Checkdowns, Hard Knocks, Fields, QB1’s Other Tasks, and Other Bears Bullets nguyensa

I’m back. Did you miss me?

The following is an abbreviated version of Bears Bullets as I get back into the swing of things.

DaWindyCity Production does tremendous work. And it doesn’t get much better than a mock Hard Knocks intro:

The New York Giants being named the “offseason” participant on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series doesn’t mean the Chicago Bears are off the hook for 2024. There is a non-zero chance the Bears will be the focus of the network’s training camp series. And for what it’s worth, Bears General Manager Ryan Poles said the team will roll with it if the NFL forces the team onto the show. We’ll see what happens on that front.Alex Shapiro (NBC Sports Chicago) gets some good stuff from Clay Harbor, who shares some perspective on what he (as a player) would be looking for in a quarterback. He also provides a heckuva story about how serious Drew Brees was when conducting offseason workouts:

“He buys my flight, first class, both ways. Puts me up in a five-star hotel. Picked us up every morning at 6 a.m. on the dot. Drove us out to his field in California. Had the routes listed on a paper, exactly how we were going to run them, the motions, everything, so we could get through all the routes. Then he took us to his training facility and paid for that. Paid for massages and paid for our food for dinner.

“You can see the things that make these great players, great players.”

Who knew there was so much that goes into being a QB1?Justin Fields told reporters (via the Sun-Times) that he felt his his departure from the Bears was on the horizon after a meeting at the end of the 2023 season. There was certainly some awkwardness at year’s end surrounding Chicago’s football team. I think you had to work really hard to conclude that Fields was coming back in 2024 with how the team was treating things. Frankly, it might as well have been made official the day Ryan Poles addressed Fields’ future in the season-ending press conference.Players in the Bears secondary better be on their toes in 2024. I was browsing this piece from Pro Football Focus on quarterbacks and their reliance on check-down passes when I realized that four of the 11 quarterbacks with the lowest check-down percentage in football last year are on their schedule this year. Three of the four (Trevor Lawrence, C.J. Stroud, Matthew Stafford) square off against Chicago before the team’s bye. In other words, Bears defensive backs figure to be tested early and often. It’ll be interesting to see how they attack and in which ways they’ll adjust after the bye.

Good thing that second-year cornerback Tyrique Stevenson is seen as a player on the rise.I’ll spend some time over the next few days catching up on what I missed at OTAs. First, I’ll start with this photoset from the Chicago Tribune’s Brian Cassella as he brings an inside look at Bears OTAs at Halas Hall.The Athletic’s Alec Lewis has a story on how agent Tony Dandy is carrying on the legacy of legendary agent Eugene Parker. It is a fascinating piece that I think could tickle the fancies of fans who want dive a little deeper. This is the kind of thing you’d kick back and read through on a Sunday.This isn’t football-related, but it’s something work taking seriously as Bear Report’s Zack Pearson took the words off my fingertips. Well said, Zack:

An updated 2024 NHL Mock Draft from our friends at BN Blackhawks.TRADE RUMORS! A second report name-drops Zach LaVine as a Philadelphia 76ers trade target. Maybe the Chicago Bulls can cut a deal here. (BN Bulls)The Chicago Cubs haven’t gotten much offense from their catching tandem. Perhaps Toronto Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen should be on their radar