Jeff Hughes | September 5th, 2016

I didn’t see any of it coming. Any of it. Thoughts.

Impossible to suggest the Bears had planned to replace Robbie Gould at the start of the summer. Not when they brought in zero competition for him. But his big misses last season coupled with an incredibly shaky camp/preseason forced the Bears hand. Pace and Fox know what this team is. They know they’ll need to win close ones. And they simply didn’t trust Robbie any more.

That being said, Robbie had a brilliant career in Chicago. Brilliant. Hester-Robbie-Mannelly-Toub is the modern era Mount Rushmore of Bears special teams.

Connor “Party On” Barth is a guy. Could be good. Could be shaky. But if the Bears thought this a possibility, why not bring a few kids to camp? I wrote about challenging Robbie this summer LAST FALL. The signs were there. It feels like the front office missed them.

I don’t care about Josh Sitton’s back issues. He’s still a damn good player. If the Bears only get one season out of him, that’s fine by me. They have the cash. Why not spend it? The risk/reward is ENTIRELY in Chicago’s column.

The ideal scenario is for Sitton to play center but the Bears getting Whitehair work at center now seems like excellent forethought. (Contrary to the Gould situation.) If Whitehair is the center on day one, it may take some time for him to learn the nuances of the position. But by the end of the season, fans will be asking Hroniss who?

Logan Paulsen. John Fox kind of player. And that Khari Lee trade was silly when it happened.

I know nothing about center Eric Kush but I’m sure there’s more than a few Chicagoans who dabble in a certain narcotic shall be purchasing his jersey if he sticks.

This is Jay Cutler’s team. But after receiving his extension, it’s going to be Kyle Long’s locker room.

How is Matt Barkley only 25 years old?

Pernell McPhee should have never played last December. Don’t feed me the line of bullshit on him not being able to do further damage. He did further damage. Playing football is never a neutral act when it comes to an injury.

Ego Ferguson, we hardly knew ye. (Phil Emery’s tenure not improving with time.)

Needless to say, the Bears have raised the excitement level around their opener significantly.

Happy Labor Day. Have a hot dog. No fucking ketchup.