The Bears had more needs than valuable picks going into the draft, so it’ll take general manager Ryan Poles at least two classes to get through the necessary roster repairs.

He got started on that list in the second round Friday by taking Washington cornerback Kyler Gordon at No. 39 and Penn State safety Jaquan Brisker at No. 48.

“We can’t fix everything in one year, but we can keep chipping away,” Poles said.

The stakes are low this season, but drafting Gordon could put out a blazing fire in their secondary.

They inexcusably went into last season with just one dependable corner in Jaylon Johnson and the results were predictable: They allowed the NFL’s highest passer rating, third-most completions of 20-plus yards and fourth-most touchdown passes.

Gordon’s potential gives the Bears’ defense a shot at having some dignity after a season in which Johnson led a crew of most practice-squad-level cornerbacks.

If Gordon is as good as advertised, he solves that problem immediately as a starter this season and for the long term.

The Bears ran draft simulations over the last few weeks, and Poles said Gordon popped up as available in some of those trial runs, but he never believed it was a legitimate possibility at No. 39.

“We kinda laughed it off,” he said. “We said, ‘No way.’ So when it actually happened, it was a really cool moment.”

The Bears could be well fortified for years to come with Johnson (23) and Gordon (22), and they have both of them under contract cheaply through 2023.

That part makes sense. The concerns swirled when Poles doubled down on defense with the Brisker pick when several top wide receivers were still available. Maybe he sees Brisker as insurance in case Eddie Jackson can’t play up to his contract.

Nonetheless, it was absolutely imperative that Poles emerge from this draft with significant help for quarterback Justin Fields. It was surprising that he waited until the third round at No. 71 overall to take an offensive weapon in Tennessee wide receiver Velus Jones.

“It has to be in the right spot,” he said. “Sometimes other positions are higher because [the prospects] are really good at their position. It’d be a mistake to ignore someone that good just because of a need [at receiver] right now.”

Even if the Bears are willing to write this off as a transition season, they need to supply Fields with everything he needs to make a significant jump. And right now, Poles’ plans at offensive line and wide receiver require a lot of faith.

The Bears allowed the most sacks in the NFL last season, and their only new starter as of now is free agent center Lucas Patrick. They have question marks at both tackle spots. Sam Mustipher is fifty-fifty to hang on to the starting job at right guard.

At wide receiver, Poles is betting that Darnell Mooney can be a true No. 1 target, ex-Chief Byron Pringle is still an ascending player at 28 and that former sixth-round pick Equanimeous St. Brown was an untapped talent in three seasons with the Packers.

Meanwhile, only seven receivers had been taken when the Bears were up at No. 39. Kentucky wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson and Alabama’s John Metchie III went a handful of picks later, and the Bears still had their choice of Baylor’s Tyquan Thornton, Georgia’s George Pickens, Cincinnati’s Alec Pierce and Western Michigan’s Skyy Moore at No. 48.

The draft is wildly unpredictable — Mooney was the 25th receiver picked in 2020, but is third in his class in catches and fifth in yards — but the odds of finding a dynamic receiver taper each round. Poles valued Brisker’s overall talent more than addressing the more pressing need at receiver, so Jones proving people wrong is pivotal to making this draft a success.

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The second night of the NFL Draft began on Friday night and it was finally time for the Chicago Bears to make some picks. After not having a first-round pick on Thursday, Chicago selected defensive back Kyler Gordon with the No. 39 overall pick on Thursday.

Gordon spent 4 years at Washington before leaving the program and now finding a new home with the Bears. The goal for Chicago is to pair him with Jaylon Johnson as their starting defensive backs and some even had Gorgon with a first-round grade.

But one stat in-particular should have Bears fans excited about their new rookie as ESPN’s Courtney Cronin tweets:

Some fans might’ve been surprised by this selection, but Gordon’s career at Washington speaks for itself. Not a single touchdown allowed in his entire career is something that fans will like the sound of.

The Bears’ secondary struggled mightily in 2021. Gordon will look to join Johnson as the other Bears’ starting cornerback in 2022. Johnson was a bright spot within Bears’ secondary last season. Fans will definitely be excited over this potential new cornerback pairing.

The Bears used their first two selections on strengthening their secondary. With the 48th overall pick the Bears selected the Safety from Penn State, Jaquan Brisker. Many expected the Bears to spend their first couple picks on a wide receiver and/or offensive lineman.

Now, Bears fans should definitely be expecting an improved secondary in 2022. Between these two picks and the emergence of Johnson, this secondary’s potential is limitless.

The draft is set to resume on Saturday with round three beginning in the morning.

Make sure to check out our Bears forum for the latest on the team.

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Barring a surprise trade, Bears general manager Ryan Poles wrapped up Friday night by drafting Tennessee wide receiver Velus Jones in the third round at No. 71 overall.

Finally.

It was Poles’ third selection of draft after taking Washington cornerback Kyler Gordon and Penn State safety Jaquan Brisker in the second round at Nos. 39 and 48, respectively.

Jones had 62 catches for 807 yards and seven touchdowns last season, as well as an SEC-best 628 kick return yards and a touchdown and 272 punt return yards.

Jones is 6-foot, 200 pounds and will turn 25 in two weeks. He is actually five months older than Bears third-year receiver Darnell Mooney.

Jones began playing at Southern Cal in 2016 and transferred to Tennessee in 2020. Before last season, his career best was 280 yards.

The Bears likely will wait until the fifth round Saturday to make their next pick. They have two fifth-rounders at Nos. 148 and 150, then a sixth-rounder at No. 186.

The extra fifth-round pick (No. 150) is from trading wide receiver Anthony Miller and a seventh-rounder to the Texans last year. The Bears are missing their fourth-round pick from the trade to get quarterback Justin Fields a year ago.

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BUFFALO, N.Y. — At long last, this Blackhawks season, one so disastrous, so embarrassing, so miserable, so drawn-out it felt like it would never end, has ended.

The Hawks closed the book on 2021-22 –a year begging to be forgotten that, for Kyle Beach’s sake, must never actually be –with a 3-2 overtime loss Friday against the Sabres, more than seven long months after it began.

The amount of change since the team’s first day of training camp Sept. 23 is hard to fathom in retrospect.

Jeremy Colliton was the coach then. Derek King was Friday. Another man altogether might be in a few months’ time. Stan Bowman was the general manager then. Kyle Davidson was Friday.

Marc-Andre Fleury made his Hawks debut, earned his 500th win and left for Minnesota all within that span. A rebuild — a full-fledged one this time — was declared. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews’ futures have never looked so tenuous.

But first, the Hawks can finally take a deep breath and wipe the slate clean. The grind –at least this particular grind — is over.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” King said. “It’s almost like, ‘What are we going to do tomorrow for practice?’ It will sink in later. [It’s] unfortunate how the season went. We made some strides here for a while, and then we just teetered off and lost our edge.”

That’s not to say this season won’t live forever in the history books, unfortunately for the franchise’s legacy.

On the ice, the Hawks’ final record of 28-42-12 — good for 68 points –was their worst in a full season since 2005-06 and tied for their fifth-worst since 1958. They posted identical 14-21-6 records both at home and on the road.

They finished 27th in the final NHL standings, 28th with 2.60 goals per game, 26th with 3.52 goals allowed per game, 21st with a 19.2% power play rate, 24th with a 76.2% penalty kill rate and on and on.

Off the ice, the brutal truths uncovered about the Hawks’ 2010 sexual assault scandal and the ensuing cover-up by some of the formerly most legendary figures in team history — John McDonough, Bowman, Al MacIsaac, Joel Quenneville –cast a dark shadow over everything. In terms of significance, the on-ice struggles paled in comparison.

The next few years ahead likely won’t bring much relief from the losing, but they’ll hopefully at least usher in positive cultural change throughout the organization.

In the short term, however, the attention can now shift away from the every-other-night pattern of bad hockey games and toward the instrumental offseason ahead. The Hawks will discover very soon, specifically on May 10, their draft lottery fate; they’ll have a 15.4% chance of receiving the first- or second-overall pick.

“It sucks when you’re not in the playoffs,” Seth Jones said. “You have nothing to look forward to after this.

“It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth, right? The competitive nature of myself and all of us is to be ready for next year. Come back with a chip on our shoulder, all the guys in the locker room stick together, and we’ll go from there. It starts this summer.”

Friday’s finale couldn’t have exemplified the season much better.

The Hawks squandered 1-0 and 2-1 leads, conceding the tying goal to Owen Power with 5:38 left in regulation and the winning goal to Casey Mittelstadt just 2:07 into overtime. They were outshot 19-4 after the second intermission, spoiling a solid final start by Collin Delia. Since late March, the Hawks blew 19 of the 20 leads they at some point held.

“Time and time again, we were leading in the third [period], or in the second, and we gave it up,” Strome said. “You’re not going to win many games when you give up third-period leads.”

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MILWAUKEE — “Nicky Two Strikes”?

Please, that’s so 2021.

It’s “Nicky Barrels” now.

The first nickname was Nick Madrigal’s when he played for the White Sox, hit .317 over parts of two seasons (83 games) and displayed an uncanny knack for putting good wood on the ball when down to his last strike. Behind 0-2, he had pitchers right where he wanted them.

The second nickname might not be on T-shirts and hoodies yet, but it’s what the Cubs are calling him. It has a heck of a ring to it, too. Just imagine if Madrigal actually starts hitting, right? His average with the Cubs — whom he joined in earnest this year after being traded last summer as he recovered from a torn hamstring — lagged at .218 entering the opener of a three-game series against the division-leading Brewers.

Madrigal was out of the lineup for the second straight game Friday, part of the Cubs’ plan to handle the second baseman with care as he tries to get through a full season for the first time. He has started 14 of 20 games, the most recent one a two-hit effort in Atlanta.

He’s itching to put that barrel to work. Does he feel a hot streak coming?

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” he said. “I mean, I feel great. I feel like I’m seeing the ball better and better each week. I’ve hit some balls right at guys, but I feel confident that my swing is where it needs to be. The hits are coming. You just have to stay with it.”

Cubs shortstop Nico Hoerner first got a look at Madrigal in the batter’s box when they were 11 and playing against each other in travel ball in Northern California. The standouts — future 2018 first-round draft picks — played together for Team USA in their mid-teens and later battled often as stars at Stanford and Oregon State, respectively.

At every stage, Hoerner marveled at the pint-sized Madrigal’s ability to go up, down, outside or in and put a difficult pitch in play and often where the defense wasn’t. It was true as they rose to prominence, their high schools a little over 80 miles apart. It’s no less true now that they’re locker neighbors at Wrigley Field and, wouldn’t you know it, here at American Family Field.

“That’s probably the most extreme skill that he has,” Hoerner said. “We all end up swinging at bad pitches here and there, but he has an amazing skill to make the most of it sometimes. I’m excited for what he’s going to do the rest of this year.”

Manager David Ross believes Madrigal’s size — he’s only 5-7 — not only shrinks the strike zone but makes it easier to let high pitches go and makes him quicker to drop the head of the bat on a ball that’s down. A questioner referenced Yogi Berra, who at 5-8 was one of the greatest bad-ball hitters ever. Ross countered with Astros star Jose Altuve, who is only 5-6 and another expert in this area.

Wait, we can’t go mentioning Madrigal in the same paragraph with those guys, can we? It’s not fair at all. But Madrigal “has the timing and the eye-to-hand coordination to be able to take the barrel to the baseball consistently,” Ross said.

Now he just has to start doing it. Madrigal managed to get traded from one team to another — one league to the other — without having to move from his downtown digs, and what a nice feat that was for a 25-year-old who enjoys living in the city even more than he hoped he would. For his next trick, he’ll have to try to replicate that .300-plus South Side average and definitely not languish 100 or so points below it.

“I’m not too worried about it,” he said. “It’s such a long season.”

A nickname rides on it.

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Chicago Bears Kyler Gordon

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The White Sox got into their current funk as a team and they’ll only get out of one way.

As a team.

So says Jose Abreu, a team leader who has been through more rough stretches during his nine-year career than he cares to recall.

A 7-11 start to a season that brimmed with confident postseason aspirations and then a 6-2 start is a different animal, though. The Sox entered Friday’s game against the streaking Angels, winners of five straight games, having lost nine of their last 10. They aren’t hitting, they’re not fielding well and the pitching has taken its share of responsibility, too.

“The numbers, the stats, they speak for themselves,” Abreu told the Sun-Times through translator Billy Russo before the game. “We’re passing through a very tough moment, as a whole team. There is no magic answer. The only thing we should do is get out of this as a team, swing at strikes, have good at-bats.

“We’re in this as a team. Get out of it as a team.”

Hammering home the point of sticking together begged a question. This team is together, right?

“We’re united,” Abreu said. “Listen, I understand what people might say, that maybe we’re not. But that’s not the case. Things just aren’t going our way right now. And it’s no secret we’re missing key players [to injuries]. When you lose a game, and when the losses pile up, you can feel down. But that doesn’t mean we’re not united. We are. We’re humans, too, and we have feelings. We’re going to get out of this is a unit.”

The Sox entered batting .186/.238/.292 and averaging 2.4 runs over the last 13 games. They were last in the majors with 38 walks, last in on-base percentage at .263 and 26th with a .608 OPS.

“Maybe we’re being overly aggressive,” Abreu said. “But we have to figure out a way to get out of that. Maybe one way is to be smart. Swing at good pitches.”

Angels leadoff hitter Taylor Ward and Shohei Ohtani swung at two of Giolito’s pitches that left the park in the first inning, putting the Sox in a 2-0 hole. Tim Anderson doubled and scored on an error in the first, cutting the lead in half against Jimmy Herget, who started in place of Noah Syndergaard, a late scratch due to a non-COVID related illness.

Abreu, who was batting .206/.286/.349 with two homers, smashed into a 106.7 mph double-play one-hopper to end the first. He was robbed on a catch by Trout at the right-center field fence to end the fourth.

Abreu has had a hand in the majors-worst defense with two errors and failing to scoop a couple of low throws he knows he should have had this season.

“We’ve made more miscues than we want to make,” he said. “But that doesn’t define us. We’re a much better defensive team than we’ve shown. It’s one of those funky slumps we’re in. For us, we can’t over-react. Keep trusting the work, keep trusting the abilities.”

Abreu isn’t necessarily buying into manager Tony La Russa’s and hitting coach Frank Menechino’s contention that the team is pressing. Abreu suggested the Sox simply aren’t having good at-bats and not making the plays in the field.

“We all respect Tony and his opinion. I’m not going to contradict him — maybe he’s right,” Abreu said. “But it’s just a matter of working. Once we get in a groove, we’ll be OK.”

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The Bears selected Penn State safety Jaquan Brisker with the 48th overall pick in the second round of the NFL draft on Friday night.

The 6-1, 206-pound Brisker, who started his college career at Lackawanna Community College in 2017-18, was a second-team All-American and first-team All-Big Ten player last season.

Brisker was known for his aggressiveness against the run as a strong safety in Penn State’s defense. He had 64 tackles, including six tackles-for-loss for the Nittany Lions last season. He also had seven pass break-ups and two interceptions. He was not penalized in his two seasons as a starter at Penn State (21 games).

Brisker figures to get an immediate opportunity to start alongside Eddie Jackson after Tashaun Gipson was not signed in free agency. The Bears’ other safeties are veteran special-teams ace DeAndre Houston-Carson, Dane Cruikshank (the former Titans safety signed in free agency) and Michael Joseph.

The Bears previously drafted Washington cornerback Kyler Gordon in the second round (39th overall) Friday night.

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