The Chicago Bears announced their official pivot to Hammond, Indiana, on May 31st after the Illinois spring legislative session ended without a bill passing. With no property tax certainty, the team felt it was in their best interests to finally make Indiana a priority. However, no specific site had been chosen. Most people assumed the Wolf Lake region was the only one they were considering. That was not the case. Lost Marsh Golf Course was also in the mix, and the Bears wanted to see which presented the best path forward.

According to Maya Liquigan of the Northwest Indiana Times, that decision has been made. The Bears took another important step in the evaluation process by using soil drilling equipment. This is critical as such efforts test load-bearing capacity, groundwater levels, and bedrock strength. Such factors determine if a site can handle the massive weight of a stadium complex. A Bears representative said in a statement that while no specific location has been determined yet, Wolf Lake is the area they’ve chosen.

The Chicago Bears are sticking with the original plan.

Soil drilling equipment, which is used to test potential construction sites, was in place Saturday evening in Hammond near a location that could become the next Chicago Bears stadium, team officials confirmed.

A team spokesman confirmed late Saturday that the machinery that was located by Times reporters at the Wolf Lake Terminals, west of Interstate 90 in Hammond, was testing the ground for a potential stadium site.

The site is currently home to logistics facilities, storage and other private business uses.

“This activity is part of the normal site evaluation process as we continue to advance our stadium development project in Hammond,” said Scott Hagel, the team’s senior vice president of public and governmental affairs. “We have an excellent option already in place and continue to assess additional parcels of land in the Wolf Lake region to ensure we place the stadium and mixed-use district in the very best location to search all of Chicagoland.” 

This revelation confirms two things.

First, the Bears are serious about Indiana as an option. There is no way they would be spending that much money to evaluate sites unless they had the full intention of building there. Second, this sends a clear message to Illinois. Recent reports out of Springfield state that several lawmakers aren’t in any hurry to accommodate the Bears because they believe Hammond is a bluff. The team truly wants to build in Arlington Heights and is using Indiana as leverage to get what they want.

This report is another step towards the red line. Think of it as the Chicago Bears’ version of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Both sides are staring each other down, daring the other to blink first. Nuclear annihilation, or in this case, a public divorce after over a century of partnership, is the endgame if neither does. Wolf Lake is a massive property. The Bears should have no issue finding a location that can handle the stadium construction. The tricky part will be the area around it.

Environmental protection remains a big issue.

Building near a large lake is certainly appealing from an aesthetic standpoint. Unfortunately for the Chicago Bears, it also comes with a significant roadblock. One of the reasons Wolf Lake would prove challenging to build on is the natural wetlands nearby. They have permits and easements issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that strictly prohibit development. That means they are protected through 2050. Either the Bears would have to avoid building on or around them, which would shrink the property they can use, or they would have to go to court to try to get those permits overturned. Most believe the latter is unlikely.

A costly legal battle is not something the Bears want, but it seems they’re content to go through the proper procedures on testing the site anyway. Indiana lawmakers are plenty confident that such issues can be ironed out in the coming months. They’ve already passed the legislation necessary. All the Bears have to do is pick a site. From there, the two sides can work on ironing out the wrinkles.

Nobody needs to be a detective to realize there is tension between the National Football League and its players. They don’t feel the NFL has their best interests at heart, particularly when it comes to player safety. This comes from two points of contention. First is the ongoing efforts by owners to expand the schedule. Already, the league managed to push it from 16 games to 17 games. Now it’s largely believed owners will push for 18 in the near future. That alone has players angry. Yet perhaps the bigger point of contention is that of playing surfaces. It’s become more apparent in recent years that the league’s love affair with artificial turf continues to cause way more injuries than necessary, leading many to call for a push for all-grass fields. This is an issue Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams is now behind.

San Francisco 49ers All-Pro tight end George Kittle voiced player displeasure expressed player displeasure with the league’s stance on this, especially after several owners openly allowed FIFA to sod multiple stadiums with natural grass after they had artificial turf. He takes this as a sign that the NFL cares more about the safety of soccer players than players in its own league. Players who are in a far more physically violent sport. Make it make sense. Williams agrees.

Caleb Williams knows this issue may soon affect him.

Right now, he has the good fortune of playing on a natural grass turf at Soldier Field. However, that will likely soon change once the Bears move into their new stadium a few years down the road. That stadium, as most domes do, will have artificial turf. That means more potential knee and Achilles injuries, along with more concussions from hitting the ground. Nothing kills a season faster than losing key players to injuries. Preventing that is at the top of the players’ priority list.

Don’t be fooled. The NFL will try to talk its way around the problem with word salads. This is all about money. A grass field can cost a team upwards of $3 million per year to maintain. By contrast, an artificial turf won’t cost more than $500,000. To owners, this is a simple business calculation. Easy to say when it’s not their bodies being put on the line. Don’t forget the NFL made an estimated $23 billion in revenue last year. It would cost them $96 million annually at most to put grass fields in every stadium.

That is the equivalent of the yearly salaries of Will Anderson Jr. and Micah Parsons. By themselves. There is no way the league can’t afford it.

There is a strong possibility that this issue only gets worse.

Both sides have maintained a clear stance on it for years. The players want grass. Owners don’t want to change anything. It feels like this will become a serious point of contention in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement a few years from now. The current one expires in 2031. Owners will want 18 games. Players will want grass fields. It will be interesting to see if negotiations revolve around those two issues. If it gets bad enough, there could be a lockout or strike.

No doubt Caleb Williams, who will turn 31 that year, hopes to extend his career for as long as possible. A great way to do that is by easing the amount of punishment his body takes every time he hits the deck. Grass absorbs falls far better than turf. That is why it makes sense he’d have an opinion on the matter. Obviously, as a younger player, he must be careful about how much he says. A few years from now when he’s a veteran and, hopefully, a star? That voice may get louder.

Hall of Fame Los Angeles Lakers legend James Worthy admits he still has nightmares from the 1987 NBA Finals when Larry Bird, who’d already hit one big shot seconds earlier, narrowly missed another to win Game 4. He believes everything might’ve been different, including his legacy, had that shot gone in. It appears Matthew Stafford has similar feelings about the end of the divisional round of the playoffs between his Los Angeles Rams and the Chicago Bears. More specifically, it centers around Caleb Williams.

Stafford has been in high-stakes situations many times in his career. He won a Super Bowl in 2021. The hostile and frigid atmosphere of Soldier Field was no different. As the game reached its final seconds in the 4th quarter, L.A. held a 17-10 lead. Chicago faced 4th down. One more stop would mean a win for the Rams. As the play unfolded, Williams sprinted straight backward to near midfield. Stafford, like everybody else in the building, thought the play was over by that point.

Then Williams launched it to the end zone into the waiting hands of Cole Kmet for a touchdown. Six months later, Stafford still isn’t over that play. He said as much on the Green Light podcast.

Matthew Stafford understood how bad that play almost was.

The momentum shift was clear as day. Los Angeles won the coin flip to start overtime, but their subsequent drive went three-and-out. Chicago got the ball and immediately started driving down the field, reaching the Rams’ 48-yard line. Thankfully, a miscommunication between Williams and D.J. Moore led to an interception. Stafford quickly got the Rams into field goal range, and L.A. escaped with a 20-17 win. Yet even now, he seems to recognize how lucky they got.

That almost became one of the great last-second choke jobs in recent playoff history. Williams had already engineered an epic comeback the previous week, rallying the Bears from down 21-3 to beat the Green Bay Packers 31-27. Los Angeles was so close to becoming his latest victim. Alas, the young quarterback’s inexperience ended up giving Matthew Stafford just enough wiggle room to avoid disaster. Yet it’s clear the young Bears quarterback earned tons of respect that night.

The Bears are certainly aiming for a rematch.

Their roster got younger and faster this offseason, headlined by a revamped safety group of veteran Coby Bryant and 1st round pick Dillon Thieneman. Offensively, they added Kalif Raymond and Zavion Thomas at wide receiver with their blistering speed and big tight end Sam Roush to improve their run-blocking. Los AngelesLos Angeles, of course, made the biggest splashes of the offseason with blockbuster trades for cornerback Trent McDuffie and defensive end Myles Garrett.

However, Stafford might not be feeling all warm and fuzzy about that. The Rams also selected a quarterback in the 1st round. They’ve put him on the clock despite an MVP season in 2025. It will be interesting to see how that messes with team chemistry. L.A. is the heavy favorite to reach the Super Bowl this year. Williams and the Bears hope to be the ones who get the chance to stop that from happening.

The Chicago Bears remain deadlocked in their push for a new stadium like the British at the Somme. They keep attacking in different directions, only to get stonewalled. It’s been five years since this entire saga began. Other teams like Buffalo and Tennessee announced their own new stadiums after the Bears and have either completed them already or have begun construction. Fans have grown fed up with the process, feeling the McCaskeys and team president Kevin Warren are too incompetent to get a deal done. That is why players like Caleb Williams have been careful with comments.

Chicago’s star quarterback made it clear that he will play wherever the Bears end up, be it Arlington Heights or Hammond, Indiana. He knows it isn’t his place to dictate how the organization conducts its business. However, it appears Williams does have a notable opinion on one aspect of it. In an interview with Pardon My Take, the quarterback admitted that he gets a particular delight from playing in cold weather. It is something he grew to appreciate over his first two seasons in the league.

Caleb Williams unintentionally touched a sore spot for the Bears.

Cold weather has been a core part of the team’s identity going back over a century. There have been some iconic games played in bitterly cold or snowy conditions. Last season was no exception, as the Bears played two chilly games against the Green Bay Packers and Los Angeles Rams. Both were excellent. Williams loving that environment is no small thing. So why is it a problem? Namely, because the Bears have already made it clear that they will become a dome team once the new stadium is completed.

This issue seems to upset many fans more than moving locations. Playing in the elements has long been part of the Bears’ mystique. Every great run in franchise history was characterized by iconic weather moments. You had the snow flurries of the 1985 NFC championship, the Fog Bowl in 1988, Devin Hester’s record-breaker in icy Minnesota in 2010, and the mud pit against Baltimore in 2013. There are so many incredible memories that will disappear once the team goes into a dome, and all for the endless chase of profits.

Maybe the young QB can make ownership rethink things.

As of right now, the McCaskeys seem intent on building a dome regardless of which location they end up in. The entire point is to make the venue accessible year-round, allowing concerts, college basketball tournaments, and other attractions. The thing is, this isn’t necessary. An outdoor stadium can still host tons of events in the summer months, even when the Bears aren’t using it. The difference with Soldier Field is that the Chicago Park District pocketed all of that money. That wouldn’t be the case with the new building.

Players almost never influence the construction of a stadium. That isn’t their place. However, it’s been known to happen. The Yankees built old Yankee Stadium with a shorter right field wall because of Babe Ruth’s enormous popularity (he was a left-handed hitter). Michael Jordan’s success led the Bulls to build the United Center, which improved acoustics and added suites to cater to corporate sponsors that he attracted. If Caleb Williams, whose own popularity is exploding, would prefer an outdoor stadium, maybe he can lean on the McCaskeys to reconsider their current plan.