’s left-knee rehab.

Like Eversley said a few weeks ago, there was optimism that the knee was improving and guarded optimism about Ball being ready for the start of training camp.

No wonder Dragic was added. He could prove to be a key insurance policy.

“[Ball is] progressing,” Karnisovas said. “That’s as much as I can say.

”He’s getting better. Probably not at the speed that we would like. But he’s getting better.

“Hopefully, he’s going to be ready for training camp. That’s just our hope.”

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The problem with July is, well, it stinks. For sports, that is. We’d invite you to try to name a worse month on the U.S. sports calendar, but we already know you can’t. There’s baseball, plus a little of this, maybe some of that and, hang on, did we mention baseball? Google “worst month on the U.S. sports calendar,” and you’ll find July dismissed here and there as “the least exciting month,” “the most uneventful month by a country mile” and “your chance to take a break from sports and recharge.”

July stinks, is the point.

The day after baseball’s All-Star Game is often singled out as the very worst day for sports, and that’s because there’s more action in a sloths’ mosh pit. There’s certainly no baseball being played, though, let’s face it, that’s not necessarily a bad thing if you’re a Cubs fan. But we’re still talking about a monthlong slog here, not a one-day blip.

When your old pal worked at national sports magazines in his pre-newspaper days, July would loom and the 1,000-yard stares would begin setting in.

“Think we’ll make it to football season?”

“I’m not writing about NASCAR, you do it.”

“I wonder if the nuclear plant is hiring.”

But here in Chicago, this July is kind of wild. It’s certainly very weird. Too disconcerting to be dead, too improbable to be ignored and too sonorous for the snooze alarm.

Our teams — most of them, anyway — are up to all sorts of strange business and busyness. Like the Cubs, for example, who seem not to understand how much they’re risking by not only losing night after ignominious night, but also by waving their money in fans’ faces instead of putting it into the product on the field. As a gaudy ballpark sportsbook gets shoehorned into gaudy Rickettsville, the filthy-rich Cubs are preparing to trade, as has become their custom, everybody who’s anybody, with Jed Hoyer in the role of glorified used-car salesman.

“Congrats on the All-Star honors, Willson Contreras and Ian Happ. Now what’s it going to take to put you fellas in a couple of shiny contenders?”

The spasmodic White Sox, meanwhile, stagger two steps backward, as they did in the first two games in Cleveland on their current, hugely important road trip, then they lurch two steps forward, as they did in the last two games against the Guardians. In the end, the Sox always seem to be right back where they started, often having done a bunch of foolish and sloppy things in getting there. They ebb and they flow, usually in the same week, and it’s both stultifying and fascinating. They are a .500 machine — and the longer that persists, the more inflamed Sox fans get. There’s a lot of anger here, and it’s perfectly understandable.

And the Blackhawks? They’re trading everybody, too. Quick, somebody stop Kyle Davidson before he tries to ship Contreras to Calgary. It was a gut punch when new general manager Davidson — who’s clearly intent on making his mark — moved terrific scorer Alex DeBrincat and also momentous, if less jarring, when he did likewise with 2019 first-round pick Kirby Dach. Letting Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Strome disappear into the mist is only going to make the Hawks worse in the short term, and then there are the giant shoes that have yet to drop: What the heck is happening with franchise greats Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, not to mention $76 million veteran Seth Jones? It’s dizzying to think about.

At least the Bears are moving on up. Wait, correction: moving on out. Aren’t they still bound for Arlington Heights? Just saying, it seems like an inevitability — unless, of course, they stay put on the lakefront in a stadium that eventually becomes the world’s largest set of Russian tea dolls. A 1920s-style coliseum with a spaceship on top of it and an ultramodern dome heaved on top of the spaceship? Wouldn’t a circus tent be cheaper and more apt? In summary: Bears fans don’t know if the team has a real quarterback, don’t know if it has a real coach, don’t know if it has a real general manager and don’t know where it’s going to play. Other than that, everything’s perfect.

These are supposed to be the dog days on the sports calendar. Steamy, slow, languid. But who can keep up?

Our college sports scene is bonkers, too, and nothing is even in season. Every time we turn around, Illinois’ basketball team has landed another prime-time player via the transfer portal or more traditional recruiting. The Illini could win a national championship soon, or this method of roster building — birds sit on rhinos’ backs longer than some Illini players stick around nowadays — could blow up in coach Brad Underwood’s face

Craziest of all is college football, which we’ll get into more if and when we begin to comprehend what the hell is going on. It seems to be along these lines: If you aren’t moving to the Southeastern Conference or the Big Ten, you aren’t surviving for long. And if you are in one of those leagues, it’s going to require more fundraising for football than ever to even have a chance to be competitive. What does this mean for Illinois and Northwestern? And for Notre Dame, still an independent?

It means the ground is shaking. Take a break? Recharge? Maybe next year.

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As a first-time NFL general manager at 36, Ryan Poles knew he’d be challenged by episodes that would test his leadership abilities.

After 13 years with the Chiefs, he was prepared for the scouting, evaluating and organizing. Draft picks, trades and other roster decisions were responsibilities he’d worked his entire career to learn how to manage.

But finding out your presumed No. 1 free-agent acquisition didn’t pass the physical? Getting a call from a player who tells you he’s just been arrested?

Those are the kinds of curveballs you figure you’ll eventually see, but Poles has had more than his share in his first six months as the Bears’ GM:

A three-year, $40.5 million deal with free-agent defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi fell apart when Ogunjobi failed his physical. He was coming off surgery after injuring his foot in the Bengals’ wild-card playoff game against the Raiders.Wide receiver Byron Pringle, who signed a one-year, $4.125 million contract in free agency, was arrested April 23 in Florida on charges of reckless driving and driving with a suspended license.Free-agent linebacker Matt Adams (one-year, $1.047 million contract in free agency) was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor firearms possession June 24 in downtown Chicago.Wide receiver David Moore (one-year, $1.035 million contract in free agency) was arrested on charges of possession of a controlled substance and unlawful carrying of weapons when he was found with three pistols and marijuana edibles in his car at a Taco Bell drive-thru, according to NFL.com.In an unexpected move that became public July 1, Poles fired LaMar “Soup” Campbell, vice president of player engagement, who was part of the five-person search committee that hired him.

To cynical fans who are reflexively skeptical after witnessing just four Bears playoff victories in the last 31 seasons (only three teams have fewer in that span), those are red flags that don’t bode well for Poles. When former GM Ryan Pace was hired in 2015, his first red flag was the signing of defensive end Ray McDonald that March — with the blessing of the McCaskey family — despite McDonald being under investigation for suspected sexual assault. The Bears released McDonald in May after he was arrested and charged with domestic violence and child endangerment.

That was an embarrassing episode for Pace and the McCaskeys, but it was more of a blip than a harbinger of the bad things to come. Under Pace, the Bears went from 3-13 in Pace’s first season under coach John Fox to 12-4 and the NFC North title under coach Matt Nagy in 2018. Pace’s misses on Nagy and quarterback Mitch Trubisky were the big reasons the Bears were unable to sustain that initial success. Signing the 30-year-old McDonald was a roll of the dice to stay relevant during a rebuild.

And, just the same, the mishaps in the opening months of the Poles regime could end up becoming the trials of a rookie GM more than an indicator that Poles wasn’t the right guy for the job.

The Ogunjobi miss bears watching, especially after the Steelers signed him to a one-year contract in June. Poles took a chance on an injured player — something rebuilding GMs are more prone to do — and learned an early lesson.

The three arrests are problematic, especially because Poles has a history with Pringle with the Chiefs and coach Matt Eberflus has a history with Adams with the Colts. But in the context of NFL transgressions, none of the charges crosses into the more dangerous territory of domestic violence or sexual assault, which are clearly fireable offenses.

It remains to be seen how Poles responds to the Adams and Moore arrests. (He called Pringle’s arrest a “disappointment” but vouched for Pringle’s character; “It’s not a reflection of who he is at all,” he said.)

And he has some explaining to do on the firing of Campbell — a well-respected confidant to many players. Did the arrests have any impact on the decision to fire Campbell? And, if not, why did he wait until July to make that move?

On the other hand, that Poles has the authority to fire someone who had a hand in hiring him is a good sign at Halas Hall. The Bears need a football authority figure more than anything — someone who will rule on his own accord rather than be guided by George McCaskey and team president Ted Phillips.

The Bears’ best hope is that Poles grows into that overarching authority role. And if some manageable rookie mistakes are the price they have to pay, it might just be worth it.

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In the wake of the Kyle Beach sexual assault scandal, the Blackhawks vowed to scrub their organization of anyone involved in the 2010 cover-up.

Less than a year later, it turns out the Hawks are scrubbing the entire organization. This is a comprehensive teardown.

The state and composition of the franchise come October, when a bleak 2022-23 season will begin, will be virtually unrecognizable from any previous version of the franchise, even from just a year or two before.

On the ice, Alex DeBrincat, Kirby Dach, Brandon Hagel, Marc-Andre Fleury, Dylan Strome, Dominik Kubalik, Calvin de Haan and others have been jettisoned. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews almost certainly will be gone within a year, if not sooner. They’re the only two of the Hawks’ top seven forward point producers from last season still on the team.

In fact, Kane, Toews and Connor Murphy are the only three players from the 2019-20 Hawks roster still on the team.

Off the ice, Stan Bowman, Al MacIsaac, Ryan Stewart, Mark Kelley, Jeremy Colliton, Marc Crawford, Pat Foley and plenty more are gone, even if most cases are for the better. Eddie Olczyk, arguably the man most associated with the Hawks across generations, is still without a contract.

Even on the business side, changes are rampant. The Hawks have made significant layoffs this summer, according to several sources. Many of those who remain have been repurposed or reassigned in restructured departments.

If not for their trademarked name and perhaps “Chelsea Dagger,” the present-day Hawks could hardly be described as the Hawks.

The teardown has been prompted in part by financial implications. The Hawks remain an immensely valuable franchise, valued in December by Forbes at $1.4 billion — fourth-highest in the NHL. But like everyone, they’ve struggled because of COVID-19. The Hawks’ operating income was $41 million in the red in 2021, Forbes estimated.

As the pandemic fades, leaguewide income is generally stabilizing and increasing again. The Hawks, however, will have to deal with an awful on-ice product for the next few years denting ticket sales and TV viewership. Reducing the cost of 84% of their season-ticket packages for next season, some by significant margins, will help keep seats occupied — but it’ll certainly affect the team’s revenue.

The biggest reason for the teardown, however, is that new general manager Kyle Davidson inherited a disaster of a hockey team. He had few options other than to rebuild.

The group Bowman assembled and expected to be a playoff contender in 2021-22 turned out to be one of the league’s worst. Even worse, it was crammed up against the salary cap, giving the Hawks no leverage at a time when cap space is more valuable than ever.

But worst of all, the prospect pipeline was direly lacking in talent. Bowman and Kelley had not only drafted inefficiently for years, but they traded away most of their draft successes in ill-advised, nearsighted moves. Every first-round pick Bowman made either didn’t sign with the Hawks, didn’t pan out as an NHL player or was traded early in his career. In January, shortly after Davidson’s takeover, the Hawks’ prospect pool was ranked 25th in the NHL by The Athletic.

So Davidson, without exactly saying such, decided to basically start over. That decision wasn’t completely clear or certain during his first few months, but it is now.

DeBrincat, Dach and Hagel were realistically the only assets he had that were valuable enough to get first-round picks in return. Considering most teams’ salary-cap situations, the Hawks wouldn’t get that much for Kane, Toews and Seth Jones because of their massive contracts, even if they requested trades and waived their no-movement clauses. Just look at the Golden Knights trading Max Pacioretty to the Hurricanes on Wednesday for literally nothing.

Davidson’s managing hasn’t been perfect. No GM’s is. It would’ve been nice to get more for DeBrincat. It would’ve been nice to see Strome, Kubalik and de Haan turned into assets, even small ones, at the trade deadline in March. Some of the Hawks’ 11 new draft picks won’t turn into anything. Davidson will inevitably make more mistakes in the future, too, and take heat for them.

And this process will only get worse before it gets better.

The Red Wings are a good example. They largely bled their organization dry while hanging on too long to the remnants of their dynasty era before finally tearing it down in 2016. Six years later, they’re on an upward trajectory with plenty of young stars and excitement, but they’ve yet to even return to the playoffs.

This is the path the Hawks have chosen, though, and they’ve done so with plenty of logic supporting their decision, even if their approach of eschewing nuance and empathy in favor of absolute destruction has rubbed some the wrong way.

So what’s the correct reaction to it all?

Is it outrage over the ruthlessness of the teardown, the good people and players sacrificed in the mess, the slaphappy embrace of tanking, the lack of respect for fans who spend and have spent thousands of dollars through their fandom?

Is it relief and optimism that there’s finally a firm plan and vision moving forward, that those who made unforgivable decisions in 2010 have been ousted, that fans will hopefully be able to enjoy another Hawks ascension over the next decade?

Or is it ambivalence because the Hawks are no longer relevant and because there are plenty of other things to spend life caring about?

At the moment, equally sized groups of onlookers — Hawks fans, hockey fans, Chicagoans and more — fit into each of those three buckets. Over time, as the teardown gradually evolves into a buildup, the franchise’s leadership is counting on the majority eventually trickling into the second group.

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