It’s Been A Minute

November 19, 2021 Evan Ferguson

My apologies for the hiatus, but as some of you may understand, the college life and classes can get pretty hectic. However, we’re back with a lot of Chicago sports to discuss and rant about. So let’s get started…

Bears

Once again, I feel very conflicted as to whether or not I should be happy or sad when discussing the current and future state of the Bears. On one hand I’m absolutely ecstatic over how Justin Fields has played the past few weeks. He’s made incredibly big time and clutch throws while nearly leading the Bears to a comeback win against the Steelers. And let’s be honest, he won that game and the refs lost it for the Bears. Cassius Marsh merely looked at the Steelers sideline and ended up getting fined roughly 10% of his NFL paycheck for it. To add insult to injury, the NFL ended up coming out and stating that they blew several calls that cost the Bears that game. So part of me wants to say the Bears are technically 4-5 on the year instead of 3-6, which would make me more optimistic about making the playoffs, but then again do Bears fans necessarily want to make the playoffs if it means Matt Nagy keeps his job? Let’s think about this for a second. If the Bears make the playoffs, it’ll most likely be how they made it last year. By barely sneaking in. There will be very little chance that they make it anywhere meaningful in the postseason and somehow Bears management will think that’s good enough to keep Matt Nagy as the head coach, even though he’s proven that he’s not qualified to be an NFL head coach. But then again of course I want to see the Bears win as many games as possible. *Sigh* I think my biggest worry is just Bears management failing to put the best people in the positions that they need to be in. However, forever and always Bear Down.

Bulls

Now this is a team I’m thrilled to write about! Although the Bulls let one slip away to the Trailblazers last night, they have looked absolutely phenomenal to start the season. With a record of 10-5, they sit as one of the top teams of the East as of right now. The funniest thing is all the analysts that called DeMar DeRozan the “worst offseason transaction”. DeRozan is averaging just under 27 points per game to go along with 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game. This man is everything we could’ve hoped for and more. On top of that, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso have also been playing to the best of their ability and far exceeding what their contracts say they’re worth. This is by far the most fun the Bulls have been to watch since the 2011 Bulls that consisted of Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, Taj Gibson, Kyle Korver, etc.. It’s also worth mentioning that the Bulls have been able to play at this level without contributions from Patrick Williams and Coby White. Nikola Vucevic has also missed a few games as well. Who knows what this team could do at full strength? Who knows what will happen once rookies like Ayo Dosunmu and Marko Simonovic get time to truly show what they can do? It should definitely be a fun rest of the season for the Bulls.

Blackhawks

Holy crap it actually happened! The Blackhawks finally won, not just one, but now 5 games! Including a current 4 game winning streak!! Who knew that all it would take would be firing a terrible (morally and performance wise) front office and head coach? I’m not going to sit here and say that the Blackhawks are now playoff bound by any means, but this does feel like a step in the right direction for the rebuild that the Hawks have said to be going through. Is interim coach Derek King the answer to our coaching problems? That remains to be seen but it’ll be interesting to see how he does the rest of the season. Having an already good coach in house would save the Hawks a lot of time and stress in the offseason that could be used to finding a new front office and bettering the roster. It’s been extremely refreshing to see that Alex Debrincat’s incredible year last season wasn’t just a fluke, as he’s been off to a great start while leading the team in goals with 9 and is third in points with 12. Seth Jones seems to have been worth everything we gave up to get him. He leads the team in assists with 12 and is second in points with 14, all while leading the team in minutes played. He’s the perfect replacement for Duncan Keith after the longtime Hawks legend showed that he’s clearly close to retirement. Now that Seth’s brother Caleb Jones is off the injured reserve, the Blackhawks also have some much needed depth and help on defense. Like I said, no one exactly expects the Blackhawks to win the Stanley Cup this year, but there’s a lot more optimism that they’ll have some incredible development under a new regime.