Plus: 5 takeaways from the Chicago Bulls’ preseason loss in Denver, including Caleb Wilson’s cold shooting night • Chicago Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard inches closer to returning by taking part in full-contact practice
Sports Monday, October 12, 2026 | | |
| | | | | Good morning, Chicago. Over the last two weeks, Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum each got to live the dream as backup quarterbacks who led the Bears to wins. But both of them experienced the same recurring nightmare — the one in which the Bears ran into an all-too-familiar buzz saw at Lambeau Field. Bagent threw two interceptions before getting benched, only for Keenum to throw a pick and lose a fumble during the Bears’ 31-7 loss to the Packers. Packers defenders chase Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent in the second quarter on Oct. 11, 2026, in Green Bay. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) It was part of a five-turnover day for the Bears, who last coughed up the ball that many times at Lambeau on Dec. 7, 2003, when they lost 34-21. Despite trailing the entire game, the Bears put up just 195 yards through the air. Bagent accounted for just 87 of those with a 57.1% completion percentage (12 of 21), a career low for any of his six starts — and coming a week after his career-high 73.5% in the 23-12 victory against the Jets. Coach Ben Johnson might have options to weigh this week. Caleb Williams practiced Friday for the first time since leaving late in the Week 2 loss with a hamstring injury, and he warmed up before Sunday’s game. | | | | The Chicago Bears don’t play another division game until Thanksgiving Day. The odds are stacked against them winning the NFC North again with a losing division record. | | | | | Chicago Bulls rookie Caleb Wilson missed his first three attempts from behind the arc in a 133-128 preseason loss to the Denver Nuggets. | | | | | Chicago Blackhawks captain Connor Bedard participated in light contact drills Sunday, another step toward his season debut. | | | | | A storybook Chicago White Sox season turned into a fractured fairy tale in an ALDS collapse. Now they will have to get better to make it back to the postseason next year. | | | | | Mike Ditka, who coached the 1985 Chicago Bears to the franchise’s only Super Bowl championship, has died at age 86. | | | | | Mike Ditka wasn’t perfect, but he was perfectly imperfect, and Chicago loved him because he was Da Coach, and that is all that really mattered. | | | | | Big Ten men’s basketball coaches and players from Illinois, Northwestern, Oregon, Iowa and Michigan talked about what’s ahead this season. | | | |
