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  • Dexter, 53 Man & Practice Squad Ruminations

    Dexter, 53 Man & Practice Squad Ruminations

    So we got the 53 man roster. Some additional thoughts on the process.
    Firstly, Halas traded Gervon Dexter Sr mostly because, not one, but TWO, young DTs usurped him.

    We’ve been hearing about van den Berg [VDB]for much of the preseason, but we didn’t know that it was also the Summer of Love – Jayden Loving that is.

    Chicago Bears drafted Dexter with the 53rd overall pick in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft.

    He came with a high ceiling and reasonable floor, and he left with a high ceiling and reasonable floor.

    Naturally the former Flus’ regime fancied him, but Flus’ system was much more passive than Allen’s – more reactive – much like Lovie’s system where they patiently wait for the O to stumble.

    The main question about Dexter was if he could actually play 3T or even DT. He’s 6’6 [326] after all. How the hell can any DT get lower on a consistent basis being that tall? As it turns out, Dexter couldn’t and was frequently washed out on run plays. I would also see him frequently bite on misdirection where he would take himself out of the play, and not snap-off as quickly as he should.

    Of course, when he did everything right, he was disruptive leading to 13.5 sacks in his Chi career, but how the heck could you rely on someone that inconsistent vs run? If a team makes a big play, it’s 3rd and 1, they scurry to line and run right at him. Guess where they’re running at the goal-line? And if they caught the D with both Dexter and Yannick Ngakoue out there, oye vey…

    Jacob Infante@jacobinfante24
    The height of each DT on the #Bears 53-man roster:
    • Grady Jarrett: 6’1″
    • Neville Gallimore: 6’2″
    • Jordan van den Berg: 6’3″
    • Kentavius Street: 6’2″
    • Jayden Loving: 6’1″
    • James Lynch: 6’4″
    It’s clear Dennis Allen has a type and that Gervon Dexter (6’6″) didn’t fit

    The PFF grades reinforce our eyes.

    42.7 vs run last year. 60.3 yr before that. 36.2 yr before that. Tackling grades 31.4 with a 14% missed tackle rate. Can’t win with that for a 3T, a DT or esp NT. He is basically the Ngakoue of DTs which can only really be used on NASCAR, not base, and especially not TANK, packages.
    I was hoping for a 4rth or better, so a 5th and CB who can possibly be NB, not shabby. Clark Phillips [4rth RD, drafted in 2023, so also in last year of contract] isn’t a SPARQ freak. He’s 5’9, 183, ran a 4.51 [which is slower than Sweat btw]. He’s basically insurance for both rook Muhammad [unknown at NB] and Stevenson [head]/JJ [health].
    Dexter wasn’t in the long term plans, so Halas almost did it by the book, labeling and shelving him with some faux INJ til a trade finalized, getting something which is better than nothing [NVM avoiding some disgruntled narrative before season kicks off].

    I’m glad he’s gone. Yes, it may hurt our short-term depth, but it also opens up higher ceilings with VDB and Loving. By now, we knew what we were getting from Dexter, and if Bear fans agree about anything, it’s that our Dline is dangerously deficient and needs dramatic improvement for a SB to be a realistic goal. So, why not swing for the fences?

    A few more from the Flus regime need to join him out the door TBH [*Cough, Gordon].

    I don’t know if the avg age correlates AT ALL to winning. I’m sure the Bucs didn’t mind when Old Man Brady moved to TB, and I doubt the Rams are complaining much about the age of Stafford, Donald or Garrett.


    In case you didn’t catch the 3rd Preseason game vs Titans, here it is.
    The main takeaway: WR Zavion Thomas looked more like Hester than Velus. Honestly, I’m just happy Thomas can catch and run vertically! Though he also shows some real instincts and jets.

    This is our Practice Squad as of Monday. This will remain fluid, as the INJ settlements and further cuts evolve throughout the week. Glad Ahmed, Davenport, Davis and Miller are back. Still a lil surprised that Terrell Smith and Sanborn didn’t catch, but maybe Halas is working with them behind the scene.

  • Bears’ Final 53

    Bears’ Final 53

    Bears finalized their initial 53-man roster on Sunday, August 30, 2026, trimming their squad from 90..

    Offensive Roster

    QBs: Caleb Williams, Tyson Bagent, Case Keenum
    RBs: D’Andre Swift, Kyle Monangai, Roschon Johnson
    WRs: Rome Odunze, Luther Burden III, Kalif Raymond, Jahdae Walker, Zavion Thomas
    TEs: Colston Loveland, Cole Kmet, Sam Roush, Hayden Large
    O-Line: Braxton Jones, Joe Thuney, Garrett Bradbury, Jonah Jackson, Darnell Wright, Ozzy Trapilo, Logan Jones, Theo Benedet, Luke Newman, Jordan McFadden

    Defensive Roster

    D-Line: Montez Sweat, Grady Jarrett, Dayo Odeyingbo, Austin Booker, Jordan van den Berg, Neville Gallimore, Kentavius Street, Daniel Hardy, Jamree Kromah, Jayden Loving [Interesting that Bears preferred both VDB and Loving over Dexter]
    LBs: T.J. Edwards, Devin Bush, D’Marco Jackson, Keyshaun Elliott
    [Only 4 LBs, and Elliott’s a specialist. This is like hitting on 16. Dicey].
    DBs: Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson, Malik Muhammad, Josh Blackwell, Clark Phillips III, Dillon Thieneman, Xavier Woods, Cam Lewis, Elijah Hicks, Skyler Thomas, Coby Bryant

    Specialists: K Cairo Santos, P Tory Taylor, LS Beau Gardner
    Injured Reserve / PUP Designations

    DB Kyler Gordon (PUP)
    DL Shemar Turner (PUP)
    LB Noah Sewell (IR)
    Notable Cuts and Waivers The Bears released Salvon Ahmed, Stephen Carlson, Marcus Davenport, Wesley French, James Lynch, Scotty Miller, Jon Rhattigan, and Jack Sanborn. Several players were waived, including Maurice Alexander, Kiran Amegadjie, Kaden Davis, Ruben Hyppolite II (injury), and Terell Smith (injury). The team also settled injuries with Jedrick Wills, Brittain Brown, Tony Fields, Jaylon Jones, and Ray-Ray McCloud III.

    Lil surprised about Ahmed not making it, but HBs really have to wow to stick. I also expected Sanborn to make the cut, but Bears only going with 4 LBs. Thus ends the Kiran/Hyppo/Wills/Carlson experiments – not with a bang but a whimper.

    Hopefully Terell Smith finds his way to Practice Squad given the MASH unit that is our secondary. He looked sharp to me. Someone will likely poach Kaden Davis.

    I expect more transactions to go down now that others have cut some players which may entice Poles. Often, it’s the teams played in PS, so wouldn’t shock me if Bears stash a Titan or Bengal and continue to chisel the roster. Maybe even a surprise trade. Stay tuned…

  • Bears@TitansPS3

    Bears@TitansPS3

    Bears@Titans. 5PM Central

    Cbear shared an excellent article on the Titans Thurs scrimmage in which starters actually played. It was spicy, to say the least!

    Some Butch notes:
    1. Caleb Sharp.
    2. Odunze made contested catch. He needs those this season if he wants to stick. Luther Burden was much more efficient than him as a rook. Rome caught like 50% vs Burden close to 80%. Tough catches are supposed to be Rome’s specialty, yet a rook outshined him. Burden also was 3rd in yards per route run. Maybe Rome was too hurt. Still, it’ll be hard to pay Rome like a #1WR when he’s essentially the 3rd option [1Loveland, 2Burden, 3Rome].
    3. Def Bears Xavier Woods cheap shot but dudes been like that on Bears too. Former Titan so no doubt he went rogue lol
    4. Booker ‘groin’ week to week and Jarrett hammy. Should thrill Waffle!
    5. Roush and Muhhamad may get more reps as rooks
    6. Tate scorched MASH secondary unit. Time to worry?
    7. BJ absolutely aware of INJs and has his Quan on it w in-depth data. Wonder if Flus had analytics like that
    8. Simmons destroyed our oline. That’s two DTs in two weeks, albeit, might be the best two in the league (man I really wanted him last season. 11 sacks could’ve really helped on playoff run).

    The bigger impression I got.

    BEARS are losing a lot of one-on-ones. Bears might not be as talented as their ’25 record suggests
    BJ, Allen and Co may be masking the true talent gap. Basically squeezing lemon juice from lemons by game planning their ass off.
    Just a thought, and if so, maybe Bears should trade for established vets instead of ‘gambling’ in draft.

    Who are best players on team?

    Sweat on D, Thuney on O.
    Both ready-made studs imported through trades.

    Both Claypoo and Davis came with more redflags and low floors, so maybe focus on high floor trade marks.

    Billichick and Pats weren’t the best drafters either, but they obviously squeezed the most from the talent on board, so it can be done, simply need a GOAT QB for that to work. No worries…

    Often forget about Specials, but Joniak has high hopes for the gunners [Daniel Hardy/Blackwell/Elliot] and returners [Khalif Raymond/Zavion Thomas], while arguing that the Punter has all the talent to become an AP, just hasn’t clicked, but who knows?

    And for those in a Deadpool about long snapper, well, seek help!
    Hey, it can always be worse.

  • Bears@Titans Scrimmage

    Bears@Titans Scrimmage

    Well, this is it ladies, gents, binaries and Tall Whites…
    Basically two more ‘games’ to chisel down the roster to 53 this Sunday.

    Thurs Scrimmage.
    Sat 3rd PS game.
    Then, finis [for a lot of players]

    It’s a little concerning that LT still up in the air.
    We really don’t know about the center, SS, NB, or even how healthy guys like Burden, Monangai, and naturally, Ozzy Trapilo are. Even Wright’s elbow popped up on the INJ report [same one he INJed previously].
    The summer of Motivated is closing for the Fall of real NFL.

    Just hope no one else gets hurt. Knock on wood…

    Nick Whalen@_NickWhalen
    ·15h
    Gervon Dexter trade rumors:
    -I’d guess this is coming from Dexter’s camp as they’re finding out a long term deal isn’t happening from Chicago unless he has a good 2026 season

    Player for player ideas(could include added picks/swaps either way):
    -Calijah Kancey
    -Deonte Banks
    -Myles Murphy
    -Kris Jenkins
    -Joey Porter Jr
    -Darius Robinson

    This is all rumor, mind you. Given that the Bears aren’t exactly rocking an Eagles, SEA, Rams Dline, beggars can’t be choosers, and they damn well better be certain about van den Berg if they trade Dexter for anything less than a 4rth.

    Let’s see, Poles hired Flus, then vouched for him to stay that season he shoulda been terminated.

    Poles’ FA [cough, Davis] and trade [cough, Claypoo] skills aren’t exactly stellar.

    While his draft history is spotty, at best.

    This makes one wonder about his ‘cap’ talents, or lack thereof, in allocating $ to pay play-makers at impact positions.

    Can one peak at 11? LOL

    Interesting factoids…

    The Bears have never had a 4,000+ yard passer in a season (106 seasons)

    All 4 of the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts Superbowls were played in Miami

    Larry Fitzgerald in 17 seasons finished with more tackles (42) than drops (29)

    During the entire 2014 NFL regular season, the Kansas City Chiefs did not throw a single receiving touchdown to a wide receiver

    The Panthers have never recorded back to back winning seasons in their franchise history, yet they once won the NFC South division 3 years in a row (31 seasons)

    The Buccaneers lost 26 consecutive games from 1976-1977. This was their first 26 games as a franchise. 0-14 in year 1, then they went 2-12 in year 2.

    Every NFC team has played in the NFC Championship game since 2010, except the Cowboys, who haven’t since 1995

    Ryan Fitzpatrick led the 2019 Dolphins in Rushing Yards (243) and TD’s (4).. Dude was 37 years old at the time..

    Tom Brady never played a game in his entire career where he was mathematically eliminated from the playoffs going into it.

    For his entire career, Tom Brady has a better chance of getting to the Super Bowl (47.6%) than Steph Curry has of making a 3 pointer (42.2%).

    The Jets joined the NFL in 1970. They beat the eagles for the first time in 2023.

    The Lions went 70 straight games without having a 100 yard rusher. This was during the Stafford era.. it started after Reggie Bush rushed for 117 yards on Thanksgiving in 2013. The drought lasted almost 5 seasons before Kerryon Johnson rushed for 101 yards in 2018..

    Mike Vrabel had 12 career receptions during his career, and every single one was a touchdown..

    RIP Dolly!
    The ‘first’ major star I ever saw in person was…drum roll please…
    Sylvester Stallone! They were filming him at the Broadway in DTLA right down the street from the hotel I grew up in. Even as a kid, I thought, “he’s short!” 2nd observation, “These lights are freaking bright!” [they were filming at night].
    And I could’ve sworn I saw Dolly as well. Kinda hard to miss, so she’s the 2nd ‘star’ I ever saw in person.

    The movie of course was “Rhinestone Cowboy.” [not to be mistaken for “Urban Cowboy” or “Midnight Cowboy”].

    What struck me most about her [besides the obvious] was her sense of humor. She was comfortable enough in her own shell to roll with it, and I think that’s why she was so endearing with males.

    “Elvira is just the goth Dolly Parton”

    May Dolly be swigging, strutting and singing in that grand ole opry in the great beyond…

  • PS@Bengals REAX

    PS@Bengals REAX

    Full disclosure. I didn’t watch the full PS Game#2 vs Bengals live as I thought that Ben Johnson was going to sit the starters. Turns out he sorta didn’t at least for the first drive Caleb lead the O going 2-5, 0TD, 0INT, 0 rush yds, 58.8 QB-RTG.

    In the Cincinnati Bengals’ 27-9 preseason victory over the Chicago Bears on August 22, 2026, veteran backup quarterback Josh Johnson completed 15 of 23 passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns, finishing with a passer rating of 113.7

    I did watch the condensed ‘highlights‘ and what I saw was Caleb in complete control although he missed Loveland on seam route while Braxton held to kill drive.

    Speaking of Braxton, our pal Harry at Chat’s Sports is more than a lil concerned about the LT position – bullrushed, beat and bloodied, Braxton my be a shadow of his former self, which was Leno at best. Kiran may not even make the 53 – endstop. Wills ditto.

    Theo can’t pass block. Remember, when it mattered, the Bears opted to start Thuney at LT and put a practical unknown at OG rather than have Theo man the LT last season. Ozzy may be Wolverine, but does Halas REALLY wanna rush him back so soon and perhaps endanger their longterm prospects for a quarterly gain? Taylor Decker break glass in case of emergency?

    Harrison Graham@HGrahamNFL
    ·12h
    Here’s how Braxton Jones and Theo Benedet graded out per PFF last night (60 is average).

    Braxton Jones

    • Overall: 36.2
    • Pass Block: 29.6
    • Run Block: 54.4

    Theo Benedet

    • Overall: 62.5
    • Pass Block: 50.4
    • Run Block: 66.6

    Winners
    – Salvon Ahmed. 6YPC.
    – Jadhae all Day. What a catch!

    – Roush. Broke tackle for 26 yds
    – Jordan van den Berg keeps trucking
    – Thieneman flying
    – WR Maurice Alexander [vs Kayden]
    -P Tory Taylor? K Santos?

    Losers
    – #27 CB Dontae Manning. Abused like a dildo on porn set.
    – LT overall. Still in air and it’s almost Sept.
    – Secondary overall. Made Bengals’ backup look like the air raid.
    – Nephi Sewell. Carted off.
    – Dline still underwhelmed. Shocking, I know.

    Overall, maybe not a 5 alarm fire, but some smoke is def sniffed. I just get the feeling more and more that Caleb will have to carry this team – not exactly ideal.

    Look at the SB winning SEA last year, or even the second best team in Donks – their Ds carried them for most of the year and playoffs. QBs were just asked to make tactical strikes at key moments. [don’t believe me? google their playoff stats].

    Our D is simply nowhere near either of those team’s caliber [likely because they have better GMs]. It would take the strongest hopium to believe that the Bears’ D remains healthy, that Sweat keeps Sweating, that Booker takes it to the next lvl, that van den Berg is real…

    That Dexter/Stevenson/Dayo/Garrett turn it around, that Gordon hasn’t cashed in, that Thieneman plays like a vet, that our NB won’t get abused like Manning all season, and that somehow we can replicate the TOs of the magical ’25 season.

    That’s A LOT of hopium. I’m as big a meathead as the next dude, but man, even I got my limits.

    So here’s to BJ indeed breaking the Donk’s scoring record cuz, barring some blockbuster Garrett trade, that’s likely what it’s taking to win it all in ’26.

  • Bears@BengalsPS’26

    Bears@BengalsPS’26

    I highly doubt we’re going to be seeing many starters playing in PS games going forward. As such, these ‘joint practices’ essentially replace PS games for all intent and purposes. The ones square off against their ones. The HCs kinda plan out what they want, maybe even ask the other to maybe blitz this guy, or double him, or play certain coverages…to test out their guys. It’s a bit like joint military exercises with friendly albeit real competition with the ultimate goal of both parties improving. Iron sharpens iron.

    For instance, we’re not going to see a PS game where DT/NT Dexter Lawrence battles C Garrett Bradbury or even rook C Logan Jones, but in this joint practice, sure. Perhaps this is a good thing since by most accounts 350 pound Dexter Lawrence absolutely destroyed our interior and even managed an INT. I know many of us [esp moi] wanted Lawrence, but Bengals traded the 10th overall, a pick the Bears couldn’t really match.

    Other major takeaways from Bears@Bengals Joint Practices.

    • S Dillon Thieneman impressed hauling in an INT
    • WR Tee Higgens balling vs our MASH secondary
    • Caleb/Loveland/Swift sharp esp in Redzone
    • Big Dex juggernauted Bears interior
    • LT still up in air. Braxton, Theo rotating at LT. Yikes
    • Willis, Kiran at RTs with 2s [I doubt Kiran makes the 53]
    • Dline flashed but didn’t dominate vs suspect CIN oline
    • WR Kaden Davis & DE Kromah may stick
    • CB Muhammad may be the slot til Glass-Gordon heals
    • Gonna be the QB Miller Moss show this Sat

    Bengals, a high powered O, Offense-oriented HC, young hot-shot QB with an underpowered D in a tough div. Sound familiar?

    No defense Bears vs No defense Bengals

  • Gordon Unchained: The Optimal Strategy Is Get Fucking Paid Dawg

    Gordon Unchained: The Optimal Strategy Is Get Fucking Paid Dawg

    Written by the immortal GP

    Adam Hoge went on The Score this week and delivered the line Halas Hall wanted delivered, in the tone Halas Hall wanted it delivered in: “This Kyler Gordon situation has veered into Nate Davis territory.“

    Stickin’ up white boys in ball courts
    My life got no better, same damn ‘Lo sweater
    Times is rough and tough like leather
    Figured out I went the wrong route
    So I got with a sick-ass clique and went all out
    Catchin’ keys from ‘cross seas
    Rollin’ in MPV’s, every week we made forty G’s

    -Cash Rules, WTC

    Nate Davis fucking territory. What the fuck is Nate Davis territory, exactly? A man who signed a contract, collected the guaranteed portion of that contract, and walked out of professional football at 28 with his brain in its original packaging. That’s the Nate fucking Davis territory. That’s the cautionary tale for hedge fund fucks. In the National Football League, the scandal isn’t the man who leaves in a wheelchair. The scandal is the man who leaves. Note the period, player.
    And Hoge — who (let’s be honest) functions as the friendly neighborhood Spider-conduit through which Halas Hall’s frustrations get laundered into “reporting” — knows exactly what he’s doing when he invokes that name.

    It’s not analysis. It’s his branding iron. The building is fed up (i.e. Ben is unhappy), the building can’t get a read on Gordon’s work, the building doesn’t think it knows him. So the building picks up the phone, and by Wednesday the vibes have been transcribed, and a 26-year-old on a stationary bike is being measured for the Nate Davis label.

    Let me be clear about what I know, which is nothing, which is the point. I don’t know if Kyler Gordon’s calf is shredded or fine. Neither do you. Neither, by their own aggravated admission, does the front office paying him. Ryan Poles stood at a podium and said “he’s frustrated, we’re frustrated,” which is what a GM says when the MRI and the roster bonus are having an argument the fans aren’t allowed to hear. Gordon missed 14 games last year. He’s on the PUP list now. He posted a workout video to Instagram the same day the knives came out, because if nothing else the man has a sommelier’s timing for social media. Smart play. Maybe he’s hurt. Maybe he’s hurting exactly as much as is medically documentable. The distinction matters enormously to lawyers and not at all to fans.

    Because here’s the thought experiment the league cannot survive, the one that turns the whole apparatus inside out:

    Suppose a player decided to be mega rational.

    Suppose a young man looked at the actuarial tables of his own profession — the average career under four years, the guaranteed money a fraction of the sticker price, the pension a punchline, the disability Medicaid like process a war of attrition designed to outlast the applicant — and drew the obvious goddamn conclusion. Play brilliantly on the rookie deal. Play brilliantly enough to trigger the second contract, the one with real guarantees. Sign it. And then let the body say what the body has been saying all along: no more. Soft tissue. Calf. Back tightness on a Sunday morning. Injuries that are real in the way all football injuries are real — which is to say, every man on that field is injured, always, and “healthy” is just the injury level at which the team’s doctors will clear you to absorb more. Grab some Vicodin from the glass bowl on your way out.

    The guaranteed money is guaranteed. That was the deal. The team signed it with a battalion of lawyers and cap analysts and the full negotiating leverage of a cartel exempted from antitrust law. Nobody held a gun to Ryan Poles’ head in March 2023 when he wired Nate Davis $19.25 million guaranteed. The Bears got 13 starts for it, and the commentariat (and grumpy fans) call that a heist — but notice who’s holding the bag and who they blame. They don’t blame the front office that scouted a man they’d apparently never met. They don’t blame the structure that makes teams pretend every contract is real when only the guarantee is. They blame the player. For cashing the check. That he was contractually owed. From a franchise worth six billion dollars that plays in a publicly subsidized stadium and is currently shaking down two municipalities simultaneously for a new one.

    The NFL fears the mega rational player more than it fears any linebacker. Owners who lecture the country about work ethic, who fund politicians campaigning to push retirement to 70 and beyond, who inherited their franchises the way the McCaskeys inherited theirs — by being born adjacent to the money — are terrified of a labor force that reads its own contracts. Every mechanism of the sport exists to prevent that reading. The injury report as public shaming. The “questionable” tag as loyalty test. The insider-media complex as enforcement wing, delivering the; ‘he doesn’t like to practice‘ whisper campaign, free of charge, whenever a body stops producing. It’s a company town, and the company newsletter has a podcast.

    And what does the company owe in return? Ask Dave Duerson. Super Bowl XX Bear. Pro Bowler. A man this franchise wrapped in Monsters of the Midway mythology right up until February 2011, when he shot himself in the chest — the chest, deliberately, specifically — so that his brain would survive intact for the researchers. He texted his family first: get it to the brain bank. He turned his own suicide into evidence handling, because he knew the league would dispute anything less than a preserved specimen. They found the CTE. A year later Junior Seau did the same thing the same way. The league that now clutches pearls over a calf injury spent two decades funding junk science to deny what was happening inside its employees’ skulls — and then, when it finally settled, its lawyers deployed race-norming in the payout formulas: the assumption, baked into the cognitive testing, that Black players started from a lower baseline of brain function, so their demonstrated damage was worth less money. That’s not my inflammatory metaphor. That’s the settlement administration, litigated in open court, abandoned only in 2021 after two players sued and the story broke wide open. The league didn’t need anyone to caricature its view of its Black labor force. It wrote the caricature into the actuarial tables itself. House negro indeed.

    So, when this apparatus tells me a defensive back on a bike is a character problem, my response is: hooray. Genuinely. If — if — some player somewhere has cracked the code, has figured out how to extract the guarantee and decline the dementia, then he is not the scandal. He is the control group. He’s the one player in the experiment who didn’t take the pill, and the league needs him ridiculed precisely because his existence reframes everyone else’s outcome as a choice the league made for them. It’s your circus but the clowns ain’t free, dawg.

    Watch what comes next, because it’s already forming. Clawback language will start creeping into second contracts — de facto guarantee erosion dressed up as “availability incentives.” The owners will coordinate on it the way they coordinate on everything, which is to say illegally in spirit and immaculately in paperwork, the collusion always somehow unprovable, the way Lamar Jackson’s fully-guaranteed market evaporated overnight after Deshaun Watson’s deal. And the NFLPA — the only major sports union that has never once out-negotiated its counterparty, currently between leadership scandals, institutionally incapable of protecting a player from so much as a Thursday night game — will trade it all away for a bump in offseason workout stipends and call it a win. The players who ran the rational strategy will be the pretext. Their names will be said the way Hoge said “Nate Davis territory“: as a diagnosis. Sick the Dobermans on the lazy slaves.

    Fine. Let them say it. Nate Davis will never do a soup commercial. He will never be invited to throw out a jersey number at the draft, never get the Halas Hall alumni-weekend golf invite, never be beloved. He will also never text his family instructions about his brain. Somewhere there’s a beach — Panama’s nice, I hear, the dollar goes far and nobody there has strong opinions about the interior of the Bears’ offensive line — where a man can sit with his guaranteed money and his intact hippocampus and watch the sunset in the correct order, remembering yesterday’s sunset too.

    The league will tell you that’s a tragedy. The league buried Dave Duerson without a notice.

    You do the math. While you still can.

  • POST-PS GAME #1

    POST-PS GAME #1

    Browns 10, Bears 34 Final.
    The most important result was the INJ list, and it SEEMS the Bears didn’t suffer any significant INJs due to the 1st PS game.

    [Nephi] Sewell was the only INJ I observed in-game, but he seems to be OK.

    Edit. Not Noah, Nephi, his bro, which makes sense since I thought Noah was on PUP.

    [Linebacker Noah Sewell was also placed on the PUP list with a torn Achilles he suffered late in the season against San Francisco]

    Sean Hammond@sean_hammond
    Bears LB Nephi Sewell is down and in a lot of pain. His teammates have all taken a knee.

    Worst part of preseason football.
    12:44 PM · Aug 15, 2026
    · Sewell just popped up and walked off the field on his own. A good sign.

    Ozzy Wolverine Trapilo was activated off PUP. what da what…

    Ari Meirov@MySportsUpdate
    Just some context on how insane this is:

    A ruptured patellar tendon is one of the toughest injuries for an NFL player to come back from. It usually requires close to a year of recovery.

    It’s especially difficult for an OL because of the constant force and explosive knee extension required on every snap.

    Trapilo ruptured his in January and is already off PUP in August.

    That’s not normal.

    Didn’t happen during game rather practice, but again, Monangai seems to be ‘fine’.
    Adam Schefter@AdamSchefter
    Bears RB Kyle Monangai, who left practice today after injuring his knee, is believed to be “fine”, per source. Initial tests showed his knee to be structurally sound, but the team will do an MRI to confirm
    That being said, if Monangai is NOT fine, well, HB Salvon Ahmed and Brittain Brown looked rock solid to me.

    YT PS GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS:

    Butch’s quick-hits on PS GAME #1

    Winding down. Quick reaxs before I jump in pool.

    Overall good.
    Kromah impressed
    Returners didn’t
    Bagent efficient w drags and short routes
    Oline mixed bag
    D got it together but maybe that was after 3rd stringers entered
    #36 [Ahmed] HB play of game. Great instincts + some jets.
    Bishop two INTs. Floaters but they count.
    TO mentality on D
    Dagger mentality on O

    My biggest takeaway? The Bears FEEL different. Last year around this time, plenty of consternation, feeling out, uncertainty, everyone more or less expecting a down year to get acclimated. It was like going on your first date, or the 1st round of a boxing match, or making your first big sale

    This year, It’s like the Wolf of Wallstreet selling a fucking pen. Swag. The Bears are EXPECTED to excel. Shit, PFN ranked them #6 in power rankings!

    The team looks like they’re expecting it too. The players were hustling. No loafing. Making hits. Rallying to ball. Punching for TOs. Swatting for strips. Trying to break tackles. Diving to pin Browns at 1. More or less clean play esp surprising for a 1st PS game. When Ahmed made that big play, stadium erupted. When Bears stopped Browns on 4rth, the sideline began jumping up and down.

    This team is ALL-IN, and it’s awesome.

    Here’s another recap from Clay Harbor
    Just finished the All-22 from Bears/Browns. Here are some takeaways:

    ▪️ Jamree Kromah had a monster game. He has some athletic limitations, but he’s relentless. His bend and burst off the ball consistently showed up. Variety of pass rush moves held up against the run too. He will an interesting guy to watch [he looked a lil undersized for an Allen Dlinemen, but he was omnipresent].

    ▪️ James Lynch lined up everywhere across the front. High motor, tough to move and a crafty, physical player.

    ▪️ Jordan van den Berg showed what he’s shown all camp: physical, explosive and relentless. He has technique to clean up, but his combination of burst, bend and strength is uncommon for a rookie.

    ▪️ Neville Gallimore came to play. Tough, physical game. [He’s a lot bigger than I envisioned. He’s our new Billings.]

    ▪️ Gervon Dexter played only eight snaps, but wasn’t great. He was moved too often in the run game struggled against dbl teams (finished with a defense-low 44.0 PFF grade.)

    ▪️ Good to see Dayo Odeyingbo back, but he still looked like he was working through the injury. He was blocked by TEs one on one multiple times. That can’t happen for a player with his size.

    ▪️ The LBs were flying around. D’Marco Jackson was fast and physical quick recognition. Ruben Hyppolite II, Jack Sanborn and Nephi Sewell all played well. Devin Bush looked solid in 10 snaps. It will be interesting to see how this LB battle shakes out.

    ▪️ Malik Muhammad showed up in run support. He allowed a couple of catches, but thought the rookie played well.

    ▪️ Theo Benedet was solid all day.

    ▪️ Kiran Amegadjie had a very rough outing. The traits are obvious, but he was repeatedly beaten in pass pro. Had an offense low 44.8 overall and 33.9 pass-blocking grade. He has to get better quickly to make the 53.

    ▪️ Jedrick Wills Jr. was up and down. He was late off the ball on the sack, but had some good reps and showed pop in the run game. The consistency has to improve.

    ▪️ Logan Jones started slowly but finished strong. You can see why the Bears like him. He’s quick, strong and finishes every rep.

    ▪️ Kaden Davis keeps making plays. His speed shows up on tape: 4.44 40, 1.52 10-yard split and 4.15 short shuttle.

    ▪️ Ray-Ray McCloud looked good in 31 snaps. Scotty Miller, who has had a strong camp, also played well in 26. Maurice Alexander had a drop but was solid otherwise had made plays all camp. Still like JP Richardson. Plays very hard competitive player.

    How many receivers do the Bears keep?

    ▪️ Salvon Ahmed is quick, runs hard and has good hands. His battle with Roschon Johnson will be interesting.

    ▪️ Sam Roush looked good played hard. Hayden Large can block. He had quality reps at fullback and in line.

    All-in-All, solid outing. I know it’s only one PS game, but I’m starting to feel like that early 90s Bulls’ team when I simply assume a well-oiled machine to eventually impose its will against sloppier teams.

    Feels nice to be at the other end of that as a Bear fan. Been a spell. [ Queue fight song…]

  • PS Game 1. Bears v Browns

    PS Game 1. Bears v Browns

    WEEK 1 · Sat 08/15 · 12:00 PM CDT: Chicago Bears Network on FOX32; ESPN Chicago (English) | WVIV (Español)

    Friendly reminder, NFL only has 3 [not 4] PS games now, and a majority of teams tend to sit everyone.

    Used to be. Game 1, starters get a couple drives.
    Game 2, starters play at least 1 QTR.
    Game 3, starters play til 3 QTR to get used to halftime.
    Game 4, all starters sit, scrub bowl.

    Now it’s a bit less formulaic and more idiosyncratic. Ben Johnson specifically prefers sitting most projected starters. He apparently rides them hard in practice, so perhaps this is his way of balancing it out.

    As such, Caleb is sitting vs Browns, and Burpee Champ Tyson Bagent is set to start.

    Not sure we’ll see much of Caleb this PS, and if BJ isn’t going to roll out the starting Oline, that’s the way it should be.

    That being said, it’s not as if our Oline is rock solid either. Last year it was the same 5 – set it and forget it.
    This year much more question marks.

    LT Battle – Braxton Jones, Jedrick Willis, Kiran Amegadjie

    The only bright side is that Trapilo seems ahead of schedule on his INJ, but WTH knows what that means?

    Due to the shocking Drew Dalman retirement, Center murky too.

    Garrett Bradbury was the FA insurance, but I’m certain BJ wants to get a loooong look at rook Logan Jones.

    I know Theo Benedet is all but forgotten, but he did start at LT, and I’m curious how he’ll perform. Maybe he bulked up or gained more power after a year of an NFL diet and training?

    Since Mr. Glass-Gordon is out at NB, Cam Lewis will go. I’m not expecting much TBH. Most think he’s a CJ Gardner-Johnson jack-of-all-master-of-none archetype [sans the penchant for turnovers].

    Naturally, like everyone, I’m esp excited to gauge the rooks, specifically SS Dillon Thieneman. Camp chatter espoused that he looked the part. Scouting reports frame him as a vet-type rook. Wanna see how smart and fast he plays.

    Speaking of fast, same goes for SWR Zavion Thomas. Hopefully, his speed transfers to the next lvl AND ideally he can, you know, CATCH the ball. If a ball bounces off his hands, we’ll all get Velus Jones/Tyler Scott flashbacks. It would also make sense for Thomas to get return reps.

    TE Sam Roush is another investment siphoned away from Dline, so he better not debut like Kellen Davis or Adam “Baby Gronk” Shaheen.

    But the Belle of the Ball may be 3T Jordan van de Berg. Been hearing how he’s tearing it up all summer; well, now we get to witness if he’s a hit or hype. To say we desperately NEED dline fortification is an understatement. Who was the last Bears’ DT to out-play his draft grade?

    PUP List:
    LT Ozzy Trapilo, NB Kyler Gordon, S Elijah Hicks, LB Keyshaun Elliot, LB Noah Sewell, DL Shemar Turner [fuck, forgot about him].

    Ironically, might be more intrigued by the Browns – specifically, the shit show which is their QB room. Shedeur Sanders, Watson, Dillon Gabriel…supposedly their WRs have been popping in PS, so should be a good test vs our MASH secondary.

    Also get to watch S Emmanuel McNeil-Warren whom many mocked to Bears.

    Frankly, as long as everyone walks off the field, I’ll be happy.

    Bear down. Football is back, baby!

  • Cooked Calves

    Cooked Calves

    Written by Ghost of Joe Anderson.

    [Whatever happened to ole Joe…anywho, think this is a valid concern we all share to one degree or another]

    I’ve sat quietly by this offseason with reserved optimism for this years’ squad. My main concerns being the complete void of true pressure on the QB by our edge rushers and at least one interior D lineman. Our run D was rough last year, and I just don’t know if we did enough to stop the bleeding. That combined with the removal of every player to have a takeaway from last years’ D caused some extra concern.
    Losing Bryant for 2 months minimum and Gordon is a crushing blow to the D. My gut is telling me that Gordon will play 4 games this year at a highly reduced capacity. His calves are cooked.
    So my hopes turned to the O but losing DJ Moore followed by the loss of Burden to a groin injury in the fucking last play of the practice makes me want to puke. Groins don’t heal. They turn into hammys and calves. Then Zavion Thomas just hurt his knee. I feel like a Packers fan with all of the injury complaints. We do probably have the most consequential injuries in the whole league based on just camp issues.

    Poles has to decide if he’s going to allow this season to be squandered. I just don’t know if picking through the recycling bin on cut day is going to be enough.

    [Butch take. No team will admit they’re tanking even though we know they are. I know BJ and the coaches aren’t conceding the season, but gotta wonder if Poles simply thinks NEXT year is the true run, esp after the Rams stole Garrett and likely will get Donald. Naturally, the counterpoint is that Poles evaluated Dayo/Jarrett tape and actually concluded they’d help the Bears win a SB].

    Twitter Tues….

    Cowherd is like that EX who is sweet one day, but cold and distant the next. He can’t make up his mind if he wants to gargle or spit…

    Luckily for BJ, he’s not married to a Supermodel with a brazilian yoga teacher like Brady!

    Adam Schefter@AdamSchefter
    ·22h
    Chicago WR Luther Burden III is expected to miss the preseason due to the strained groin injury he suffered Saturday, but the Bears believe he should be back for the team’s regular-season opener vs. the Panthers, per sources.

    Dave@davebftv
    ·21h
    Bears LT Ozzy Trapilo might be back sooner than expected according to Albert Breer.

    He tore his patellar tendon in the wild-card round. This would be a massive development for the Bears.

    [Not holding my breath].