Multiple reporters insisted that the NFL had ruled that the Chicago Bears would not receive any compensatory draft picks when assistant general manager Ian Cunningham became GM of the Atlanta Falcons. This was because, according to an odd rule, the president of football operations, Matt Ryan, was technically considered the “lead football decision-maker” in the organization. As a result, Cunningham becoming GM was nothing more than a title change, not a true promotion. Never mind that Ryan insisted on two different occasions that every roster decision was Cunningham’s to make.

Well, things took another interesting turn on Tuesday. Bears general manager Ryan Poles stepped to the podium for the first time since January at the scouting combine. The first question was his thoughts on the comp pick issue. It turns out he has been in contact with the NFL about it, believing that, according to the rules in place, the Bears should receive compensation. As of now, he has not gotten a reply on the subject. This means no actual decision has been made yet.

Ian Cunningham echoed Poles’ response.

The new Falcons GM was also at the podium Tuesday morning. He was asked for his take on the situation. From his perspective, Cunningham believes the Bears should receive compensation. While both men admit they wish the Rooney Rule weren’t necessary, the details make it pretty clear that Chicago should get those picks. It’s worth noting that former Bears scouting director Greg Gabriel said weeks ago that no decision was made. He said the NFL would not rule on it until it got the details of Cunningham’s contract.

If Atlanta put it in writing that he was indeed the primary football decision-maker, the Bears would be awarded the picks. A ruling on this probably won’t come until March at the earliest. The Management Council must review it. Until then, the Bears are stuck in limbo. Poles doesn’t have time to dwell on it. He made his case heard and will focus on other business. People may wonder why this is such a big deal. The fact is, every draft pick counts, especially for a team that is limited in spending money.

Two 3rd-round compensatory picks would create additional opportunities for the Bears to find good players.

The Bears did the right thing.

They could’ve made a stink about it. Here are other teams, like San Francisco and Los Angeles, being awarded picks without any fuss after losing key assistants elsewhere. Then the Bears lose one of their key talent evaluators and get nothing because of a technicality. That is a bad look for the league and disincentivizes the rule, because now other teams know all they have to do is give another executive an arbitrary title “above” the GM, so the other team gets nothing in return.

Nothing about that makes sense. This is about fairness. Ian Cunningham was a vital part of the Bears’ front office for four years, helping build them into a contender. They were promised compensation if he was hired elsewhere, as per NFL rules. Whether this incentive should exist at all is irrelevant. Facts are facts. Cunningham is a minority hire. It’s been confirmed that he will hold all roster power. That means the Bears are owed those picks. This isn’t complicated.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the Arizona Cardinals had interest in Chicago Bears backup quarterback Tyson Bagent as a possible option to replace their starting quarterback in 2026. The market for QBs this offseason isn’t good. Both free agency and the draft are low on favorable choices. In such times, teams decide to take calculated risks on young backups who have flashed upside. Bagent is one such option. Apparently, Arizona isn’t the only team having that same thought.

Bears general manager Ryan Poles met with the media at the scouting combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday. He was asked about the Bagent situation. To the surprise of many, he admitted that the team has fielded multiple calls on the young quarterback. Rather than outright saying the team isn’t trading him, he admitted it’s a tricky issue. The Bears must weigh the short and long-term consequences of such a move. For one, head coach Ben Johnson loves Bagent, and the team would have to seek a replacement if he is traded.

On the other hand, getting draft capital back for a player you signed as an undrafted free agent would be a big win for the Bears. Caleb Williams is entrenched as the starter. It makes logistical sense.

Trading Tyson Bagent will come down to price.

If teams are offering 7th, 6th, or even 5th round picks, it doesn’t seem likely the Bears would consider the offer. Losing a quality backup quarterback for selections with such low hit rates is never advisable. However, if you start getting into the 2nd-4th round territory, then it becomes a conversation. Since 2000, there have been seven trades involving a backup quarterback who went to another team and became the starter. Six of the seven involved at least one 2nd round pick.

In other words, if another team wants him, they’ll have to show they’re serious.

Poles knows he has leverage. The veteran market is bleak. Currently, teams have options such as Aaron Rodgers, Daniel Jones (injured), Joe Flacco, and Malik Willis. Expectations are that Arizona will trade Kyler Murray. Not great. Then you look at the draft. Outside of Francisco Mendoza going #1 overall to Las Vegas, there is no certainty that another quarterback is good enough to crack the 1st round. Tyson Bagent has started actual games in the NFL, going 2-2 as a rookie in 2023. He’s looked excellent in each of the past two preseasons. It might be an intriguing dice roll.

This decision likely comes down to Coach Johnson.

He was a driving force behind extending Tyson Bagent last year, having developed a deep fondness for the backup. The Bears coach isn’t likely to unload him for a modest draft pick. It will take a considerable offer. We will find out how high the opinions are of Bagent in the next few weeks. If a trade does happen, it will likely be before the start of the new league year on March 11th. Either that, or a team could make a late play after the draft if they’re unable to land somebody they want.

Poles has no reason to rush a decision. He’s the one holding all the cards. Bagent is under contract for two more seasons. The Bears know they can keep him at a perfectly modest price. This is a situation where they’re not eager to unload the player and don’t have to. Other teams must show they’re serious. They won’t be able to lowball the Bears because the player wants out or costs too much to keep.

The Chicago Bears have played nine international games in their history to date. Their last three have all been to London, England. With the NFL posting a huge slate of international games for the 2026 season, it felt almost inevitable that the Bears would be a natural option for one of them. The only question would be where they go. There are plenty of options. They could return to London, where they have marketing rights and a large fanbase eager to see them again. Germany, Mexico, and Brazil have also become popular options.

However, a recent post on Twitter (X) dropped a colossal hint about where that game will take place. Recently, Iker Sagasti is a Spanish Journalist who covers the NFL. He posted a photograph of the iconic Rock of Gibraltar at the southern tip of Spain. It borders La Línea de la Concepción. Where it gets interesting is that the city is the home of Cristian Saban Carretero, a finalist nominated by the Bears for NFL International Fan of the Year 2025. Sure enough, the team’s Spanish Twitter account retweeted Sagasti’s post with two unmistakable emojis.

It looks like the Chicago Bears are going to Spain.

This makes sense for two reasons. First, the NFL just opened up that market when the Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders played in Madrid last season. The league likely wanted to test the waters. Now that the reception was good, they’ll want to bring in one of their bigger franchises. Chicago is not only a great draw thanks to their recent success, but it also holds exclusive rights to the Spanish market. It was only a matter of time before they wanted to get the team in front of fans over there.

There isn’t much left to do in London. The Chicago Bears are well-established there. It is time to grow their influence elsewhere. Logically, it makes sense to head for mainland Europe. Spain has the fifth-largest economy on the continent and is probably the most untapped of any. They have arguably the most rabid soccer fans in the world, so sports are a big deal there. Let’s also not forget that Chicago has a large Hispanic demographic. Leaning into that is only natural.

So who would the Bears play?

Right now, the heavy favorite in such a scenario would be the Dolphins. The two teams are already scheduled to play each other this season. The Chicago Bears have nine home games on their schedule, so they would likely play host. Miami already played there last season, and it is one of two teams with exclusive marketing rights in the country. It isn’t hard to see why this matchup would be the obvious choice. Probably the other team to watch would be the Jacksonville Jaguars, who play the Bears as well and faced them two years ago in London.

A Dolphins scenario would be the most intriguing. Miami was just taken over by general manager Jon Eric-Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley. Both came from the Green Bay Packers. There would likely be some residual bad blood from the rivalry. All of that aside, every sign points to the Bears playing overseas. The NFL wants to capitalize on the team’s popularity to help grow the game outside the U.S. Spain is as good of a place as any.

Sports Mockery and other outlets have reported escalating tension between the Chicago Bears team president, Kevin Warren, and the McCaskey family. Ownership hired him to guide the organization through its efforts to get a new stadium built in Arlington Heights. More than three years have passed since Warren took over, and the team still hasn’t begun construction. He made many promises, including getting shovels in the ground by 2025. None has come to pass. Even now, the team remains deadlocked on what to do, whether to continue pushing for Arlington Heights or cross the border into Indiana.

All the while, George McCaskey’s frustration with Warren has only grown. He and his family feel the man hasn’t lived up to his end of the deal. He sold ownership on the idea that his experience with U.S. Bank Stadium in Minnesota made him the perfect candidate for the job. All evidence points to the contrary. It begs the question of when the relationship started to sour somewhat. Adam Jahns of CHGO mentioned what was likely the origins of this mess. It came early in 2024.

I don’t think I’ll ever understand the time, money and energy spent on the Bears’ decision to try and work with Chicago and Mayor Brandon Johnson on their next stadium under Warren. The team already owned Arlington Park – and put a significant amount of time, money and energy into that process. 

On April 24, 2024 – just over a year after Warren was hired – the Bears released renderings and their plans for the lakefront in the form of the Burnham Park Project. All of it was impressive…

…But the Bears’ plan received no support from Gov. JB Pritzker or other lawmakers.

Kevin Warren would likely have a deal done already if not for that detour.

Nothing about the strategy of pivoting to downtown Chicago made sense. Warren had to know he would encounter heavy resistance from activist groups aiming to protect public land from private enterprises. It’s exactly why the Bears were never able to make serious renovations to Soldier Field. Never mind that he was asking for serious help from the state, which was already resisting the Arlington Park venture despite the team owning the property. It all felt like a hairbrained scheme cooked up by someone completely ignorant of the forces at play in the state.

One year. That is how long it took for Kevin Warren to finally give up that chase. By then, the Arlington Heights discussions had cooled. It would take time to heat them back up. When Governor Pritzker and his government weren’t willing to move faster, Warren finally engaged with Indiana about a stadium in the northwest region. That was something the McCaskeys had always wanted to avoid. Yet here we are. It’s fair to assume construction might already be underway if Warren had just stayed focused on Arlington.

That blunder was a key factor in the entire mess that followed. For all his big talk, the Bears president has done little more than waste time and money, which doesn’t sit well with an owner that has less of it to throw around than most in this league.

You never know the true mettle of an organization until its spot on the mountaintop is threatened. For over 30 years, the Green Bay Packers have ruled the NFC North with an iron fist, winning two Super Bowls and enjoying an unbroken streak of Hall of Fame quarterback play. However, things have shifted significantly in the past few years. It started with the Detroit Lions knocking them off their perch in the division in 2023 and 2024. They couldn’t have known even worse was to come.

One thing the Packers could always hang their hat on was their dominance over their endless rivalry with the Chicago Bears. They’d lost just five games in a stretch between 2008 and 2023. That started changing when Caleb Williams stunned them in the 2024 season finale at Lambeau Field. Most chalked it up to a fluke occurrence, which was reinforced by the Packers’ revenge win at home last season. Then it all came crashing down. The Bears not only got payback in the rematch at Soldier Field but also shocked them in the wild-card playoffs, overcoming a 21-3 deficit in the process.

It was the ultimate humiliation, especially with what Williams did after the game.

The Green Bay Packers are haunted by that moment.

If you don’t believe that, you merely have to look at what the franchise is enacting this offseason. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk revealed that Green Bay brass are cracking down on season ticket holders who have been reselling tickets on the secondary market. They’ve issued a threat that anyone caught doing this would have their tickets permanently revoked and given to the next person on the waiting list. They insist it’s to ensure the gameday experience is pure for Packer fans. Florio believes the real motivation is to keep those cheese-grater hats out of Lambeau Field.

“Season Ticket Holders who repeatedly resell their season tickets, whether on the secondary market or through ticket brokers (directly or indirectly), may have their renewal ability impacted without further warning.”

If ever you needed proof that an organization is mentally soft, this is as good as it gets. Chicago is no stranger to it. When the Blackhawks were at the peak of their dynasty in the 2010s, the Nashville Predators made significant changes to their ticket restrictions to keep Chicago fans out. It didn’t help. The Blackhawks knocked them out of the playoffs in 2014-2015, then went on to win their third Stanley Cup in six years. Rather than spending their valuable time building a better team, the Predators focused on keeping opposing fans out. This is not the policy of a true winner. Yet here the Packers are copying the strategy.

The Packers know a priceless opportunity was wasted.

Injuries hit them hard last season, and a precious year in the Micah Parsons window is gone. Now they enter a stretch where they will have no 1st round picks for two years, and the star pass rusher is coming off a torn ACL. The Green Bay Packers remain adamant they are still the top of the NFC North despite not winning the division since Aaron Rodgers left. Nobody fears them anymore. That mystique that characterized the glory years of 1995 to 2020 is gone. Chicago, Detroit, and Minnesota all now know they’re mortal.

It felt like the Packers were desperate to reassert control when they traded for Parsons. Now they’re trying to find other methods by keeping opposing fans out. This is somewhat ironic since Green Bay fans travel better than most in the NFL. It is clear they did not enjoy their national embarrassment and are determined to control the narrative, however possible. Not that keeping opposing fans out will make their team any better.