👋 Good morning!
There’s something that feels so inevitable about Aaron Rodgers. I just haven’t figured out exactly what that means for the Bears.
In case you missed it, Rodgers and the Steelers dominated the Dolphins last night, with the 42-year-old QB finishing 23-for-27 passing for 224 yards and two touchdowns.
That leaves us with two options in Week 16, right?
Rodgers keeps it up against the Lions in Detroit next Sunday, gets his revenge against the team that ended his career in Green Bay and helps the Bears clinch a playoff spot.
Rodgers does what Rodgers does and screws the Bears one more time for old time’s sake.
Bears fans rooting for Rodgers? What’s next — forgiving Charles Martin?
DJ Moore has a home in the Bears’ offense, while the Bears’ defense has unsung heroes
Could’ve Been Worse …
Blackhawks budding superstar Connor Bedard will miss at least the rest of December with an upper-body injury he suffered last Friday against the St. Louis Blues.
After The New Year: The club placed Bedard on injured reserve retroactive to December 12th, though he won’t be ready to return when he’s eligible to be activated. He will instead be re-evaluated after January 1st, according to Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill.
Bedard appeared to be injured in the final second of the Blackhawks’ loss to the Blues when Brayden Schenn attempted a stick lift at the faceoff dot, awkwardly checking Bedard, who fell backward to the ice. He then clutched his right shoulder and immediately headed for the locker room.
However, Blashill had a different take and perspective.
Blashill on the play: “You can tell that what happened happened prior to the push. So, it was prior to the push, as he was trying to go forward with the faceoff. It was unfortunate. Honestly, it was probably a freak accident. It had nothing to do with Brayden pushing after, and that’s just a natural reaction after you lose a faceoff to do that. Brayden is a super quality guy. There was no ill intent at all.”
Ridin’ The Storm Out: The next few weeks without Bedard have a real chance to make or break the Blackhawks’ season.
Just 3-9-1 in their last 13 games, the Hawks will face seven consecutive opponents with equal or greater point totals, starting with a three-game Canadian trip that begins tonight.
Before his injury, Bedard was on pace to score 50 goals and 66 assists, which would’ve tied him with Denis Savard in 1985-86 for the fourth-most productive season in Blackhawks history.
It’s also worth noting that forward Frank Nazar, who took Bedard’s spot centering the top line on Saturday against the Red Wings, has not scored a goal since October 28th.
Meanwhile, Ryan Donato, who scored 31 goals last season to earn himself a four-year contract in June, has scored just eight goals this year.
I asked CHGO’s Jay Zawaski for his take on the situation …
Jay said: Obviously, this is bad news for the Blackhawks. The Hawks went 3-10-1 when Bedard missed 14 games in his rookie season.
At least it's not the worst-case scenario...for now anyway. Blashill said there are no plans for surgery and they'll let Bedard rehab his way back to health.
Bedard can't be replaced by anyone on the Blackhawks roster or in their system. It's going to take a group effort if they're going to stay within sniffing distance of a playoff spot.
“Connor’s not going to go out tomorrow night and score a big goal,” Blashill said Monday. “He’s not there. So then someone else has to do that. It probably puts more pressure on the rest of the team, and that’s good. Let’s see which guys can take that pressure and up their game.”
Even with Bedard, that would’ve been a challenge. But without him, it may be impossible.
Nick Foligno is making the trip to Canada and may play on the team's three-game trip, which, if nothing else, will help morale.
The next few weeks will be Blashill's biggest challenge as Hawks' coach. Can he keep the team motivated and playing hard in Bedard's absence, or will mounting losses and scoring struggles crush the team's already faltering confidence?
Thanks, Jay!
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Banged Up: With Saturday’s massive Week 16 matchup against the Green Bay Packers looming, Ben Johnson dished out a couple of key injury updates for the Bears on Monday.
On WR Rome Odunze (foot), Johnson said: “All options are on the table. We're going to do what's best for Rome, first and foremost. I know he wants to be out there and helping. It's hard to tell him no sometimes, he just wants to be out on the field competing and contributing and helping our team win. And so, there may be a case that we have to protect him from himself a little bit just to make sure we get him right and he'll be able to help us down the road.”
On WR Luther Burden (ankle), Johnson said: “His ankle is something we're still working through and talking about. We'll see how this week goes in terms of whether we'll have him available for Saturday night or not, but it's more of a day-by-day type deal with him.”
The Bears also designated LB Tremaine Edmunds to return from injured reserve on Monday, opening his 21-day practice window to be activated to the 53-man roster.
Additionally, test results confirmed that Packers defensive end Micah Parsons suffered a torn ACL on Sunday against the Denver Broncos.
📺 CHGO Bears
1:00 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Cubs
2:00 on YouTube
📺 CHGO White Sox
4:30 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Bulls
4:30 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Blackhawks
Pregame at 5:30 on YouTube
🏒 Blackhawks at Maple Leafs
6:00 on CHSN
📺 CHGO Blackhawks
Postgame on YouTube
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Talk to you tomorrow!
– P.N.
