The Chicago Bears resumed practice Wednesday as they prepare for Sunday’s game at the Cleveland Browns.

Along with defensive end Yannick Ngakoue going on injured reserve, here are three things we heard from coach Matt Eberflus and his players.

1. Bears quarterback Justin Fields said he talks to officials about looking out for late hits before every game.

Late hits on Fields have been a topic of conversation throughout his three seasons in the NFL, and it came up again in Week 14 after Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell hit Fields late after the quarterback slid down following a 1-yard run Sunday.

It happened on the first play of the game, despite Fields talking to officials about it so they would keep an eye out for his safety, he said.

“Especially when we play the Lions, I know how they play, I know what kind of team they are,” Fields said. “So I know that they’re going to play hard and play until the end of the play. I always tell them (the officials) that I’m not trying to take any hits. I get down pretty fast. Just look out for me if they see any late hits. I’m going to try to get down. I’m not going to try to do anything sneaky like any fake slides or whatever.”

Eberflus said Monday he tries to be active with the refs in addressing the topic and added he would send in a couple of plays to the league for review. Safety Jaquan Brisker followed by making comments that other teams are “being told to do dirty stuff” to Fields.

Fields said Wednesday: “I don’t know what other teams are saying or what other coaches are saying to their teams.”

Fields usually doesn’t have time to speak with officials following a play to see why he didn’t get a call, he said, so he just moves on to the next play.

“It’s just kind of frustrating, but not really astonishing because it happens a lot,” Fields said.

2. Bears kicker Cairo Santos said the NFL holding a game in Brazil is “a dream come true.”

The NFL announced Wednesday that it will hold its first game in South America in 2024 at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The league hasn’t announced which teams will play, but Bears kicker Cairo Santos hopes he can be there.

Santos, who is the first Brazilian-born player to appear in an NFL game, said he talked to a lot of excited people at home Wednesday.

“Everyone is kind of hoping the same as I am, that it’s the Bears next year playing there,” said Santos, who could be in consideration for a contract extension to stay with the Bears this offseason. “If not, I’m going to find a way to be there. I’ll have to talk to Coach ‘Flus to give me a day off or something. I have to be there and just make it happen because it’s a day history is being made for sure.”

The Bears have not played an international game since 2019 in London. They have international marketing rights under the NFL’s Global Markets Program in Spain, which is under consideration to host a 2025 international game. The Miami Dolphins are the only team with international marketing rights in Brazil.

The NFL will hold three games in London and another in Germany in 2024.

The NFL said Brazil is home to its second-largest international fan base behind Mexico. Santos, who started playing American football as a high school exchange student in Florida and then played at Tulane, has seen “tremendous growth” in that interest over his 10 years in the league.

Santos said he gets recognized in Brazil more than in the U.S. and has made appearances at malls there that have drawn hundreds of fans. He also receives messages from fans saying they are rooting for popular teams in Brazil — the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots or Dallas Cowboys to name a few — but also for Santos to make all of his kicks.

“It’s not (originally) part of our culture,” Santos said. “It’s a complete different type of sport. It’s played more with hands than feet. But it is something that Brazilians have become fanatic about, and I’m so proud that (their) dream is coming true.”

Santos thinks the NFL, which is gearing up to host as many as eight international games in 2025, will be drawn to the Brazilian fan base.

“Their passion for the sport — to have a Brazilian and now to have a game in Brazil — it’s something I think the NFL is going to fall in love with,” Santos said.

3. Bears wide receiver DJ Moore missed practice with an ankle injury.

Moore tweaked his ankle against the Lions but played through it. He was present at practice but didn’t participate. Wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, who is week-to-week with a pectoral injury, also was out. Linebacker Dylan Cole missed the practice for personal reasons. Safety Jaquan Brisker (groin) was limited.

The Browns, meanwhile, had 11 players who didn’t practice: Defensive ends Myles Garrett (rest/shoulder) and Ogbo Okoronkwo (pectoral), defensive tackle Jordan Elliott (concussion), wide receiver Amari Cooper (rest/ribs), running back Kareem Hunt (groin), tight end David Njoku (rest/knee), linebacker Anthony Walker (rest/knee), offensive linemen Joel Bitonio (rest/knee) and Ethan Pocic (stinger), safety Juan Thornhill (calf) and kicker Dustin Hopkins (personal).

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BOSTON — The Wild have earned some impressive victories since ending a seven-game losing streak and beginning play under new coach John Hynes.

Right out of the gate, they drilled four straight opponents for their first four-game winning streak of the season. They shut out Seattle on the road, and earned back-to-back shootout victories over Calgary and Vancouver without two injured blue line leaders.

But Tuesday’s 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden might have been their most impressive performance since Hynes began coaching the team on Nov. 28.

Kirill Kaprizov scored twice, tying the game then winning it when he finished a three-on-one with an overtime goal as the Wild rallied from a 2-1 third-period deficit to beat the Atlantic Division leaders, 4-3, Tuesday at TD Garden.

Ryan Hartman scored the go-ahead goal with 4:50 to play before a penalty derailed the Wild’s momentum and Brad Marchand tied the score with 1:06 remaining.

The Bruins, on a power play with Alex Goligoski in the box for high sticking, pulled Linus Ullmark for a six-on-four advantage and Brad Marchand tied the game, 3-3, with 1:06 remaining to send the game to overtime.

Marc-Andre Fleury was magnificent, outdueling Linus Ullmark in just his second start since Dec. 8, stopping 40 of 43 of shots.

David Pastrnak scored twice, and Ullmark made 28 saves for Boston.

The Wild were up against it when the puck dropped, without Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon on the blue line, and points-leader Mats Zuccarello on the top line. Still, they played a strong game, even after losing Pat Maroon for 10 minutes on a game misconduct, which threw their lines into disarray as they gutted out a scoreless second period.

And even after losing winger Vinni Lettieri, injured after taking a shot off his left ankle.

Johansson scored his second goal in 30 games — and his first since Oct. 21 — to put the Wild up early. With Jake DeBrusk in the box for slashing the stick out of Matt Boldy’s hands, Johansson pounced on a rebound — from Freddy Gaudreau’s shot — and sliced it past Ullmark at 7:44.

The Bruins tied the score when John Beecher intercepted a Johansson pass back to the defenseman and raced forward along the boards to create a two-on-one with Pastrnak, who took his pass and scored top shelf to tie the game 1-1 at 11:29.

With seconds left on the clock in the first period, the Bruins started a rush that resulted in Pastrnak’s second goal. With the teams scrambling, Pavel Zacha sent a pass across the slot with 2.4 seconds left. Pastrnak gathered and set a wrist shot behind a diving Fleury to make it 2-1 with 0.4 seconds on the clock.

Just more than 6 minutes into the second period, Maroon picked a fight with Parker Wotherspoon, who had just delivered a big check on Johansson. Each was assessed 5 minutes for fighting, but Maroon was given an instigator minor and game misconduct. That left the Wild scrambling with its lines for the rest of the period.

Still, Minnesota held court, and came out strong in the third period.

Meghan Jones always loved sports and thought it would be fun to work in the industry.

That journey evolved over the last seven years. Jones didn’t exactly have a plan when the Chicago Cubs hired her in August 2016 as the executive assistant to then-president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and then-general manager Jed Hoyer.

“I never knew that it was necessarily possible or how to get there,” Jones told the Tribune, “and so when I found my foot in the door to the EA position, I just told myself, ‘Title aside, let me see what the Cubs need to do and how I can help make an impact.’

“That being said, I knew that the EA title and EA role didn’t have a very traditional trajectory out, and so I’ve been intentional to job-craft and ebb and flow with what the Cubs needed and it has taken me to where I am today.”

Last month the Cubs promoted Jones, 32, to vice president of baseball strategy, making her the first woman to hold a VP title in baseball operations in franchise history.

“It’s not lost on me the importance of having representation at this level,” Jones said. “It’s obviously a testament to my work, but it’s also an opportunity to have a platform in a different way for women in sports.

“One thing that I’ve had to continue to try to be comfortable with is that whatever I do here in sports or anywhere, I am a woman, so inherently I’m going to be a female leader and that’s just part of my identity.”

Jones’ drive quickly stood out to Hoyer. Not long after joining the organization, she approached Hoyer and Epstein about taking night classes at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management to earn her Master of Business Administration.

After her EA role, Jones took over as assistant director of baseball operations administration and strategic initiatives, and then in February she was named director of baseball operations administration and strategy.

“She’s always learning, always trying to push herself, works unbelievably hard, and she also does a really good job of figuring out how to create value,” Hoyer told the Tribune last week.

“She knows different areas where she might realize that this is a project no one is taking the reins on, and she’ll just grab it and see it to conclusion. She’s one of those people that when you give her a project, she’s always going to do better than you expect, which is an awesome feeling. And she’s done that time after time — it’s really a remarkable skill set.”

Jones’ responsibilities can be all over the map, sometimes literally.

She went to Japan in September as part of Hoyer’s trip to watch Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitch in Nippon Professional Baseball ahead of his posting and subsequent courtship by big-league teams, a process that remains ongoing.

Jones has helped with the Cubs family program, been involved in player recruitment and become very involved with the NWSL’s Chicago Red Stars, now led by Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts’ ownership group.

She also played an influential role in co-founding the Cubs’ CASE Study Program, which targets communities of color to provide an opportunity for select high school students to be immersed with the Cubs front office during a six-week program. The San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers launched their versions after seeing how the Cubs utilized their program.

“I couldn’t tell you which thing will be next on her plate,” Hoyer said, “but it’ll be something that’s really important and we’ll realize she’s the right person to grab that project and take it forward.”

More broadly, Jones oversees the Cubs baseball strategy as it relates to people, process and culture.

“For me, it’s very clear that my purpose is to put others in a position to move forward faster and that is what drives me,” she said. “I feel like I’m in a position to do that here at the Cubs. Whether it’s our entry-level employees or Jed and Carter (Hawkins), my job puts me in a position to help others do their jobs and make an impact more quickly.”

Among the Cubs’ other internal promotions last month, Jared Banner was named an assistant general manager, making him one of a few African Americans to presently hold an assistant GM title or higher with an MLB team. Houston Astros GM Dana Brown is the only African American currently leading a baseball operations department.

“Representation matters,” Banner told the Tribune, “and if I can be someone that gives hope to maybe an entry-level employee or someone who’s not in baseball yet, in terms of what they may be able to accomplish, then I think that’s pretty special so I take pride in that.

“Even though it’s not something I think about constantly, I recognize that there aren’t a lot of people who sat in the seat that I now occupy and it’s important to recognize that. This organization as a whole, being inclusive is an important value of ours and we’ve made a commitment to it and we’re willing to put in the work to get there. Are we there yet? Not quite, but the mission never ends.”

Banner joined the organization before the 2021 season as VP of special projects when Hoyer hired him after changes in the New York Mets front office. Banner joins Ehsan Bokhari as the Cubs’ two assistant GMs following Craig Breslow’s departure to lead the Boston Red Sox baseball operations.

Hoyer called it a logical decision to promote Banner, 37, and continue to give him more responsibilities after watching the Cubs minor leagues flourish the last two years under Banner’s direction. The Cubs ended the 2023 season with one of the top farm systems in baseball. Interviews were underway last week to find a new farm director.

“Knowing how talented he was, he’s come in here and done nothing but prove that,” Hoyer said.

Diversity within Major League Baseball remains an ongoing issue both on the field and in front offices. The league’s implementation of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs has tried to address the problem at the root, most notably through its DEI fellowship program.

Gains are still needed, however. This year’s annual racial and gender report card by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida gave MLB an overall grade of C+.

At the beginning of the 2023 season, four people of color (13.3%) held the position of either general manager, president of baseball operations or the equivalent for a team, resulting in a D+ grade from TIDES. Among all team vice president positions, women held 19% of the jobs, an increase of 1.4% from 2022, according to the report.

After Hoyer named Hawkins as the Cubs’ new GM in October 2021, he faced questions about whether it was a missed opportunity to help diversify the top level of the Cubs front office. Hoyer knows from his position he can help improve diversity within the organization from top to bottom, which has included naming assistant GMs Bokhari, a quantitative psychology Ph.D. hired from the Astros to the position in 2021, and Banner.

“It’s really important that we grow the game and it’s really important that we bring people together from different backgrounds,” Hoyer said last week. “It provides different perspectives. Front offices should look a lot like the crowd at a baseball field.”

For Hoyer and the Cubs, those efforts begin with internships and entry-level hires in which talented people can move up through the organization. Addressing diversity on a multitude of levels — including race, gender, socioeconomic and disability status — remains a work in progress in baseball.

“Hiring a very diverse group of people that can start out there because, in the end, those people are your future,” Hoyer said. “The people you hire at the entry-level positions are the people you are going to want to be your leaders at some point.”

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