Four Stars Chicago Sports Blog
Latest news, updates, and hot takes from around all the leagues and all the teams that call Chicago home. Everything you love about the show, in written form for you to enjoy on your terms.
The Latest
The Cubs
As the first 60 days of the 2025 MLB season wrap up, the Chicago Cubs find themselves in an enviable position: 37–22, sitting atop the National League Central with a four-game lead. It’s been a torrid start, but as we turn the page to June, the real test begins.
The Cubs have sent 3b Matt Shaw back down to Iowa. Shaw's season hasn't started as the Cubs or the fan base had hoped. Hitting .172. This is probably the right move by the Cubs. Shaw has the tools, but the adjustment curve to MLB pitching is steep, especially when your contact quality is in the bottom 2 percent. That 1.80 SO/BB ratio is encouraging, which shows he’s not completely overmatched, just not squaring the ball up yet. Could be timing, approach, or just a confidence thing.
The Bears
As a lifelong Bears fan who has been on the wrong side of this divisional rivalry for most of my life, I have never had a problem admitting that the Packers were the better team. They had better coaches than the Bears and, for the last three to four decades, two of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game. I’ve said countless times that I believe Aaron Rodgers is the greatest pure passer of all time, and that Brett Favre was the last true gunslinger of a dying NFL era. I’ve even argued that if the Packers had a better coach than Mike McCarthy, Aaron Rodgers could have won three Super Bowls.
But times are changing.
Caleb Williams is, without a doubt in my mind, the real deal. Kurt Warner recently said in an interview that to be a good quarterback in the NFL, you have to be either incredibly efficient or incredibly explosive—but great quarterbacks are both. This season, Caleb was one of the most explosive quarterbacks in the NFL while learning one of the most complex offenses in the league.
For just the third time in their storied rivalry, Chicago and Green Bay meet in the postseason with the season hanging in the balance. This is the NFL’s greatest rivalry, and when it matters most for both teams, it becomes something else entirely intense, ruthless, and unforgettable.
This is Bears vs. Packers!
This is playoff football!
This is your Playoff Preview. 🐻⬇️
The Bears enter Week 17 riding momentum and tightening their grip on the NFC North after a dramatic home victory over their hated rivals, the Green Bay Packers. That win not only energized the fan base at Soldier Field, but also reinforced Chicago’s growing identity as a tough, resilient team built for meaningful January football. Now, the challenge shifts west. Chicago travels to Santa Clara this week to face the San Francisco 49ers. This is your week 17 preview: