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Jahns: The Bears aren't the same team that lost to the Lions — and everyone knows it

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Snubbed.

Hockey Canada announced its roster on Wednesday for the upcoming Olympics in Milan with one significant and notable omission: Blackhawks star Connor Bedard.

Outside Looking In: Before suffering a shoulder injury in the final second of a loss on December 12th that’s kept him out since, Bedard was performing at a pace not seen in Chicago since Denis Savard scored 131 points in the 1987-88 season.

In the first 30 games of his third season in the league, Bedard had already tallied 19 points and 25 assists. Those numbers seemed good enough to possibly crack Canada’s roster, but reports through October and November said Bedard was still a long shot.

Yet Bedard kept producing, outpacing San Jose Sharks phenom Macklin Celebrini, who did, in fact, make the final roster released on Wednesday.
Dinged Up: The shoulder injury last month just about ended any and all speculation that Bedard even had a shot to make it, despite the expectation that he’d be reevaluated early this month with a chance to return in the near future.

It felt like the injury would be Hockey Canada’s way out without requiring a deeper explanation. Instead, Team Canada (and St. Louis Blues) GM Doug Armstrong said the decision on Bedard was made without much thought to his injury status.

Armstrong on the injury’s impact on the decision: “Not a lot, quite honestly. His name was right there till the last second because we could have named him and then moved forward. But I think the reality is there are so many good players and we just had difficult decisions to make.”

I asked Jay Zawaski for his thoughts on Bedard’s omission. Here’s what he had to say…

"It’s not a huge surprise that, despite his excellent performance before his injury, Connor Bedard was left off Team Canada’s Olympic roster.

“From the start, he felt like a long shot. While everyone in Chicago knows he deserved the opportunity, nationally, there is still a perception that his game is too one-dimensional. He's taken strides to improve his all-around game this season, and it doesn’t take a keen hockey eye to notice those improvements.

“There is still work to do on his overall game, though. Bedard, who is the textbook definition of a rink rat, wants to be great. He'll use this slight as motivation and a goal. In the meantime, he can use the break to fully heal his shoulder and be ready to pick up where he left off when NHL play resumes.

“For what it’s worth, I’d consider it a snub, but he was extremely one-dimensional until this season. He has to build his reputation as a three-zone player, and he will.

“Canada felt they could only use him in offensive situations and that they had more versatile options. Scoring won’t be an issue for them. Their goaltending is a massive concern, so their concern with defending is warranted.

“He will play for Canada in the Olympics in 2030. Imagine the player he'll be then.”

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Does It Matter? Which would you prefer: the Bears defeat the Lions on Sunday and secure the No. 2 seed, or Caleb Williams throws for 270 yards and becomes the first Bears passer to eclipse 4,000 passing yards in a single season?

For Williams and coach Ben Johnson, the answer is simple: winning trumps all.

Johnson said Wednesday: “If it were to happen, that'd be great, but he would agree with me when I say our number one objective is to win this ball game. And so, whatever that takes, that's our goal. We'll see where it's at the end of the year, but that's the tertiary goal, if you will. … I think it's an arbitrary number. There are probably some (teams) that don't have a 5,000-yard passer either. It's just a number.”

Williams understands the meaning of the number in Chicago, but won’t let it define Sunday’s game or his season.

Williams said: “It'd be cool just in the sense of there’s never been one here. … The self-goals and all of that always get swept under when you go for the team goals. That's winning ball games. That's first and foremost in my mind. That's first and foremost for this team. The most important thing is winning ball games and heading into the playoffs with some momentum and some good energy heading into the playoffs.”

Injury Update: The Bears officially placed linebacker Noah Sewell on injured reserve with an Achilles injury.

Bulls 134, Pelicans 118: Nothing like a night game in Chicago on New Year’s Eve to really muck up the Eisenhower.

Before the game, the Bulls announced they would re-evaluate Josh Giddey (left hamstring strain) in two weeks, Coby White (right calf tightness) in one week and Zach Collins (right toe sprain) in ten days.

It didn’t seem to bother the Bulls against a bad Pelicans team they’ve already lost to twice this season. For the first time in two weeks and just the third time all season, the Bulls led for the entire second half.

Isaac Okoro was the Bulls’ unlikely hero with a team-leading 24 points. Jalen Smith added 14 rebounds and Tre Jones tacked on 20 points and 12 assists.