Bears vs Dolphins
Brandon, Bears, NFL Lyndsey Gruber Brandon, Bears, NFL Lyndsey Gruber

Bears vs Dolphins

As “Who’s Line” host, Drew Carey used to say, “where the rules are made up and the points don’t matter”.  A story without an ending. Literally. The Bears hosted the Miami Dolphins on Sunday afternoon for their first preseason contest of 2025 and under new Head Coach Ben Johnson.  In an aggressive all or nothing finale orchestrated by both Ben Johnson and Dolphins head coach, Mike McDaniel, neither team managed to score, both opting not to attempt a field goal on their their final few possessions. Resulting in a tie, 24-24. After watching Jacksonville Jaguars kicker, Cam Little split the upright on a 70 yard field goal attempt on Saturday night, Ben Johnson elected not to attempt a 56 yard field gaol to take the lead with less than 2 minutes left in the game. I must admit, the overly persistent “go for it” approach, prompted a lazy and manipulated memory based comparison to Johnson’s former mentor, and Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell. It is just and only the preseason, however, the Bears had a few opportunities late in the game to test their young undrafted free agent kicker Jonathan Kim. “NO OVERTIME?” You ask? There is of course another reason that the game resulted in a tie. Nobody cares. Nobody cares enough to see the rest of the story written. Not even the players….especially not the players. Admit it or not, an NFL preseason game, is the only game, in which the parts matter more than the sum. The performance of the individual, provides a lot more implication, than the result of the entire unit. Especially considering the Dolphins decided to play both of their starting units on offense and defense on the first drive of the game, where Ben and company did not.

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Forward Thinking
Bulls, Brandon Lyndsey Gruber Bulls, Brandon Lyndsey Gruber

Forward Thinking

On Wednesday night the Chicago Bulls selected French forward Noa Essengue with the 12th pick in the lottery. Essengue has a very small frame but is similar in length to last year’s lottery pick Matas Buzelis whom had a fair rookie outing, averaging 8.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.0 assist in only 18 minutes per game. Head Coach Billy Donovan clearly has a “type” of player he prefers in his front court. Long, high motor guys who play aggressively above the rim. Essengue has been touted by many as a “project player” with a very high upside. Which implies to me a turning of the tide.

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Culture
Bears, Brandon Lyndsey Gruber Bears, Brandon Lyndsey Gruber

Culture

Two years ago, prior to the 2023 NFL Draft, most scouts and pro NFL analysts had DT Jalen Carter out of Georgia ranked as the number one talent in the draft. Carter was involved in a motor vehicle incident that left two people dead and two severely injured. Carter was sentenced to 12 months probation, but in regard to his future NFL career, he was heavily criticized for fleeing the scene in the vehicle he’d been driving the night of the event.

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