29 Dec 2023

The Chicago Bears have played 3 times on New Year’s Eve and 5 on New Year’s Day. Here’s how they’ve done since 1988.

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Fans at Soldier Field on Dec. 31, 1988, settled in to watch a divisional playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles in unexpected comfort.

There was bright sunshine, little wind and temperatures heading for the 40s.

Until, a sudden slap in the face.

“A fog that rolled in from the lake late in the first half left the spectators to stare into a gray shroud from which the players would emerge with maddening infrequency,” Tribune reporter Phil Hersh wrote at the time.

Few of the 65,534 spectators were able to see the final moments of the Bears’ 20-12 victory due to the thick haze.

The “Fog Bowl” — which marked the first time the Bears ever played on New Year’s Eve — is now one of the franchise’s most memorable games.

The Bears will play on Dec. 31 for the fourth time Sunday. They face the Atlanta Falcons at noon at Soldier Field.

Here’s a look back at the results for each of the team’s previous year-ending or year-beginning games.

How the Bears have fared: Record

How the Bears have fared: Opponents and results

How the Bears have fared: Points scored

How the Bears have fared: Memorable game moments

New Year’s Eve

Dec. 31, 1988: The “Fog Bowl” is not only the lone Bears win on New Year’s Eve, it also marked the first time in three seasons the Bears advanced past their first playoff game.

Mistakes by the Eagles — two touchdowns called back by penalties in the first 21 minutes and a dropped touchdown pass — allowed the Bears to preserve a lead before the fog rolled in. Still, the Bears weren’t perfect. Quarterback Mike Tomczak threw three passes for interceptions and was flattened by Reggie White late in the third quarter and forced out of the game due to injury.

Kicker Kevin Butler made a 46-yard field goal but missed one at 51 yards. Eagles coach and former Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan refused to shake hands with Bears coach Mike Ditka.

New Year’s Day

Jan. 1, 1995: The Bears scored an improbable road victory — 35-18 — over the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL wild-card game after losing twice to them during the regular season.

It was the Bears’ first playoff victory since Jan. 6, 1990, and first road playoff triumph since Dec. 30, 1984. Vikings quarterback Warren Moon, who wore a brace on his sprained left knee, finished with 292 yards on 29-of-52 passing, but threw two interceptions and was erratic much of the game. Bears end Trace Armstrong sacked Moon twice.

Other Bears defenders with big plays: Barry Minter had his first interception of the year, Mark Carrier broke up a probable touchdown pass to Qadry Ismail and Kevin Miniefield iced the game when he picked up Amp Lee’s fumble and returned it 48 yards for a touchdown.

Sources: Tribune reporting and archives; Pro Football Reference

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29 Dec 2023

Column: How does this Chicago Bears run defense match up with dominant teams of the past? The numbers don’t lie.

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There is a link between the 2023 Chicago Bears and past teams, including the division champions in 2018 and 2001 and even the Super Bowl XX champions of 1985.

The run defense this season is every bit as good as it was for the dominant defenses of those successful teams. In fact, with two games remaining, Matt Eberflus’ team has a shot at being the best run defense in Bears history, a remarkable possibility when considering last year’s team ranked 31st in the NFL allowing 157.3 yards per game, the organization’s second-worst season in the Super Bowl era (161.4 yards per game in 2013).

It’s the same scheme — a base Tampa Two defense that, historically can have a weakness against the run — with mostly the same coaches and many of the same players. General manager Ryan Poles wasn’t oblivious to the problem a year ago when five opponents rushed for 200 or more yards against the Bears.

He responded by bucking up at the linebacker position and signing Tremaine Edmunds ($72 million, four years) and T.J. Edwards ($19.5 million, three years) and adding nose tackle Andrew Billings to a $2.75 million, one-year contract.

The improvements have been striking. Entering Week 17, the Bears (6-9) are No. 1 in the NFL against the run, allowing 80.7 yards per game, nearly 77 yards better than last year’s defense. With games against the Atlanta Falcons (eighth in the league in rushing offense) and Green Bay Packers remaining, Eberflus’ team is in a position to rank with the best in club history.

2018: 80.0 yards per game
2023: 80.7 yards per game
2001: 82.1 yards per game
1985: 82.4 yards per game

“Wow,” Edmunds said when presented with the statistics. “I didn’t know that. It would mean a lot.”

Finding help at linebacker was an obvious goal for Poles after trading Roquan Smith last year. Adding Billings on a bargain deal proved shrewd and the former 3-4 nose tackle, slimmed down a little to 311 pounds for the scheme, already earned an $8 million, two-year extension.

“They expected me to come in here and make an impact, to be that rock in the middle of the defense,” Billings said. “They wanted to improve the run D and they stressed that to me.”

The run defense got even better with the Oct. 31 trade for end Montez Sweat, who has made an impact with six sacks and 13 quarterback hits in seven games. Sweat has been as advertised since arriving, as former Washington Commanders pro scout Donnie Warren said he was a tremendous two-way player — meaning he’s just as good defending the run as he is harassing quarterbacks.

It’s eye-opening that the defense could be catapulted from near the bottom of the league to the top with four new players who have a combined total of two Pro Bowl selections — both by Edmunds.

“It’s a want-to,” tackle Justin Jones said. “There is no secret recipe to it. You’ve got to want to beat the man in front of you. That’s kind of how I see it. We had a bunch of guys that take pride in that and then obviously bringing (Sweat) in, having him settling into our foundational stuff we do, obviously stop the run first, and then get the quarterback, it’s fun to see.”

The Bears have started reaping the benefits that come with stopping the run on first and second down and putting opposing offenses behind the chains. They rank second in the NFL with 18 interceptions — only the San Francisco 49ers (19) have more. They’ve allowed 558 yards rushing on first-and-10, the second-lowest total in the league. They’ve become a good pass-rushing unit since Sweat arrived, with 17 sacks and 49 QB hits in seven games.

“There are a lot of things, and I hate to get on the negative side, that we’re still trying to improve on,” Edmunds said. “I’m not going to neglect the fact that would mean a lot to us (to set a franchise record). It shows the hard work guys have put in. We’re not satisfied where we are and I think the main message now is to continue to get better. ”

There are some basic metrics the Bears want to improve. They’re tied for 21st in scoring, allowing 21.0 points per game. The Bears are 12th in yardage (318.1), 29th on third down (43.8%), 32nd in the red zone (72.5%) and with the midseason start in getting after quarterbacks they’re 31st in sack rate (4.89%).

At Halas Hall, the team has to believe that with some offseason moves and Sweat in place for the start of 2024, they will be better across the board. The Bears are tied for fourth in the league in explosive plays allowed, defined as 20 yards for a passing play and 10 for rushing plays, and that’s significant.

Any more, defensive coaches are more concerned with eliminating big plays than they are with stopping the run. The Bears have excelled in both areas and the success against the run, assuming it can be carried into next season, suggests other improvements will follow.

“First things first, to be a good defense you’ve got to stop the run,” said Edwards, who is seventh in the league with 141 tackles. “That’s really our goal and was a heavy point of emphasis coming into this year. It’s not always been perfect or anything like that. We’re not worried about the stats right now. We just want to play good team defense. That starts up front and that starts with how you defend the run and try to make opponents as one-dimensional as you can.”

The ability to get an opponent behind the sticks is going to lead to more pass-rushing situations and with that, in theory, should come more opportunities for takeaways. The ability to stop the run without loading the box is also paramount because that can leave passing windows open on the back end.

“Facts,” Jones said.

Yes, the dominant run defenses the Bears have had in the past were all part of very successful teams in the franchise’s rich history. The current group has to look at this development as a steppingstone.

“It’s cool,” Jones said. “You want to win more with it.”

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29 Dec 2023

West metro bakery Muddy Paws Cheesecake has closed — but is asking for donations to help reopen

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Muddy Paws Cheesecake, a 30-year-old bakery in St. Louis Park that boasts over 200 flavors of cheesecake, closed this week — possibly permanently, unless it can pay down significant debts within the next couple weeks.

And it’s asking the public for donations to help stay afloat.

The cheesecake bakery was founded in the early 1990s by Tami Cabrera and once had storefronts on Snelling Avenue in St. Paul and in Maple Grove and Uptown Minneapolis, before transitioning to its St. Louis Park flagship in the mid-2000s.

Muddy Paws has made more than 480,000 cheesecakes over the past three decades, including on the Food Network, at the White House and for TV host Al Roker, according to the company’s website. The business has also donated cheesecake, money and volunteer hours to a variety of local nonprofits, theater organizations and community support networks.

In an extensive post on the bakery’s website, Cabrera outlined the “snowball” of how the bakery ended up in nearly a half-million dollars of debt: A devastating burglary in 2018, after which the business underwent a pricier-than-expected move to another building nearby — which a car crashed into a year later. The pandemic began. Muddy Paws spent a considerable sum opening an artisan market in the West End area of St. Louis Park. Cabrera encountered significant challenges in her personal life. Her ingredient costs have skyrocketed.

All told, Cabrera wrote, the business needs to raise $240,000 — enough to cover about half its total debt load — by Jan. 19, 2024.

“For 30 years, Muddy Paws Cheesecake has given to local charities — hundreds of them — and now it’s time that we need help,” Cabrera said in a video posted on the website. “We are at a place where we are at too much debt to continue, and we need your help.”

Cabrera could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

If Muddy Paws is able to get back up and running, Cabrera plans to overhaul key parts of the bakery’s operations, she said in the announcement post on the bakery’s website.

For one, she’d cut down on flavors. Currently, an astonishing 222 flavors of cheesecake are available all the time — but going forward, she’d offer a selection of 24 flavors that would rotate monthly. Plus, the bakery would reduce retail hours to better balance the consumer-facing side of the business with its delivery and catering operations; launch a new website with online ordering; and explore ways to make shipping and delivery more efficient.

Cabrera does not take a salary from running the business, she said on the website, and has occasionally had to work other jobs to support her family.

This is not the first time Cabrera has turned to the public for a boost. In 2015, she launched a crowdfunding campaign and raised over $23,000 to purchase a ’50s camper trailer and retrofit it to become a cheesecake food truck of sorts, which she dubbed Camp Cheesecake.

However, the business has been without a vehicle able to pull the trailer since 2021, so Camp Cheesecake is effectively stuck. Part of Cabrera’s comeback plan involves buying a replacement vehicle so Camp Cheesecake can get back on the road.

“We never skimp,” Cabrera told Pioneer Press food critic Kathie Jenkins in 2005. “We use only Philadelphia cream cheese — no fillers or flour. We also want to give really good personal service and guaranteed satisfaction.”

Donations information is at muddypawscheesecake.com/save-muddy-paws.

All donors receive a sticker reading “I Saved Muddy Paws Cheesecake,” and those who give $75 get a T-shirt. Donors who give more than $250 will be listed on a wall display in the bakery’s lobby; personal or corporate donations of $1000 or more will come with a permanent wall decal of a logo or signature.

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29 Dec 2023

The RNC pitches donors on its convention: It’s not about Trump

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The Republican National Committee is turning to donors — including some Democrats — to fund its convention, even if they don’t like former President Donald Trump.

Reince Priebus, chair of the Milwaukee 2024 Host Committee, acknowledged in an exclusive interview with POLITICO that the pitch requires some finesse.

“In a political pitch, you say this person’s great and we’re trying to run against that person, who would be bad. I’d explain why you need to give right now in a political sense,” said Priebus, who worked on Trump’s first campaign before joining him in the White House.

It’s a message that seems to be working. Priebus said the nonprofit run by the host committee is on track to raise the $70 million for the convention that will take place July 15-18, 2024. It is ahead of its quarterly goals, but Priebus declined to get more specific about how far along the fundraising is or who’s writing checks.

Priebus said the host committee tells donors that “the convention is about economic development and not who the nominee will be. As a nonprofit, you have to separate the two.”

Two Milwaukee-based companies have already put forth support for the convention: Northwestern Mutual and the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, a Native American casino.

Northwestern Mutual’s chairman, president and CEO John Schlifske told the Milwaukee Business Journal that he’s focused on the influx of spending the convention will bring and doesn’t think Trump’s presence “will have an impact on who’s involved in terms of financial support or other support.”

Priebus echoes the point, saying that for every donor who would like to see someone other than Trump get the nomination, “there are very well-known donors to President Trump that are also already supportive.”

Ted Kellner, the Republican convention host committee’s CEO, said he still comes across potential donors who have a “hard time distinguishing” between the Republican National Committee and the host committee.

“We line up the hotels. We line up the transportation and the credentials and maybe organize some parties,” he said of the host committee’s organizing duties. That’s all separate from the politics of the convention, Kellner said during a recent media walk-through event in Milwaukee. “And for the most part, the vast majority of people understand that.”

Kellner, a longtime friend and donor to President Joe Biden, was also the honorary host committee chair for the 2020 Democratic National Convention that was supposed to be in Milwaukee before it went virtual because of the pandemic.

And it helps that Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson is cheerleading for the convention’s success even though he’s a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat of a city that voted overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020.

Priebus and Kellner spend most of their days talking to potential donors who can write big checks to the nonprofit host committee and corporate donors interested in the TV exposure that comes with a four-day televised convention.

The Democratic National Convention’s host committee is also fundraising for its four-day event in Chicago in August 2024. Democrats have a goal to raise between $80 million and $100 million for their nominating event.

Democrats are “encouraged,” they said, by the donation rate so far. “We feel good about the progress,” said a Democratic National Convention spokesperson.

Priebus thinks it’s an advantage that the two conventions are being held in close proximity and said some donors may be more willing to give to both.

The host committees for both conventions operate as nonprofits that aren’t subject to donation limits or reporting requirements to which political committees must adhere.

With the Republican convention expected to generate as much as $200 million for the broader Milwaukee area, Priebus said “more than half of the money” raised so far has “come from the local community, so they understand that this is about economic development.”