👋 Good morning!
How are we expected to focus at work today?
What errands can we possibly run before Saturday night?
Anybody else paralyzed by fear? By hope?
What a time to be alive.
See you on the other side.
Cermak & Wabash.
What’s better than a playoff atmosphere in Week 16? A playoff atmosphere in the playoffs.
Bears, Beers, Best
Never Let It Rest
Locked In.
If one thing was clear from the vibe at Halas Hall yesterday, it’s that Ben Johnson and the Bears are ready for anything.
Focus Pocus: On Wednesday, rookie Colston Loveland provided the anecdote of the year, relaying Johnson’s message to the team after Week 18.
Loveland said: “After the game, (Johnson) said, ‘If you’re not prepared to play the next five weeks, you’re thinking about anything else, you’re thinking about booking flights for vacation — don’t come in.’ He made it very clear about what’s at stake and what this team is looking for.”
Ben Johnson explained Thursday: “The intent behind that is just to let the young players who haven’t been here before just understand that we’re all in with everything that we’re doing. The here and the now.
“You don’t take it for granted when you’re a coach or a player, and you’ve been around for a while, and you haven’t made the playoffs a number of times, to make it. And you just want to make sure that everyone is focused on winning the next game.”
Add DJ Moore into that category. Moore hasn’t experienced postseason action since his senior year of high school. When asked about being a veteran presence on a young team making the playoffs for the first time, Moore couldn’t help but crack a smile.
Moore joked in the locker room: “It’s my first time in this thing, too. So I'm just going with the flow, working hard. You can tell everything has been amped up, even our practice has been.”
Moore on what Saturday means to him: “It's amazing. It took me eight years to get here, so I'm loving every moment of it.”
Full Participation: The Bears won’t have CB C.J. Gardner-Johnson, LB Amen Ogbongbemiga or DE Joe Tryon-Shoyinka on Saturday against the Packers. All three remain in concussion protocol and were ruled out on Thursday.
Everybody else on the injury report this week? A full participant in yesterday’s practice. Just what you wanted to see.
Rome Odunze, who said he was “planning to play” earlier this week, will return to game action for the first time since Nov. 28th.
Ozzy Trapilo and DJ Moore won’t carry any injury designations into Saturday either.
Only two players remain questionable for Saturday’s NFC Wild Card: Kyler Gordon and Braxton Jones — the guys designated to return from IR.
Both practiced in full on Thursday.
Ben Johnson on Kyler Gordon: “It's good to have him (and Rome Odunze) back out there. I know they're excited. They're moving around well, and we'll see if they can help us out this weekend.”
The Bears also signed LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin to the practice squad and placed LB Ty Summers on injured reserve.
Reeves-Maybin spent a chunk of the year on the Bears’ practice squad but was released after the team used his three game-day elevations. Summers was injured during the opening kickoff of his first game last Sunday.
Well, here goes nothin’, I suppose.
The Bears are focused on Saturday. Nothing else.
You are focused on Saturday. Nothing else.
But in case you’re interested…
If the Bears win on Saturday, they’ll then host the second-lowest seed remaining in the NFC next weekend.
That means if the Eagles beat the 49ers on Sunday, they’ll match up with the Eagles. And if the 49ers pull off the upset, the Bears would then host the winner of Saturday’s Rams-Panthers game.
All right, that’s enough future talk. Lock back in on Saturday.
Postponed: Well, you don’t see an indoor sporting event canceled due to weather every day. In fact, it’s the first NBA game banged due to humidity in eight years.
The Bulls’ matchup with the Miami Heat never tipped off. The higher-than-average temperature in Chicago, plus the humidity, plus the ice underneath the court, created hazardous conditions unsafe for a game.
This one doesn’t have a make-up date set, but considering the Bulls would’ve been without Kevin Huerter, Zach Collins and Josh Giddey, perhaps this was a blessing in disguise from Mother Nature.
Trade Alert: The Blackhawks traded goalie Laurent Brossoit, defenseman Nolan Allan and a 2028 seventh-round pick to the San Jose Sharks for defensemen Ryan Ellis and Jake Furlong, plus a 2028 fourth-round pick.
Brossoit, who signed a two-year deal with the Blackhawks in 2024, never played in an NHL game for Chicago. He underwent hip surgery over the offseason and had rehabilitated his way back to the AHL. Brossoit, however, had lost his backup role to Arvid Soderblom and became expendable.
Ellis, 35, hasn’t played since Nov. 13, 2021, when he suffered a career-ending injury to his midsection. He carries a $6.25 million cap hit in 2026 that’ll help the Blackhawks reach the cap floor.
Allan, 22, appeared in 43 games with the Blackhawks last season. Furlong, 21, hasn’t made it to the NHL level just yet.
Headache Avoided: The Cubs and LHP Justin Steele agreed to a one-year deal worth $6.775 million on Thursday to avoid an arbitration hearing. He is still under team control through the 2028 season.
Steele, 30, missed most of the 2025 season after undergoing elbow reconstruction surgery in April. In parts of five seasons (506.2 IP) with the Cubs, Steele owns a 3.30 ERA, striking out 517 batters against 155 walks.
The Cubs also reportedly reached agreements with RHP Edward Cabrera and RHP Javier Assad, both to avoid arbitration.
Good News! Bears CB Zah Frazier posted in an Instagram story on Thursday that he was “medically cleared.”
Frazier, the Bears’ fifth-round selection last year, was placed on the Non-Football Injury list in August due to a personal matter. He did not play this past season.
🐻 Hoge & Jahns
12:00 on YouTube
🏒 Blackhawks vs. Capitals
7:00 on CHSN
📺 CHGO Blackhawks
Postgame on YouTube
Something on your mind? Rate this issue and leave a comment, question or topic to discuss!
Talk to you next week!
– P.N.
