Illinois is playing beat the clock in the hopes of keeping the Bears from beating a path to Indiana.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the legislature has pivoted from a law that would create major property tax incentives to the potential creation of local stadium-financing authorities.
The proposed law would make the municipality the owners of the stadium and the land on which it is built.
It’s the final day of the Illinois legislative session. The Bears have said they hope to make a decision on a new stadium location in late spring or early summer.
Under the current proposal, the Bears would pay for the stadium, but they would owe nothing in property taxes.
The measure would also keep the door open for Chicago to come up with a strategy for keeping the Bears from moving to Arlington Heights.
Indiana is ready to go with a stadium in Hammond. The overriding question is whether the final Illinois plan, if it passes, will entice the Bears to try to get something done without crossing the border.
The Illinois legislature is playing beat the clock. But not for a new Bears stadium.
Via the Chicago Tribune, balancing the state’s budget has superseded the effort to reach an agreement that will entice the Bears to remain in Illinois.
Talks on a plan that would get the Bears to not accept an offer to build a new stadium in Hammond, Indiana, have taken a back seat to the effort to finalize a $55 billion budget. While discussions continue on a stadium deal, balancing the budget is the priority for the session that ends at midnight on May 31.
Absent an eleventh-hour resolution, the Bears will have only one viable option, for now. The question then will become whether Hammond is simply a bluff aimed at getting a deal that would finance a stadium in Arlington Heights, or whether the Bears will abandon the effort to stay in Illinois and cross the border to Indiana.
They wouldn’t be the first team to do it in recent months. After the Chiefs failed to get a deal to renovate Arrowhead Stadium, they struck a deal to build a new stadium not in Missouri, but in Kansas.
Fifty years ago, the Giants left New York for New Jersey. Eight years later, the Jets joined them at Giants Stadium and, more recently, MetLife Stadium.
The hiring of Seahawks assistant G.M. Nolan Teasley as the Vikings’ new G.M. will carry a specific benefit for his former team.
Per the league, Teasley qualifies as a diverse candidate under the NFL provision that gives the former team of a newly-hired G.M. or head coach a pair of third-round compensatory draft picks.
The only question is whether Teasley will be Minnesota’s “primary football executive.” That requirement prevented the Bears from receiving the compensatory draft picks when assistant General Manager Ian Cunningham was hired to be the Falcons G.M. The league decided that president of football Matt Ryan is the “primary football executive” in Atlanta.
The Bears appealed the decision to the league, and Bears fans continue to be mystified by the outcome — especially since Ryan has made it clear that Cunningham is a General Manager “in every facet of the word.”
Minnesota has no similar position to Ryan’s job with the Falcons. The only alternative to Teasley would be coach Kevin O’Connell. But there has been no indication that, moving forward, O’Connell will emerge as the top football executive for the Vikings, with full control over the roster and the draft.
The NFL’s full collection of diversity of initiatives have recently come under attack by Florida’s attorney general. The Seahawks getting two extra third-round draft picks undoubtedly will spark a reaction from those who, in the current climate, attack efforts aimed at enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The Bears have kept stability at the most important position, with Caleb Williams remaining in place as the franchise quarterback and both of last year’s backups, Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum, back as well. Head coach Ben Johnson likes that.
Johnson said it’s helpful that this offseason isn’t about teaching the quarterbacks his offense, it’s about expanding upon the progress they made last year.
“Everyone knows what the expectations are in the building, what meetings look like,” Johnson said, via the Chicago Sun-Times. “There’s just a different level of, I don’t want to say comfort, but they know. They know what it’s supposed to look like.”
Johnson said the command of the offense is exactly what he’s looking for from his quarterback.
“The communication in the huddle, what it looks like to break the huddle, the urgency to the line of scrimmage, the tempo that we want to stress the defense with, the quarterback plays a huge part in that,” Johnson said. “He orchestrates the whole operation. And those guys have taken that to heart and so from that aspect, feel really good about where we’re at. Now, it’s the next level of each concept. ‘What are we trying to do?’ And potentially expanding on, ‘Hey, here’s your progression, 1, 2, 3,’ to how can we accelerate our eyes, our vision? What are we looking for? Some coverage indicators to where we might take more alerts.”
With Johnson as their head coach and Williams as their starting quarterback, the Bears think their future is very bright. Johnson is liking what he’s seeing.
Veteran defensive tackle Grady Jarrett signed a three-year, $43.5 million contract with the Bears last offseason. He didn’t give Chicago much of a return on its investment.
Garrett, who had previously spent 10 seasons with the Falcons, said he’s taking good care of his body this offseason and expects to be in great shape in 2026.
“I’m 33 years old now,” Jarrett said. “It’s exciting to be feeling a lot better this year. I know I owe Chicago a better year and I’m excited to go do that.”
Last year Jarrett was a starter for the first three games of the season, but a knee injury forced him to miss the next three games, and after that he was a backup the rest of the way. He said a subpar season gave him an opportunity to reflect on what he can do better going forward.
“I got hurt pretty early in the season, tried to get through it, and had to make some adjustments,” Jarrett said. “Toward the end I started playing a lot better as I felt better, but sometimes things happen and there’s no reason for it — to me it’s like divine intervention, gave me a chance to self-reflect.”
Jarrett’s self-reflection led him to the honest conclusion that his team needs him to be better, and he expects himself to be better.
