Roster Moves: Bears Release Nate Davis
November 13, 2024, 6:42 PM CST
After just a year and a half, the Nate Davis experiment is over in Chicago.
The Bears today released Davis who had signed a three year, $30 million deal in the 2023 offseason, after just a year and a half in the Windy City. After signing from Tennessee, Davis was expected to be the Right Guard for the team first for Justin Fields, and then for Caleb Williams. However, Davis became known for his unreliability, including on Sunday when he suddenly suffered a back issue after being healthy all week and was ruled out for the game. After shopping him at the trade deadline to no avail, that seemingly was the last straw for the Bears as they sent Davis home and have now let him go from the team.
Taking Davis' spot on the active roster is Offensive Tackle Jake Curhan, who signed with the team in the offseason and has been on the practice squad throughout the season. Curhan has appeared in a couple of games due to the injuries to Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright, and now will have a full-time spot on the roster in case he's needed.
The Bears also signed intriguing Center Ricky Stromberg to the practice squad. Stromberg, a former Commanders third round pick in 2023, was a guy I really liked coming out of Arkansas and wanted the Bears to take a look at, which they did as they had him in for a Top 30 visit prior to the 2023 Draft. After suffering an injury, the new Commanders regime let him go. Now, he finds himself on the Bears practice squad. Due to his injury, he's not completely ready right now and he will need to get up to speed, but he's a very intriguing prospect to watch for both the rest of this season and the offseason.
Image Credit: Yahoo Sports
Shane Waldron Out as Bears Offensive Coordinator
November 12, 2024, 9:16 AM CST
Following the three point embarrassment on Sunday against New England, the Bears have fired Offensive Coordinator Shane Waldron. Thomas Brown, the current Pass Game Coordinator, will take over in the OC position.
Waldron has struggled to get the best out of Caleb Williams and the Bears offense, and since the bye week, the Bears have only scored two touchdowns in three games. Many veterans had voiced their opinions on the offense and wanted a change in recent weeks, and that's exactly what they're going to get.
Brown served as the Panthers OC last year, calling plays after Frank Reich was fired. His offense, while not great given a bad situation in Carolina, did score 30 points on the Packers, our opponents this week.
Matt Eberflus is on thin ice as Bears Head Coach, as this is now his fifth coordinator change in the job. Barring a drastic change to the season, it's likely he will wind up out of the job come January 6th.
Image Credit: WGN
Bears Trade Khalil Herbert to Bengals
November 5, 2024, 8:45 AM CST
The Bears have made an early move on deadline day, sending running back Khalil Herbert to the Bengals in exchange for a 2025 Seventh Round Draft Pick.
Herbert, who had been with the Bears since 2021, fell out of favor in the offense this year as D'Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson jumped him on the depth chart. He only had 8 carries for 16 yards and a touchdown, and had not received a carry since Week 3. Once Travis Homer returned from IR, Herbert became a healthy inactive for the last two games.
Herbert's best year with the Bears came in 2022, when he rushed for 731 yards and four touchdowns on 129 carries. He now joins a Cincinnati running back room that just lost Zack Moss for the year, and will get the chance to prove himself as he heads to free agency this offseason.
Image Credit: Newsweek
Bears Waive Jones Jr., Make Other Moves
October 26, 2024, 8:55 PM CDT
The Velus Jones Jr. era has come to an end in Chicago.
The Bears waived Jones yesterday, along with Fullback Khari Blasingame, after just two and a half years in Chicago. Jones was selected in the third round of the 2022 draft, and could never quite carve out a role in Chicago. He was mainly under scrutiny for constantly fumbling the ball, whether that be on runs, catches, or return plays. It looked like he was going to find a role this year as a kickoff returner/utility running back, but a fumble on a kickoff return in Week 1 ended his playing time with the Bears. He will now seek other opportunities in the league.
Blasingame has been the Bears fullback since 2022, but with a new offensive system this year, he began to lose snaps and was eventually replaced at the fullback role by Doug Kramer. He's a solid player and should get other opportunities around the league.
The Bears made these two moves to activate two players off the Injured Reserve, Jacob Martin and Travis Homer. Martin, an Edge Rusher, started the year on IR and nearly came back for the London game as his practice window was opened that week. He will presumably make his Bears debut tomorrow against the Commanders. Homer played in the first two games of the year, carrying the ball 3 times for 16 yards before landing on IR after the Texans game. He is now back and will make his return tomorrow. Offensive Tackle Larry Borom also had his practice window opened this week, but he's not ready to return quite yet. Defensive Back Tavarius Moore was elevated to the active roster for tomorrow's game, providing more secondary depth as both Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon have been ruled out.
Kickoff tomorrow in Washington will be at 3:25 CDT with the game being broadcasted on CBS. We still have yet to know if Jayden Daniels will play for the Commanders, but either way it should be a good game with the Bears hopefully improving their record to 5-2 on the year.
Image Credit: Yahoo Sports
Kmet, Williams Earn Player of the Week Honors
October 16, 2024, 4:59 PM CDT
The Bears destroyed the Jaguars on Sunday with a 35-16 win, and two of the biggest contributors were Quarterback Caleb Williams and Tight End Cole Kmet.
Williams was named FedEx Air and Ground Player of the Week with 282 total yards, a 79.3 completion percentage, and four touchdowns. This is his first time winning a weekly award, and it sure won't be his last. Rookie of the Week awards don't drop until tomorrow, meaning we could see him pick up another award within the next 24 hours.
Cole Kmet had five catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday, but that isn't what got him NFC Special Teams Player of the Week. When Long Snapper Scott Daly injured his knee, Kmet stepped up and did a pretty good job as the emergency backup. He successfully completed six long snaps after he came in, and he now becomes the first ever long snapper to win Special Teams Player of the Week. A rare moment where the NFL did something fun for their awards.
Kmet and Williams join Tyrique Stevenson and Tory Taylor for Bears players to win a weekly award this season.
Image Credit: Chicago Sun-Times
Bears-Commanders Moved From Noon Start To 3:25 Window
October 15, 2024, 7:55 PM CDT
For the first time since 2018, the Bears have had a flex in their schedule that is unrelated to Covid or final week of the season changes.
The headline grabbing Week 8 matchup between the Chicago Bears and Washington Commanders has been moved to the 3:25 window, and Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will likely be on the call for that game. This will give CBS the opportunity to profile it as their Game of the Week and broadcast it to the national audience.
This is a big time change and it's no surprise the NFL is doing this. You have the number one and number two overall picks, and the two frontrunners for Rookie of the Year, dueling it out in front of a national audience. It's a surprise the NFL didn't have this game in the Sunday or Monday Night spot to begin with. This game probably would've moved to Sunday Night had Cowboys-49ers not been scheduled for that spot already, as even though both teams are mediocre, that's a historical rivalry that they can't tamper with.
This matchup obviously won't be for another week and a half, but it's going to be a big one for the rest of the season as both teams try to prove themselves as true contenders in a game that could eventually be the deciding factor in who makes the playoffs.
Image Credit: Star Local Media
Tyrique Stevenson Named NFC Defensive Player of the Week
September 11, 2024, 5:25 PM CDT
Bears second year cornerback Tyrique Stevenson has been named NFC Defensive Player of the Week today thanks to his contributions in Sunday's game against the Titans.
Stevenson had four tackles, two pass breakups, and the crucial pick-six in the fourth quarter to give the Bears the lead which they never surrendered. Looking deeper, Stevenson put up a 74.9 PFF Grade (T-10th among Corners in Week 1), and only allowed three catches for 42 yards. Will Levis only had a 46.8 passer rating when throwing the ball Tyrique's way, which he did nine times.
This is a huge step up for Tyrique Stevenson to start the year. He was pretty poor last year, though most rookie corners tend to struggle early. He actually won NFC DPOTW in Week 17 against the Falcons last season after intercepting two passes. The last two Bears before Stevenson to win DPOTW twice were Eddie Jackson and Peanut Tillman, putting Rique in some elite company.
Stevenson and the rest of the Bears defense will look to repeat their Week 1 performance against the Houston Texans on Sunday with kickoff taking place at 7:20 PM Central Daylight Time.
Image Credit: Fox 32 Chicago
Bears Announce Initial 53-Man Roster Following Cuts
August 27, 2024, 4:42 PM CDT
The Bears have announced their initial 53-man roster following roster cut downs. Here is who made the initial roster, though note this is still subject to change with plenty of players going on waivers around the league.
QB (2): Caleb Williams, Tyson Bagent
RB (4): D'Andre Swift, Khalil Herbert, Roschon Johnson, Travis Homer
WR (6): DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze, Tyler Scott, Velus Jones Jr., DeAndre Carter
TE (3): Cole Kmet, Gerald Everett, Marcedes Lewis
OL (10): Braxton Jones, Darnell Wright, Kiran Amegadjie, Coleman Shelton, Doug Kramer Jr., Teven Jenkins, Nate Davis, Bill Murray, Ryan Bates, Matt Pryor
DL (10): Montez Sweat, Darrell Taylor, DeMarcus Walker, Daniel Hardy, Austin Booker, Dominique Robinson, Gervon Dexter Sr., Andrew Billings, Chris Williams, Zacch Pickens
LB (5): T.J. Edwards, Tremaine Edmunds, Jack Sanborn, Amen Ogbongbemiga, Noah Sewell
DB (10): Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, Tyrique Stevenson, Terell Smith, Jaylon Jones, Josh Blackwell, Kevin Byard III, Jaquan Brisker, Jonathan Owens, Elijah Hicks
ST (3): Cairo Santos, Tory Taylor, Pat Scales
Image Credit: USA Today
Bears Acquire DT Chris Williams From Browns
August 24, 2024, 3:24 PM CDT
Ryan Poles has made another trade, sending a 2025 sixth round pick to the Browns in exchange for DT Chris Williams and a 2025 seventh round pick.
Matt Eberflus recently expressed to the media that there was a concerning lack of depth at Defensive Tackle, and Poles went out and got a guy who Eberflus is familiar with. Williams spent three years in Indianapolis after going undrafted out of Wagner, and in two of those years (2020 and 2021), he overlapped with Matt Eberflus, though he did not get any game action in 2020. He last played in the regular season in 2022 with the Colts, and he spent parts of 2023 on both the Chiefs and Browns practice squad. In the two years he played games in (2021 and 2022), he registered six tackles and zero sacks. He's been decent this preseason as he recorded two sacks. He was likely going to be a cut candidate in Cleveland, and Poles worked to secure him before another team could snag him. He now joins a room consisting of Gervon Dexter Sr., Andrew Billings, and Zacch Pickens as the guys who likely make the initial 53-Man roster.
The pick the Bears traded originally belonged to the Miami Dolphins, as the Bears acquired that pick last season when they sent Chase Claypool to the Fins. Other roster moves today included waiving TE Tommy Sweeney and DT Keith Randolph Jr., waiving DB Douglas Coleman III with an injury designation (neck), and placing WR Nsimba Webster (groin) and RB Ian Wheeler (Torn ACL) on the injured reserve.
Image Credit: Yahoo Sports
Bears Acquire Pass Rush Help in Darrell Taylor From Seattle
August 23, 2024, 12:28 PM CDT
Ryan Poles has done it again. The Bears today acquired Seahawks pass rusher Darrell Taylor in exchange for a Sixth Round Pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Taylor, a 2020 second round pick by Seattle, was given a one year deal worth $3.163 million prior to the RFA deadline this past offseason. Over the last three years, Taylor has racked up 21.5 sacks (15 over the last two seasons), along with 90 total pressures in his time with Seattle. He missed his entire rookie season due to injury, but only missed two games since recovering from that. He is still only 27 years old and could be a guy the Bears look to return for cheap next year should he play well. He seems to be a guy that will mainly be a third down edge rusher, as his run defense isn't great.
The Bears current edge rush room consists of Montez Sweat, Austin Booker, Daniel Hardy, Dominique Robinson, Jacob Martin, DeMarcus Walker, Khalid Kareem, Carl Jones Jr., and Jamree Kromah. Adding Taylor to that room now means that the Bears will likely be cutting anywhere between 4-6 guys, depending on how many edge rushers they want to keep. Tomorrow I will release my final 53-Man roster projection, having to make some harsh cuts as I work through it.
Image Credit: Field Gulls
Caleb Williams, Starters to Play vs Buffalo
August 8, 2024, 4:07 PM CDT
At last, we will finally get to see it. Caleb Williams will make his NFL Debut on Saturday when the Bears take on the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo. The rest of the healthy Bears starters will also play about a quarter in the game. The Bills will also be playing their starters for the first quarter, so we should be getting some exciting action going on. Though, after the starters are pulled, it will mostly just be about player evaluation and guys fighting to make the final 53-Man roster or the practice squad.
In case you were wondering where my Hard Knocks review was, I'll be doing that at the end of the series and reviewing the whole thing at once. The next episode will release on Tuesday, August 13th at 8 PM Central Daylight Time.
Caleb Williams will make his long-anticipated NFL debut on Saturday