The Chicago Bears don’t have a playoff berth at stake when they play the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at Lambeau Field. The Bears (7-9) officially were eliminated in Week 17.

But there’s plenty to keep the Bears motivated in the season finale — and not just playing spoiler to the Packers playoff hopes.

When time runs out Sunday, the Bears will be on the clock to make major decisions in a crucial offseason.

Here’s a look at the decisions ahead.

General manager Ryan Poles

Not all of Poles’ moves since joining the Bears in January 2022 have worked out, but the way he has gone about building the roster is looking better and better.

His trade of the 2023 No. 1 draft pick to the Carolina Panthers last offseason netted him not only the No. 1 draft pick this year, but also top wide receiver DJ Moore, promising rookies in right tackle Darnell Wright and cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and a 2025 second-round pick.

His acquisition of defensive end Montez Sweat from the Washington Commanders and subsequent four-year, $98 million contract extension has lifted the entire defense to a new level. And there have been plenty of other moves that have looked good this season, including the 2023 free-agent signings of linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards, guard Nate Davis and defensive tackle Andrew Billings.

Given that the roster has shown marked improvement in more than doubling its win total from 2022 and considering Poles’ working relationship with President Kevin Warren, his position with the Bears would seem to be safe, but official confirmation likely will come next week.

More on the Warren-Poles relationship and how Warren said of Poles over the summer: ‘I found my work partner’
A look at the how the trade of the 2023 No. 1 overall pick paid off in Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts
A look at how the Sweat trade has paid off for the Bears defense

Coach Matt Eberflus

In early October, questions arose about whether the Bears even would let Eberflus finish out the season. The Bears started 0-4, the fourth loss featuring a crushing 21-point comeback by the Denver Broncos.

In the middle of it all, defensive coordinator Alan Williams resigned amid strange circumstances which sources told the Tribune was conduct-related. The Bears had an abrupt breakup with wide receiver Chase Claypool, whom they traded to the Miami Dolphins. And Eberflus’ handling of it all left something to be desired.

That rough start hasn’t been forgotten, but the vibe around Halas Hall is considerably different in Week 18, with the Bears winning four of their last five games and five of their last seven. The turnaround has largely been fueled by a defense that has come into its own with Eberflus calling the plays and the addition of Sweat.

Will those factors play into Eberflus returning?

Here’s a look at how sources around the league view the decision on Eberflus and his coaching staff, which is complicated by the Bears’ simultaneous decision at quarterback
Biggs’ mailbag also tackles the possibility of Eberflus’ return, with league chatter suggesting the Bears could be considering retaining Eberflus.

Quarterback Justin Fields

The conversation around Fields’ future has been ongoing, in large part because the Bears have been eyeing the No. 1 pick via the now 2-14 Panthers for months.

The Bears must decide whether they believe Fields is the quarterback who can lead them to the Super Bowl or if they want to bet on a quarterback prospect with the top pick instead.

Fields was just building momentum with his game before he dislocated his right thumb Oct. 15 against the Minnesota Vikings and the Bears started former Division II star Tyson Bagent for four weeks. Since Fields has returned, he has made clear progress, building up to one of his best performances of the season against the Atlanta Falcons on Dec. 31.

How do the Bears’ evaluate Fields’ season — and his future?

Compilation of chatter around the league about how the Bears will make their evaluation of Fields
A look at the complicated timeline Fields has navigated in his first three years, and how he believes he will become the quarterback he wants to be
A look at Fields’ career starts through the Dec. 17 loss to the Cleveland Browns, ranked from 1-35

The No. 1 draft pick

While the decision about what to do with the No. 1 pick is tough, it’s also an enviable position to be in.

The Bears can have their pick of quarterbacks in the draft — including USC’s Caleb Williams and North Carolina’s Drake Maye — or they can stick with Fields and trade the top pick for a haul similar to or better than what they received for the No. 1 pick last year.

What evaluators around the league are saying about the Bears and the No. 1 pick
Here’s A closer look at quarterback prospects Caleb Williams and Drake Maye
Bears have drafted 32 QBs in the Super Bowl-era — and only 1 has made 100 regular-season starts
Bears have selected only 2 No. 1 draft picks in team history — and both were disappointing

()

University of Minnesota Extension at UMD is helping produce a free online event to raise awareness about the winter life of the little creatures in trout streams that make up the backbone of the food chain for fish.

“Bugs Below Zero: Engaging Citizens in Winter Research” is set for 6:45 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 11.

A student inspects insects collected during winter months from a Minnesota trout stream as part of the Bugs Below Zero project. (Sarah Karnas / Bell Museum)

Biologist Amy Schrank, an expert on trout streams stationed at Sea Grant’s University of Minnesota Duluth headquarters, will be joined by Rebecca Swenson, associate professor at the university’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, and by Alyssa Anderson, associate professor of biology at Southwest Minnesota State University.

Bugs Below Zero is a Minnesota Sea Grant project designed to draw attention to the importance of winter stream food webs and how citizens can be involved in community science to contribute to stream conservation and winter ecology research.

Some insects, including stoneflies, mayflies, caddisflies and non-biting midges, are active in the winter months. These bugs can survive below-zero temperatures and can often be found on snowbanks. They are also a vitally important food for trout. Researchers are examining how seasonal changes may alter these insects’ life cycles and trout populations.

The biggest concern? If the climate continues to warm, as Minnesota experienced in December, insects that emerge in winter and depend on cold will disappear, and so will the trout that depend on them.

The University of Minnesota Bugs Below Zero Team has been discovering the life-cycle dynamics of non-biting midges and their importance to trout for more than a decade. Now, the research group is looking for volunteers to help with monitoring efforts and to expand the scope of this research program.

“The first goal of the program is to get people excited and educated about bugs in winter, and bugs in streams,” said Swenson. “But then we want people to get involved and go out and help collect data.”

When the snow finally flies, the University’s Bugs Below Zero team wants citizen scientists — K-12 and community college science teachers and their students, angling groups and anyone interested — to join them in a community science project that expands the understanding of winter active aquatic insects.

“Trout fishermen have really been active in this so far,” Swenson told the News Tribune. “But it could be anyone who likes to be outside in wi

Yes, mayflies and other insects are alive and active in winter and play an important role in the ecology of a trout stream. You can help uncover more about that role by participating in Bugs Below Zero. Some insects, including stoneflies, mayflies, caddisflies and non-biting midges, are active in the winter months. These bugs can survive below-zero temperatures and can often be found on snowbanks. They are also a vitally important food for trout. Researchers are examining how seasonal changes may alter these insects’ life cycles and trout populations. (Courtesy of the University of Minnesota)

nter: hikers or cross-country skiers or whatever. You don’t have to be a fisherman to get into this.”

Participants identify and submit information and photographs of aquatic insects on the snow, often near stream banks and then upload their findings on an app. Your help can grow the understanding of how the unique Minnesota climate reveals valuable insights about interactions between weather, water, insects and food webs for researchers across the globe.

Schrank, the Extension program leader, is a fish biologist with more than 15 years of experience teaching and conducting research in Great Lakes aquatic ecosystems. Her background includes work on trout movement, stream and lake fish ecology, the effects of dam removal on fishes and how invasive plants impact fish communities in Great Lakes coastal wetlands.

For more information on Bugs Below Zero, go to bugsbelowzero.com.

How to register

Go to the University of Minnesota Extension Minnesota Master Naturalist Meetings and Events webpage at westmetromasternaturalists.weebly.com/meetings.html to sign up. A free, in-person version of the event will be held Feb. 3 at 5 p.m. in the Joseph J. Casby Observatory, 1553 Stagecoach Trail S. in Afton.

Related Articles

First meteor shower of 2024 could be the strongest; Quadrantids set to peak Jan. 3-4

Ice assessment team formed to decide when Upper Red Lake will reopen for ice fishing

As snow fails to fall on North Shore, organizers cancel John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon

Another day, another northern Minnesota ice rescue: This time, 50 stranded anglers brought to shore

Upper Red Lake vehicle restrictions issued after recent incidents on poor ice

Authorities have identified the man shot and killed early Monday morning at a New Year’s Eve gathering in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood as Abdifatah Abdillahi, 23, of Roseville.

Shortly after 1:30 a.m., a 911 caller said they “wanted a group of people removed” from a gathering at a home in the 1600 block of Van Buren Avenue, according to a news release from the police department. While officers were on their way to the scene, more 911 calls came in saying that shots were fired at the gathering. One caller said they were with someone who had been injured and were taking the victim to the hospital. That caller then hung up.

Officers who arrived at the home didn’t find any victims there but were told a man with gunshot wounds was at United Hospital. That man died at the downtown St. Paul hospital shortly afterward, marking the city’s first homicide of 2024 and the earliest of any new year in recent memory.

No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.

Related Articles

Murder charges upgraded against Mayo Clinic physician accused of poisoning wife

2 dead in apparent shooting at southwestern Minnesota home, authorities say

Minnesota law enforcement debut pilot program to test motorists for cannabis impairment

Five-year-old who perished in St. Paul blaze identified

More than 120 Twin Cities EBT users fell victim to card skimmers, charges say

ROCHESTER, Minn. — A former Mayo Clinic doctor accused of poisoning his wife in August will now be facing a first-degree murder charge in the case.

Connor Bowman. (Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

Connor Bowman, 30, was charged by a grand jury for first-degree premeditated murder on Thursday. In Minnesota, first-degree murder can only be charged by a grand jury. The Olmsted County Attorney’s Office said in a news release that if he is convicted of first-degree murder, Connor Bowman “shall be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of release.”

Bowman is also facing a second-degree murder with intent-not premeditated charge in Olmsted County in connection with the death of his wife, Betty Bowman. Connor Bowman is accused of using colchicine, a drug used to treat gout, to poison her last August.

The indictment also listed several witnesses examined before the grand jury, including a detective with the Rochester Police Department, four Mayo Clinic doctors and a nurse for Mayo Clinic.

Connor Bowman’s next court date is slated for Jan. 16.

According to the criminal complaint:

Betty Bowman died on Aug. 20 after she went to the emergency room days earlier complaining of diarrhea and dehydration.

RPD was notified on Aug. 21, 2023, by the Southeast Minnesota Medical Examiner’s Office of a suspicious death. Betty Bowman was scheduled to be cremated, but that was halted after the examiner’s office learned of possible suspicious circumstances.

A woman called the examiner’s office and said that Betty and her husband were having marital issues and were talking about filing for divorce due to infidelity.

She was admitted to a hospital with severe gastrointestinal distress and dehydration on Aug. 16, and her condition rapidly deteriorated.

Her symptoms were similar to those of food poisoning, but she did not respond to standard treatments and continued to deteriorate while at the hospital. She experienced cardiac issues, fluid in her lungs, and eventually organ failure. She was taken into surgery after it was discovered that part of her colon was dead tissue.

Connor Bowman suggested to doctors while his wife was hospitalized that she was suffering from hematophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a rare autoimmune disease in which white blood cells attack organs.

He told multiple people she died from this disease despite tests of his wife coming back inconclusive for it, according to court documents. He also included it in her obituary.

He told the medical examiner that she should be cremated immediately and argued that her death was natural. He also attempted to cancel the autopsy and asked investigators if the toxicology analysis would be more thorough than usual.

Connor Bowman worked in poison control in Kansas.

According to the complaint, the couple had separate bank accounts due to debt and he stood to receive $500,000 in life insurance following her death.

A witness told law enforcement that Betty Bowman said she had been drinking with Connor on Aug. 15 and she was feeling sick the next morning. She told her friend that she believed the drink, a large smoothie, had caused the illness, according to court documents.

A detective found that Connor Bowman had looked at his wife’s medical information while she was in the hospital.

Court documents say that a laptop from the University of Kansas that was owned by Connor Bowman was searched by the university. The search found internet searches for colchicine, a drug used to treat gout. There were also several internet searches related to hiding information from police on the laptop, as well as a search for where to obtain sodium nitrate, a drug used to restrict oxygen in the bloodstream, according to court documents.

Connor Bowman also searched for and found the lethal dosage of colchicine for his wife’s weight, according to the report. Police also found that he had purchased colchicine online.

A toxicology report listed colchicine as a substance in Betty Bowman’s system. She did not suffer from any ailments that would require the drug.

Connor Bowman was arrested on Oct. 20. He has been held at the Adult Detention Center since his arrest.

Related Articles

2 dead in apparent shooting at southwestern Minnesota home, authorities say

Minnesota law enforcement debut pilot program to test motorists for cannabis impairment

Five-year-old who perished in St. Paul blaze identified

More than 120 Twin Cities EBT users fell victim to card skimmers, charges say

Former police officer sentenced to 14 months in jail, 4 years probation in Elijah McClain’s death