After Sunday’s devastating 20-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns, the Chicago Bears returned to practice Wednesday. Coach Matt Eberflus has pushed his players to reset and refocus with the Arizona Cardinals coming to town for Christmas Eve. The Bears are home favorites for Sunday’s game but will have to be sharp to get back on the winning track.

As the team readies for its Week 16 test, here are five things we learned Wednesday at Halas Hall.

1. Quarterback Justin Fields is aware of the amplified talk about his uncertain future.

The chatter has been escalating recently — both in Chicago and across the league — as curiosity heightens for how the Bears will handle their quarterback decisions during a pivotal 2024 offseason. Fields still has two seasons remaining on his rookie contract but remains the subject of significant trade speculation with the Bears potentially in line to own the No. 1 pick for April’s draft.

Will the team opt to reboot at quarterback by selecting Southern Cal’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye or another prospect in this year’s draft class? Or will the Bears trade that pick and again put their bet on Fields to make a long-awaited developmental breakthrough that allows him to be the engine of a championship pursuit?

After Wednesday’s practice, Fields was asked what he thinks he has shown the Bears decision-makers with his play in 2023. “Improvement,” he said. “They know. They know. Everybody in the building knows who I am. Like I said, I can control what I can control and that’s it.”

In his third season, Fields has again had breathtaking flashes of playmaking brilliance combined with stretches of inconsistent production and a monthlong injury absence.

Teammates have continued to have Fields’ back with receiver DJ Moore vocalizing his belief in his quarterback after Sunday’s loss.

Said Fields: “It means a lot. (The guys) know the work I put in for this every day. I try to lead the team the best way possible. I’m just glad I’m making a positive impact and that my teammates feel that way about me.”

Ultimately, the way general manager Ryan Poles feels about Fields will be the most significant in determining whether he stays with the Bears in 2024 or is dealt away.

2. The Bears will also have a big decision to make with cornerback Jaylon Johnson.

Johnson’s contract will expire in March and negotiations on a possible extension stalled out earlier this fall. So what might happen after the regular season ends?

The 24-year-old cornerback is having his best season to date and shares the team lead (and is tied for fourth leaguewide) with four interceptions. Johnson said Wednesday he is confident he has added value to his second contract, wherever that may come from, but then was emphatic in expressing his desire to remain with the Bears.

“I want to stay here,” he said. “I definitely want to get something done (here) first. But at the end of the day, if something doesn’t get done, then I’m not opposed to other options. But I would love to stay here. So that’s that.”

In short, Johnson said he isn’t dead set on testing the free agent market in March if the Bears approach him with a suitable offer before then. As for his push to stay with the Bears?

“I mean it’s all I know, honestly,” Johnson said. “I just couldn’t see myself anywhere else. … I feel like we’re building something special, too, especially with the guys in this locker room. I don’t think it’s something I can get anywhere else. I would like to stay and continue to build and make this better. And I want to win some games and get to the playoffs and make a push with this Chicago name, too.”

3. Tyrique Stevenson estimated he had upward of 30 missed calls from his mom Sunday.

The rookie’s interception of a third-quarter Joe Flacco pass into the end zone was one of the Bears’ biggest highlights in a strong defensive effort. Stevenson’s mom was as excited as anyone.

“She was just yelling into the phone,” he said. “She was more excited than me.”

Stevenson has impressed coaches and teammates alike with his poise and sturdy self-belief through a challenging first NFL season.

“Honestly, he’s just continuing to fight. Continuing to stay in it,” Johnson said of his teammate. “A lot of the time, especially at the cornerback position, you don’t have success early and you can just kind of go into the tank. I feel like he has continued to fight, continued to grow. And you definitely just see his confidence out there on the field. That has continued to shine no matter what is going on.”

Sunday’s interception, with Stevenson making a good read and a decisive break in zone coverage, was the latest evidence of his improving feel for the game.

“Being able to showcase my talent feels good,” Stevenson said, “just knowing that I’m putting in the hard work and it’s paying off.”

4. Darnell Mooney, DeMarcus Walker and Teven Jenkins all missed practice Wednesday.

Mooney was out with an illness but was still in the building at Halas Hall. Walker is dealing with a leg injury. And Jenkins remains in concussion protocol after leaving Sunday’s game in the first half.

Other Bears who did not practice Wednesday were Travis Homer (hamstring), Equanimeous St. Brown (pectoral), Jaylon Jones (calf) and Noah Sewell (knee).

5. The Bears 2-minute drive at the end of Sunday’s first half was a mixed bag.

Offensively, that series was one of the Bears’ most impressive of the afternoon, a 61-yard march that took them from their own 2-yard line to the Browns 37 in the final minute before halftime. Running back Roschon Johnson broke off a 23-yard run on the second play. Fields had six completions on the drive, including a 20-yarder to Moore. And the Bears, with good situational awareness and sound clock management, were on the edge of Cairo Santos’ field goal range with time to push closer.

“We did a good job with the operation in 2-minute, getting a chance to get a shot at a field goal,” Fields said.

Alas, with 8 seconds remaining, a Fields pass to Darnell Mooney was broken up by safety Ronnie Hickman and left the Bears to settle for a final play Hail Mary that was unsuccessful.

On the play to Mooney, Eberflus lauded the play design and the route combination that got Mooney open at the Browns 30.

“We’ve just got to make that connection,” Eberflus said. “And if we make that connection right there, we’re going to be right where we need to be.”

Instead, with pressure coming, Fields double clutched, altered his throwing angle and threw a pass that brought Hickman back into the play.

“I’ve just got to stop Mooney with the ball so that safety can’t get involved rather than lead him,” Fields said.

With a timeout left, a completion there would have given the Bears a field goal try. Alas …

Said Eberflus: “We’ve just got to make that play at that point.”

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The Minnesota Wild continue to roll under new head coach John Hynes.

Kirill Kaprizov scored his fourth goal in four games, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves to pull within two games of passing Patrick Roy on the NHL’s career wins list as the Wild beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 on Saturday at Xcel Energy Center.

Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno also scored for Minnesota, which has won six of its past seven games and is now 10-3-0 since Hynes replaced Dean Evason on Nov. 27.

Fleury, who made 40 saves in a 4-3 overtime victory at Boston on Tuesday, was sharp again, stopping two one-on-none breakaways to keep the game close before the Wild took a 3-1 lead in the third period.

He has won three of his past four starts and now has 550 career victories, one shy of tying Roy, currently second behind Martin Brodeur (691) on the NHL’s career leaderboard. Fleury, 39, also is two games shy of becoming the fourth NHL goaltender to play 1,000 games in his career.

Boston quickly went up 1-0 on a power-play goal. With Kaprizov in the box for holding the stick, David Pastrnak sent a slap shot from the left circle through traffic and found the back of the net at just 2:37.

Minnesota played just well enough to keep it there after one period, then dominated the second.

With Ian Mitchell in the box for roughing Kaprizov on a Wild breakout, Matt Boldy sent a sharp wrist shot on goal that Linus Ullmark couldn’t contain. Joel Eriksson Ek kept the puck alive and was credited with the goal when Brandon Carlo accidentally put it in his own net to make it 1-1 at 5:57.

Less than 90 seconds later, Kaprizov gave the Wild a lead when he completed a give-and-go with Alex Goligoski, somehow getting a shot off from the slot in traffic to beat Ullmark and make it 2-1 at 7:22.

The Wild outshot Boston 19-6 in the second period and started the third in the same fashion, drawing a cross-checking penalty on former Minnesota center Charlie Coyle 1:07 into the frame. Minnesota mounted an active attack with the man advantage but wasn’t able to score.

Seconds after the power play expired, however, Pat Maroon took a pass on the goal line and threw it into the crease for Foligno, who powered it past Ullmark for his fourth goal of the season, and a 3-1 lead at 3:10.

The Bruins, playing the second of back-to-backs after a 5-1 loss Friday in Winnipeg, pulled within 3-2 on a goal by Morgan Geekie with just over 6 minutes remaining.

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Jason Dickinson had kind of a faraway look before he attempted to explain how a 2-0 lead turned into a 5-2 loss Friday against the Montreal Canadiens.

“They pushed and we didn’t,” said Dickinson, whose second-period goal gave the Hawks a 2-0 lead. “Watching clips, feeling it, I felt like they got a couple goals and then we sat back and maybe got on our heels. And then the third period, we just didn’t really do anything. We didn’t get in their zone, we didn’t create anything, we didn’t get enough shots.”

For the eighth time this season, the Hawks couldn’t back up a win with a win. For the fourth time in the six games since this season’s only win streak, they lost after scoring the opening goal.

“It’s really frustrating,” Dickinson said. “Intentions are there, we want to do the right things. We want to win. We want to battle. But the execution isn’t there all the time.

“It comes with being a young team, but at a certain point you just have to figure it out. It’s simple as that.”

Defenseman Isaak Phillips said the Hawks were baited into playing the Canadiens’ style.

“They play a lot more of a run-and-gun game than we do,” he said. “We’re a lot more structured when we’re playing our best. We said that in here, we don’t want to get into that with them going back and forth with chances, and we kind of let that seep into our game.”

The rebuilding Hawks weren’t expected to win this season, but they don’t want certain patterns to become ingrained.

“We just weren’t playing smart,” said coach Luke Richardson. “We were doubling up on forechecks and we were doubling up on backchecks and that left people wide-open. Just kind of unaware.

“It looked like we were the tired team, not them.”

The Hawks did have a few positive notes.

Defensemen Kevin Korchinski and Jarred Tinordi returned to action.

Korchinski missed six games while he and his family dealt with the death of his father, Larry. The entire Hawks team flew from Seattle to Saskatoon, Canada, on Dec. 15 for the funeral.

Richardson said Korchinski “skated well. It was good to have him back.”

Tinordi returned after missing seven games with an oblique injury.

Here are seven takeaways from Friday’s loss.

1. The Hawks don’t just have a problem holding leads.

They have a problem holding teams out of the net whenever they score.

On Friday, Mitchell Stephens scored 37 seconds after Dickinson’s goal.

Here are other instances this season that opponents have responded with at least one goal within three minutes of a Hawks goal, according to NHL Stats.

Dec. 19 vs. Colorado Avalanche: 1 minute and 53 seconds later
Dec. 17 vs. Vancouver Canucks: 2:29 (a second goal, 3:10 later)
Dec. 14 at Seattle Kraken: 1:19
Dec. 10 vs. Washington Capitals: 1:22
Nov. 26 vs. St. Louis Blues: 2:17
Oct. 30 at Arizona Coyotes: 1:55
Oct. 21 vs. Vegas Golden Knights: 2:35
Oct. 16 at Toronto Maple Leafs: 2:15

2. Kevin Korchinski has been “strong” since his return.

Korchinski played for the first time since the death of his father, Larry, on Dec. 13.

Richardson said before the game returning to familiar surroundings will help.

“The dressing room’s that sanctuary where it’s a real family atmosphere and I think sometimes guys just feel most comfortable there,” he said. “He seemed to be smiling and happy to be back.

“Him getting out with the guys, his teammates, and focusing on his job and the game, it can give your mind a little bit of relief about the real-life problems that go on, and that’s what he’s dealing with.”

During the game, he paired with Nikita Zaitsev and got some power-play time.

“He’s strong for being here,” Isaak Phillips said. “You don’t need to say anything too much, you just have to be there for him and I think everyone knows the situation.

“You’re pulling for the guy. He’s a great kid, so it’s just about being there for him. You don’t have to say anything spectacular, just being a brother.”

3. Connor Bedard showed great vision.

On Ryan Donato’s opening goal, Phillips chipped the puck up to Bedard in the neutral zone.

Bedard had Kaiden Guhle on him, with two other Habs in pursuit, as he entered the offensive zone. Bedard put on the brakes along the left wall and spun around as he backhanded a pass to Donato, hitting his stick on the tape.

Donato just had to shoot by defenseman Justin Barron as he scored on goalie Cayden Primeau.

4. Generational player, meet generational player.

Bedard missed the whole “Connorverse” thing — the made-for-marketing label pumping up his first matchup against Connor McDavid — but he’s been asked to participate in more than his share of dog and pony shows since embarking on his rookie season.

“It’s not a very big price to pay,” he said before the game. “At the start of the year, there was a lot of stuff I was doing, so I was getting a little tired. But it’s been good.”

But if there’s one he certainly didn’t mind doing, it was his jersey exchange with Victor Wembanyama, a fellow No. 1 overall pick who was in town for the San Antonio Spurs’ 114-95 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Thursday.

“It was pretty cool,” said Bedard, who didn’t get to see Wembanyama’s game. “Obviously a great face playing in the NBA. He’s going to be, or he already is, really special.

“Getting to talk to him a bit and hear his perspective, coming over from Europe and (being in) similar situations — him even more just with how big the NBA is. It was good to get to talk to him.”

5. The Hawks’ pains aren’t particular to them.

The Hawks got back Korchinski, Jarred Tinordi and Philipp Kurashev for Friday’s game.

“Good to have those (lineup) decisions instead of scramble mode with 20 guys,” Richardson said.

But the Hawks will continue to make do without several key contributors:

Joey Anderson (upper body): placed on injured reserve Monday
Seth Jones (left shoulder): placed on IR retroactive to Dec. 10
Andreas Athanasiou (groin): placed on IR retroactive to Nov. 9.

That’s not to mention Taylor Hall, who had season-ending right knee surgery on Nov. 27.

But no one’s shedding a tear for the Hawks on the Habs bench. They have seven players on injured reserve, including Alex Newhook, Tanner Pearson and Kirby Dach.

Richardson said, “You look at Vegas, both goalies are out. Montreal’s list is as long or longer than ours, and I’m sure they had to do the same thing with adjusting your lines and special teams.

“That’s part of the job. Our guys have been really adapting to it well. If we trust in our system, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing with.”

6. Sometimes you have to put the “drive” in park.

Periodically, Richardson gets questions about Bedard’s skills, habits and mental makeup, particularly from Canadian media, and it certainly was the case with Canadiens reporters in town.

“You can have all the talent in the world but I said the other day that the special quality is that drive,” Richardson said. “It’s getting in the gym early in the morning, getting your body prepared for the game.

“Yesterday, I almost had to give the Zamboni guy 50 bucks to get him off the ice because he stays out there maybe too long after practice. … He loves it and he wants to work on things. So it’s hard to tell him to stop.”

There’s a law of diminishing returns — too much of a good thing.

“We can tell him all he wants, but his peers are the ones that really tell him,” Richardson said. “He’s smart, he watches other players play on the ice, and he takes things and puts them into his game, but he also will take how they prepare off the ice. And some of that is rest.”

7. Colin Blackwell skated like a man making up for lost time.

After his first game back Tuesday, after a near-10 month layoff, Chicago Blackhawks forward Colin Blackwell pondered the question: “Were you emotional going into this game?”

“I’m always emotional,” he said.

This was after he bowled over Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon and left him shellshocked.

Turns out, that was just the appetizer.

During a first-period penalty kill, he nabbed the puck and broke out on a short-handed rush, aiming just a bit high on the roof shot attempt.

Then in the second period, he stickhandled handled through defenders, whirled around in traffic and found Jason Dickinson for a goal.

Dickinson said, “(Blackwell’s) brought a lot of intensity, emotion. I think he was almost 300 days between games, so there’s a lot of built-up excitement, energy.

“He already brings energy to games and on top of that much time out, he’s raring to go. He’s itching for it. It’s contagious.”

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