The ChicagoBears officially introduced their new starting quarterback on Thursday in the form of Andy Dalton and it appears that they are determined to add some offensive weapons in order to assist Dalton in his efforts with the team. The most talented offensive player on the Bears’ roster is wide receiver, Allen Robinson. The issue […]
Trubisky, the No. 2 overall pick in 2017, has an 87.2 career passer rating. | AP Photos
Any thought Trubisky could return to the Bears was shot down when they agreed to sign quarterback Andy Dalton on Tuesday.
When the Bears traded four draft picks to move up one spot and draft Mitch Trubisky, they were confident they’d solved their quarterback problems for the next decade or so.
Less than four years after the trade, Trubisky’s time with the Bears is over.
He agreed to sign a one-year deal with the Buffalo Bills on Thursday, ending his Bears career with two playoff appearances, one injury replacement Pro Bowl berth and 29 wins over 50 starts. He will back up starter Josh Allen.
“I don’t know what went on in Chicago, but he started 50 games,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane told reporters. “The label has been put on Mitchell from afar that maybe he doesn’t deserve it. This is a reset for him. We don’t expect him to be here long term.”
Any thought Trubisky, 26, would return to the Bears was shot down when they agreed to sign quarterback Andy Dalton on Tuesday.
Trubisky did indicate a willingness to return to the Bears immediately after their playoff loss to the New Orleans Saints, insisting he had “unfinished business” in Chicago.
Trubisky will be best remembered for not living up to the expectations set when general manager Ryan Pace traded for him minutes into the 2017 draft in Philadelphia.
And, of course, the other quarterbacks Pace could have selected.
Trubisky was picked second. The Chiefs drafted Patrick Mahomes No. 10 and the Texans took Deshaun Watson No. 12. The Bears attended the Clemson pro day of the most decorated college quarterbacks of all time, but Watson has maintained for four years that the Bears talk to him before the draft.
Why?
“I have no idea,” Watson said in December.
Arguably the two most dynamic young quarterbacks in the sport, both Mahomes and Watson signed big-money contract extensions last offseason. The Bears, meanwhile, declined to give Trubisky his fifth-year option for 2021.
A parting between Trubisky and the Bears might be best for both sides. Pace and coach Matt Nagy are facing a must-win season, and Trubisky would benefit from being freed of the expectations heaped on him by a city that hasn’t cheered for an elite quarterback in 71 years.
Trubisky was drafted in 2017 just seven weeks after the Bears signed Mike Glennon in free agency. Glennon’s tenure lasted one season — and his starting job four games. Trubisky was inserted into the Bears’ lineup in Week 5. He won four of 12 starts. Coach John Fox was fired at the end of the season.
The Bears hired coach Matt Nagy — the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator that spent one season preparing Mahomes to start — to develop Trubisky. In Nagy’s first year, the pairing looked promising: Trubisky and the Bears went 12-4, won the NFC North and were a Cody Parkey double-doink away from winning their first playoff game.
Trubisky cratered enough in his third season, though, showing questionable decision-making and not running as often as he had earlier in his career, that the Bears decided not to pick up his option in May.
His final season with the team was a rollercoaster. He lost his starting job in the third quarter of the third game and returned only after a struggling Nick Foles hurt his hip in a Week 10 loss to the Vikings in Week 10. The Bears put Trubisky under center and assembled tempo-driven, run-based offensive attack, with good results. Trubisky lost to the Packers and Lions before winning three-straight games to give the Bears a win-and-they’re-in finale against Green Bay.
The Bears lost — but so did the Cardinals, allowing the Bears to back into the playoffs as the NFC’s first-ever No. 7 seed. They lost to the Saints in a blowout the next week.
Firefighters standing in front of the home after extinguishing the fire. | Chicago Fire Department Media
All five children and three adults made it out safely.
A dog died after a fire broke out at a house Thursday afternoon in the East Side neighborhood.
Five children and three adults escaped unharmed from the burning one-and-a-half story home at 11135 S. Greenbay Ave., Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt said.
The fire department received the call around 12:30 p.m. that the home was burning, Merritt said. The fire started in the rear of the home, which sustained the most damage, he said.
The family dog died but all other occupants were uninjured, department spokesman Larry Langford said. The cause of the fire remained under investigation.
Wednesday night, three children left alone at home survived a fire in the Washington Park neighborhood. An 8-year-old girl jumped to safety after throwing a mattress from a third-story window.
A binding referendum could be used to establish the powers a civilian panel would have to oversee the Chicago Police Department. | Getty Images
If Chicago voters OK the binding referendum on the 2022 primary ballot, Mayor Lori Lightfoot would lose the power to hire and fire the police superintendent even though her political future could rise and fall on that choice.
Chicago voters would be asked to approve a binding referendum empowering a civilian police oversight commission to hire and fire the police superintendent, negotiate police contracts and set the Chicago Police Department’s budget, under a compromise ordinance circulated Thursday.
Two groups that have long pushed dramatically different versions of civilian police oversight followed through on their promise to join forces on a revised ordinance certain to encounter stiff resistance. That’s because it would strip both Lightfoot and the City Council of coveted authority over police issues.
If Chicago voters approve the binding referendum on the 2022 primary ballot, Lightfoot would lose the power to hire and fire the police superintendent even though her political future could rise and fall on that choice.
Her Law Department would lose the power to negotiate police contracts — ratified by the City Council.
And Lightfoot and aldermen would be stripped of the power they now hold to establish police spending. That power also would be ceded to an 11-member civilian oversight commission composed of nine elected commissioners and two appointed by the mayor.
Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th), the former Chicago Police officer now chairing the Committee on Public Safety, described the compromise ordinance as overreach.
“It should be within the authority of the mayor to hire and fire the superintendent, the Police Board and the COPA administrator. If she’s gonna wear the hat for any good or bad that happens within the police department, she needs to be able to hire and fire the chief executive of those offices,” Taliaferro said.
“I can’t imagine being the mayor of a municipality and you have no say-so in the direction of the police department.”
Taliaferro said he’s all for civilian police oversight, but the powers of that commission should be confined to “observing the policies and procedures” of CPD, the Police Board and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
Even if voters do not approve the binding referendum, the 11-member commission would have the final say in disputes over police policy unless two-thirds of the City Council decides otherwise. The commission would also be empowered in any event to take a vote of no-confidence in the superintendent and hire and fire the chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
“Once you start reaching too far into city government, why would you need a City Council? Why not take over City Council? … You can’t have one organization doing it all,” Taliaferro said.
Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) championed the more extreme version of civilian oversight proposed by the Civilian Police Accountability Council before helping forge the compromise with the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability.
Ramirez-Rosa called the binding referendum the “constitutional and politically-sound pathway” for Chicago.
“Under mayoral control, we got Laquan McDonald. Under mayoral control, we saw the abuse of Anjanette Young. Under mayoral control, we ended up with this consent decree. Mayoral control isn’t working. It’s cost Chicagoans their lives. It’s cost the city of Chicago hundreds of millions of dollars in police misconduct settlements,” Ramirez-Rosa said.
If, as expected, Lightfoot opposes the compromise, “What she’s saying is, she doesn’t want to give the people of Chicago a choice.”
And what are the chances that a binding referendum would pass?
“CPAC leaders wouldn’t have agreed to this compromise had it not been for their belief that they can get out the vote for a directly-elected civilian commission with expanded powers,” Ramirez-Rosa said.
The mayor’s office had no immediate comment on the compromise ordinance.
A source close to the negotiations argued the overreaching referendum plays into the mayor’s hands.
“If she were a deft politician, she would try to sound reasonable and say, ‘I support community oversight. But I don’t support a community takeover of the Police Department,” said a source close to the negotiations who asked to remain anonymous.
“She would say, ‘You elected me to fix the Chicago Police Department. Putting it in the hands of this body isn’t the way to fix things and it isn’t the way Chicago runs.’”
Last month, Lightfoot pressured Taliaferro to postpone a showdown vote on civilian police review to give her time to introduce a substitute ordinance that, among other things, would empower the mayor to break disputes whenever she and the commission disagree on proposed changes to police policy.
Lightfoot has also objected to empowering the civilian board to take an advisory vote of no-confidence in the police superintendent that would trigger the superintendent’s firing if it’s followed by a two-thirds vote by the City Council.
The following day, GAPA and CPAC joined forces, putting even more pressure on the mayor.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday, announcing the state’s plan to open up vaccines to all Illinoisans over 16 — except Chicagoans — by April 12 and the “bridge” phase to reopening the state. To his left is Ngozi Ezike, head of the Illinois Department of Public Health. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
The governor announced the expansion of coronavirus vaccine eligibility to all Illinois residents over 16 — except at Chicago sites — starting April 12, and set thresholds for vaccinations and new COVID-19 caseloads for the state to return to normal.
Nearly a year after he issued his first stay-at-home order, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday announced his plan to reopen the state, employing a “bridge” phase that will include increasing capacity limits at museums, zoos and other places.
The governor also announced the expansion of coronavirus vaccine eligibility to all Illinois residents over 16 — except at Chicago sites — starting April 12, and set thresholds for vaccinations and new COVID-19 caseloads for the state to return to normal.
“Although we still are in the midst of a global pandemic, the end seems truly to be in sight,” Pritzker said.
The state can enter that 28-day “bridge” phase to a full reopening when 70% of those 65 and over have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Pritzker expressed optimism about the state being able to return to more normal operations and pointed to the 58% first-dose vaccination rate for seniors, as of Thursday morning.
The state must also maintain a 20% or lower intensive-care-unit bed availability rate and hold steady on COVID-19 and COVID-like illness hospital admissions, mortality rate, and case rate over a 28-day monitoring period.
In the intermediate stage between Phases 4 and 5, museums will see their capacity limitations increase from 25% to 60%. The same limitations will apply to zoos.
Amusement parks will be able to increase capacity from the 25% restriction in Phase 4 to 60% in the intermediate stage. Festivals and general admission outdoor, spectator events can seat 30 people per 1,000 square feet in the bridge phase.
Meetings, conferences and conventions will see their capacity limit increase to either 1,000 people or 60%, whichever is less. The limitations around meetings also apply to theaters and performing arts venues.
The governor said Thursday Illinois will resume normal business operations “when at least 50% of our 16 and over population has received at least one dose.” The state’s mask requirement will be lifted when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommends it.
Pritzker wouldn’t put a date on when the state might get to the bridge phase, but with about 1% of the state’s population receiving the vaccine per day, it could happen “expeditiously.”
“While we’re racing against a tough clock — the new, more dangerous variants that is — it is fully in our power to turn the page on this dark and devastating chapter,” Pritzker said. “These vaccines are our fastest ticket back to hugging our grandkids, eating inside restaurants without worrying about the risks, school dances, community celebrations, all the things that we miss about normal life.”
Pat Nabong/Sun-TimesGov. J.B. Pritzker speaks during a news conference at the James R. Thompson Center in the Loop, Thursday afternoon.
Throughout the pandemic, the governor has given local governments leeway to impose tighter COVID-19 restrictions, but not looser ones, and the city often has done just that, keeping a tighter lid on indoor capacity limits at bars and restaurants.
Citing scarce supply, Chicago has stayed a step behind the state’s vaccination plan for the past month, though any Chicago residents 16 and over will be able to go to any state-supported site to receive a vaccine starting April 12, a Pritzker spokeswoman said.
The city will open appointments to people 16 and older with chronic health conditions as it enters Phase 1C March 29 — more than a month after Pritzker allowed that to happen in other regions.
Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said the city, which receives its vaccine shipments separately from the rest of the state, won’t open appointments as allowed in Pritzker’s plan.
“I would like to spend the first month of this 1C period still doing some prioritization so that people [in high-contact jobs] and people with underlying conditions are prioritized above healthy 23-year-old college students,” Arwady said during a separate online Q&A. “Assuming that the vaccine supply is there, we will for sure expand to everybody May 1. Maybe we’ll do it before that if it’s there. … Some of it is just about how much do you have vaccine supply and when.”
Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times fileDr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, in January.
Pritzker said he hopes Chicago “will move expeditiously toward opening up [vaccine appointments] even more.
“I think that it will be hard for the city if people who can get vaccinated, who live just beyond the city borders, are able to get an appointment to go get vaccinated, but people who are within the city may not be able to because they haven’t opened that up,” the governor said. “But again, I think that’s up to them.”
As for business operations, city officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Mayor Lori Lightfoot will follow Pritzker’s bridge plan.
Dr. Rachel Rubin, a co-leader of the Cook County Department of Health, said the county had not yet made the decision about whether or not to follow the state in opening up its vaccine eligibility or the bridged reopening.
“We don’t know if we will go as quickly into that bridge or if we might break that bridge up into sort of different sections, the beginning, medium, and end part of that bridge, we will have to see,” Rubin said. “My inclination at this point is for us to be extremely cautious about opening up, our numbers of new cases have leveled out, they are not continuing to decrease at this moment, they have really leveled out.”
The governor’s new plan appears to allow for fans to attend Bulls and Blackhawks games at the United Center, and also opens the door to conventions — potentially offering a boon to a hospitality industry that has been decimated by the pandemic.
But that’ll be up to Lightfoot’s office.
“McCormick Place’s commitment throughout this pandemic has been to act in the best interest of public health and we will continue to do so as we await further information regarding re-opening guidelines for the city of Chicago,” a spokeswoman for the lakeside hall said in a statement. “We stand ready to re-open as soon as public health conditions allow.”
Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia, who previously butted heads with the administration in expanding indoor service, called it “an important step towards recovery.”
“We have urged Gov. Pritzker to set a path to allow for expanded events with extensive safety measures in place, and this pragmatic approach to loosening restrictions will greatly enhance business opportunities for restaurants, event companies, conventions, and culinary tourism — all of which are critical to Illinois’ economic engine,” Toia said in a statement.
Illinois Retail Merchants Association president Rob Karr said it presents “a clear path forward to a full re-opening” — one that businesses hope “will be a short one,” he said in a statement.
Chicago Federation of Labor president Bob Reiter, a member of the Sun-Times board of directors, said “having a pathway toward reopening helps both workers and their employer plan a more defined path forward. To continue on this pathway to reopening, the health and safety of workers remains an absolute priority.”
Read Gov. Pritzker’s full “bridge phase” reopening plan:
It is the end of an error. The Chicago Bears no longer have to have Mitchell Trubisky playing quarterback for them. No matter whose fault it is, he never developed as well as he should have. Matt Nagy wasn’t able to coach him because he was so committed to his offensive scheme. He thought he was in Kansas City the whole time and that never allowed Trubiksy to reach his ceiling. It is a shame that it worked out that way but it is what it is.
The ChicagoBears’ decision to draft Mitchell Trubisky is still a disaster.
The Chicago Bears traded up from pick three to pick to in order to select Mitchell Trubiksy in the 2017 NFL Draft. In doing that, they left both Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson on the board for other teams to take. Now, both Mahomes and Watson are both on Hall of Fame trajectories.
Now, Trubisky is gone as he has signed on to be John Allen’s Buffalo Bills backup. He is probably going to go there and be a solid backup because that organization all of the sudden looks like a competent one. If he can go there and be a good solid backup, no one should be surprised. He was a terrible starter here in Chicago but the organization deserves a lot of blame for that.
Meanwhile in Chicago, they are fresh off an Andy Dalton signing. Do you mean to tell me Andy Dalton is going to be more effective than Mitchell Trubisky? At least number ten was able to scramble and use his legs. He also got closer to winning a playoff game in one try than Dalton ever did. Nick Foles is still there too and we know how the Foles/Trubisky battle worked out in 2020.
This franchise should be looking at the Mitchell Trubisky era as a complete failure. Everyone involved, including Mitch, deserves blame for this. The fact that this colossal failure didn’t result in both Nagy and Pace being fired is another mystery but that is beside the point. The decision to draft Trubisky will cause negative effects on the team for the next 20 years but he is gone now. Hopefully, enough change will be on the horizon where they can finally get this position right.
Chicago hardcore five-piece Porcupine use society’s fetid underbelly like a renewable energy source—they must know they’ll never run out of cruelty to drive their outrage. Their new album, The Sibyl (New Morality Zine), opens with “Pederasty,” sung from the point of view of an adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse who’s still haunted by trauma; its nonstop barrage of vicious drumming and guttural riffs sharpens the plainspoken anger and grief in the desperate lyrics.…Read More
ChicagoBulls executive vice president for basketball operations Arturas Karnišovas | Provided
Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas might not be able to repair this roster by next week’s trade deadline, but he better be ready to by the summer. As Wednesday was a reminder of, there’s an all-too familiar “M.O.” and it’s not pretty.
Billy Donovan has done what he’s can with this roster.
The offensive efficiency has improved, the rebounding is stronger, they’re mentally tougher, and the Bulls are five games better in the standings than they were at this time last season.
But there’s only so much make-up the coach can splash on this pig.
The loss to San Antonio on Wednesday was not only a reminder of how much more work Donovan and his staff have with this group, but more importantly another message to the front office that while there are a few pieces in place for this retooling, there’s not nearly enough.
Not if the postseason is the immediate goal.
The major concerns with this roster back in Week 1 of the regular season were the turnovers and the fouling, and the concerns coming out of the meltdown to the Spurs? Little has changed.
The Bulls entered Thursday’s off day last in the league in ball security, averaging 15.2 turnovers per game, and 12th worst in fouling with 20 per game.
The fouling is likely fixable. Young players learn the league, learn tendencies, and self-correct in that process. But the turnovers and the way this roster’s ball-handlers can easily blink when put in conflict? That’s innate with this personnel.
Tomas Satoransky is a combo guard who sees the floor really well, but isn’t breaking ankles. Second-year point guard Coby White has great north-south speed, but gets careless with the ball, doesn’t always see the floor well, and doesn’t have a lot of shake in his handles. And Zach LaVine is an improved decision maker, an above average ball-handler for an off guard, but there’s the problem, he’s an off guard.
The blueprint for the opposition has been on display for all to see when playing the Bulls, but the Spurs took the glitch to another level.
Down 23 at one point, San Antonio went to an attack-pressure defense in the second half, not only leading to careless turnovers, but more importantly, getting the offense completely out of sync.
“That’s just been our M.O.,’’ LaVine said of the collapse. “We had a pretty substantial lead. They just kept cutting it down. When they put the pressure on us, some of us handled it well. And then they played the shot clock against us, so when we finally got it over we were running our offense late. And then they were making us take some tough shots where we didn’t even get a shot off. That’s what’s going to happen when you can’t execute.’’
So is this: The Spurs shot 22-for-30 from the free throw line, while the home team was just 8-for-9. The Spurs committed nine turnovers, the Bulls had 17.
“I do think that your habits and things like that get exposed under the most pressurized situations,’’ Donovan said.
Game, set and match.
And unfortunately, it falls on executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas to now start the repairs. Just because a player has improved his ball handling under Donovan, it doesn’t make him a ball-handler. Just because there’s improvement in play-making, it doesn’t mean the roster has play-makers.
Not this Bulls roster at least.
While the Mar. 25 trade deadline chessboard may not have fully revealed itself yet, the evaluation process for Karnisovas & Co of this roster should have. There’s a reason White is no longer the starting point guard, and 32-year-old Thad Young has been moved into the starting center role.
Because this roster is severely flawed and needs fixing, if not by next week, definitely this summer.
While there is still an ongoing honeymoon period between Karnisovas and the fan base, the cab has pulled up in front of the resort and it’s definitely heading to the airport.
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