9️⃣ Days Until the Season Opener!
Good morning, Bears fans!
The countdown has reached single digits! Get whatever you need to get done around the house this weekend, because Bears football is so close we can taste it.
Headlines
Rome Odunze and D’Andre Swift Reportedly OK Momentary panic on Thursday afternoon after the duo left practice early … Odunze with a foot (not the one he hurt last year) and Swift with something to his midsection. But later reports pegged both as much ado about nothing and just the byproduct of the hot, humid weather. Phew.
Austin Booker returns to practice No word on if he’ll be ready for Week 1, but it seems like great news with more than a week to go.
Bears Release Jaylon Jones The veteran corner sustained a hamstring injury in Tennessee and was given an injury settlement. Jones punched above his weight during four years here, filling in when needed and being a standout on special teams. I think he’ll be missed.
Caleb Withstands The Heat
(Hot Ones/YouTube)
Caleb Williams has been on the cover of Madden for a few months now, but nothing says cultural relevancy in 2026 quite like an appearance on Sean Evans’ ‘Hot Ones’ franchise on YouTube.
For the unfamiliar, the series features celebrities doing an interview while eating a series of increasingly hotter chicken wings. Most episodes are a little boring at first but then they, well, heat up.
Evans is a big Chicago sports fan, too. He grew up in Crystal Lake, went to U of I and has traditionally been most vocal about the White Sox, who held a wing event for him at the park last month. Evans’ resume even includes being a tour guide on a Chicago architecture cruise, a role he told Williams he’d reprise if the quarterback was interested in a day on the river.
The TL;DW if you don’t have a spare 20 minutes …
Caleb made it through all 10 wings and sauces! Including one that came in at 820,000 Scoville units. Williams seemed a little bothered at one point, but got things under control with milk and had a big finish before getting up to shadow box in celebration. No surprise if you saw him play last season.
He’s fallen in love with Chicago: In a moment of honesty, Williams said he wasn’t sure he would like Chicago. Which is pretty much what most East Coasters would say. But he now says he’s smitten with the people, the food and how ‘insanely clean’ the city is (which is also pretty much what most East Coasters say once they get here).
The best quote?: “I don’t want to be controlled by the sauce; I want to control the sauce.” But Bleacher Nation’s Luis Medina has a whole roundup of strong contenders here.
Things Caleb said he likes during the interview: Case Keenum, Joe Thuney, the video game Arc Raiders, watching The Karate Kid and the book Chop Wood, Carry Water.
Caleb sees parts of himself in the best: Near the end of the interview, Evans asked him to say a few words about three quarterbacks: Randall Cunningham (“cannon arm”), Tom Brady (“moment killer”) and Aaron Rodgers (“magician with the football.”) When asked to say a few words about himself, Williams simply said “all of the above.”
And a good Hot Ones guest, to boot.
Poll Results
Do you approve of the job Ryan Poles is doing?
👍 Yes - 85 percent
👎 No - 15 percent
From Wednesday’s Bears By 7
Quotable
“I feel really confident with who we have on the defensive line. The style that we want to play, I think we've got guys that can do the things that we want to do. I felt like all along that was probably our deepest position group.”
Worth Your Time
• Bill Zimmerman on why Kentavius Street being the Bears’ best defensive lineman would be a very bad thing. (Windy City Gridiron)
• The Athletic Football show does their Bears preview and they’re terrified about the defense. (The Athletic)
• Pete Martuneac’s two big takeaways from Caleb’s Hot Ones Appearance. (Sports Illustrated)
• Danny Parkins gives us three good minutes on the NFC North … “the only division in football where you can make a case for any team to win it and any team to come in fourth.” (Twitter)
• This piece on the team’s mascot history was bear-y good. (Windy City Gridiron)
Extra Point
This is already close to perfect, but someone needs to photoshop Connor Bedard into the shot and figure out which White Sox player will be let into the group this offseason.
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