There’s a popular opinion shared among Bears fans (and certain media types) that Nick Foles isn’t good. Because of this belief, these individuals have reached two conclusions: (1) it’s in the best interest of the Bears for Mitch Trubisky to “win” the starting job this summer and (2) the Bears won’t be any good in 2020.

Here’s where I differ: I think Nick Foles is good. Great? No. A franchise quarterback? Of course not. But Nick Foles has led a franchise through a miraculous postseason and won Super Bowl MVP. Nick Foles has thrown twice the number of touchdowns as interceptions in his eight seasons. Nick Foles has pitched to a career QB rating of 88.2, more than two points better than that Cam Newton with whom everybody seemed so enamored.

And Foles’ goodness goes beyond statistics. I remember seeing him look absolutely dominant running Chip Kelly’s offense in Philly. I remember the calmness he brought to the huddle after Carson Wentz’ injury. I’ve seen him for what he is: a stabilizing force within an organization.

That’s what stood out when he and Mitch Trubisky addressed the media Friday. Trubisky seemed immature, still spouting well-rehearsed cliches and insinuating – somehow – that he’d never make mechanical adjustments before. Trubisky seems like a good enough kid but the act is tired now. He wants to “prove everybody wrong” but the opinions of everybody are based solely on one thing: his wretched play.

This organization, city, fan base is lost in the quarterbacking desert, so thirsty for good play from the position they’ll enthusiastically believe any watery mirage is real and pretend to be quenched after consumption. Trubisky couldn’t even satisfy the most delusional among us.

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Tuesday, Eddie Goldman opted out of the 2020 NFL season. He wasn’t alone. He was joined by essentially the whole of the New England Patriots.

So why are players punching out of this season? A few things to remember about Covid-19.

First, this disease disproportionately impacts black and brown communities and roughly 70% of NFL players are black. While most of these young men will be unaffected by the disease, we still don’t know what the long-term impacts on the body come from the diagnosis.

Second, it’s not only about the health of the players themselves. These are young men and they have parents and grandparents dealing with the exact comorbidities that make them gravely susceptible to this virus. And cutting off from those relatives for a five-month period is simply a non-starter for most.

When a receiver in peak physical condition is exposed to the virus, he’ll likely see little to no health impact. When his diabetic mother is exposed, her life is at risk. That’s the decision these athletes face heading into 2020.

Does it suck for teams and fans? Of course it does. The NFL’s tight salary cap does not allow for depth at most positions. When Goldman opts out of the coming season, there isn’t another Goldman in the wings.

Does it suck for writers like me? It sure does. It’s getting a awfully difficult to engage this season with any real intensity when it feels like we’re one bad news story from the whole thing collapsing.

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• Still surprised the Bears managed to get ANYTHING for Adam Shaheen but Dan Wiederer in the Trib has all the details you’d ever need on the trade to Miami. If you’re the Bears, you want Shaheen to have a productive 2020 (if 2020 happens) and turn the seventh rounder into a sixth rounder.
• Is it too early to project the final 53-man roster? Not for Adam Jahns and Kevin Fishbain over at The Athletic. And if you want more Jahns, check out his listing of the most important Bears in 2020. And by no means do I think you should spend money you don’t have but we’re reaching the point where the work being done by The Athletic when it comes to this team is FAR SUPERIOR to everybody else working in the market.
• Five Patriots have now opted out of the 2020 season. Is this a sign of things to come around the league or is Bill Belichick out-thinking everybody (again) and encouraging guys to stay home to execute the tank. If you’re looking to identify potential Chicago Bears opts out, find guys with young families. And hope Nick Foles plays this year.
• IN ACTUAL BEARS NEWS: A black bear took a nap in a pool in Virginia. And I believe I have found my spirit animal, after identifying Olin Kreutz’ a week ago.
• Here’s a link to the letter from Ted Phillips to season ticket holders. If you purchased tickets on the secondary market, from one of these season ticket holders, here’s hoping they’re good, decent people and they don’t screw you.

He wrote from the heart. He included a haiku. He was tough to beat. Below is the email that secured Tim Wallace (@LogicforGood on Twitter) some frozen deep dish from Lou Malnati’s.

Hi Jeff,

I’m your target demographic. Huge Bears fan living far away from Chicago. My wife and I moved to Charlottesville, from Chicago, in October 2013 with our almost two-year-old.

A month later, on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, I came down with a horrific case of hand foot and mouth disease. Not fun and very contagious. My wife did the smart thing and took our daughter to her parents.  They stayed there until I recovered, which was, of course, after Thanksgiving.

So I had to do my first turkey day away from Chicago alone, quarantining with a nasty, contagious, unpleasant condition.

And I had no idea what I was going to eat. I’ve never cooked a Turkey in my life, and it would have been irresponsible to go to the grocery store anyways.

I will never forget that on the day before Thanksgiving, I walked out on my porch and there was this big square box sitting there. Inside were four Lou Malnati’s pies on dry ice with a note from my Mom, “Happy Thanksgiving!  Here’s a little taste of home.”

Those were the best pizzas I ever ate.

Thanksgiving alone.
Far away from my city.
Lou’s was home sweet home.

Peace,
   Tim Wallace

We’ll have our second Malnati’s giveaway closer to the start of the regular season. And we’ll be formally announcing a new partnership on Monday. Stay tuned!

• Governor Murphy has essentially ruled out the idea of the Giants or Jets having fans in their building this year. The Packers will max out Lambeau Field at 12,000 seats this fall (if any). The new building in Los Angeles, which cost as much as constructing a small city, isn’t going to have fans in the house for this 2020 season. None of this is surprising but it seems the league is following the European soccer model of playing out this season in empty buildings. And it’s going to be weird.
• Who is tied with Patrick Mahomes as the second-highest rated playoff QB of the last decade? Hint: he’s on the Bears. Bill Barnwell also made an argument for Nick Foles to sneak into the MVP conversation, but you’d have to survive one of his interminable 60,000-word columns to find it. (Seriously, does anybody need to write this many words about the NFL? It’s a sport. It’s not an epidemiological study of Covid-19.)
• There are not going to be any preseason games this year. And every beat writer in the league is currently penning their “What No Preseason Games Means to X” column. Here’s what it means: (1) A bunch of bottom-of-the-roster guys are gonna get screwed. (2) “Camp battles” are going to be essentially nonsense, as Jaylon Johnson can’t really prove anything against Mitch Trubisky, can he? (3) The first month of the season is going to be extremely sloppy, which is why I advocated the league front-loading the schedule with non-conference games and not counting those games as anything other than tie-breakers this season.
• Did you know William “Refrigerator” Perry once jumped into the competitive eating world?
• “It’s over and it was good.” Mike Ditka reflects on the closing of the great Ditka’s restaurant in this piece from the Sun-Times.

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Millions of Americans watch NFL football in sports bars each week.  And in 2020, in most areas of the country, sports bars will not exist. So how does the NFL plan to address this potential gap in their viewership?

First, an update. DIRECTV still has an absurd monopoly on NFL football through their Sunday Ticket platform. And for many people, in many cities, DIRECTV is simply not an option. Either (a) you don’t have ability to point the dish south or (b) your building won’t allow the dish at all. So if you happen to live in, say, Queens, and plan to watch every game, say, the Chicago Bears play, you’re facing a somewhat untenable position.

And before you start telling me about illegal streams and Playstation and Roku apps, let me tell you a quick story. A few weeks back the PGA Tour event in Dublin, Ohio started their final round early, afraid of afternoon thunderstorms. It was on Golf Channel for a few hours. Then it moved to a stream, on CBSSports.com. It wasn’t on television. Just the stream. And it caused anarchy. Twitter blew up. The Tour was burned in digital effigy. Streaming is clearly a pivotal component of professional sports moving forward, but we ain’t there yet. People don’t buy 70-inch televisions to watch the ballgame on their iPad. It’s got to be on the television.

Television made the NFL. Hopefully the league doesn’t forget that now.

And the NFL can ensure they don’t lose any of these fans by being smart right now. Bring the NFL Sunday Ticket to every single cable provider in the United States as a pay-per-view product. Allow every fan, on every provider, to buy a full season package at whatever the current DIRECTV cost is but also let them purchase individual games at $5.99 each. Get the providers to split the cash with DIRECTV so this isn’t perceived as a slight to your long-term partner. Remember, these bars being closed is going to have a huge financial impact on DIRECTV. They’re going to lose millions upon millions of dollars with no sports bar revenue. They’ll be willing to bend on this if it keeps them from breaking.

These are a pivotal next six weeks. And if the NFL doesn’t understand this coming problem, they’ll be left scrambling in September as angry fans seek out their product.

After Cody Parkey did that thing Cody Parkey did, thousands of us marched from Soldier Field into the city like tired zombies who’d lost our taste for blood. Noah and I were hungry though. So off to Lou Malnati’s on Rush (my favorite of their spaces) we went.

We were quiet. So was the entire, cavernous room. What had just happened? How could this amazingly entertaining campaign end on the foot of a bonehead kicker? How could he hit the post again? Why did it all have to happen right in front of me? I remember being on the Parker House back porch in Sea Girt, NJ, summer of 2009, watching Tom Watson let the Open at Turnberry slip through his fingers. I felt the same in Malnati’s that night. Empty.

The beer was cold. The pizza was delicious. There’s no better comfort food in Chicago than a sausage deep dish from Lou’s. But halfway through it, the room seemed filled with green jerseys. Eagles fans. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to throw them out. But I thought to myself, “Hey, they didn’t miss the kick. Who am I to deprive them of this culinary experience?” So I had ten more beers and Noah and I returned to the hotel.

Lou’s was there for me that night when I needed them.

What is your unique Lou Malnati’s experience?

Share it with me on Twitter, in the comments here or via email (jeff@dabearsblog.com).

The best one is going to receive a package of frozen pies from Lou’s. 

His name is Bob Quinn.

Most people call him Robert.

Leonard Floyd, he ain’t.

Keep eyes on Kahlil.

He’s coming for you, Aaron.

But he’s not alone.

The Bears cut the check.

Eighteen point five million bucks.

Ten sacks, minimum.

Here’s five valuable things to read. Read em, don’t, I can’t really worry about it. It’s your life.

• Not Bears-related, but Adam Jahns wrote a very nice piece about Julie Rotblatt-Amrany and Omri Amrany, the massively accomplished artists responsible for the Jordan statue and many others. One of the great developments of Jahns going to The Athletic has been pieces like this. He’s a terrific writer and often the monotony of covering a sport day-to-day doesn’t provide the canvas to display that.
• Is Kevin Toliver vs. Jaylon Johnson the most important training camp battle for the Bears? (You know, outside the quarterback one.) Mark Potash of the Sun-Times breaks it down. My two cents: if this is a true battle, it’s a great thing for the Bears. They need as many professional corners as they can muster.
• Never heard of “Bleacher Nation” or Luis Medina but, what the hell, why not give them both a plug? This piece actually does a solid job breaking down a fundamental issue with Mitch Trubisky: he’s at his worst against the best.
• Apparently a few weeks back there was the idea of a “Covid helmet” floating around the internet. Here’s the NBC Sports piece on the ridiculous looking thing.
• IN ACTUAL BEAR NEWS: “Hungry Black Bear Breaks Into Canadian Home Looking for Boxes of Pizza Left Near the Door.” You’ll want to read the entire story from the good people…at People.