Last year, the Chicago Bears made a trade to acquire a former first-round wide receiver in N’Keal Harry, bringing him over from the New England Patriots.

It was a low-risk trade, for only a seventh-round pick, and fans couldn’t be mad at that. In fact, there was a bit of optimism that Harry might be able to break out after a fresh start. After all, he was a first-round talent not too long ago.

Unfortunately, the optimism did not last too long. The Bears only used him on 40 percent of offensive snaps in the games he was active for. That actually sounds like a decent amount of playing time, but out of the 176 brief snaps he played, Harry was only targeted nine times.

Of those nine targets, he caught seven of them for 116 yards and one touchdown. That’s not exactly an inspiring season total for a guy you traded for. It would have been a heck of a single game, but a full season? Woof.

It would be shocking to see the Chicago Bears re-sign wide receiver N’Keal Harry in free agency

This will likely get chalked up as a loss for general manager Ryan Poles, who has to address the wide receiver position in a big way this offseason.

Now, when Harry was on the field and targeted, he looked the part. It was actually a mystery as to why he was rarely used. That was a big question fans had at the end of the season. Why trade for a guy like that if you’re not going to use him?

There has to be more underlying issues, there, that we don’t know as fans.

Regardless, the Bears probably won’t bring him back. Knowing they have Chase Claypool, Darnell Mooney, Velus Jones Jr. and the already re-signed Equanimeous St. Brown, that’s four spots locked up without a true number one.

Now, it’s up to Poles to go out and get a true number one option at wide receiver, and that’s simply not Harry. As much as Bears fans would have loved it to be true, the team clearly wasn’t going that direction when it was all said and done.

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During the course of 11 seasons in the Bruins’ organization, Kevin Dean built one of the NHL’s strongest defensive corps.

Now Dean has the opportunity to do the same for the Blackhawks, having settled in as one of the team’s new assistant coaches. And for a man who enjoys the journey almost as much as the destination, that task — challenging as it will be — excites him.

“You’re going to have some growing pains, but I’m pretty patient and Luke is patient,” Dean said. “It’s nice to see the light bulb go on when they get it. It’s like, ‘Oh yeah, I get it.’ It’s fun to see when it clicks on and then to watch the slow growth.”

The 53-year-old former defenseman is indeed far more patient, warm and friendly than his gruff appearance suggests — traits that fit right in alongside Derek King and Derek Plante on Luke Richardson’s staff. The group has instilled a sense of in-it-together unity between the coaches, players and staff that has made this season much less miserable than it otherwise could have been.

Dean is already accustomed to Chicago, having grown up in Madison, Wisconsin, and having appeared in 96 games for the Hawks in 2000 and 2001 at the end of his playing career.

Boston, however, is unquestionably where Dean established his current reputation. Over five seasons as an assistant for Providence (the Bruins’ AHL affiliate), one season as Providence’s head coach and five seasons as a Bruins assistant, Dean helped mold Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, Connor Clifton and Matt Grzelcyk, among many other defensemen who passed through.

That foursome has formed two-thirds of the Bruins’ defense each of the last two seasons and played a big role in their dominance this season in particular.

“They were great players, and they were going to be great no matter what,” Dean said. “But even now, when I watch them, they’re doing things that you talked about when they were young. It’s fun to watch.”

With his contract expiring last summer, Dean was nonetheless released by the Bruins during the messy fracas that ended in coach Bruce Cassidy’s firing.

Now with the Hawks, Dean anticipates doing the same with the organization’s robust young generation of defensemen — including Kevin Korchinski, Nolan Allan, Alex Vlasic, Isaak Phillips, Ethan Del Mastro, Wyatt Kaiser and Sam Rinzel — as they gradually graduate into the NHL.

“When you get a kid at 20 or 21, they’re a little bit more malleable than when you get them at 28 or 30,” Dean said. “It’ll be fun to try to ingrain some of these habits in them about stick position and angles and stuff like that.

“Quite honestly, I don’t do a lot of that with Jack Johnson and some of the older guys, because they’re either pretty good at it or it’s probably not changing. But with Phillips and [Ian] Mitchell, you talk about it a little bit more, and it’ll be even more when these next guys start rolling in here in the next couple years.”

Even this season, working with a defensive lineup that was never intended to measure up to competitive standards, Dean’s efforts have begun yielding fruit.

“The things we’ve been harping on since Day One — like making good, clean passes to your partner, giving your partner a good puck [and] supporting your partner — I’m just starting to see [progress with],” he said. “It’s no fault of their own. I don’t know if that was valued where they were playing before or last year here. But you can see it now, that they’re starting to understand.”

Defensive-zone exits and breakouts with possession are major priorities under Dean, and they’re among the areas the Hawks have finally improved in recent months.

When the Hawks are passing ‘D’-to-‘D’ below the goal line, he stresses the importance of keeping the puck “off the yellow” — as in, sending it directly from stick to stick rather than rimming it around the boards — so the other defenseman can gather it quickly. That half-second often decides whether the opposing forecheck is successful or not.

When passing ‘D’-to-‘D’ higher in the zone, he wants his defensemen to try to evade one forechecker before doing so in order to avoid that forechecker immediately switching directions and hounding the other defenseman as soon as he receives the pass.

Meanwhile, the Hawks’ adherence to their new system of defensive coverage — the zone-based “box-plus-one” — has also generally improved, even if the rocky past three games haven’t exactly fit that overarching pattern.

“You can see these guys trying to do the right thing,” Dean said. “They get a little bit glitchy sometimes, but . . . they’re trying to do what we tell them. It’ll probably take a little more time, but we’ll get there and we are getting there.”

“It’s important to have that foundation this year so that next year you’re not starting from square one. You can start having a little more fun with it and dial it in a little more.”

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INDIANAPOLIS — The Bulls came into Gainbridge Fieldhouse attempting to end a four-game skid.

Instead, they were unable to find the heart needed to pull out a critical win and blew a 24-point lead to mark their worst losing streak of the season with a 117-113 defeat against the Pacers. Once again, the culprit was a second-half breakdown.

“We compete pretty hard but what happens is the game gets ratcheted up, physically, mentally and emotionally,” coach Billy Donovan said. “You have to be able to come down on both ends of the floor and really be incredibly detailed and focused. You have to execute.”

Without All-Star DeMar DeRozan, who was at home nursing a Grade 1 quad strain, Donovan needed someone else to play like an All-Star. Wednesday night, Zach LaVine gave it his best shot.

He scored a game-high 35 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and had seven assists. But in the final seconds when the Bulls needed a clutch bucket from their max player, he came up short. LaVine missed a potential go-ahead shot from the corner with 11 seconds to play and airballed a wide-open attempt from three on the Bulls’ final possession.

Wednesday was far too similar to the Bulls’ last road meeting with the Pacers in which they gave up a 21-point lead and failed to close the game out in the final seconds.

“I mean we talk about it,” LaVine said. “Like we’ve been here before. Try to sustain, go out there and change the momentum a little bit. We gave ourselves a chance but came up a little too short.”

The Bulls won the first quarter, outscoring the Pacers 39-15 but proceeded to lose the next two, watching as their 23-point third-quarter lead was erased. The Pacers outscored the Bulls 40-28 in the third as the urgency the Bulls have been so desperately searching for once again eluded them.

“The game is not won in the first five minutes,” Donovan said. “You have to be able to play all the way through.”

Buddy Hield was the main man responsible for the Pacers’ third-quarter comeback. He closed out the quarter with a three at the buzzer and contributed 19 of his 27 points in that period alone.

Donovan elected to go with a small lineup to start the game, putting Alex Caruso in for DeRozan. Caruso missed Monday’s game after reaggravating a left foot injury he sustained earlier in the month. He came in and played with the same defensive ferocity that has become his calling card.

The Bulls forced 19 Pacers turnovers and converted them into 23 points. Caruso provided a significant spark. His defensive prowess was complemented by strong performances from the Bulls’ young guys. Coby White had two steals, Patrick Williams added two more and Caruso had three. The team finished with 10.

After shooting 27.4% from three-point range through the first seven games in February, they found their stroke. In the first half, the Bulls went 6-for-15 from behind the arc, and they finished 15-for-35.

The second game of their back-to-back against the Bucks on Thursday night at the United Center is the last game before the All-Star break.”We get the break one way or the other,” LaVine said. “Hopefully we can get a little recharged, everyone gets a mental break and gets ready for the second half.”

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INDIANAPOLIS — Dalen Terry doesn’t feel any pressure in his role with the Bulls despite never really knowing exactly when his number will be called.

“Honestly, I’m just trying to get in where I fit in,” Terry said after playing nine minutes and scoring four points in the loss Monday night to the Magic. Terry played 15 minutes in the 117-113 loss to the Pacers on Wednesday night.

Coach Billy Donovan commended Terry for contributing valuable minutes despite his limited role all season. As the Bulls’ injury report grows, with DeMar DeRozan, Derrick Jones Jr. and Goran Dragic added to a list that has included Lonzo Ball and Javonte Green, Terry is looking at a chance for an expanded role.

“There will be opportunities for him,” Donovan said.

Donovan’s biggest ask of Terry is to bring energy. As a rookie, Donovan knows he’s going to make mistakes here and miss shots there. But the most significant way he can impact his team right now is by providing a surge coming off the bench.

Carlik Jones and Malcolm Hill both were recalled from the G League in response to the Bulls being hit hard by the injury bug. Five of the Bulls’ top contributors are out, none more significant though than their All-Star.

“We don’t have anyone that’s going to play like DeMar does,” Donovan said.

Donovan didn’t have an update on DeRozan’s status before the game against the Pacers. DeRozan didn’t travel with the team to Indianapolis in favor of staying back and receiving treatment.

Donovan did not rule DeRozan out of the second game of the team’s back-to-back Thursday against the Bucks.

Decisions, decisions

The loss to the Pacers was the Bulls’ fifth in a row, their worst skid of the season, and one of the reasons is their teetering offense.

Their 111.7 offensive rating has them 24th in the league, but their numbers through the month of February paint an uglier picture. The Bulls are 3-5 through the first 2 1/2 weeks of February with a 106.4 offensive rating that is better only than the Spurs.

Although Donovan said Monday that his team never has lived or died by the three-pointer, shooting 27.3% from distance over the last seven games certainly isn’t giving them much life.

To Donovan, the concern isn’t what they’re running on offense, but a regression in their decision-making skills.

“When you evaluate the offense, is it what we’re running or how we’re running it?” Donovan said. “You can say, ‘OK, we’re going to revamp everything,’ and you’re still in the same situation where you have to make decisions, read what the defense is doing.”

The Bulls’ inability to make successful reads has them a game back of the 10th and final spot in the play-in tournament. Donovan said he needs to see his team’s decision-making skills improve, but they’re running out of time for those necessary improvements to make any kind of difference.

Injury update

Alex Caruso played 30 minutes Wednesday after missing the game Monday with a left foot injury. Dragic was out against the Pacers with left knee soreness.

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Rolling Meadows, which began the season with such high expectations, was covered in agony. Some players hid their faces and others slumped to the floor.

On the other side of the court it was all elation. The visiting Palatine fans engulfed their team to celebrate the school’s first Mid-Suburban League championship in 30 years.

The unexpected scene played out after the Pirates upset No. 13 Rolling Meadows 54-52.

Junior Tommy Elter hit the winning shot for Palatine (23-6). It was a driving layup with 40 seconds to play.

“It was a moment, it was all in the moment,” Elter said. “This is just the start of it. On to the playoffs now and it is going to be exciting.”

At the time, it seemed unlikely that Elter’s bucket would be the game winner. But a crucial Rolling Meadows turnover gave the ball back to the Pirates quickly and then the fouls began.

Palatine missed a free throw with 21 seconds left and the Mustangs had possession again with a chance to win the game.

It was a strange ending. Rolling Meadows star Cam Christie wound up heaving the ball from half court with three seconds left. It hit the backboard and went out of bounds. It appeared to be a shot, but the ball was thrown with a lot of velocity. Christie was looking for a foul to be called, but he didn’t get it.

The Pirates inbounded the ball successfully to claim their first conference title since 1993.

“All we care about is winning,” Palatine junior Connor May said. “We attacked every possession like it was our last. We didn’t care who was across from us. We played as a team, and we like the outcome.”

May, one of the season’s breakout stars, finished with 21 points. Elter added 10 points and eight rebounds and senior Tyler Swierczek scored 11.

“Your best players step up when the lights are brightest and Connor really asserted himself,” Pirates coach Eric Millstone said. “We’ve been riding him all year. The strides he’s made since last year is the main reason why we are where we are right now.”

Palatine jumped out to a 16-2 lead but Christie heated up in the second quarter and the Pirates went into the break up just 24-23.

The game was tied after three quarters and Rolling Meadows took a 52-20 lead on a steal and dunk by Christie with 3:23 left to play.

“I’m really happy for Palatine,” Mustangs coach Kevin Katovich said. “[Millstone] is a great guy and it has been a long time for them. I’m disappointed in how we played and we turned the ball over too much.”

Christie led Rolling Meadows (25-6) with 26 points and Tsvet Sotirov added 13 points and five rebounds.

The Mustangs are the No. 3 seed in the Class 4A New Trier Sectional. They could face Loyola in the regional final. Palatine is the No. 3 seed at the Barrington Sectional.

“We have a really good group of kids and you want to see good kids get good things,” Millstone said. “It was fun to see the reaction and see them experiences something that not a lot of Palatine teams have experienced.”

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TORONTO — The Blackhawks’ second visit to Canada this winter is not going well.

The Hawks failed to recover from an early blitz in a 5-2 loss to the Maple Leafs on Wednesday, marking their third consecutive defeat by three or more goals.

“I can’t fault our guys for the try,” coach Luke Richardson said. “The effort was there. [With] a few more executions on our line rushes, maybe we give it a little push at the end and we’re close. But Toronto is an explosive team, and they were really moving the puck in the ‘O’-zone tonight. We had a little bit of difficulty on a few of the goals.”

Leafs forward William Nylander instantly set the tone by taking advantage of an ill-timed slip by Jake McCabe to score just nine seconds after the opening draw. The hosts added two more goals within the next 12 minutes, even with another overturned as offside.

A one-time blast by Philipp Kurashev — the Hawks’ most active player all night — briefly cut the deficit to 3-2 early in the second period, but a misadventure by goalie Petr Mrazek gifted the Leafs a fourth goal and the game never tightened again.

Final scoring chances favored the Leafs by a 41-15 margin, the Hawks’ fourth-worst performance of the season in that regard. Visually, it wasn’t as pitiful as the 4-0 loss Tuesday against the Canadiens, but it also wasn’t a whole lot better.

The Hawks have now been outscored 13-3 over their last three games and gone 1-5-0 across both recent Canadian trips, with Ottawa being their last city left to visit Friday.

“The hockey gets harder as the season goes on,” Max Domi said. “We’ve got to find ways, when they’re feeling like that, to weather the storm. It has been a few games of up and down.”

The Hawks were unsettled even before the game began, having made six transactions Wednesday morning.

Jarred Tinordi was placed on injured reserve after suffering a knee sprain, meaning he’ll miss at least four games. MacKenzie Entwistle also missed Wednesday after re-aggravating his wrist injury. Jonathan Toews (illness) and Alex Stalock (with what is now being called “ocular dysfunction”) were retroactively placed on injured reserve.

All that allowed the Hawks to call up forwards Cole Guttman and Brett Seney and defenseman Isaak Phillips from Rockford as mid-trip reinforcements, although only Guttman played against the Leafs. It was his NHL debut.

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A few dozen pro-Ukrainian demonstrators gathered Wednesday night outside the Civic Opera House to denounce the Joffrey Ballet’s staging of a ballet based on a Russian novel amid Russia’s deadly invasion of Ukraine.

“I’m from Ukraine; I’m offended by the lack of sensitivity,” said Lise Korneichuk, 26, a student at the School of the Art Institute. “The theater should show solidarity instead of promoting Russian culture.”

The Joffrey Ballet has stood firm in its decision to showcase choreographer Yuri Possokhov’s “Anna Karenina,” based on the Leo Tolstoy novel, saying the effort to put on the show took years.

“The Joffrey Ballet stands with Ukraine, and we hold Ukrainians in our hearts while applauding their courage,” the Joffrey Ballet said in a statement. “We hope their pain and oppression ends in peace.”

The statement went on to say that the ballet company has always worked with artists from around the world to tell stories that “explore human emotion.” Possokhov was born in Lugansk (Ukraine), trained at the Moscow Ballet School and danced for 10 years with Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet.

“Artistic adaptations of historical pieces of literature about our humanity have the transformative power to create a space for meaning, reflection and healing while allowing us to connect to our past, present, and future,” the Joffrey said.

The protest remained peaceful, but there were some heated exchanges between ballet attendees and demonstrators.

The Joffrey dedicated the performance to Ukraine, and the orchestra played a Ukrainian piece beforehand to the full house.

Contributing: Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere

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