Bears coach Matt Nagy walked into the press conference room at Halas Hall on Wednesday, sat down and began building his bunker.

The man who said Monday he was considering ceding play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor refused to say Wednesday whether he decided to do just that. With the tempo of an over-caffeinated squirrel, Nagy needed 2 minutes and 37 seconds’ worth of word salad to not answer the question.

Asked why he was straightforward last year when he handed the reins to Lazor but wasn’t doing the same this time, he took another 1 minute and 9 seconds to say that things change from year to year and the Bears’ focus was, amazingly, about “clear communication on the ‘why.'”

Wednesday, “clear communication on the why” looked like this: Nagy called Andy Dalton the first-string quarterback and Justin Fields the backup but then said the “starter will be sorted out once we have a clearer picture moving forward.” He offered no detail on their knee and hand injuries, respectively.

He said he would similarly let the NFL-mandated injury report speak about issues with edge rusher Khalil Mack, the Bears’ highest-paid player; nose tackle and mystery man Eddie Goldman, who sat out all last season with coronavirus concerns and has now missed three games; and starting safety Tashaun Gipson, who missed Sunday’s 26-6 disaster against the Browns.

“I hope y’all can understand from our perspective, from the Chicago Bears perspective, not just play-calling but whether it’s, the starter, non-starter, this guy’s hurt, that guy’s hurt, through the [injury report] rules, all of that … ” he said. “There’s communication you have on the back end, but then there’s also the ability for us to understand why we don’t get into some of the answers that you’re asking right now.”

The only explanation is that Nagy must believe the Bears need every edge they can have against the Lions on Sunday at Soldier Field. The 0-3 Lions. Who Nagy has beaten five times in six tries. Who Mitch Trubisky repeatedly carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Whose quarterback, Jared Goff, has a 59.7 career passer rating against the Bears.

This is how low the Bears’ season has sunk in just three weeks: Nagy’s circling the wagons for a home game against the lowly Lions three days into October. The coach has to know the stakes — and to fear the repercussions — of a loss Sunday. He spoke Wednesday as though he did.

Beat the Lions and the Bears are .500 and no worse than second place in their division. Lose, and questions about Nagy’s fitness to coach the offense — and to develop Fields — will be louder than ever on the heels of gaining 47 yards in 42 plays against the Browns.

Nagy is already the NFL favorite to be the first coach fired, per BetOnline, at — and this isn’t a typo — 1:2 odds. The McCaskeys have never fired a coach midseason and are undoubtedly consumed with the Arlington Heights stadium project announced Wednesday. Still, if Nagy loses Sunday, he at least has to worry whether his Halas Hall key card will work the next day.

The pressure is mounting. Nagy — who prides himself as a play-caller but just posted one of the worst offensive games in franchise history — undoubtedly feels it.

He vowed Monday to fix the Bears. Wednesday, he wouldn’t tell you specifically what, if anything, he changed this week.

The Lions await.

“Now we get an opportunity to do it against a division opponent, that we’ve been focusing on the last two days, at home,” Nagy said. “And these are big now. We’ve got to get these. And so when we do that — whatever it is — let’s go do it.”

Whatever it is, indeed.

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A 72-year-old man was hurt after being shot with a paintball gun over a parking dispute Wednesday in South Shore.

About 10:45 a.m, a male was trying to park in a parking lot in the 2500 block of East 73rd when the 72-year-old told him that he wasn’t allowed in the lot, Chicago police said.

The male became upset and fired multiple times at the older man with a paintball gun before fleeing, police said.

Police said the 72-year-old suffered bruises but was not taken to a hospital.

Area One detectives are investigating.

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College football players and some other athletes in revenue-producing sports are employees of their schools, the National Labor Relations Board’s top lawyer said in a memo Wednesday that would allow players at private universities to unionize and otherwise negotiate over their working conditions.

NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo also threatened action against schools, conferences and the NCAA if they continue to use the term “student-athlete,” saying that it was created to obscure the employment relationship with college athletes and discourage them from pursuing their rights.

“The freedom to engage in far-reaching and lucrative business enterprises makes players at academic institutions much more similar to professional athletes who are employed by a team to play a sport, while simultaneously pursuing business ventures to capitalize on their fame and increase their income,” the memo said.

Neither the NCAA nor representatives for the five largest athletic conferences immediately responded to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

The nine-page NLRB memo revisited a case involving Northwestern football players who were thwarted from forming a union when the board in 2015 said that taking their side “would not promote stability in labor relations.”

Abruzzo’s memo noted that much has changed since the then, including a unanimous Supreme Court decision this year that lifted restrictions on some forms of compensation for college athletes.

Abruzzo also noted that players across the country had engaged in collective action following the killing of George Floyd — actions that “directly concerns terms and conditions of employment, and is protected concerted activity.”

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An arrest warrant has been issued for a man charged with killing a father who was driving his daughter to school earlier this month on the West Side.

The warrant charges Avanta Ware with the murder of 33-year-old Travell Miller, Chicago police announced Wednesday. Ware is also wanted for two counts of carjacking in Berwyn.

Miller was stopped in traffic the morning of Sept. 1 in the 3000 block of West Chicago Avenue when Ware got out of another car, walked up and opened fire, police said. Miller was hit four times and pronounced dead.

Avanta Ware is wanted for a murder Sept. 1 in Chicago.Chicago Police Department

Family said Miller bent over to protect his 7-year-old daughter, who was in the passenger seat and was uninjured.

Detectives shared photos of the suspected shooter within a day of the murder, seeking to identify him.

Police on Wednesday said Ware, 18, was last seen driving a silver 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix with no plates and possible damage to the driver’s side rear quarter panel.

Family has said detectives were investigating if the shooting stemmed from road rage. The relatives said they had no other idea why Miller would have been targeted, saying he had no enemies and had just moved to the area days earlier.

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I don’t care if the Bears move to Arlington Heights. They can move to Arlington, Virginia, for all I care. It would end a lot of suffering here.

I do care that they care more about a new stadium than they do about football.

I care that they seem to care about everything but football.

It is so Bears that news of their agreement to purchase the Arlington Park racecourse property came Tuesday night while fans were in an uproar about all the things that ail the team on the field.

The timing of the $197.2 million agreement is not the franchise’s fault. Everything else is — an owner who doesn’t know how to hire the right football people; a general manager who doesn’t know what good players look like; a head coach who wouldn’t be able to devise a game plan to avoid a survey taker on Michigan Avenue; an offensive line that can’t block; and a quarterback, pick a quarterback, who has no idea what he’s up against. Last week it was in-over-his-head Justin Fields. This week it’s placeholder Andy Dalton, if he’s healthy. Next week it will be a dachshund that also plays the piano.

Those would seem to be pretty big issues for a team purportedly in business to win games. But when you finally grasp that the actual playing of football is way down on the priority list for the McCaskey family, then you understand why Bears fans are screwed.

The McCaskeys are related by blood to team founder George Halas but not by football soul. It’s why there’s a gleam in chairman George McCaskey’s eye whenever he talks about the renovations to Halas Hall or the franchise’s 100th anniversary celebration or the Bears statues outside Soldier Field or the team’s strong presence in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

It’s not that those things are unimportant.

It’s that they’re not the thing.

Football is. Winning is. Championships are.

The family knows how to keep its eye on the prize. As for what the prize is, it doesn’t have the foggiest.

When owner Virginia McCaskey demoted her son, the late Michael McCaskey, from team president after the botched hiring of Dave McGinnis in 1999, one of the duties he took on was improving the landscaping at Halas Hall. He took to it with a zeal usually associated with government coups. If you’re looking for something to describe how unsuited ownership is for the business of football, the answer is there in the petunias and ferns.

When the time comes to fire general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy for their sins against football, the McCaskeys will do what they always do. They’ll consult a search firm. George McCaskey will call the Maras and the Rooneys, the longtime owners of the Giants and Steelers, respectively, as if people who remember when the game was played with leather helmets can solve the Bears’ problems. And then George and team president Ted Phillips will hire the wrong people again.

I always imagine one Rooney or another cackling when the Caller ID on the phone says “Bears.”

“It’s George again. I wonder if we could get him to hire a circus fire-eater as head coach. Let’s try!”

You get the feeling that the football side of the operation is distasteful to the McCaskeys, that, if it’s OK with everybody else, they’ll stick to their other pursuits and say a prayer for a winning season. So you can understand their spines being atingle over the possibility of a new stadium. It’s something a family can seek its teeth into. Steel and cement. A legacy. George Halas Stadium? Hmmm.

The Bears aren’t happy with Soldier Field, which, at 61,500, has the lowest seating capacity in the league. The NFL is all about big, shimmering palaces with revenue streams that jump their banks. The Bears want what the Cowboys have, what the Rams have.

But one pesky question does need asking: How many times over the years did the Bears say that the improvements to Soldier Field, funded by taxpayer money, would help the team be more successful at the game of football? Remember? All the great free agents they’d be able to sign? All the talented players who’d be drawn to a shiny stadium and a dazzling practice facility?

They said it too many times to count.

What arrived instead was more of the same. More futility. More bumbling coaches and team executives. More time to bask in the glow of the ’85 Bears. All these years later, that glow is down to a few embers. A new stadium won’t change that. Winning football — whatever that is — will.

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Residents in Morgan Park’s Smith Village senior living home have a new, three-story building filled with modern amenities at their disposal as they “age in place.”

In a $23 million renovation, the Johanson Wing at 2320 W. 113th Place is more than 50,000 square feet with 78 beds, 66 of which are in private suites.

For Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th), whose ward includes Smith Village, the renovations are personal.

“My father’s been a resident here for the last several years. Before that, my mother during her last years of failing health,” he said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside the facility Wednesday. “This is so important to the future of our community, and as our seniors age that they continue to be able to live lives of independence.”

Joining the alderman Wednesday was Cook County Commissioner John P. Daley; Kay Thurn, board chair at Smith; Kevin McGee, president and CEO; and Marti Jatis, executive director.

Smith Village held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday for a $23 million renovation.Mark Capapas/Sun-Times

The wing is named after Gary Johanson, who retired from the facility in 2002 after 22 years in the leadership and died in July.

Although McGee said the building hadn’t been renovated since 1991, when it was built, Thurn said modifications for a salon, pub, theater and therapy fitness center were made over the past four years.

With the current renovations, the facility decreased beds from 100 to 78, which quadrupled the number of private suites offered. The first floor is 22 private rooms all designated to rehab.

The renovations were completed six months sooner than expected. According to McGee, the project was initially set to be completed in four phases.

“When COVID hit, we stopped taking admissions, and so we were able accelerate the schedule from four phases down to two to finish the project six months in advance,” he explained.

While some of the money for the project came from a $1.3 million authorization by the Smith Senior Living Board of Trustee, most of the financing came through private bonds the company has with First Midwest and Huntington banks.

A room at Smith Village in Morgan Park.Mark Capapas/Sun-Times

With the renovations, rates for rooms haven’t gone up but more residents will now be paying for private suites instead of semi-private rooms. McGee said it is “what the market wanted.”

Before starting construction, Smith Village held a ” focus group.” with the architects to ask residents, family members and prospective residents to determine what amenities were wanted in the renovation.

Smith Village has 40 beds occupied. The north end of the building is open for occupancy; McGee said they plan to open the south end in November.

Cheyanne M. Daniels is a staff reporter for the Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South Side and West Side.

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Six aldermen who are among the police union’s staunchest City Council supporters urged Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday to reconsider her vaccine mandate for the city’s 30,885 employees, calling it an “infringement on our constitutional rights.”

Lightfoot has said she won’t move her Oct. 15 deadline for all city employees to get the coronavirus vaccine just because police unions are dead-set against the mandate.

But in a letter to the mayor on Wednesday, a half dozen aldermen who are among the Council’s biggest champions for rank-and-file police officers urged the mayor to reconsider.

The letter was signed by Aldermen Derrick Curtis (18th); Silvana Tabares (23rd); Felix Cardona (31st); Nick Sposato (38th); Anthony Napolitano (41st) and Jim Gardiner (45th).

Napolitano has served the city as both a police officer and a firefighter. His Far Northwest Side ward is home to scores of police officers. Sposato is a former firefighter. Tabares and Gardiner also represent wards with heavy numbers of police officers and firefighters. Curtis is a former 18th Ward sanitation superintendent.

Ald. Nick Sposato (38th), shown at a Chicago City Council meeting in July, is among six council members who signed a letter to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, opposing her COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all city employees. Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

“We are writing as both vaccinated and unvaccinated aldermen to express our strong opposition to the mandate that forces ‘ALL’ City of Chicago employees to be vaccinated against COVID,” the letter states.

“While we have struggled with the effects that the COVID pandemic has created in all facets of our lives, the fact of the matter remains that this mandate is an infringement on our constitutional rights.”

The aldermen said they would “continue to work tirelessly” to help educate their constituents and promote “vaccination events” and distribute masks and hand sanitizers.

But they argued the mandate “does not prevent others from contracting” the coronavirus and “individuals who have chosen to get vaccinated are still susceptible to contracting the virus and transmitting” COVID-19.

“An individual must make their own decision as to whether to vaccinate and accept personal responsibility for their decision,” the wrote.

“We firmly believe that your executive order to mandate the vaccination for `ALL’ city of Chicago employees is an infringement on their personal freedoms. We are strongly opposed to this mandate and are urging you to reconsider your executive order.”

In a video posted on the union’s Facebook page, Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara said the four police unions held a 40-minute meeting with city negotiators Monday to deliver an eight-page document outlining their position.

“There was no agreement except for the fact that the city will review in detail our proposal. And they’re going to come back with a counter-document that we are going to discuss on Friday morning,” Catanzara said in the video urging his members to “stay tuned” for an update after that meeting.

“I get a lot of people are getting a little anxious here. But have a little patience. We still have well over two weeks. The exemptions and everything are going to still yet be discussed and, hopefully, revised and be much simpler and in line with other things the city does so it’s not so complicated.”

Last month, Catanzara was forced to apologize after issuing a profanity-laced tirade comparing the mayor’s vaccine mandate to restrictions imposed in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.

But in an apology video posted on YouTube, Catanzara also tried to explain his offensive comparison.

“When governments, whether it’s Nazi Germany or modern-day Chicago, try to start, or any other major city like New York and many others who are doing this, try to create policies that mandate their employees first to have to do things to their bodies it will not stop there,” he said then.

“You are opening up the door for the citizens to be next.”

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The Bears will go back to Andy Dalton as starting quarterback Sunday against the Lions if he’s healthy.

Justin Fields will play if Dalton can’t go, coach Matt Nagy said Wednesday. In the Bears’ 26-6 loss to the Browns last weekend, Fields completed 6 of 20 passes for 68 yards and a 41.2 passer rating.

“We expect both Andy and Justin out at practice in some capacity [Wednesday], and we’ll update you on their status based on their participation,” Nagy said. “In regard to the depth chart with them, I am sure that question will come… Andy is the No. 1, Justin is the No. 2 and Nick [Foles] is the No. 3. Starter will be sorted out once we have a clearer picture moving forward here.”

That means Dalton is Plan A.

Fields started against the Browns only because Dalton exited the Week 2 game against the Bengals with a bone bruise in his knee. While the Bears didn’t put Dalton on injured reserve, Nagy indicated last week it was possible he’d miss multiple games.

Dalton has completed 36 of 49 passes for 262 yards with a touchdown and an interception for an 83.9 passer rating.

Nagy went into the week considering all options and even acknowledged the possibility of turning to Foles when a reporter floated that idea. Last season, Foles’ first with the team, did not go well. After rallying the Bears from a 26-10 deficit to beat the Falcons, Foles played his way out of the job and clashed with Nagy.

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“Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” which picked up 10 Tony Awards on Sunday night (including best new musical) and which will kick off its North American tour in Chicago starting in February, announced the two actors who will helm the road company, it was announced Wednesday.

Broadway veterans Courtney Reed and Conor Ryan will star as Satine and Christian, respectively, in the production at the James M. Nederlander Theatre beginning Feb. 26, 2022. The show, about the goings-on in a turn-of-the-century Parisian nightclub, has been updated with tunes like “Single Ladies” and “Firework” alongside hits from the film such as “Lady Marmalade,” “Rhythm of the Night” and “Your Song.”

Courtney Reed will star as Satine in the North American Touring production of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” which kicks off in Chicago in February.Provided

Reed is perhaps best-known for originating the role of Princess Jasmine in the Broadway production of “Disney’s Aladdin.” The Elgin born-and-raised actress’ other stage credits include ‘Mamma Mia!,” and “In The Heights.” Ryan has starred in the Broadway production of “Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” with TV credits that include “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.”

“It’s a story about love, about artists. It’s a story about two people who come from completely different backgrounds and how they can unite and share a common ground,” Reed said about the stage musical’s appeal. “And while it’s true to the movie, there are new elements — the new songs from popular new age artists. So even if you’ve not seen the movie you can still relate to the music.”

Reed admitted watching the Baz Luhrmann movie musical version of “Moulin Rouge “at least 100 times,” adding that “it’s a perfect date-night movie.”

“Moulin Rouge! The Musical” is directed by Alex Timbers with a book by John Logan, and choreography by Sonya Tayeh and music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Justin Levine.

“Come back to the theater,” Reed said, when asked about COVID’s impact on the industry and audiences in particular. “As artists, we are so thrilled to be telling these wonderful stories again. Everyone is taking so many precautions and measures to make everyone feel safe, the way we felt before this pandemic. We’re so joyous to be back to doing what theater is all about — telling stories.”

Contributing: AP

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Pre-workout powders are booming on social media — but are they necessary?

“Everyone’s looking for that next edge to help them in their fitness,” says Jonathan Purtell, a registered dietitian at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. Pre-workout powders “are just one of the things that are marketed to speed up that process a little bit more.”

We asked experts whether these supplements are a heavily-marketed fad or serious fitness fuel.

They’re “absolutely not” necessary for working out, says Dr. Dennis A. Cardone, a sports medicine expert at NYU Langone Health.

While extreme athletes might need more supplementing, Cardone advises the average person to avoid powders that could have “potential harmful effects” and instead get their energy from actual food.

“We can get everything we want out of it — our protein, our carbohydrate, our caffeine, if we want to — so there’s really no need to supplement a well-balanced diet.”

By focusing on food, people can “control and know exactly what they’re taking into their bodies,” he says.

Pre-workouts could be beneficial in some cases, says Abbie E. Smith-Ryan, an associate professor of exercise physiology at UNC Chapel Hill’s Department of Exercise and Sport Science who does research on sports nutrition and exercise performance.

“Do you need it? No, probably not,” Smith-Ryan says. “Does it increase performance? Potentially. So it can help. But I wouldn’t say it’s necessary.”

She says a pre-workout powder can help give you that energy boost and “can help recovery and fatigue over time.”

But not all pre-workouts are the same. Companies have made headlines for spiking their pre-workout supplements with dangerous chemicals and ingredients. The federal Food and Drug Administration has issued warnings against certain, sometimes illegal, ingredients in such products.

Cardone says he’s concerned about pre-workout powders whose manufacturers aren’t transparent about their ingredients.

“They’re not controlled by the FDA, so we really do not know the substances or ingredients,” he says.

“You want to look for a third-party-tested seal,” Smith-Ryan says.

These companies certify that what the label says is what’s in the product. Some even check for banned substances. Common certifications include NSF Certified for Sport and Informed Choice.

“I want to know whatever I’m buying is actually what it says is in there, so that third-party-tested seal is really important,” Smith-Ryan says. “It costs a lot of money for these companies to do that, which also shows they’re putting time and money into their product.”

Even for pre-workout powders with such a stamp of approval, people should be hyperaware when using them. Caffeine, for instance, is a popular stimulant used in pre-workout powders but could have side effects if taken in excess.

“It can make them feel jittery and make their heart race a little bit,” Cardone says. “And if somebody does have heart problems or cardiac problems, it could even potentially lead to other other possible side effects.”

Smith-Ryan says some people also take more than they need.

“Most people think more is better, and that’s not always the case,” she says. “Follow the directions because, if you’re taking too much caffeine at one given time, you can have serious complications.”

She suggests a better way to amp up your workout, is to “move around, kind of do a dynamic warmup.”

Purtell says good nutrition helps. He suggests lean meats like chicken breast, ground turkey and fish or plant-based proteins like tofu and tempeh. And if you’re looking for some energy, you can have a cup of coffee or tea.

Read more at usatoday.com

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