The Bear’s Den, January 15, 2018

BEAR DOWN, CHICAGO BEARS, BEAR DOWN!!!!

BEARRRSSSS

Kane: How roots of Matt Nagy’s career grew from small rural Pennsylvania borough - Chicago Tribune - The people of Manheim, Pa., long have known Matt Nagy can compel a community. Now he will take his leadership skills to the Chicago Bears community.

2017 PFFELO NFL Power Rankings - PFF ranks Bears ahead of Packers - Pro Football Focus - The Divisional round of the playoffs of PFF's NFL Power Rankings for all 32 teams, based on our exclusive PFFELO system. Our iterative system updates each team’s rating after each game.

Brown: 2018 NFL Draft - 5 Wide Receivers the Bears should consider drafting - Da Windy City - The Chicago Bears desperately need help in the receiving department for the 2018 season. Here are 5 receivers the Bears should consider drafting.

Hinrichs: One area Ryan Pace must improve upon - Da Windy City - While making some terrific personnel hires, there is one area Ryan Pace must greatly improve upon for the Chicago Bears to become contenders.

Dickerson: Bears' staff takes shape with Mark Helfrich, Vic Fangio as coordinators - Chicago Bears Blog- ESPN - Matt Nagy is bringing three former Bears assistants back to Chicago and will have former Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich as his offensive coordinator.

Campbell: Bears hire Kevin M. Gilbride as tight ends coach - Chicago Tribune - The Bears hired Kevin M. Gilbride to be their new tight ends coach.

Finley: Bears name Kevin M. Gilbride their TEs coach - Chicago Sun-Times - Kevin M. Gilbride, who spent the last four seasons as the Giants' tight ends coach, was named to the same role with the Bears.

Chicago Bears hire Gilbride as tight ends coach - Daily Herald - Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy continues to fill out his staff, hiring NFL coaching veteran Kevin Gilbride as tight ends coach.

Mayer: Bears hire Gilbride as tight ends coach - ChicagoBears.com - The Bears added another key member to new head coach Matt Nagy’s staff Saturday with the hiring of Kevin Gilbride as tight ends coach.

Perez: Can the Bears have a Rams-like turnaround on offense under Matt Nagy in 2018? - Bears Wire - All the pieces are in place for the Bears offense to have an explosive turnaround in 2018

Perez: Which WR should the Bears target in free agency? - Bears Wire - Which WR should the Bears target in this year's free agency?

Video: Akiem Hicks tells Bears defense to ‘take the dogs off the leash’ - Bears Wire - A look at the Bears' Best of 2017 Mic'd Up

POLISH SAUSAGE

Patra: Le'Veon Bell set to be franchise tagged by Steelers - NFL.com - Le'Veon Bell appears to be sprinting toward another season of playing under the franchise tag. The star running back is expected to be tagged by the team this offseason, Ian Rapoport reports.

Florio: Will Mike Mularkey still be the Titans’ head coach “moving forward”? – ProFootballTalk - Last Sunday, Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk issued a statement aimed at clarifying the status of coach Mike Mularkey. At first blush, it did. On closer inspection, it didn't.

Florio: Will Josh McDaniels choose the Colts? – ProFootballTalk - As mentioned in a catch-all item from Saturday that looked at the various lingering coaching vacancies, the Colts have whittled their list of potential coaches down to two. One is Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

Boren: Threat to kill Steelers players, fans during NFL playoff game ends in arrest - Chicago Tribune - A San Antonio man has been arrested after allegedly threatening to kill Steelers players at the NFL divisional playoff game Sunday in Pittsburgh's Heinz Field.

CDC Says “Take 3” Actions to Fight the Flu - Seasonal Influenza (Flu) - CDC - Take 3 Actions To Fight The Flu. Ken's Note: Flu is bad this year, so I'm sending this out as a public reminder that the best way to keep from getting the flu is washing those hands in soapy hot water! Be diligent and be well, my Bears friends...

Flu season 2018: Why it got so bad - Vox - It’s still not too late to get a flu shot.

KNOW THY ENEMY

Bouda: Lions Inform Candidates They've Been Eliminated, Hiring Matt Patricia As HC - NFLTradeRumors.co
Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com reports that the Lions have informed the other head coach candidates they’ve been eliminated from the search and the expectation is that they will hire Patriots DC Matt Patricia as their new head coach.

Smith: More talk that Matt Patricia is likely the Lions’ head coach – ProFootballTalk - PFT reported last weekend that the Patriots were bracing for defensive coordinator Matt Patricia to leave for Detroit as the Lions' next head coach, and although there's been plenty of reporting linking Patricia to the Giants, Detroit still appears to be the likely destination.

Western: What are the Packers’ options with Clay Matthews this offseason? - Acme Packing Company - Let’s look at what a contract restructure might look like for the veteran pass rusher. Ken's Note: Bears fans have other ideas of exactly what to do with this man... where he can go in the future. Fell free to ask us, Acme, we will be glad to tell you in explicit detail.

Campbell: Case Keenum-Stefon Diggs TD on last play gives Vikings a 29-24 playoff win over the Saints - Chicago Tribune - Case Keenum completed a last-ditch heave near the sideline Sunday on the game's final play, as Stefon Diggs slithered away for a 61-yard touchdown to give Minnesota a 29-24 victory over New Orleans.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ON WINDY CITY GRIDIRON

Matt Nagy is the Bears’ new coach, but now what? - Windy City Gridiron - Now that the Chicago Bears have a head coach, let’s learn all about him. Also, what’s up with the coaching staff?

Sunderbruch: What if the Bears don’t need to draft a receiver? - Windy City Gridiron - The Bears need offensive weapons, and this is going to limit their choices in the draft. Right? Maybe not.

Zeglinski: Bears hire Kevin M. Gilbride as tight ends coach - Windy City Gridiron - The former Giants assistant is coming to Chicago.

Infante's 2018 offseason outlook: Ranking each position for the Bears based off of need - Windy City Gridiron - Evaluating what the Bears’ strengths and weaknesses are heading into the beginning of the offseason, and whom they can target in both free agency and the NFL Draft.

FANPOSTS

x160630: More Predictable Prophetic Visions - Windy City Gridiron - Back in August, I came to you with "5 Predictions for the 2017 Chicago Bears." Many of you chided me for such sillyness. Yet let us take a look at the astonishing accuracy I presented you all with....

60647DC3: Drafting Needs is Dead - Windy City Gridiron - Some in this community think the First Round of the NFL Draft is for getting the player that fills a roster need. For decades, so did the Bears and we see where that has gotten us.

Chi-Town Phxman: Free Agent Targets - Windy City Gridiron - Rosenthal recently put out his top 25 free agents for 2018 and I'm curious if Pace will target any of them. I've briefly commented on a few of them below:

IOftenPanic: - 2018 NFL Draft - Positional Big Boards v5.0 - Windy City Gridiron - My grades are draft neutral and based on a scale of 90-100 (1st round), 80-89 (2nd round), 70-79 (3rd round), etc.

Nomad30: Bears-Vikings II - Auld Lang Syne - Windy City Gridiron - This is coming out now because the Fanpost function suddenly decided to like me again. Don't know why. But here this is regardless. *Curtain rises on an office scene, an office much more plush...

FanPosts - Recent - Windy City Gridiron - Here’s a link to our FanPost section, where YOU have the opportunity to contribute to Windy City Gridiron. Take a few minutes and write a post about what you are thinking about regarding the Chicago Bears, and there’s a chance it will be linked right here in the Den.

THE RULES

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The Bear’s Den Specific Guidelines – The Bear’s Den is a place for Chicago Bears fans to discuss Chicago Bears football, related NFL stories, and general football talk. It is NOT a place to discuss religion or politics or post political pictures or memes, and any posts that do this will be deleted and the poster will be admonished. We do not allow comments posted where the apparent attempt is to cause confrontation in the community. We do not allow gender-directed humor or sexual assault jokes. The staff of WCG are the sole arbiters of what constitutes “apparent attempt to cause confrontation”. We do not allow the “calling out” of other members in any way, shape or form. Posts that do this will be deleted on sight. Bottom line, it’s fine to debate about football, but personal jabs and insults are strictly prohibited. Additionally, if you keep beating the same dead horse over and over and fail to heed a moderator’s warning to stop, you will be banned.

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