Tag: chicago tribune

Report: Bears G Teven Jenkins could miss multiple weeks with leg injury

According to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, Teven Jenkins could be out up to 6 weeks.

The offensive line for the Chicago Bears may have just taken a big hit as they prepare for the start of the regular season. On Sunday evening, Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune reported Bears guard Teven Jenkins is dealing with a leg injury that could cause him to miss multiple weeks. Biggs reports the injury may keep Jenkins out up to six weeks, leading the third-year offensive lineman to miss time through September.

The Bears have been mum on most of their injuries up to this point with head coach Matt Eberflus saying they’re minor. Jenkins would be the first starter to have an issue that crept into the regular season. But the timing is interesting to say the least.

Jenkins started last week’s preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans and departed with no issues along with the rest of the offensive starters. He participated in joint practices with the Indianapolis Colts this past week and even spoke with the media on Thursday. In fact, Jenkins commented on his durability and how he believed he was feeling positive about his body going into the season.

“It hopefully shows signs of my wanted durability of myself for the rest of the season,” Jenkins said on Thursday via Adam Hoge of CHGO. “So as long as I’m staying out here right now through training camp, hopefully it shows positive signs for the rest of the year.”

Jenkins did not play in Saturday’s 24-17 preseason loss to the Colts, but neither did any of the offensive starters. The only training camp practices missed by Jenkins occurred when he left the field on August 2nd with a trainer and missed one full day. He was back by August 5th.

If Jenkins in fact misses time, the Bears would likely start either Ja’Tyre Carter or Alex Leatherwood at this point. They could also opt to bring in a veteran guard like Dalton Risner or see who becomes available on the waiver wire when rosters are trimmed in a couple weeks. Regardless, they will need to hone in on a backup plan. The Bears could opt to place Jenkins on injured reserve when rosters are finalized, but he would need to be out for a minimum of four games. Otherwise, he would take up a roster spot until he was healthy.

The injury bug isn’t new for Jenkins, unfortunately. After former general manager Ryan Pace traded up in the 2021 NFL Draft to select him in the second round as the team’s future left tackle, Jenkins missed 11 games his rookie year with a back injury. In 2022 after moving to right guard, he was in and out of the lineup with various ailments, but missed time late in the season after he suffered a scary neck injury. He’s played in 19 of a possible 34 games to start his career.

The Bears are counting on Jenkins as an anchor on the interior offensive line for the upcoming season. He moved to left guard this offseason following the signing of Nate Davis and has proved to be a solid option when healthy. Now with yet another injury, one has to wonder if he’s in the team’s long-term plans.

Bears look to begin demolition on remaining Arlington Park structures

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Bears are taking another step towards moving to Arlington Heights.

The Chicago Bears took another step in their long road towards building a new home on Wednesday. The team filed paperwork with the village of Arlington Heights to begin demolition of the remaining structures of Arlington International Racecourse. The news was first reported by Robert McCoppin and A.D. Quig of The Chicago Tribune. 

It’s the next phase of the team’s desire to build a multi-purpose entertainment district on the property after they officially closed on the land earlier this year. The Bears entered into an agreement deal on the property back in September of 2021 to purchase the 326-acre land for approximately $197 million.

According to the team via the Tribune, demolition will begin with clearing out the interior of the grandstand before moving to other structures and eventually the grandstand itself. No timetable has been set for the demolition but, as Christopher Placek of the Daily Herald states, it could get underway in a matter in of weeks or even days.

The moves to buy and secure the property would seem to indicate the team’s desire to bring a new multi-purpose entertainment district, including a brand-new enclosed stadium, to the site. But team officials have emphasized time and again that any movement on the property does not mean they’re fully moving ahead with their desired plans.

There are still many more hoops to clear, including a battle to secure additional funding for the surrounding entertainment area not related to the stadium, as well as the increased property tax evaluation from $33.5 million in 2022 to $197 million by Cook County Assesor Fritz Kaegi, reported by Greg Hinz of Crain’s Chicago Business.

Tearing down the existing structures at Arlington Park is an important step, though. In order to build something new, the old pieces need to be brought down. It may seem slow but progress continues to happen as the Bears eye a new home.

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Big Ten reveals vote count that led to canceling fall football

By an 11-3 vote the Big Ten Presidents chose not to play football this fall. See who voted to play and who held the most important NO vote.

The Big Ten was the first of the Power Five conferences to cancel football this fall, a move in early August that saw the Pac-12 follow just hours later.

It appeared that doomsday for college football in 2020 was upon us but then the ACC, Big 12 and SEC all didn’t follow suit like was expected.

Furthermore, Conference USA, the AAC and Sun Belt all stayed the course in the Group of Five, resulting in a total of 76 FBS teams as of today, scheduled to play football starting at some point in September.

The Big Ten has gotten some bad press and in my eyes, deservedly so for how quick they were to cancel things.  Backlash came from star players, certain potions of the media, plenty of fans and a number of parents.

Now the 11-3 vote that led to the Big Ten canceling their 2020 fall season has been revealed by Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune.

“Sources told the Tribune that Ohio State, Nebraska and Iowa dissented.”

So what Greenstein’s report tells me is that the Big Ten won’t be playing football this fall or winter, even just days after the latest rumors of the start to the season during Thanksgiving week.

Why is that?

Morton Schapiro is the Northwestern University President.  More importantly, he’s the Chair of the Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors.

After learning that Ohio State, Nebraska, and Iowa are the schools that voted to go-ahead with football this fall, we’re made aware that Schapiro voted not to.

Essentially sitting in the “power chair” of Presidents and Chancellors of the conference, he’s not seemingly going to be trying to sway others to change their minds to play.

Seeing as Northwestern has decided to keep freshmen and sophomores off campus until at least January, it’s hard to imagine Schapiro is any rush to try and talk his fellow Presidents into getting football played before the start of the new year.

Updates on COVID-19 regarding a couple of Big Ten teams

Northwestern became the latest team to suspend football activities on Monday after a positive COVID-19 test found its way to their team.

Last week Notre Dame released news that in their most-recent testing, that no football players tested positive for COVID-19.  That hasn’t happened in many places as we’ve seen the likes of Clemson, LSU, Texas, Alabama, Ohio State and plenty of other programs suspend football activities because of the number of positive tests.

One school that had not yet been the case at was Northwestern, who hadn’t had a positive test at that time.

Key word in that last sentence:  had.

Teddy Greenstein covers the Big Ten and college football like a glove for the Chicago Tribune.  Greenstein reports today that Northwestern is pressing pause on football for at least a couple of days after their first player has tested positive for COVID-19.

Also in the Big Ten numbers have come out in regards to the University of Illinois and their COVID-19 test results.  This from Shannon Ryan, also of the Chicago Tribune:

As Greenstein pointed out in his article, four Big Ten teams have already suspended football activities at different times this summer as Ohio State, Indiana, Michigan State and Rutgers have all had to hit pause at different times.

Northwestern’s decision to pause football activities now puts that number at five.