👋 Good morning!

Would you rather drain a buzzer-beater, nail a walk-off field goal or tally a hat trick?

All three have happened for Chicago teams in the last five days.

Winning is fun. Winning is also extremely stressful.

I’m pretty sure I saw a gray hair this morning. I’ll be Full Carm in no time.

– Patrick Norton

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…Another Window Opens

The Bears opened the 21-day practice window to return from injured reserve for nickel back Kyler Gordon on Wednesday. Gordon missed the last four games nursing a calf injury.

Doubles Makes It Safe: Gordon is the second member of the Bears’ secondary to have their return window opened in the last week. Jaylon Johnson, who underwent surgery to repair a gruesome groin injury back in Week 2, was designated to return last Friday.

Both were limited participants in Wednesday’s practice, but coach Ben Johnson maintained that the Bears will be cautious when bringing them back into the fold.

Ben Johnson on Gordon & Johnson’s timetable: “We have a plan in place. We have a lot of trust in the support staff. Between the training room and then our sports science department, we'll make sure that we're acclimating them properly.

“The last thing we want to do is put a player in a spot where he could potentially hurt himself again. We'll be very smart about that. But at the same time, I know that they want to be out there, and they're pushing hard to be game-ready, whether that's this week or not.”
Too Many Cooks: With Gordon and Johnson nearing a comeback, where does that leave a Bears defense that’s added C.J. Gardner-Johnson and seen Nahshon Wright climb to second in the league in interceptions?

It leaves them in a good spot with tremendous depth.

Ben Johnson on keeping Gardner-Johnson on the field: “I think C.J. is definitely a playmaker. He's a guy that we're going to want on the field. When we feel good about Kyler being ready, make sure we have a good plan in place in terms of how we set that up.”

Wednesday’s injury report also listed safety Jaquan Brisker as a non-participant in practice due to a shoulder injury. Brisker appeared to suffer that injury when colliding with cornerback Tyrique Stevenson while making a play on a terrible underthrow from Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy on Sunday.

While I’d be willing to bet Brisker is on the practice field and available for Sunday’s game against the Steelers, Gardner-Johnson does have experience at safety.

Regardless, injuries pop up and fatigue kicks in as the season progresses. The depth pieces in the secondary will have their moments to get back on the field and shine.

The more concerning area of the injury report was the decimated linebacking corps. Tremaine Edmunds (groin), T.J. Edwards (hand/hamstring) and Noah Sewell (elbow) all were non-participants on Wednesday.

It’s at least worth keeping an eye on today.

Ruben Hyppolite II, D’Marco Jackson and Amen Ogbongbemiga are the only other linebackers on the active roster. The practice squad also features Carl Jones Jr. and the newly-signed NFLPA president, Jalen Reeves-Maybin.

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Bulls 122, Trail Blazers 121: Bang! Nikola Vucevic! Bang!

The jury’s still out on whether the Bulls are actually good right now, but they’re making heart surgeons plenty of dough in the early going of the season.

Despite leading by 21 in the fourth quarter, the Bulls fell behind by four late and trailed by two in the waning moments of the game. Down 121-119 on the final possession, Coby White drove the lane before kicking out to an open Vucevic for his second game-winning three of the year.

Absurd. And so Bulls.

Vucevic led the way for the Bulls with 27 points and eight rebounds. White added 25 off the bench on a minutes restriction as he ramps back up to full strength. Josh Giddey scored just nine points but added 13 assists.

The Bulls also struggled on the glass, surrendering 26 offensive boards to the Trail Blazers. It was the most allowed in a game by the Bulls since April 5, 2003, when they let the Milwaukee Bucks grab 29.

MORE: Will Gottlieb, Matt Peck & Big Dave’s instant reactions to the stunner