Center Shuffle, Bill Murray’s Birthday, Are You Watching Offseason Hard Knocks? And Other Bears Bullets

The Fourth of July holiday falling on a Thursday has thrown all sorts of schedules for a loop. Hopefully, your plans go off without a hitch. And if you don’t have plans, there is still time to make them. Don’t want to make plans? Cool. Not everything needs to meticulously mapped out. Don’t want to do anything? Also, cool. It’s a free country, after all.

  • There are only 67 days until the Chicago Bears kick off Week 1 of the regular season against the Tennessee Titans. Using Pro Football Reference’s Approximate Value metric as our guide leads us to Jerry Fontenot being the most productive player in franchise history to wear the No. 67. Fontenot was an interior offensive lineman from 1989-1996 who mostly played center. A third-round pick (65th overall) in the 1989 draft, Fontenot was Chicago’s primary starter at center from 1992-1996. Did you know that Rutgers head football coach Greg Schiano was on Dave Wannstedt’s staff as a defensive assistant during Fontenot’s final season with the Bears? The more you know…
  • When it comes to the center position, Sam Mustipher probably comes to mind for a chunk of Bears fans. Even though his time in Chicago was mostly a struggle, Mustipher’s 2022 season with the Baltimore Ravens was arguably his best work. The Notre Dame product posted a 63.4 grade and played enough snaps to qualify for the Pro Football Focus leaderboard, where Mustipher placed 18th of 36 centers. Earlier in this offseason, Mustipher joined a Denver Broncos team that has an open competition at the position. This is quite the career arc for a guy who began his NFL career as an undrafted free agent.
  • former bears center sam mustipher
    (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

  • Meanwhile, the Bears are still in search of a long-term center option. ESPN’s Bears depth chart lists Coleman Shelton as the starter, but it wouldn’t take much to make a case for Ryan Bates, who Chicago traded for before the start of the new league year. Plus, a part of me would still like to see Doug Kramer get a shot. Heck, there is even a small part of me curious to know if Ja’Tyre Carter would get a legit opportunity at the position. If you’ll recall, the Bears were looking to explore Carter’s positional flexibility last summer until Nate Davis’ absences kept him as a primary right guard option during training camp and the preseason.
  • Did you watch the debut of the New York Giants offseason version of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series last night? It’s OK if you didn’t. I passed on the opportunity to have dinner with a friend who I haven’t seen since December 2019. We had Italian beef (I got mine with sweet and hot, of course) and eventually milkshakes. But I digress. If only to share this clip:
  • The behind-the-scenes conversations are the top thing I’m looking forward to seeing when the Bears training camp version of Hard Knocks gets going on August 6.
  • Bill Murray is celebrating a birthday today. No, not that one. This one.
  • QUOTABLE: “I feel like this is the year,” said Aidan Hutchinson, via WXYZ (h/t Pro Football Talk). “With every fiber of my body, I feel like it’s the year. Honestly, from this year on, every year is the year. With the guys that we have, I hope that we’re going to sustain the success for a long time. Hope springs eternal for the Detroit Lions.
  • Bookmarked for later is this piece by Doug Farrar at BearsWire that comes with “Rome Odunze can help Caleb Williams break Bears’ 75-year quarterback curse” as an attached headline. I don’t believe in curses. But if I did, I’d say Chicago’s long-standing quarterback conundrum is the work of witchcraft.
  • Congratulations to Bears beat writer Kevin Fishbain, whose work at The Athletic is highly recommended:
  • HAPPY HUMP DAY! Check out The Bleacher Nation Newsletter

  • Ruh-roh! Zach Lavine’s relationship with the Chicago Bulls front office is reportedly “shattered.” (BN Bulls)
  • Over at the BN Cubs wing, Brett has more on the Chicago Cubs boasting a league-leading seven prospects in MLB Pipeline’s updated top-100. It is the only good news that is coming from Wrigleyville these days with the Northsiders suffering yet another painful defeat.
  • Keeping up with the movement around the NHL includes checking in on where now-former Blackhawks are heading for the 2024-25 season:
  • written by

    Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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