The Bears won their third-straight game, the Blackhawks lost their seventh game in a row and the Bulls picked up their fourth win of the season. Here's what you may have missed in Chicago sports over the weekend.
Bears
Behind a big game from Mitchell Trubisky, the Bears won their third-straight game to improve to 6-3. Sunday's game demonstrated how the Bears are trending up as a team, while the Lions might be trending down.
Trubisky tore up a bad Lions' defense for 355 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. The win was the Bears' first against an NFC North foe since Oct. 31, 2016, keeping them atop the division standings.
On the other hand, kicker Cody Parkey struggled immensely, boinking two field goal attempts and two extra-point tries off the uprights. Despite Parkey's struggles, Matt Nagy said the Bears are not considering a change at kicker.
In lighter news, the Bears somehow misspelled Prince Amukamara's last name on his jersey for Sunday's game. They eventually fixed the error, but come on, man!
Laurence Holmes, Matt Forte, Alex Brown and Lance Briggs broke down the win on the latest Under Center Podcast. Check it out!
News
Bulls
The Bulls finished the week with a winning record, defeating the Cavaliers Saturday 99-98. The Cavaliers missed potential game-winning shots on the last possession and an ensuing tipback. Despite the win, the Bulls showed that they're still learning how to close out games.
Zach LaVine posted 24 points against the Cavaliers; LaVine has now scored at least 20 in all 13 of the Bulls' games this season and is excelling at carrying the team's scoring on his shoulders.
There was an upbeat vibe at practice on Sunday following Saturday's win. Kelly Crull offered up her thoughts from practice, including the unique way that Wendell Carter Jr. finds his stats.
In former-Bulls news, the Timberwolves finally traded Jimmy Butler, dealing the disgruntled All-Star to the 76ers. NBA Twitter had a field day with the news, at the expense of both the Timberwolves and 76ers.
On the latest Bulls Talk Podcast, NBC Sports NBA Insider Tom Haberstroh discussed why Stephen Curry is the new Michael Jordan as well as the future outlook for the Bulls.
Blackhawks
The Blackhawks losing streak extended to seven games on Saturday in Philadelphia, dropping their record under head coach Jeremy Colliton to 0-2-0. The power play went 0-for-4 against the Flyers, and Eddie Olyczyk addressed his concern over it needing to be fixed during Saturday's broadcast.
While the offense as a whole is struggling (12 goals during the losing streak), Nick Schmaltz has just eight points (two goals) in 16 games. Can Colliton unlock Schmaltz's full potential?
Colliton, of course, started the season as head coach of the Rockford Icehogs. He plans on keeping close tabs on the Icehogs for any potential boost the team can provide the Blackhawks.
Friday, the Blackhawks announced that they agreed to terms on a three-year, entry-level contract with 2018 first round pick Nicolas Beaudin.
Other
ESPN's Buster Olney made waves Friday when he published a story regarding the Cubs being open to trading Kris Bryant. With all due respect to the report, the Cubs are not going to trade Bryant.
In the first edition of a series, Doug Glanville details his offseason experience of playing Winter Ball in Puerto Rico.
Also, the Cubs don't appear to be big spenders this offseason, though the White Sox look willing to break out the checkbook.