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Bears sign linebacker & special team depth as thoughts start to turn towards OTA’s coming up in two weeks"BEAR DOWN Josh Bellamy Jersey , CHICAGO BEARS, BEAR DOWN!!!!BEARRRSSSS / FREE AGENCY / DRAFTMayer: Robinson opens reading room for students - ChicagoBears.com - Emphasizing the importance of literacy and education, Bears receiver Allen Robinson unveiled his Within Reach Foundation’s inaugural “Reach for a Book” reading room in Chicago.Medina: Bears Sign Linebacker and Possible Special Teams Ace Kevin Pierre-Louis - Bleacher Nation - Kevin Pierre-Louis could carve out a niche as a special teams contributor for the Bears in 2019.Hughes: Thinking Through the Whole Kicker Situation - Da Bears Blog - The Bears don’t currently have an NFL kicker. Not really.Biggs' Bears Q&A: How will the crowded wide receiver competition shake out? Will there be a reality show for kickers? Will every draft pick make the 53-man roster? - Chicago Tribune - Brad Biggs answers your Bears questions weekly. How will the crowded competition at wide receiver shake out? Will there be a reality show for the kickers? Will all five draft picks make the 53-man roster? Plus much more, including additional kicker questions.Wiederer & Campbell: Kickers kickers kickers! The latest on the Bears' search for a new kicker. - Chicago Tribune - Rich Campbell and Dan Wiederer waste no time in breaking down the Bears' draft haul, focusing the spotlight on running back David Montgomery and receiver Riley Ridley in particular. Also, winter in April stinks.Kane: Bears add linebacker depth by signing veteran Kevin Pierre-Louis - Chicago Tribune - The Bears signed free-agent linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis to a one-year contract Wednesday.Letizia: NFC North 2019 Draft Breakdown - The Chicago Audible - We've learned plenty about the Bears' draft, but how did the other teams in the division fare?Bocker: Can David Montgomery be as Productive as Kareem Hunt was as a Rookie? - The Chicago Audible - Is it reasonable to expect David Montgomery to perform like Kareem Hunt during his rookie year? A deep look inside the numbers supplies the answer.Moon: Bears aren’t better without Cody Parkey - NBC Sports Chicago - Somebody will “win” the Bears’ offseason-long kicking competition. Somebody always does, or has to, if only out of default. Ken's Note: Dear Moon; You are outta your mind. Sincerely, Everybody.Hoge and Jahns: Rookie Mini Camp, Kicking Competition, and Undrafted Free Agents - WGN Radio - 720 AM - Adam Hoge and Adam Jahns were both at Halas Hall over the weekend as the Bears held their rookie mini camp. They share their thoughts on the biggest story: the kicking competition. They talk about who did well enough to make the cut and whether acquiring Eddy Pineiro from the Raiders will be worth the conditional draft pick they gave up to get him. The guys also talk about which undrafted free agents caught their eye, and play some tape from tight end, Dax Raymond, and linebacker Mathieu Betts.Roster moves: Bears ink linebacker Pierre-Louis - ChicagoBears.com - The Bears on Wednesday signed linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis to a one-year contract. Pierre-Louis has appeared in 57 NFL games over five seasons with the Seahawks, Chiefs and Jets.Finley: Bears sign LB Kevin Pierre-Louis - Sun Times - The Bears added special teams depth Wednesday, signing inside linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis to a one-year deal.Finley: Four undrafted free agents with a chance to impact Bears - Sun Times - The first six months of Dax Raymond’s Mormon mission were spent learning Russian. Mercifully, Matt Nagy’s plays aren’t in Cyrillic.Bernstein: Bears’ Kicking Stuff Just Too Much - 670 The Score - The volume approach was fun initially, but the Bears just need to find an answer to their kicking problem.POLISH SAUSAGEGreenfield: NFL Rivalries - Our Turf Football - Rivalries help make the NFL fun. OTFB’s Sonja Greenfield kicks off our rivalry series and gives her two cents on some of the more major rivalries in the NFL.11 best remaining 2019 NFL free agents - Touchdown Wire - The NFL Draft is over, and it’s time to focus on free agents who haven’t been signed yet. Yes, many of these players aren’t at the top of their games anymore https://www.thebearsfanshop.com/Anthony-Miller-Jersey , but they can surely provide value for teams looking to add that final piece to their roster.Barbieri: One thing to like about every Bears 2019 NFL draft pick - Bears Wire - A look at every Chicago Bears draft pick and the one reason to be excited about their future.Sean McVay says he over-prepared for Super Bowl - NFL.com - Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay attributes overanalyzing to his team’s loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII.NFL players to root for in ‘19: Odell Beckham, Kyler Murray excite - NFL.com - Adam Rank lists one person to root for on each NFL team. Why is he drawn to Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson? What about Cowboys veteran tight end Jason Witten?KNOW THY ENEMYLions CB Rashaan Melvin ‘excited’ to be in better scheme fit in Detroit - Pride Of Detroit - The Lions cornerback is eager to rebound in a better scheme fit with Detroit.2019 NFL cap space: How much can the Lions still spend on remaining free agents? - Pride Of Detroit - Quite a bit, actually.Detroit Lions fan confidence remains high, dips slightly after NFL Draft - Pride Of Detroit - Lions fans are shaken, not stirred after Detroit’s draft.Vikings projected to have three 2020 Compensatory Draft Picks - Daily Norseman - Things have changed a bit since the last time we checkedPackers fans’ confidence rebounded after Matt LaFleur hire and free agent additions - Acme Packing Company - The confidence has stayed steady through the conclusion of the NFL Draft.News of Ted Thompson’s health brings more questions, but the answers can’t be assumed - Acme Packing Company - It is fair to wonder about how a nerve disorder affected Ted Thompson’s ability to serve as Packers GM, when he and the team knew something was wrong, and if something should have been done sooner. But we can’t assume anything.IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ON WINDY CITY GRIDIRONZeglinski: Chicago Bears sign Kevin Pierre-Louis to one-year deal - Windy City Gridiron - The depth linebacker and special teamer is on his way to Chicago.Zeglinski: A blazer and a singer - The Bears’ Kerrith Whyte Jr. was ready-made for his NFL moment - Windy City Gridiron - Talented in more ways than one, Whyte Jr. is a born-ready football player. His resiliency as an amateur is all you need to know he can tear up the NFL.Sunderbruch: Best and Worst Deals From the 2019 Draft - Windy City Gridiron - The Chicago Bears had what was, for them, a quiet draft. They were certainly not the only team that moved around, and some of the prices paid were interesting, to say the least.Wiltfong: Bears’ fans confidence level is at 100% to kick off the Bears100 season - Windy City Gridiron - Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse — a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the offseason, we send 32 polls to plugged in fans from each team. Bears fans, sign up HERE to join FanPulse.Leming's Bears Mailbag: Post rookie mini-camp, kicking competition heating up and any free agency moves up Ryan Pace’s sleeve? - Windy City Gridiron - The Bears are heading into the meat and potatoes of their offseason program. Who wins the kicking competition? Who impressed at rookie mini-camp? Could Pace make a surprise free agent move? All of this and more.WCG CONTRIBUTORS BEARS PODCASTS & STREAMSWindy City Gridiron Podcast Channel which includes Bear With Me from Robert Schmitz, Bears Over Beers featuring Jeff Berckes & EJ Snyder, and T Formation Conversation from Lester A. Wiltfong Jr.; Steven’s Streaming Twitch Channel from Steven Schweickert; and Robert Zeglinski’s The Blitz NetworkTHE RULESWindy City Gridiron Community Guidelines - SBNation.com - We strive to make our communities open and inclusive to sports fans of all backgrounds. The following is not permitted in comments. No personal attacks, politics, gender based insults of any kind, racial insults Sherrick McManis Color Rush Jersey , etc.The Bear’s Den Specific Guidelines – The Bear’s Den is a place for Chicago Bears fans to discuss Chicago Bears football, related NFL stories, and general football talk. It is NOT a place to discuss religion or politics or post political pictures or memes. Unless otherwise stated, the Den is not an open thread, and profanity (including profanity only stated in pictures) is prohibited.Click on our names to follow us on Twitter:WCG Contributors: Jeff Berckes; Patti Curl; Eric Christopher Duerrwaechter;Kev H; Sam Householder; Jacob Infante; Aaron Lemming; Ken Mitchell; Steven Schweickert; Jack Silverstein; EJ Snyder; Lester Wiltfong, Jr.; Whiskey Ranger; Robert Schmitz; Robert Zeglinski; Like us on Facebook. CANTON, Ohio (AP)The goals were to let the backups play and learn, and to be inspired.Missions accomplished.The Ravens and Bears honored their great linebackers Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher with some defense to make them proud in the Hall of Fame game that opened the NFL’s preseason Thursday night. Baltimore held on 17-16.Article continues below ...”Ray is the greatest linebacker of our time,” said 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson, who quarterbacked the second half for the Ravens. ”That was a big thrill and exciting stuff.”Oh, there was a little spark of offense, some provided by Baltimore’s first-round draft pick. Jackson’s 7-yard touchdown pass to fellow first-rounder Hayden Hurst came after the Ravens’ defense recovered a fumble.Chicago put together its best drive in the final minutes and journeyman Tyler Bray connected with Tanner Gentry for a 10-yard score to cap a 92-yard march. But the 2-point conversion pass fell incomplete.Otherwise, D was the letter of the day: there were six turnovers in all, and 12 sacks, eight by the Bears.”To represent Ray in this game to our guys meant even more,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said.”It was a special moment for our organization,” noted new Bears coach Matt Nagy.The teams exchanged tipped interceptions on the first two possessions of the preseason.Chicago moved swiftly downfield only to have Chase Daniel’s pass to Josh Bellamy deflected to safety Chuck Clark at the Baltimore 6. He returned it 15 yards, then the Ravens replicated the turnover.Robert Griffin III, attempting a comeback after sitting out 2017, had his pinpoint throw go off the hands of receiver Breshad Perriman, then off rookie cornerback Michael Joseph. DeAndre Houston-Carson dived to make the pick at the Ravens 34.The Bears soon converted when Michael Burton caught a 4-yard scoring pass from Daniel.Baltimore tied it Charles Leno Jersey , sparked by two big gainers by undrafted rookie running back Gus Edwards. Griffin found Maxx Williams for a 4-yard score.”It felt great,” Griffin said. ”I can’t tell you how grateful I am to play the game again.”Then Lewis’ old unit gave him a thrill. On the next play from scrimmage, linebacker Kamalei Correa sped 19 yards with an interception to the Chicago 9. But Urlacher’s former defense made him smile, sacking Griffin on third down to hold Baltimore to a 31-yard field goal by Kaare Vedvik.Generally, it was a sloppy affair among backups marred by a slew of dropped passes, poor protection for the quarterbacks, and misthrows by those QBs.But something Lewis and Urlacher would approve, the defenses hit hard and tackled well.NEW COACH, OFFENSENagy, of late the offensive coordinator in Kansas City, made his head coaching debut with the Bears. He has said his new offense is in the early steps of development, and it looked that way all night.Of course, with backups playing it’s nearly impossible to gauge progress. But he was optimistic.”The arrow is pointing up for us,” he said. ”We definitely took steps in the right direction.”INTROSEach of the seven inductees to the hall who were on hand – Terrell Owens is a well-publicized no-show – received a rousing ovation when they were introduced before the game. Lewis replicated his patented warmup dance for a few seconds, and Urlacher slapped hand with every Bears player lined up on the 45-yard line.”Ray was on the field getting all fired up, doing his thing,” Harbaugh said. ”With both teams at the 45, I thought that was awesome, and then to see Ray come out, that was spectacular.”Urlacher gave a pregame pep talk to the Bears in the locker room.”It’s so funny to see,” veteran defensive lineman Akiem Hicks said. ”Growing up https://www.thebearsfanshop.com/Joel-Iyiegbuniwe-Jersey , you’ve watched these guys, and you’re one of the guys now who people come up and ask for pictures and autographs. Then you see Urlacher come into the locker room and you get to see all these NFL football players turn into kids …”It’s a phenomenal feeling.”Also walking along midfield between the lines of Ravens and Bears were Randy Moss, Brian Dawkins, Jerry Kramer, Robert Brazile and Bobby Beathard.Owens did make it onto the cover of the Hall of Fame enshrinement magazine, however.At halftime, Hall of Famers Ozzie Newsome, the general manager of the Ravens, and Dan Fouts received their ”Rings of Excellence” from David Baker, the hall’s president.HELMET RULEThe first application of the NFL’s enhanced enforcement of penalties for players lowering their helmet to make a tackle occurred early. Ravens linebacker Patrick Onwuasor was flagged for his hit on Benny Cunningham, earning a 15-yard penalty that helped set up Chicago’s first touchdown.Correa got nailed for the same violation in the third quarter, but he also had a sack that forced a fumble in that period, and three sacks overall.”It was great to see him break out,” Harbaugh said of Correa’s overall performance. ”His work ethic and attention to detail, to see it pay off like that, a coach loves to see it.”NEXT UPBears: At Cincinnati next Thursday night.Ravens: Host Los Angeles Rams next Thursday night.—