Not too long ago it seemed like we as Bulls fans were lining up outside the UC to go watch our Bulls put in a hard effort and get a win. We’ve been spoiled to see quite a few big name NBA players wear a Bulls jersey from Joakim Noah, Pau Gasol, Richard Hamilton, Rajon Rondo, Jimmy Butler, Dwyane Wade, all the way to Derrick Rose we’ve gotten used to competitive basketball at the “Mad House on Madison”. Well that was then so what happened, The Bulls haven’t been in the playoffs since 2017 when they got eliminated in six games by the Isaiah Thomas and the Boston Celtics and after that 2017 post season exit the Bulls front office decided to blow it up and start over. Big names like Jimmy Butler, Rajon Rondo, and Dywane Wade were either traded away, left in free agency, or reached a buyout with team and young players like Kris Dunn, Lauri Markkanen, and Zach Lavine were brought in to usher in a new younger looking Bulls era with a lot of potential but two years later and still no playoffs has this really worked out?

A good basketball team isn’t just compose of talented players it needs more than that, it needs a strong Head Coach with a great staff and front office that is supportive and on the same page with the Coach and his staff to help create a vision for the team and it’s future. It all works hand in hand together, a General manger is responsible for hiring a Head Coach, then the Head Coach and the GM talk about hiring a coaching staff based on the Coaches preference and what he wants his team to put on the court. Once that is all done it’s time to look at your roster and that process should defiantly be a GM & Head Coach conversation the reason I say it like is because it sometimes doesn’t work out like that. When the roster is to the liking of both the GM and Coach it’s time to hit the hardwood for practice. So if a team can hit all those steps without a problem you’ll most likely end up like the Raptors and Warriors competing for a championship come playoff time. With all that said now hopefully you can see some of the problems that the Bulls have created for themselves but I’m still here to walk you through it.

Tom Thibodeau, Fred Hoiberg, and now Jim Boylen these are the names of the last three Head Coaches of the Bulls and all of them have a storied pasts and for Boylen present with the team. The man who hired these men is Bulls GM Gar Foreman and he also fired two of them. For Thibodeau the narrative goes that he was a tough Head Coach but was able to get the most out of his players, unfortunately he never had many players he trusted to be on floor in crucial situations other than Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, and Loul Deng and for a little bit Pau Gasol. Many blamed Foreman for not trying to capitalize on the opportunity being presented to him with Coach Thibs and the core of players he had and go get another player to help push that team over the top but no the only big name brought in was Pau Gasol who to his defense was very good but didn’t help win that team a championship. Thibodaeu was fired after the 2015 post season, to the dislike of the Bulls fans, which ended an era of Bulls basketball that once had great promise but ultimately wasted due to tension between Thibodeau and the front office and Gar Foreman for not being able to co-exist or more simply put couldn’t get on the same page. Now enter new Head Coach Fred Hoiberg and with him the self dubbed “Three Alphas” of Jimmy Butler, Dywane Wade, and Rajon Rondo. Now why didn’t this collection of talent produce a championship? Well you gave a new Head Coach three players who all had a pretty big egos who didn’t want to be told what to do by a rookie Head Coach in Fred Hoiberg and as a result that season was just filled with more news of team discrepancy than team success. That Bulls team did end up in the playoffs but a first round exit to the Boston Celtics in six games ended those title hopes, and the Bulls haven’t been to the playoffs since. Hoiberg was given one more year to try and make it work with a younger squad who would hopefully listen to him unlike the team from the year prior. The team unfortunately didn’t improve and actually regressed really bad finishing their season with a 27-55 record. Hoiberg did get another chance to right the ship the following season but he only last the first 24 games and was replaced by current Bulls coach Jim Boylen.

Flier

Chicago Bears Off-season review

So for the first time since Brian Urlacher and company took the field in the navy blue and orange the Chicago Bears have a legitimate opportunity to compete for a Super Bowl due in part to a solid offseason by the management staff and a stellar 2018 season build off of. The last time we saw the Bears take the field it was in a heart breaking lose to the Philadelphia Eagles, off a missed Cody Parky field goal which ended up being dubbed the “double doink”, in the Wild Card round of the playoffs last year. That was obviously a very tough pill to swallow for the team last season but it was a much needed learning experience this young team needed to have and sets them up to come into next season with a chip on their shoulder and finish what they started last season. Chicago’s off season has been solid but has had it’s ups and downs along the way and only time will see it ultimately brings the Lombardi trophy to Halas Hall.

Let’s take a look at this off season and how it’s gone so far. For starters the Bears unfortunately lost defensive coordinator Vic Fangio to the Denver Broncos to become their new head coach, which is a huge lose for the team due to Fangio being able to build a great defense here for the first time since 2010. But the Bears didn’t wait long to fill the position deciding to hire former Indianapolis Colts head coach Chuck Pagano to replace Vic. Since joining the Bears Pagano has made it very clear that he has no intention to change up the defense instead wanting to build off of the success that was left over from Fangio’s defense. And that is actually very achievable due in part to most of the core of this defense is still here under contract especially #52 Khalil Mack.

Fangio’s departure was the biggest coaching change that the Bears had to deal with this off season but fortunately it looks like this defense has the talent it needs to continue their success from last season. But I wouldn’t be honest to you if I said every member of last years defense is going to be back next season. The Bears did lose two keys starters this off season, those being nickelback Bryce Callahan and safety Adrian Amos, with Callahan joining former defensive coordinator Fangio in the Mile High city to suit up for the Denver Broncos and Amos deciding to sign with hated divisional rival the Green Bay Packers. These are two more big blows to this defense because you would like to keep the continuity going on that side of the ball but Chicago would not stay pat, deciding to replace both men with proven NFL veterans to add to an already stacked defense with former nickelback for the New York Jets Buster Skrine and former Redskins and Packers safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix joining the team this off season. Clinton-Dix will now start at strong safety alongside former college teammate Eddie Jackson, with both men going to Alabama together. With Clinton-Dix already having familiarity with Jackson just helps this team have it’s continuity not really disturbed and Skrine is solid DB in the league and should fit in just fine.

Now let us switch it up to the offense. The Bears did lose some guys here but most who left were a majority of backups who want an opportunity to start somewhere in the league. With WR & TE Josh Bellamy & Daniel Brown going to the Jets and WR Kevin White ending up with the Cadinals as well as offensive linemen Eric Kush and Bryan Witzmann joining the Browns, the Bears had some work to do to replace the depth they had last year. And in a surprising move the Bears also decided to trade away former Pro Bowl running back Jordan Howard to the Eagles. The trade caught most Bears fans off guard and created quite a debate on whether it was good deal or a bad one but only time will tell. But the Bears used the draft to find Howard’s replacement by drafting Iowa State running back David Montgomery in the third round to compliment Tarik Cohen and newly signed Mike Davis from the Seahawks in the run game. In addition to Montgomery and Davis joining the offense, the Bears added speedy wide receiver’s Cordarrelle Patterson from the Patriots and drafting Riley Ridley out of Georgia to help boost the pass game. as well as bringing back former Bear offensive guard Ted Larsen from the Dolphins and signing former Redskins offensive tackle T.J. Clemmings to help boost offensive line depth. This offense will still be run by Pro Bowl QB Mitch Trubisky and with Head Coach Matt Nagy calling the plays this offense looks to take a big step forward and get the job done in 2019. With the only position with cause to pause being the kicker, but coach Nagy has being doing his due diligence to find the right guy for the job and we’ll see who that will be come September 5th against Green Bay, whether it’s Eddy Pineiro or Elliot Fry or maybe even a returning Robbie Gould this season has a lot of hype behind it and I personally can’t wait for kickoff on Sept 5th. GO BEARS!! BEARDOWN!! BOOM!!