Chicago Bears Archives

2021 NFL Mock Draft Version 6-17-20

June 16, 2020 By paulmbanks 7 Comments

We don’t have any actual real team sports, anywhere, any time soon, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While playing games again, especially with fans present, is almost certainly many months away, the respective drafts can still go ahead as planned, albeit in a very modified version.

The NFL edition, in a scaled down and very different form, is this Thursday, so in that spirit, here is the link to our latest NFL mock draft. For the MLB mock draft go here, the NBA is linked here and the NHL can be found at this link. Also, here is the link to a list of 70 of the worst NFL Draft cliches, buzzwords and other pointless word salad. And with all that, comes 2021 NFL mock draft version 1.0!

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Filed Under: Chicago Bears, College Football, Green Bay Packers, Las Vegas Raiders, Michigan Wolverines, Nebraska Cornhuskers, New England Patriots, NFL, NFL Draft, NIU Huskies, Notre Dame, Ohio State Buckeyes

See this is Why Star Athletes Don’t Usually Talk Politics

June 4, 2020 By paulmbanks 2 Comments

If you’ve ever wondered why college and pro sports teams employ media handlers to train their athletes on public speaking, well Wednesday gave you the answer; repeatedly. Below you’ll find four examples of why publicists and media relations departments want all their players to be like Tom Brady, Russell Wilson or Derek Jeter- talk, without every saying anything.

That said, we’re ecstatic that “stick to sports” is pretty much dead now. Thank you Colin Kaepernick for being the primary driving force is getting this to happen. While we’ll focus here on the athletes expressing sociopolitical views that we disagree with, we absolutely support their right to express those views. Better to lose some of your audience but retain all of your soul, no matter what side you’re on.

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Filed Under: Chicago Bears, Chicago Cubs, College Football, MLB, NFL, Politics, Social Issues

Jay Cutler and Kristin Cavallari Divorcing; Funny Twitter Reactions

April 26, 2020 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Well, if these two crazy young anti-vaxxer kids can’t make it together in this world, then who can! Yes, reality “star” Kristin Cavallari and former Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, are getting divorced after a decade of marriage.

“With great sadness, after 10 years together we have come to a loving conclusion to get a divorce,” K-Cav posted on her official Instagram page. If you need to see the original social media post, and statement (although I can’t imagine why anyone would), it’s here for you below:

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Notre Dame TE Cole Kmet to Chicago Bears: Why this Does/Doesn’t Make Sense

April 24, 2020 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

In terms of pure value, the Chicago Bears selecting Notre Dame tight Cole Kmet with the 43rd overall pick in the NFL Draft tonight was a really solid selection. The Lake Barrington, IL native is a blue chip prospect, arguably the best tight end in the draft, having absolutely crushed it at the scouting combine in Indianapolis.

This now means that every opening day starter at tight end for Notre Dame, going all the way back to Anthony Fasano in 2005, has been draft. It also means that 11 Fighting Irish tight ends have been drafted in the first two rounds all time. However, if you look at this pick from a needs based standpoint…it’s highly questionable to say the least.

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NFL Draft: a Sporting Event Built to Survive Lockdown

March 18, 2020 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

The NFL Draft, in a highly altered and very much scaled down form, might be the only sporting event that survives the next couple months. If they can pull it off, and it is very much doable, you could see the MLB, NBA and NHL follow suit. It won’t be actual sports, but hey, it will be something close. And it will give you some sports to bet on too, as NFL betting sites have already been taking action on who the first overall pick would be for quite some time already.

On Monday morning, the National Football League announced that the draft will go on, on the planned date, but all fan events are cancelled. So for now, it’s on, but who knows what could change between now and the end of April. Personally, I think it would be really cool if they went all retro/back to their roots- just a bunch of old dudes in a conference center ball room picking names off of a board.

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Filed Under: Business, Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Las Vegas Raiders, New England Patriots, NFL, NFL Draft

Nick Foles to Chicago Bears, Fans React Colorfully on Twitter

March 18, 2020 By paulmbanks 1 Comment

Yesterday, when Tom Brady officially left the New England Patriots, en route to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, discussions were triggered all over social media about what athlete looked the strangest in a jersey of “another” team. By “another” think of Michael Jordan as a Washington Wizard, Joe Montana as a Kansas City Chief, Johnny Unitas as a San Diego Charger etc.

One of the more clever reponses was Mitch Trubisky in a Pro Bowl uniform. It’s funny because it’s true, and it’s clear the Chicago Bears will need a new QB1 if they are to do achieve anything while having this stellar defense that they have in place going for them. So the Bears have made moves, trading a fourth round draft pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars for Nick Foles.

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Jay Cutler Originally Committed to Illinois, but Ron Turner Shifted QB Priorities

January 29, 2020 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Before former Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler signed with Vanderbilt to play his college football, he strived to stay closer to home. The Santa Claus, Indiana native, who grew up a Bears fan, wanted to go to Notre Dame, but they weren’t interested.

Purdue wanted him, back in 2002 when Cutler was coming out of high school, but the Boilermakers coaching staff envisioned Cutler as a defensive back instead. Illinois offered him, Jay accepted, but then the staff told him he was lower on the priority list at the position. It proved to be a terrible mistake as then coach Ron Turner suffered through a 1-11 season in 2003, and then found himself out of a job after a 3-8 campaign in 2004.

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Filed Under: Chicago Bears, College Football, Illinois Fighting Illini, NFL, Notre Dame, Purdue Boilermakers

Khalil Mack Still Had a Solid Season, Despite Pedestrian Stats

December 24, 2019 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

As the Chicago Bears were getting absolutely thrashed, at home, on national television by the Kansas City Chiefs, NBC announcer Cris Collinsworth said it best: “Khalil Mack has played a great game tonight and has almost nothing to show for it.”

That’s been the story of his season, actually. You could say that it’s the story of the Bears defense as a whole. Chicago heads into the final game of the season at the Minnesota Vikings, with an ugly 7-8 record, despite surrendering the fewest total points in the NFC. It’s a championship level D, being held back by a pathetic O.

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As Mitch Trubisky Keeps Failing, Seat of Ryan Pace Keeps Warming

November 22, 2019 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

The struggles of Chicago Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky are on more people than just him. While his continuously underwhelming play is due to the failures of his teammates, as well as himself, the repercussions will be felt far above and beyond just the individual signal caller.

The Monsters of the Midway rebuild was designed around having patience while Trubisky developed. The fruits of the labor came last season with a division title and a 12-4 record, but that’s all by the wayside now, given the utterly disastrous 4-6 season that has unfolded in Chicago.

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Peanut Tillman Should be Living Face of Bears Franchise, Not Mike Ditka

November 15, 2019 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

The Saturday Night Live Super Fans bit will never die; I am grudgingly resigned to accepting that reality. You would think, as comedy is an extremely time sensitive medium that an early ’90s SNL bit about dysfunctional obsession with sports/deification of sports heroes would eventually become stale, but whatever.

The “DA BEARS!!!!” routine doesn’t seem to ever die, regardless of the countless times it’s re-hashed, re-booted, re-worked, but anyway. The important thing is that each time it is, the mythology around Mike Ditka continues growing. For those with just a cursory knowledge of Iron Mike, and football in general, he’s the greatest football coach of all time, the absolute paradigm of rough, tough manliness.

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Filed Under: Chicago Bears, NFL