How the Chicago Bears got a father and son through canceron April 4, 2020 at 11:00 am

Chicago Bears (Photo Credit: Ryan Heckman, Da Windy City)

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Garth Heckman and his wife Kim (Photo Credit: Ryan Heckman, Da Windy City)

For one father and son, the Chicago Bears are much more than simply an NFL franchise.

The date was April 2, 2009. The Chicago Bears had just made a blockbuster deal to acquire Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler from the Denver Broncos.

I heard a loud, frightening scream from downstairs accompanied with a boisterous slam against what sounded like the wall or kitchen counter. My first thought was, “Dad.”

My greatest fear was that something had gone wrong from the cancer treatment and he collapsed. Anything could have happened, and I was upstairs, out of reach and couldn’t help him up. I practically somersaulted down the stairs to see what had happened.

Instead, I was greeted with a bear hug (no pun intended) as I rounded the corner, heading into the living room.

“We got Jay Cutler! We got Jay Cutler! The Bears got Jay Cutler!”

I have never felt such an awkward combination of anger, happiness and relief in my life. He was fine. He didn’t collapse. Instead, he saw the breaking news in regards to the Bears trading for Cutler and slammed his hand down on the counter in excitement while letting out a loud, joyous roar.

My pops was O.K. In fact, he was more than O.K. For the first time in months, he was the most outgoing and cheerful I had seen him. For just a moment, he forgot about the cancer, the bags upon bags of chemo and countless hospital visits.

There was hope. The Bears had hope, and he felt it.

That hope, though, was temporary. In the grand scheme of things, it was just the Bears. Now, you have to understand, the Bears were second to God and family. So, on one hand, it was the Bears! But again, in the grand scheme of life, it was just the Bears.

The next day, reality would set in again. He was in the middle of what would only be his first battle with cancer, and not even the Bears were enough to keep his mind off the most tiring, rigorous battle of his life.

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Chicago Bears NFL Draft: Why Logan Wilson should be on Pace’s radaron April 4, 2020 at 12:00 pm

Chicago Bears (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Though not an immediate need, the Chicago Bears could find their inside linebacker of the future in this year’s NFL Draft.

Recently, the Chicago Bears re-signed linebacker Danny Trevathan to a 3-year, $21.75 million contract to stay with the team through 2022. However, in order to do that, they needed to part ways with Nick Kwiatkoski, who signed a nice deal with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Although Kwiatkoski was a homegrown player for the Bears and carved out a nice niche for himself on the defense, they simply couldn’t afford both and opted for Trevathan. However, Trevathan has had some injury troubles recently and so the Bears might look to bolster the position in the NFL Draft, and if so, Logan Wilson would be one to look at.

As of this moment, there is not a ton of depth behind Trevathan or Roquan Smith. If one of those two went down, the team would look to Joel Iyiegbuniwe or Josh Woods respectively to fill the void. Wilson, however, would be a wonderful addition that would enable to Bears to not only have insurance against a Trevathan injury but a stud special team performer for the next year or two and a plug-and-play option once Trevathan’s contract expires.

Wilson, projected to go sometime on day two or three of the draft, is a smart, technically sound linebacker who a team can feel confident will make the right defensive play calls if given that responsibility. He’s got the intelligence to diagnose a play and blow it up quickly. In his four years at Wyoming, he averaged 102 total tackles per season, finishing his career with seven total sacks, 10 interceptions, and five forced fumbles. In other words, he can stuff the stat sheet in a hurry.

Next: Bears should draft QB in light of Foles’ contract

He still has some work to do to improve in coverage, but you might recall, that was once considered a big concern for Kwiatkoski. However, he worked hard to erase that narrative by becoming much better in coverage and working in space. As tireless a worker as Wilson is, he shouldn’t have any problem improving in that regard as well.

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Chicago Cubs: A shortened regular season may benefit themon April 4, 2020 at 1:00 pm

GOODYEAR, ARIZONA – MARCH 07: Javier Baez #9 of the Chicago Cubs throws a ball to fans during a spring training game against the Cleveland Indians at Goodyear Ballpark on March 07, 2020 in Goodyear, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)

While major league baseball remains in limbo as for when their season will start, it’s fair to assess how a possible shortened season could actually benefit the Chicago Cubs.

With the entire sports world turned upside down for who knows how long, no one knows when or even if there will be competitive baseball being played again in 2020. With that said, if we are fortunate enough to get sports back this year, there’s a strong possibility that many sports will have to shorten up their seasons, given all the time that’s already been missed. Here’s how the Chicago Cubs could greatly benefit from this action taking place.

For starters, the Cubs’ central core of players remains intact. Theo Epstein and company hardly made any roster moves this offseason, and while this has led to some criticism among disgruntled fans who wanted to see big changes taking place, refusing to tear down the roster gives the Cubs a continuity advantage over their division rivals: the Saint Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Cincinnati Reds.

Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, and Willson Contreras, among a bunch of others have played together since their 2016 World Series run. The team’s familiarity playing together successfully over the years can help manager David Ross and company maneuver around a shortened season’s disadvantages: number one being rusty play from the long delay.

Don’t underestimate team chemistry, even when it comes to playing baseball. Other teams have new players on their rosters who haven’t even gotten the chance to play one inning together this spring. Thus, those teams will likely experience more growing pains than the Cubs, especially if there are fewer games being played.

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In addition, a shortened season can benefit the Cubs by easing the pressure of first-year manager, David Ross. While Epstein has emphasized the organization being in a “win now” mode, a shortened season throws every projection out of sorts, with Epstein being aware of this, no doubt.

If by chance the Cubs were to struggle out of the gate in Ross’s first season leading the team, the organization can simply blame the long delay to the start of the season, or a condensed schedule as prime reasons why the Cubs, and possibly other contending teams are playing sluggish. Ross can thus be given a free pass for how his team performs, even if they aren’t playing great baseball early on. Even more important though: the backlash wouldn’t be as immense as it would if the season started on time as normal.

Finally, a shortened season can benefit the Cubs by keeping more fans engrossed into watching them than ever before. In other sports such as football that play competitively once a week, sports like baseball that play 162-plus games find it harder to draw in fan interest until the playoffs begin. Shortening the regular season will increase a “sense of urgency” to every game played, while making the stakes within division-play even more competitive and appealing to watch.

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Chicago Bears: Time to bring Jay Cutler back for QB competitionon April 4, 2020 at 2:00 pm

Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears (Photo by Al Pereira/New York Jets/Getty Images)

Chicago Bears’fans have talked on social media about missing Jay Cutler as their quarterback. I say let him compete for the job.

If Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles are going to compete for the starting role as quarterback Week 1, why not bring in a familiar face who might be able to still play? The Chicago Bears need to explore all options, one of those options being Jay Cutler.

Let’s say, Cutler wins the starting quarterback job in camp and learns the Matt Nagy offense, wouldn’t that be a good story? Kurt Warner found a lot of success later in his career, the same as John Elway. Maybe Cutler could do the same with the Bears.

If Chicago signed Cutler on a one-year deal, does that hurt anyone? No, it doesn’t.

Maybe Cutler makes an ultimatum with Ryan Pace in his contract where if he doesn’t start Week 1, they can cut him and not lose money towards the cap, would that be fine? I don’t see the harm in that.

Foles was interviewed by Chicago Media and he brought up how Trubisky and he were going to do what’s best for the team. Maybe Cutler is what’s best for the team.

Cutler has a better arm than Trubisky and Foles. He never got the head coach he deserved, like Coach Nagy. I truly believe something magical could happen if Cutler got a second shot at being the Bears’ quarterback.

Cutler is now 36 years old, turning 37 this month. He isn’t the long-term answer. Cutler is good for two to three more seasons with the Bears. If he didn’t win the job, he leaves and basically stays in retirement.

If Cutler wins the job, they can work one-on-one with Trubisky to master this offense. If Trubisky truly isn’t the guy after mastering the offense, they can look elsewhere in the upcoming drafts.

Look, Foles isn’t going to be a long-term fix. He is a bridge quarterback for the next guy if he wins the job. If Trubisky wins the job, there’s potential for success with him. I believe Trubisky can win in Chicago. I also would like to see Cutler get one more chance, this time with Coach Nagy.

Pace, Nagy confirm heated quarterback competition

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This isn’t the worst idea. Ryan Pace, deeply consider this. It’s time to start the #BringCutlerBack movement on social media!

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Chicago Cubs: Three stars they can trade away this summeron April 4, 2020 at 3:00 pm

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The Chicago Cubs are in a strange situation with a lot of their great players. Which of them will stay and which will go?

The Chicago Cubs are in a weird situation. They are a team that is now four seasons removed from that 2016 team that won the World Series. A lot of their core is still there but the bottom of the depth has fallen out. They also replaced Joe Maddon with David Ross as their manager. It could be the start of a new look to some degree on the North Side in short order.

The Chicago Cubs have some contract issues on the rise. They won in 2016 but were a bit disappointing in the years that followed. It really was peak disappointment when they didn’t even qualify for the National League Wild Card Game in 2019. That made everyone wonder what is wrong and it was also clear that they were going to make some changes soon.

So that is where those contract issues come into play. The Cubs have some really good players that need new deals that are going to cost a fair amount of money. It is fair to wonder if Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer are going to be willing to shell out the cash and potentially handcuff their team with big contracts with no-trade clauses.

The only guy out of them all that they might roll the dice on is Javier Baez. He is not only one of the best players on the Cubs but he is one of the best players in the world. He might be the one guy that the Cubs take their chances with on a lucrative deal of that magnitude. With that said, these three players might get traded as a result of these issues:

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Chicago Bears: Germain Ifedi contract details prove huge valueon April 4, 2020 at 7:03 pm

Chicago Bears (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)

The details of new Chicago Bears guard Germain Ifedi have been made public, and once again Ryan Pace looks like a wise man.

When it was announced that the Chicago Bears signed veteran offensive lineman Germain Ifedi earlier in free agency, the move was met by several opinions. As with any signing, there were positive and negative reactions.

However, the fact that Ifedi signed just a 1-year deal meant that this was likely going to be a low-risk move by general manager Ryan Pace.

One thing was abundantly clear heading into the offseason, and it was that Pace had to address the line. He had to add competition, and with Ifedi, he did that. Up until now, though, we didn’t know just how serious of a signing this would be.

Fast forward to Saturday, and the contract details have become official. In short, Pace worked out a strong contract, just like the restructure he did with Nick Foles.

Germain Ifedi’s one-year deal with the Bears if for the veteran salary benefit: $137,500 to sign, a $910,000 base salary with a cap number of $887,500. A wise value add for the Bears for a 25-year old that has started 60 games already.

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) April 4, 2020

Alas, we can see that this move is not going to cost the Bears a whole lot after all. Ifedi is getting a veteran minimum salary for the 2020 season, and this after starting a whopping 60 games with the Seattle Seahawks.

Ifedi is still just 25 years old, and while he has had his fair share of penalties over his four years in the league, he still brings veteran competition. If he ends up winning the starting job at guard, then Pace will have spent less than $1 million to land that starter.

If the Bears draft a guard who ends up filling that role, so be it. But, regardless, Ifedi’s contract is nothing to worry about. It’s not going to strap the team for cash in any way, and they can continue to clear space with extensions or restructures down the line, if need be.

I believe the Bears will end up drafting a guard at some point, which will be great for Ifedi. It will create a much-needed competition, just like the Bears are planning to do at quarterback. This is how you fill holes when you’re low on draft capital. You do what you can, with what you have, all while creating competition.

Sure, Pace could have gone out and tried to land a top-tier free agent. However, Joe Thuney, Andrus Peat and Brandon Scherff stayed on their respective teams, depleting the guard market. Pace knew his Plan B was a low-cost option like Ifedi, plus competition through the draft or fellow free agents.

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It isn’t every move that causes us to praise him (far from it, in fact), but the Ifedi deal, accompanied by the Foles restructure, certainly justifies a compliment. Well done, Pace.

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