Is There Reason to Believe This Year Will Be Better Than The Last

 

January 5, 2023

 

The Bears hit an all-time low, losing to the Detroit Lions 41-10. I can talk ad nauseam about the myriad of problems with the Bears. My expectations weren’t high, but I never envisioned they would wind up with only three wins. New GM Ryan Poles, who is supposed to have an eye for talent, missed on every move. Signing players no one else wanted does not bode well for success. The defense was bad all-year, overcoming a rejuvenated offense, to lose games. Bad coaching decisions also led to their downfall.  Poles has plenty of cap salary to sign an A-1 bona fide receiver, but I expect the Bears to not spend the money it takes to make this kind of acquisition. The Bears own the second overall pick and plan to turn this into multiple picks.

2022 is one the worst years for Chicago sports. None of the teams were competitive and none have a chance of winning in the near future. The two Chicago baseball teams have combined for only two championships over the past 100 years. The Bulls are struggling with Lonzo Ball being injured. Before going down last year the Bull had one of the top records in the NBA. Ball was the catalyst of both the offense and defense. There is no timetable for his return and knows one can predict if he can regain his form. Without Ball, the Bulls have had their ups and downs with some big wins and some catastrophic losses. There are no championships with the current construction of the roster. Despite all this, I still love watching.

Last year, in their rebuild that’s not a rebuild, the Cubs held auditions for players who could be on the 2023 roster. There was something happening on the north side. The Cubs went 41-30, with third lowest ERA and have added a couple of players to hopefully become competitive in the Central Division, most notably shortstop Dansby Swanson. They added Yankee starter Jameson Taillon to join all the young arms who will be competing for spots next year. You have to have faith in Jed Hoyer. He shouldn’t be done, as the Cubs need some power. I wouldn’t count on Cody Bellinger.  It might not happen this year but the Cubs will be better and you never know.

Perhaps the most disappointing team is the White Sox. After they made the
playoffs, there were World Series aspirations; they ended with an 81-81 season, missing the playoffs by a wide margin. There were some major injuries to play through. There was also a lack of power. The best thing that happened was the former manager had to step down due to health reasons. New manager, Pedro Grifol will make the Sox come out ready to play not just going through the motions. He should have them work on base running and defense. The fact he is not LaRussa, translates into five wins minimum.

Many of you may have forgotten Chicago has a hockey team and with good reason. The Blackhawks have not reached the playoffs since 2017. They played last year in the shadow of the cover up of a sexual misconduct charge. This year after trading two of their top offensive players they are the worst team in hockey. This was the start of tanking for the number one pick. They are the only team who can tank trying to win every game. They need a lot more than just the number one pick in the draft.