Da Dos

Tag: 2026

  • Coby Bryant Out

    Coby Bryant Out

    So, Coby Bryant, the Chicago Bears’ starting free safety, is sidelined for 8-10 weeks due to a knee injury sustained during training camp on August 3.

    The injury involves a hyperextended knee, bone bruise, and small fracture, with no surgery expected. So roughly out til Oct. Gotta wonder if they’ll move the rook Dillon Thieneman over to FS. I don’t really like repositioning rooks. 1st yr hard enough. More deets…

    Via Cbear via ESPN via con Dios…

    Reporter was in camp the day it rained.

    Best thing I saw/heard: I attended a sodden day of practice in Chicago, and the individual period was inside as the Bears let the rain abate. Only after enough weather had cleared the area did 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 move outside, where a drenched field made for difficult cuts and slip-n-slide falls. There were procedural penalties and drops. It didn’t seem like a day for big conclusions.

    Only one player seemed totally immune: Coby Bryant, the Bears’ big free agent add at safety. He was everywhere Saturday. His interception on Caleb Williams‘ deep throw to Maurice Alexander was a thing of beauty. As Williams read the Bears’ split-field coverage and loaded to throw the seam route to Alexander, Bryant whipped out of his angle and drove to the middle of the field, tracking the ball better than Alexander and catching it at extension. He had two more pass breakups on the day, including a driving deflection on a crossing pattern from Rome Odunze.

    Unfortunately, Bryant was carted off the field during Monday’s practice. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that no surgery is expected for a knee hyperextension, bone bruise and small fracture, but he will be out for 8-10 weeks. That would set Bryant behind the eight ball in learning coordinator Dennis Allen’s defense and developing chemistry with a fellow newcomer at safety, first-round pick Dillon Thieneman.

    Veteran free agent Cam Lewis, who spent time at first-team slot corner and second-team safety during my time at camp, stepped in for Bryant at first-team safety Monday. He has good versatility but not nearly the processing speed or hitting power of Bryant. The Bears were already lighter at linebacker, having released Tremaine Edmunds to sign Devin Bush. They’re also thin in the defensive front, where they need a key pass rusher to emerge. Now with the Bryant injury, the questions on a defense that was extremely reliant on turnovers last season are becoming difficult to ignore.

    I saw a lot more Sam Roush with the first team than I expected. The rookie tight end out of Stanford was a draft darling of mine. At 6-foot-6 and 267 pounds, with a rugby background, Roush is capable of displacing defensive ends in one-on-one assignments. The Bears experimented with No. 3 tight end Durham Smythe as a fullback in 2025, and I’d wager we see Roush in that role — with increased frequency — in 2026. Smythe had 335 snaps throughout the regular season and playoffs. Roush might push 400.

    If he’s biting into anyone’s snaps, it should be from Cole Kmet rather than Colston Loveland. Loveland is the sun of the Bears’ solar system of receivers, and he’s a great pair with Roush, who can line up inside Loveland as a blocker more readily than Kmet can. Roush and Kmet might split too many snaps for either to be fantasy viable … and the same issue could be present at No. 3 receiver.

    I saw Alexander, Kalif Raymond and Jahdae Walker all get first-team reps. Third-round rookie Zavion Thomas was mostly with the second team, but given his ball-in-hand ability, it’s fair to expect him to take snaps early as a decoy player at the very least. The Bears were not particularly deep at wide receiver last season, as DJ Moore and Odunze dominated the snap counts; Olamide Zaccheaus and Luther Burden III rotated behind them. Walker was fifth on the team in receiver snaps with 86, but I’d be stunned if that happens again. After Burden and Odunze, the receiver to draft in fantasy is likely Raymond … but I wouldn’t be surprised if that role was much more rotational than it was in 2025.

    Best of the rest:

    On a day in which everyone’s cleats seemed stuck in the mud, Thomas still flew. He created some yards after the catch on a crossing pattern and scored on a quick-out breaker. He’s built like a track athlete and will get used like one this season. I’ll bet you a sandwich he scores a 50-yard touchdown on some reverse or screen or trick play before the season is out.

    The wet field seemed to dramatically impact Burden and Caleb Williams — there was one segment of 11-on-11 in which Williams targeted Burden three times and got three incompletions for his trouble — one clear miss, one clear drop and one that was somewhere in the middle. The people I spoke to are still shining with enthusiasm for Burden, so I’ll chalk the bad day up to the weather.

    I was surprised to learn that second-round rookie Logan Jones has not cracked the first-team rotation at all, with veteran Garrett Bradbury manning the center position uncontested. So it seems clear that the Bears want to start the season with Bradbury, giving him every rep necessary to get up to speed. “It is not easy to play center in our scheme,” offensive coordinator Press Taylor said. Then he repeats it in case I didn’t get it: “It is not easy to play center in our scheme.”

    The Bears’ running game improved dramatically over the course of Johnson’s first year: 42.9% success rate in the first eight weeks, 50.8% in the final eight weeks. That was the best in the NFL. Taylor told me they garnered a lot of feedback midseason from the offensive line veterans (Drew Dalman, Joe Thuney) about how to make communication and identification easier. Kmet told me that Ben Johnson leads the running game install during the week, which he had never seen even an offensive coordinator do before, let alone a head coach. Williams might be on the cover of Madden, but you can hear the pride in every Bears member’s voice when talking about their running game. It’s the core of the offense.

    In other news, Darnell Wright got PAID. This is the way it should be – target quality players, lock them up quickly without Jerry Jones’ drama – set and forget. Done.
    Creates good mojo and sends positive message to the rest in that locker room grinding.

  • ’26 Camp Day 2

    ’26 Camp Day 2

    Things heating up literally and figuratively. Back at the height of DBB, we used to have a few locals who actually attended some of the camp sessions. Can’t remember exactly, but I think both GP and Data provided some boots on the ground intel, and that’s good, cuz Jeff, like moi, lives out of state.

    Not sure camp these days are quite as fun as they once were. I saw some reporters grumbling that teams, for the most part, no longer allow them to observe their true stuff. I think before they were with the understanding that they can’t provide too much detail, film or photograph – in other words – to become defacto spies for opponents. Murky about how that dynamic works now.

    TBH, I never really dug into the weeds here since like most, I barely cared and simply relied on the local reporters [or regs] to relay camp info.

    As such, here’s such a summary from the best Bear beat IMO – Clay Harbor. Since he’s a former NFLer, he knows the Xs and Os, but he also provides much needed context always with the macro in mind. So here’s his Camp Day 2 [Weds] impressions.

    ‘It was more competitive…Rome, Burden, Raymond, good showing…O seems ahead of D…Ton of motions, double shifts [bit surprising for this stage of install. Might be a good sign how in sync they are already]…Caleb excellent”

    ‘Dennis Allen ain’t slowwalking either. For playing a new FS, SS, LB, Nickle [more on that later], Rook CB – he’s running a bunch of diff coverages, man, zone, blitzes, and Caleb went to right place every time’

    ‘Spider Man out in theatres, just not Chicago camp. NB major concern w/out Gordon. It’s like you’re waiting on the Redline. You need to have a backup up plan cuz you don’t know when it’s showing up or IF it’s showing up. A lot of those catches were on NB. Cam Lewis a lot like Gardner-Johnson. Jack of All, Master of None. Rookie Malik Muhammed played 93% of college snaps on the outside; NB might be hardest position outside QB. [Let’s not forget how GB ruthlessly attacked a half-powered Gordon last season, over and over and over again].

    Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, Ammon-Ra, J.Jefferson, Jordan Addison…gonna be licking their chops attacking slot.

    Might need to hit the market if Gordon is out-out or crippled.

    Bush got beat too [hehe]

    [It’s ONLY one camp, but something to stash because while Edmunds wasn’t S-tier slashing down-hill, he sure as fuck could cover]

    Dayo seems healthy, at least. That’s the good news. The bad? Well, motivated or not, Dayo has notched 1 sack in last 18 games [including with Colts], and that 1 sack was vs a backup OT.

    To quote The Irishman, “I’m more than a little concerned.”

    Here’s another take from ESPN and Thayer. Apparently, Caleb has slimmed 15 pounds and feels great. Sometimes I worry about QBs being a lil too svelte. Some chunk can cushion hits. Did you know that in Ancient Rome the Gladiator wasn’t some cross-fit freak. He was much more likely to resemble a 50s wrestlers than say, The Ultimate Warrior! Reason being – Girth=protecting vital organs more. If you get shanked, some blubber between can save. Then again, Gladiators didn’t own flak-jackets. Be interesting to see if Caleb runs even faster because I think he hit 20MPH on a dead sprint last season. He’s one of those players like Jerry Rice whose gameday speed clocks faster than his timed 40.

    I also love how BJ apparently sat Caleb down and reviewed EVERY incomplete and assigned blame. How great is that if true? Finally, some accountability. Caleb has the type of personality to take it too. He won’t see it as an attack but as a diagnostic tool to make him win those 6+ rings he craves. Holy smokes, imagine if a Martz did that to Cutler!

    Dooooon’t caaarree!!!

    It’s important to remember they’re padless right now. Come MON, padded practices, then game on, esp for the bigguns. Unfortunately, that’s also when INJs skyrocket, so gotta track that too.

    Can almost smell the freshly cut grass.
    Bear Down.


  • Brief Season Preview ’26

    Brief Season Preview ’26

    Camp kicked off, and it appears everyone is posting season previews. Seems waaaay too early at this point; I prefer doing them late Aug after INJs, trades, bottom of barrel signings…but hey, who am I to argue with the industry?

    They make a good point about Bush. We assume he’ll be at least on par with Edmunds, but maybe we should slow our roll.
    Edmunds was too reactive for my taste. He made more sense with the original HC/DC Flus whose D in general was more passive. Allen by contrast likes attacking D. We saw how the LBs, despite being backups, flew around more when both Edwards and Edmunds were out. Hopefully Bush and Co fit that mold more, but was Bush merely a byproduct of Gym Shorts’ very specific scheme?
    Thieneman is definitely a high-upside prospect, but that’s all he is right now – a hard 7. He’s more of a fit than cautious Brisker, that’s for sure.
    Byard was a proven commodity, leader, and secondary general – maybe the best since MB at FS.
    That’s a lot for anyone to fill, esp in the TO dept, but I expect FA Coby Bryant to hold his own. Besides, I trust coach Harris to squeeze the most out of that secondary. That being said, I have been refraining this since last summer: TRADE Gordon ASAP before he tears his hammy rolling over in his sleep.

    I won’t go over the Dline since it’s beating a deadhorse, but Steve and Sam both agree that Sweat can’t carry it by himself. He’s no Garrett, and both wonder aloud if the run D will improve.
    Vito Vea demanded a trade, and many are connecting him to the Bears because of their shaky run D, albeit Vea allegedly wants to play his back 9 on the west coast, so who knows where his head is at – is he still chasing a championship, or cruising the rest of the way?

    We know the deal on O. It should match last year’s production; however Braxton at LT and whoever replaces Dalman could be viewed as a step down. Everyone’s counting on Caleb’s 2nd year in BJ’s system to make up for it, but never know. Still, many studies have shown that great QB play affects Olines more than the other way around – that’s why it almost didn’t matter who the Colts drafted at oline during the Peyton years because that sack rate was going to be low, and comp% high almost regardless.

    The ever mercurial DJ Moore is gone, so I guess we don’t have to see him dog it during the summer, or late season routes, yet make miraculous catches on one good leg. Nevertheless, I believe in Harvey Dent-Burden! Rome with one foot is another issue [I doubt Rome gets extended], and maybe this is why BJ wanted insurance in Khalif Raymond and Zavion Jones, ntm TE Sam Roush. BJ will scheme em open, and Caleb will hit em, and the machine should keep rolling.

    The over under is currently set to 9.5 wins for Bears. If you don’t think the TOs and miracle comebacks can be replicated, or that Caleb stalls at sub-60% comp, then take the under.

    If you Bearlieve that TOs don’t fall off too much, that the late game magic continues, and that Caleb enters the S-tier of MVP convo, then take the over and book the playoffs.

    I wonder how much a long snapper moves the line…

  • Odyssey: Sea Peoples

    Odyssey: Sea Peoples

    Read this before you watch The Odyssey: [Spoiler? I mean, you had 2K+ years to read Homer or watch “Troy”. GTFO!]

    • Agamemnon was the most powerful king in Greece.
    • His brother, Menelaus, was the king of Sparta.
    • Menelaus was married to Helen, whose beauty was legendary [“White armed”] across the ancient world.
    • In the city of Troy lived Prince Paris and his brother Hector, Troy’s greatest warrior.
    • Paris met Helen and the two left Sparta together for Troy.
    • Menelaus saw this as a grave insult and asked the Greek kings to help him bring Helen back.
    • Agamemnon united the Greek kingdoms and launched a massive invasion of Troy.
    • This conflict became known as the Trojan War.
    • Many legendary heroes fought in the war, including Achilles, the greatest Greek warrior, and Odysseus, the clever king of Ithaca.
    • While Achilles [& Ajax] was famous for his strength, Odysseus was famous for his intelligence and strategy.
    • The war lasted 10 years and neither side could win.
    • Finally, Odysseus came up with a brilliant plan: the Trojan Horse.
    • The Greeks hid soldiers inside a giant wooden horse and pretended to sail away.
    • The Trojans brought the horse into their city, believing it was a gift.
    • That night, the hidden Greek soldiers opened the gates of Troy, and the Greeks captured the city.
    • The Trojan War was over. End of Iliad start of Odyssey.
    • After that, Odysseus begins his long journey home.
    • That journey filled with gods, monsters, shipwrecks, temptation, and loss is called The Odyssey.
    • And that’s what the film is about.

    Needless to say, I watched Nolan’s “Odyssey” earlier this week. I went on supersaver Tues, assuming we’d have the theater to ourselves. NOPE. It was actually packed. I also assumed this would be a total dad-flick with the majority of the audience being bearded and bifocaled, old arcane classical, lit majors or history buffs – like moi – also wrong. The crowd was mixed. Young, middle aged, elderly, of every persuasion, even a few hotties. My nephews went with their friends to watch it on opening night, so still hope my fellow grumpy erudite kin!

    That being said, I had VERY mixed feelings about the movie itself, and it basically kicks you in the nuts in the very first scene before you even get a good hand of popcorn; however, more on that in the actual review.

    For now, I came across this fantastic doc on the ever mysterious “Sea Peoples” which the film alludes to. They were more or less like the Bronze Age Vikings, and much like the Vikings, were expert sea terrorists, ravaging, raping and pillaging wherever they landed, and not much was really known about them for centuries. This is a concise history of them.

    Here’s another by the ever-excellent Kings & Generals channel.

    In the movie, they were casted as the archetype of chaos which would consume the ‘civilized’. They were Vandals, the Vikings, The Barbarians, the Eastern Horde…every culture has their ‘other’ which they fear will doom their way of life. The Sea Peoples where the Bronze Age boogeymen, an alien savage threat from beyond the outer-rim.

    But “clever” Odysseus realizes that they were only an external threat, and external enemies can be combatted. Odysseus recognizes, too late, that the TRUE enemy of civilization is internal – namely, the erosion of goodwill, honor, hospitality to the stranger – keeping “Zeus’ Law.” Odysseus knew when he built the horse that he essentially sacrificed all that was “Greek” to win, and his ‘victory’ exacted a tremendous cost to himself, his crew, his home, and ultimately, Golden Greece itself: the Sea Peoples were the avenging instruments to the Gods much in the same way the ancient Hebrews casted the Assyrians, Babylonians, and even Romans. Odysseus and Greece betrayed their covenant in Troy, and for that they were smoted and never again the glory of the world.

    “Leda and the Swan“

    By William Butler Yeats

    A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
    Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
    By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
    He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.

    How can those terrified vague fingers push
    The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
    And how can body, laid in that white rush,
    But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?

    A shudder in the loins engenders there
    The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
    And Agamemnon dead.
    Being so caught up,
    So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
    Did she put on his knowledge with his power
    Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?

  • TOP 10 Bears’ HBs

    TOP 10 Bears’ HBs

    Camp is about to kick off, and maybe we can get something to talk about. That being said, here’s a pretty cool vid on top 10 Bears’ HB.

    Obviously Beattie Feathers was before my time – heck, maybe even before Al’s!

    However, I crunched his rookie numbers. He AVGed 8.44 yards per rush! That’s insane.

    This record stands as the highest single-season average for any NFL player with at least 100 rushing attempts. Feathers achieved this efficiency while rushing for 1,004 yards on just 119 carries, making him the first player in NFL history to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark in a single season. [1934]

    To put that in perspective, Gale Sayer‘s highest YPC=6.2 before fucking up his knee, so much love to Feathers.

    Here’s some updates and speculation [7/22/26].
    I agree with Hawkin’s prediction that Luther Burden is going to pop. When Ben Johnson says to buy Burden stock, ya know shit’s about to get real. It’s always been my contention that he was drafted to replace Rome whose foot may hinder becoming a star WR1. I know if I still played FF, I’d want Burden in as many teams as possible. The only ‘drawback’ to him in FF is that BJ wants to run the ball a lot, but Burden’s been efficient, and with a porous D, may be in more 9er-style shoot outs then we’d prefer.

  • Bears’ History from 70s

    Bears’ History from 70s

    Concise Bears’ history post-70s, so unless you’re William Shatner’s age, this should cover most of our adult memories!

    For you OGs, feel free to add anything to the vid.

    These guys do a good job of breaking down draft classes, and they look back on Caleb.

  • The NFC North 2026 Schedule Comparison: Chicago gets rocked

    The NFC North 2026 Schedule Comparison: Chicago gets rocked

    Written by GP

    If you wanted a schedule that Dan Campbell can dance a little jig to, you just got it. Bears get stiffed harder than Riley Reid on set.

    The setup. Statistically, previous year schedule is almost useless as a predictor: from 2010 to 2018, only 5.7% of a team’s actual Strength of Schedule [SOS] was explained by opponents’ prior-year records; this correlation dropped to just 3.9% in more recent years. Warren Sharp‘s preferred method swaps in 2026 Vegas projected win totals, which captures coaching changes, roster turnover, and quarterback movement that last year’s record can’t see. The Patriots-from-4-13-to-14-3 problem is something the NFL actually looked at.

    For the NFC North, both methods agree on the bookends and disagree on the middle.

    The Traditional Numbers (2025 Opponent W%)

    Bears .550 (hardest in NFL) … T3. Packers .538 … 11. Vikings .519 … 27. Lions .467 – Easiest: New York Giants

    Three NFC North teams in the top eleven hardest, with the Lions out at 27th — that’s a direct artifact of every team in the division finishing 2025 above .500, which forces three of them into first-place rotations against tough opponents while the lone team without that penalty (Detroit, who didn’t win the division) catches HUGE breaks. There are two big reasons why the Bears’ schedule is so difficult: Strength of schedule is based on your opponents’ record from last season and every team in the NFC North finished with a winning record last year which had never happened in my lifetime before.

    Where does it get interesting?

    Lions: #1 easiest schedule in the NFC-N. Using current Vegas win totals as our measure, the Lions stand out as having the easiest schedule. By a lot.

    Bears: 6th-hardest in the NFL overall. Slightly less brutal than the traditional method suggests but still top-quartile-tough.

    Packers and Vikings: Neither is at the extreme of Sharp’s list — they’re middle-of-pack-to-tough, but lighter than the .538 and .519 traditional numbers would suggest, because Sharp’s model downgrades opponents who lost their QB or coach over the offseason.

    What’s Actually Driving the Bears’ Pain

    The Bears’ slate is heavy by either measure because of where they finished and where they sit in the rotation.

    The Chicago Bears wind up with the hardest schedule in the NFL based on being the NFC North division champion – which automatically puts them on a collision course with the Seattle Seahawks and the Philadelphia Eagles. But they also have to face the ENTIRE AFC East this year which means going up against the New England Patriots and the Buffalo Bills. Their interconference opponent for 2026 is the Jacksonville Jaguars.

    That’s already five games against teams that had at least 11 wins last year :

    Seahawks (Super Bowl LX winners), Eagles, Patriots, Bills, Jaguars — before you count the two each against Detroit, Green Bay, and Minnesota.

    After winning the NFC North for the first time since 2020, the Bears were handed the league’s sixth-hardest schedule in ’26. They’ll open the season on the road to take on the Panthers in Week 1 before a seven-week stretch that features contests against the Vikings, Eagles, Packers, Seahawks and Patriots. The back-half of their schedule, meanwhile, doesn’t provide much relief, as they’ll take on the Bills, Green Bay, the Lions and Minnesota over the final four weeks of the campaign.

    Why the Lions Get the Pansy Run

    Detroit drops to 27th in traditional SOS and #1-easiest in projected because they finished below the rest of the division in 2025 and drew the corresponding place-based rotation. They get the easier 2025-record cross-conference draws and avoid a first-place schedule’s extra teeth. The projected metric likes them even more because they’re forecast to play the highest pace of teams Vegas thinks won’t be very good in 2026.

    The Verdict

    Hardest: Bears, by a whole fucking lot. They’re #1 traditional and 6th projected — the only NFC North team in the top ten on both lists. The first six weeks include road trips to Carolina, Buffalo, and Washington, plus Philadelphia and Seattle at home, and the final four feature Bills/Packers/Lions/Vikings. There is no soft stretch. Harder the RoK in Vietnam.

    Easiest: Lions, by a mile. They’re 27th traditional and #1 projected — the only NFC North team comfortably in the bottom ten on either list, and the only team in the entire NFL with the #1 projected ranking for ease of schedule.

    Middle: Packers lean tough (T-3rd traditional, middle projected), Vikings lean middle (11th traditional, middle projected). Packers harder than Vikings.

    And, of course, every NFC North team plays every other one twice, so a meaningful chunk of each team’s SOS is shared. The differentiation comes from cross-conference and place-based rotations — and that’s where the Bears got incredibly punished for winning the division and the Lions got rewarded for not.

  • Memorial Day Montage

    Memorial Day Montage

    Kick back. Fire up the grill. Pop open a beer. Dip your feet in some water.


    ‘They’

    The Bishop tells us: ‘When the boys come back
    ‘They will not be the same; for they’ll have fought
    ‘In a just cause: they lead the last attack
    ‘On Anti-Christ; their comrades’ blood has bought
    ‘New right to breed an honourable race,
    ‘They have challenged Death and dared him face to face.’

    ‘We’re none of us the same!’ the boys reply.
    ‘For George lost both his legs; and Bill’s stone blind;
    ‘Poor Jim’s shot through the lungs and like to die;
    ‘And Bert’s gone syphilitic: you’ll not find
    ‘A chap who’s served that hasn’t found some change.
    ‘ And the Bishop said: ‘The ways of God are strange!’

    – Siegfried Sassoon, 1917

    I happened to stumble across a doc on Scottish Independence. I couldn’t stop watching, so I’ll share.

    Declaration of Arbroath, 1320

    “As long as a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be subjected to the lordship of the English. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself”.

    For FREEDOM, not oil, power or geopolitical posturing.

    Enjoy.

  • Zavion Velus Hester Thomas

    Zavion Velus Hester Thomas

    Rd 3, Pick 89: Zavion Thomas, WR, LSU

    When I first heard ‘Zavion’ called, I got excited. I thought the Bears drafted the other Zxavion, Zxavion Harris. A DT with a record. Turns out, Harris didn’t even get drafted because of his red flags. Get on it, Poles!

    My second initial reaction, “Great, another Velus-Cohen special.” Perhaps I’m just an overly traumatized Bear fans, “Tell me where Halas touched you…”

    For any who still doubt that BJ is driving and Poles riding shotgun, this is the pick. So this really is the “in Ben we trust” era.

    “This guy is going to be a weapon,” Bears assistant director of college scouting Francis St. Paul said on Friday. “This is one of the guys that Ben, when he saw the tape, started doing his little rocking and you could tell he was really excited about him.”

    The new kickoff rules have actually pushed a lot of prospects with return skills up the boards making iffy HBs, scatbacks and hybrid WRs much more viable than in previous years. Drafniks hadn’t factored this much into their mocks, as such, they made Zavion Thomas a 7th RDer or priority UFDA;

    Nevertheless, actual GMs and coaches obviously covet starting field position much more.

    Silvy@WaddleandSilvy

    Our friend @FieldYates told us a great story about Zavion Thomas. Field didn’t have him in his top 150. Someone called him and asked why. That person told him that Thomas would eventually be a third round pick. And it wasn’t from someone w/ the #Bears.

    Teams would kick it out of the back of the endzone because that’s what the math dictated. Roughly 23% of kickoffs were returned. That’s not much value for a returner. They changed the rule to punish teams that booted it out. Suddenly coaches didn’t want to cede a measly extra 5 yards because it changed the winning/losing math. This dramatically boosted returns from 23% to about 70%, or as Hoge relayed, about 70 chances to create a big play per season.

    If Zavion Thomas can gift the O an extra 5-7 yds per drive, that alone might be worth the pick. Think about how some clutch Devin Durvernay returns changed momentum and even a win or two.

    An extra 5-7 yards could be the difference between a short shanked punt which only nets 20 yds, or turning a 60 yd FG attempt into a 53 yder to tie/win the game.

    That’s not even accounting for the sky in the pie scenario where Thomas plays more like the OTHER Chicago returner named Devin.

    Ben Johnson obviously calculated the risk to be worth it. Something else to consider. Maybe BJ doesn’t see Thomas as a gadget/ speed slot WR. Maybe, just maybe, he sees him more as his Jahmyr Gibbs.

    Or Thomas was ridiculously overdrafted and Velus 2.0…

  • Greetings from Earth 2

    Greetings from Earth 2

    My fellow Bearthen!

    I have slipped through some inter-dimensional portal and have somehow arrived here. I originate from a timeline where the Bears won the Bradshaw coin flip. Where Martin didn’t break McMahon. Where the Bears traded up a measly two spots to steal Aaron Donald. Where Tharris and Mike Brown stay healthy, and Lovie keeps pounding the rock with Thomas Jones, thus becoming the first AF American HC to win a SB.

    Where Mahomes, not Trubisky, was selected, and the double-doink never doinked because, well, Da Bears’ Mahomes-Mack-Attack lead the SB charge. M&Ms even pumped out a special Bears’ edition which naturally we ate up [puns are still a thing on Earth 2.]

    SB Shuffle VI with Mahomes and Mack doing the Kid-N-Play was epic! something my grandchildren will cherish.

    However, I am dismayed to see NONE of this transpired on this Earth. For that, I offer my condolences. How a team can land Butkus and Sayers in the same draft and STILL not win a SB is truly a cosmic outlier; tbh one timestream in the multiverse must be the Steven Baldwin of Earths, and I am eternally grateful that it is YOURs and not mine. Whew.

    On that note, I will relay how the Bears’ Draft 2026 unfolded on Earth 2.

    Bears’ draft picks 2026:

    Rd 1, Pick 25: DE Keldrick Faulk
    Rd 2, Pick 57: SS Emmanuel McNeil-Warren
    Rd 3, Pick 69: DT Tyler Onyedim
    Rd 3, Pick 89: C-IOL-T Trey Zuhn III
    Rd 4, Pick 124: CB Malik Muhammad
    Rd 5, Pick 166: WR Kendrick Law
    Rd 6, Pick 213: DT Jordan van den Berg

    Rd 1, # 25 DE Keldric Faulk. Allen is picky, and Faulk is one of the few DEs who actually fits his mold. The GM on Earth 2 isn’t counting on an old Jarrett, schizo Dexter, Motivated Dayo [coming off an achilles] or Turner [coming off a torn ACL] to magically become elite and improve a terrible Dline which can neither stop the run or rush the QB.

    Rd 2, #57 SS Emmanuel McNeil-Warren. Yes, Still needed a S in Earth 2, and yes, many over here likewise mocked EMW to Bears at #25, so fantastic value that fills a need. No-brainer.

    RD 3, #69, DT Tyler Onyedim actually fell 2 spots to Bears. Can never roster enough Dline, right? Well, at least that’s what Bears in Earth 2 believe. On Earth 1, apparently, Bears can never roster enough TEs.

    RD 3, #89 C-IOL-T Trey Zuhn III. Shockingly, the Bears on Earth 2 also needed a C, except on our planet, Dalman didn’t retire but tragically died in a stand-fucking orgy at Coachella. I guess he really didn’t want to play for the Bears in any timeline. As such, Bears still needed a C, so they pick a 6’6 320 Zuhn. Now, this isn’t exactly a new C since he also played LT, but luckily for Bears, they need that too! Braxton-Benedet-Trapilo are sketchy at best while Thuney isn’t getting any younger. Ergo Zuhn who can sub across the Oline wherever needed.

    RD 4, #124 CB Malik Muhammad
    We’re earth 2, not bizzaro world, so some overlap is natural, and it seems a universal Konstant that Tyrique Stevenson is a bozo who can not be trusted. Some still wanted C Connor Lew to further solidify the trenches.

    RD5, #166 WR Kendrick Law
    BJ must be appeased on any Earth! He saw something in Law – a thick YAC weapon with some return chops. I see in this version the Lions drafted him at #168 as they share the same type as BJ.

    RD 6 #213 DT Jordan van den Berg
    Did I mention that on our Earth Bears stack the trenches? Faulk and Berg at bare minimum spell Motivated Dayo, Jarrett and Sweat, and as such, make them more efficient. Worst case scenario – Dayo busts, Jarret gets old as Turner struggles to find a position while recovering from his torn ACL forcing Faulk and Berg to pick up the slack.

    As Mario Lemieux famously said:
    “Tu rates 100% des tirs que tu ne prends pas.”

    Best case? SB 7 here we come!