Winter Sports Bits and Pieces

For the most part, the NFL playoffs were fun to watch. The Philadelphia Eagles as underdogs won both of their games. They scored at random against the league’s best defense in mauling Minnesota.  Tom Brady showed he still has the magic touch, guiding his team from a fourth quarter 10 point deficit to victory. Although this may not be the match-up you wanted or you hate Brady and the Patriots, I believe the Eagles have a chance at another upset. Then again Tom Brady….

Two coaching candidates the Bears talked to were hired, Pat Shurmur to the Giants and Josh McDaniels to the Colts. They have much more experience calling offensive plays (more than five games). Either they didn’t want the Bears job or wanted to weigh their options. The impatient Bears hired the first guy who would say yes, Mike Nagy. They say that football causes serious injuries and concussions. Brain damage is found when you examine the Bears organization. 

I saw the Bulls introduce a starting line-up with Kris Dunn, Lauri Markkanen and Zach LaVine, the Bulls future. The Bulls went 2-1, the loss being competitive against the Golden State Warriors. With Dunn out with a concussion, the offense has sputtered. Aside from Makkanen’s double double games, too many quick shots and turnovers have become a big problem. Off the bench Mirotic went back to his normal inconsistency. Valentine hits shots, launches bad shots and can’t do much else. When the Bulls need a defensive stop, Hoiberg replaces Valentine with Nwaba.  As far as defense goes, the Bulls have been awful since Tom Thibodeau was replaced by Hoiberg.

The Blackhawks are in danger of not making the playoffs. Four points and four teams in front stand in the way of a wild card spot. Therefore, they have to start playing their asses off and hope the teams in front of them struggle. From what I’ve seen, this seems unlikely. What’s frustrating is aside from Crawford being out it’s hard to pin point the problem. Can Saad with Kane be like Panarin and Kane? Will the Toews line wake up? The Hawks have a few good young players but they don’t seem to be goal scorers. If they don’t make the playoffs will Stan Bowman start a rebuild? This has become the rage for Chicago teams.

Take heart, pitchers and catchers report to spring training in a couple of weeks.