The Bear’s Den: February 5, 2020

THE DAILY SPONGIE SPECIAL

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

BEARRRSSSS & SUPER BOWL STUFFFF

A Free Agent Luxury Item Bears Can No Longer Afford - SI.com - There is a reason free agency is a more dangerous way to build a team than the draft.

Hoge and Jahns: Super Bowl Reaction And A Bears Mock Draft - WGN Radio - The Super Bowl is behind us, which means we’re officially into the NFL offseason. Adam Hoge and Adam Jahns react to what they saw in Super Bowl LIV, including Patrick Mahomes’ comeback and the lack of a response from Jimmy Garoppolo.

Free Agent TE Greg Olsen Was Hoping to Hear From the Bears, But Hasn’t (Yet) - Bleacher Nation - Greg Olsen’s camp has reportedly received interest from a few teams already this offseason. Just not the Bears. Yet.

Colorado’s Steven Montez: The Newest QB Name Connected to the Bears on the Mock Draft Circuit - Bleacher Nation - Steven Montez has the measurables, but it doesn’t appear as if he has much else.

Wood: Least Explosive Team in the NFL, or the Story of the 2019 Chicago Bears - Da Bears Blog - I’ve been working my way through the Bears’ 2019 performance to see what changed from 2018 that caused them to slip from 12-4 to 8-8. Today, I want to look at explosive plays, which I found last season have a strong correlation to overall offensive performance.

Bears To Play Jaguars In Jacksonville, Not London - 670 The Score - The Bears are still in play to face the Falcons in an international game in 2020.

Bears Offseason Outlook: Running Back - 670 The Score - The Bears’ quest to establish a running game starts with coach Matt Nagy’s mindset.

5@5: Has Mahomes Changed How Teams Look At QBs? - 670 The Score - The Mully & Haugh crew debates a five-pack of questions every weekday.

NFL mock draft 2020: Bears go for tight ends in post-SB LIV predictions - Chicago Sun-Times - In early two-round NFL mock drafts, experts see the Bears targeting tight ends and offensive linemen.

Jacksonville Jaguars will play two games in London next season, but Bears game not among them - Chicago Sun-Times - The Bears-Jags game will be played in Florida.

Chicago Bears: Key dates for 2020 NFL offseason - Chicago Tribune - When does free agency begin for the Chicago Bears? What about OTAs and minicamps? Here’s the 2020 offseason timeline.

Bears in middle of pack in NFL power rankings - ChicagoBears.com - In NFL power rankings released this week after the conclusion of the 2019 season, the Bears are ranked 17th by NFL.com’s Dan Hanzus and 18th by ESPN.com.

Bears to play Jaguars in Jacksonville in 2020 - ChicagoBears.com - The Jacksonville Jaguars will host two home games in London in 2020, but they announced Tuesday that their contest against the Bears will be played in Jacksonville.

Getting to Know Tre Roberson From His Former Coach and Teammate - Chicago Audible Blog - Learn more about Chicago Bears CB Tre Roberson with this Q&A with his former Stampeders DB Coach and collegiate teammate from Illinois State.

Free agent TE Greg Olsen says he hoped the Bears had reached out for possible reunion - NBC Sports Chicago - Fans had been speculating where the former first-round draft pick for the Bears would land after mutually parting ways with the Carolina Panthers. Turns out, Greg Olsen really wanted to come back to Chicago.

Mitch Trubisky’s 2018 season deemed an outlier by Pro Football Focus - NBC Sports Chicago - More data points toward the Bears needing to make a QB change this offseason. Ken’s Note: OMG OMG OMG OMG PFF doesn’t like Mitchell Trubisky OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG. In other news, water is wet, sand is sandy and PFF is dumber than an Idaho potato growing in Texas.

Attention for Adam Trautman Only Hurting Bears’ Chances - SI.com - The NFL’s draft process uncovers just about anyone with talent at some point and it’s already working to expose one potential diamond in the rough who could have benefited the Bears.

POLISH SAUSAGE

NFL Power Rankings: Chiefs reign; can 49ers come back strong? - NFL.com - With the dust settling after Super Bowl LIV, the Kansas City Chiefs are on top -- but how does the rest of the NFL pecking order look? Dan Hanzus provides a final Power Ranking for the 2019 season.

Redrafting the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft - NFL News, Rankings and Statistics - PFF - With the headliner of the 2017 NFL Draft just winning his first Super Bowl, it seems like a good time to play a game of “what if?” by going back and shaking up the selections in Patrick Mahomes’ draft.

Chiefs should break the bank for Patrick Mahomes ASAP – ProFootballTalk - The moment the 2019 regular season ended, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes became eligible for a second contract. The longer the team waits to give him one, the more expensive it will get.

The Chiefs’ MVP isn’t Patrick Mahomes, it’s Tyrann Mathieu – ProFootballTalk - Patrick Mahomes is a regular-season MVP and the latest Super Bowl MVP. But he’s not the Chiefs’ 2019 team MVP. That honor has gone to safety Tyrann Mathieu. The Chiefs — who wisely hold the announcement of all team awards until the season has ended — have announced that Mathieu is the MVP.

Greg Olsen says his parting with the Panthers wasn’t really mutual – ProFootballTalk - In recent years, football teams that move on from certain employees (usually coaches) couch the decision as mutual. The Panthers recently did it tight end Greg Olsen. Olsen said Tuesday that it wasn’t really mutual. “I told them all along that if they wanted me back . . .

KNOW THINE ENEMY

Watch: 7 minutes of Matt Patricia, Cory Undlin mic’d up at Senior Bowl - Pride Of Detroit - This is a pretty neat behind-the-scenes look at the Lions coaching staff.

Notes: Kenny Golladay taken 12th overall in PFF’s 2017 re-draft - Pride Of Detroit - The Lions WR jumped two rounds in PFF’s hindsight draft.

Packers 2020 Free Agents: Will Danny Vitale or Tyler Ervin return to bolster special teams? - Acme Packing Company - Three Packers running backs will be free agents in March. Two of them would appear to be good candidates to return in 2020.

IN CASE YOU YOU MISSED IT ON WINDY CITY GRIDIRON

Witfong's Mocking the Mocks: Dueling Bears 7-round mock drafts! - Windy City Gridiron - Who mocked it better for the Chicago Bears; Adam Hoge or Bryan Perez?

Wiltfong: Not every free agent is a fit for Chicago - Windy City Gridiron - Every time a "name" player comes available, there are Bears fans hoping to see them don the Navy and Orange.

WCG CONTRIBUTORS BEARS PODCASTS & STREAMS

Windy City Gridiron Podcast Channel which includes Bear With Me from Robert Schmitz, Bears Over Beers featuring Jeff Berckes & EJ Snyder, and T Formation Conversation from Lester A. Wiltfong Jr.; Steven’s Streaming Twitch Channel from Steven Schweickert; and Robert Zeglinski’s The Blitz Network

THE RULES

Windy City Gridiron Community Guidelines - SBNation.com - We strive to make our communities open and inclusive to sports fans of all backgrounds. The following is not permitted in comments. No personal attacks, politics, gender based insults of any kind, racial insults, etc.

WCG CONTRIBUTORS BEARS PODCASTS & STREAMS

Windy City Gridiron Podcast Channel which includes Bear With Me from Robert Schmitz, Bears Over Beers featuring Jeff Berckes & EJ Snyder, Bears Banter hosted by Bill Zimmerman, and T Formation Conversation from Lester A. Wiltfong Jr.; Steven’s Streaming Twitch Channel from Steven Schweickert; and Robert Zeglinski’s The Blitz Network

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