CHGO Digest: Bears official schedule, new suit filed against Blackhawks

Happy Thursday, friends!

It’s undeniable that football reigns supreme in Chicago. The Bulls ruled the sports world in the 1990s, the Blackhawks revived hockey in the 2010s, and both the Cubs’ and White Sox’s World Series victories are etched in history.

However, basketball, hockey, and baseball fail to generate the same angst and anticipation as football, especially when it comes to a schedule release. There are no social media accounts dedicated to leaking Bulls-Knicks matchups or the next Crosstown Classic. The schedules just drop.

Football is an entirely different ballgame. Bears fans crave football, regardless of the previous season’s outcome or the strides made in the offseason by the front office to get better, and a schedule release on a Wednesday night in May is just an excuse to talk football.

That craving is only amplified with the arrivals of Caleb Williams, Rome Odunze, and Keenan Allen.

— Patrick Norton

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Bears schedule officially released

115 days. The Caleb Williams era of Chicago Bears football officially begins in 115 days.

For the first time since 2014, the Bears’ season begins at home against an AFC opponent. Caleb Williams will experience the entire AFC South before he gets a taste of the NFC North. It’s a rather peculiar schedule, but it’s one that invites plenty of pressure and attention to a quarterback born for the moment.

• The Bears are set to appear in three primetime games in 2024. First up is Sunday Night Football in Week 2 against CJ Stroud and the Texans — the reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year against the 2024 betting favorite. For the fourth time in five years, the Bears will meet the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football. Chicago wraps up its primetime slate with the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday Night Football the day after Christmas.
  
• Week 11 against the Packers marks the Bears’ latest start to divisional play in the Super Bowl era, but once it begins, it doesn’t seem to end. Between Week 11 and Week 18, the Bears only play two non-NFC North opponents: last year’s NFC Champion 49ers and the new-look Seahawks in primetime.
  
• The Bears end the season in Green Bay for the second straight year. Last year’s agonizing Week 18 loss to the Packers represented the final nail in the coffin for Justin Fields’ career in Chicago. Following an offseason built on breaking the cycle, Caleb & Co. can do just that with a win at Lambeau Field to cement a spot in the 2024 playoffs.
  

📖 READ | Become a Diehard to access Mark Carman’s in-depth reaction to the schedule, including a bold prediction featuring Tyson Bagent.

🔎 GO DEEPER | Diehards also have access to Nicholas Moreano’s biggest takeaways from the schedule and what a backloaded divisional stretch could mean for Caleb Williams and the Bears.

📺 WATCH | The CHGO Bears Podcast crew breaks down the schedule, its quirks, and how many wins Caleb can bring to Chicago in Year 1.

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Join CHGO across the pond!

The dates are set! The Chicago Bears are going to London in October, and so is CHGO! Put down a deposit today with TrueFan Travel to reserve your spot with us!

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Lawsuit filed against Blackhawks for sexual harassment, fraud

Nina Sanders, a writer and cultural consultant who was hired by the Blackhawks in 2020 to assist with the team’s effort to build relationships in Native American communities, is suing the Blackhawks for breach of oral contract, fraud, and sexual harassment according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday night in the Circuit Court of Cook County.

• The lawsuit alleges that in 2022, an employee of the organization made “inappropriate sexual advances” and sent unsolicited “sexually explicit videos of him” on Snapchat to Sanders.
  
• The Blackhawks responded to the allegations of harassment on Wednesday, saying “the organization immediately conducted a thorough investigation with the assistance of outside counsel”. The statement finished, “…we found insufficient evidence to substantiate her claims. Of note, the persons identified by Ms. Sanders in your question are not, and have never been, independent contractors with nor employees of the Chicago Blackhawks.”
  
• Sanders’ lawsuit also claims that team chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz and the organization committed fraud by misrepresenting their promises about changing the logo and other Native American initiatives, to convince her to take the job.
  
• The team responded, “Notably, shortly prior to her contract ending, Ms. Sanders shared correspondence with Chicago Blackhawks executives, praising the organization for their efforts with Native American communities alongside the leaders responsible for that work.”
  

📖 MORE | CHGO Blackhawks’ Mario Tirabassi lays out details of the lawsuit and the Blackhawks’ full response to Sanders’ allegations.

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The Franchise Collection available now!

👕 GET A FREE SHIRT! | Become a Diehard and get your choice of any of the three shirts above … or any shirt in our CHGO Locker!

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Roundup: Cubs getting doc, still battling injury bug, Erick Fedde’s stock rising

• The Sun-Times’ Jeff Agrest reported on Tuesday that Amazon’s Prime Video is producing an anthology of the best Game 7s in sports — including the Cubs’ World Series win in extra-innings in 2016.
  
• The present-day Cubs haven’t hit their stride quite like the 2016 Cubs. Having 15 injured list stints by May 15 certainly doesn’t help. Dansby Swanson (knee) is the latest everyday player to find his way onto the 10-day IL. The team is hopeful Nico Hoerner can avoid missing an extended period of time after tweaking his hamstring prior to Monday’s game in Atlanta.
  
• Erick Fedde isn’t just pitching his way onto lists of possible trade deadline candidates, he’s skyrocketing to the top of those lists. The 31-year-old has reinvented himself with the White Sox since returning to the majors from the KBO. A 4-0 record with a 2.60 ERA on a 14-30 team is nothing to scoff at, and neither is his 2.3 WAR in just nine starts. Fedde hurled 7.0 IP of three-hit, scoreless baseball, receiving the win in the backend of a doubleheader on Tuesday night.
  

📖 READ | CHGO White Sox’s Vinnie Duber discusses the team’s latest attempt at getting the most out of Michael Soroka by moving him to the bullpen.

⚾ NEXT | Cubs vs. Pirates — Thursday, 6:40 on Marquee Sports Network | White Sox at Yankees — Friday, 6:05 on NBC Sports Chicago

⚾ FRIDAY 1:20 CLUB | Join CHGO’s Cody Delmendo and Matt Peck at Wrigley this Friday when the Cubs take on the Pirates at 1:20! Meet us at Murphy’s Bleachers starting at 10 AM, and at Almost Home following the game!

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QB1.

Watching this on repeat for the next few days. pic.twitter.com/KdpDnIT2bZ

— CHGO Sports (@CHGO_Sports) May 15, 2024

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More on CHGO!

• The CHGO Bulls Podcast is joined by Corey Tulaba to break down who the Bulls should target with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
  
• Greg Braggs Jr. and Jay Zawaski sit down to discuss Chicago sports’ biggest bummers on Wednesday’s Tavern Style.

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