CHICAGO — With two minutes and 14 seconds remaining in a horrendous game against the Seattle Seahawks, the fans seated in the United Club of Soldier Field started to chant.

“Sell the team!”

“Sell the team!”

“Sell the team!”

The Chicago Bears decided to punt after fourth-and-inches from their own 39 turned into fourth-and-5 following offensive lineman fill-in Jake Curhan’s false start.

“Sell the team!”

“Sell the team!”

But wait … the Bears called a timeout. They changed their mind. They wanted to go for it.

After all, what did the Bears have to lose but another game in another lost season for the NFL’s charter franchise?

The chants, though, started again.

And they spread.

“Sell the team!”

The only thing that seemed to stop them was what quarterback Caleb Williams did in the game’s waning moments amidst more clock mismanagement by the Bears.

On fourth-and-5, Williams escaped an all-out blitz from the Seahawks and connected with receiver DJ Moore over the middle for a 14-yard gain. Three plays later on third-and-14, Williams eluded more pressure from Seattle, took a hit to his throat from linebacker Boye Mafe and completed a 15-yard pass to rookie receiver Rome Odunze.

But the chants would return.

Williams threw an interception over the middle on the Bears’ final offensive play against another all-out blitz by Seattle. Quarterback Geno Smith then took a knee for a 6-3 win for the Seahawks on “Thursday Night Football.”

“SELL THE TEAM!” chants broke out from Bears fans at Soldier Field tonight.

🎥 @jacobinfante24 pic.twitter.com/ErHL3deV9X

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) December 27, 2024

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The fans who decided to stick out such an ugly game the day after Christmas let chairman George McCaskey and his family hear it again. Their chants grew louder — angrier.

“Sell the team!”

“Sell the team!”

“Sell the team!”

As always, things can and will get worse for the Bears. Fans have gone from chanting “Fire Nagy” to “Fire Flus” to “Sell the team,” which, according to some longtime observers, is a new one from the home crowd. The Bears’ losing streak stretched to 10 games. The only thing missing is the Green Bay Packers’ annual pummeling of the Bears.

And that likely comes in the season finale at Lambeau Field.

Williams tried to blame himself for what transpired against the Seahawks. He’s right in thinking that he can play better, especially with the Bears defense delivering its best game since the dismissal of coach Matt Eberflus. Williams was 16-for-28 passing for 122 yards. He was sacked seven times. His interception-free streak ended with his final throw. It was one of his worst games this season and it came on national television.

“I didn’t play well enough,” Williams said. “I didn’t help put the team in a good position to win, a better position to win, and that’s what it is.”

Williams pointed to the “stupid” sacks he took against the Seahawks. He’s been sacked a league-high 67 times this season.

“I’ll definitely take the heat for this one because of some of the situations that I put us in,” he said.

Caleb Williams did not complete a single pass beyond 6 yards downfield until the final drive of regulation in the Bears’ TNF loss to the Seahawks.

🔸 Under 10 AY: 15/17, 107 yards (+4.5% CPOE)
🔸 Over 10 AY: 1/9, 15 yards, INT (-27.2% CPOE)#SEAvsCHI | #DaBears pic.twitter.com/4pr4JU2jsm

— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) December 27, 2024

But it’s still unfair to expect the rookie quarterback to overcome everything this calamitous season has provided. He needs to play better, but he’s trying to pull himself out of a hole he didn’t dig. His first NFL offensive coordinator and head coach were fired during the season, which is something the Bears had never done before this year. The team will be searching for its sixth head coach under McCaskey soon enough.

The “sell the team” chants Thursday at Soldier Field came just four days after Detroit Lions fans filled Soldier Field in their Honolulu blue and watched their team roll to a 34-17 win. A day later, Packers fans chanted “The Bears still suck” on “Monday Night Football” as their favorite team routed the New Orleans Saints at Lambeau Field.

Williams was asked about the fans’ chants and frustrations.

“This is my first year,” he said. “Their frustrations go way longer back than I’ve been here. My job is to go out there and win games. We don’t focus on the outside noise. Fans, they’re going to cheer and maybe boo sometimes. You can’t react to that. It’s not something we react to. We have a job to do. And sometimes you don’t do so well on the job some days and some days you’re pretty consistent, some days you play a great game.”

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Williams’ best play Thursday night was negated by a penalty in the second quarter. On third-and-10 from the Seahawks’ 17, Williams scrambled to his left and fired a touchdown pass to Odunze in the end zone. Curhan, who played in place of injured starter Teven Jenkins, was penalized for holding. The Bears settled for a 42-yard field goal by Cairo Santos.

They never scored again.

Williams remains the most appealing thing about the Bears, but he desperately needs help on and off the field with coaching. His development can’t be derailed by this abysmal season.

And the Bears, being the Bears, haven’t broken him — yet.

“Frustrating, annoyed, but learning, I would say,” Williams said. “I definitely think that this is going to be good for me. Excited about this last game and then excited about the future.”

(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

Tennis is back. Did you miss it? The season resumes from today, December 27, with the United Cup opening proceedings in Perth, Australia.

The Athletic’s tennis writers Matt Futterman and Charlie Eccleshare are here for the second of two mailbags, answering your questions submitted earlier this month. The first focused on tennis in 2024; this one will focus more on 2025 and the state of the sport, before a deeper look into storylines on the ATP and WTA Tours at the start of January.

Read on for their views on players to watch this year, the state of the political machinations at the top of tennis, and more.

Will H: Seems to be a generational transition brewing in the men’s game at the moment. Young guys like Jack Draper, Arthur Fils, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Ben Shelton seem poised to break into the top 10 and knock some of the previous gen (Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Hubert Hurkacz) down a peg. Do you agree, who do you expect to make a real push next year, and are there other names you’d throw in?

Charlie Eccleshare: I think I agree. My only hesitation is that I don’t know if that agreement comes from a selfish perspective rather than an analytical one. That isn’t a knock on Rublev, Tsitsipas and Hurkacz; it’s just exciting to have new blood and there’s a sense with those three (and others of similar vintage) that it may never happen for them at the very top level.

Maybe the next generation, without the kind of baggage those in their mid-twenties have built up, can be a genuine threat at the sharp end of majors… But that’s what was said about Tsitsipas et al. when they were about to replace nearly men like Kei Nishikori, Grigor Dimitrov and Milos Raonic. Dimitrov is still here and around the top 10!

All four of Draper, Fils, Mpetshi Perricard and Shelton have the weapons to be a genuine threat to the very best — they already are on their day — and they certainly have it in them to push for top-10 places next year.

Other names to look out for are the world No. 50 Shang Juncheng of China, who’s only 19 but possesses an excellent all-round game, and the exciting Brazilian Joao Fonseca (18), who looks like a star of the future. Belgian Alexander Blockx looks like one promising name of many on the Challenger Tour.

Of those slightly older, Flavio Cobolli (22 and ranked No. 32 after a breakthrough year) could make an impact, though he’s less explosive than some of his peers. World No. 25 Tomas Machac, 24, has serious weapons and could be a real threat if he can add some consistency to his game. Where does Holger Rune fit into all this I wonder? At 21, he’s younger than Draper and Shelton, but his trajectory makes it feel like he’s in the Tsitsipas category.

Matt Futterman: John Isner reached No. 8 and made the Wimbledon semifinals. He also banked $22.5million in prize money. That’s pretty good. Mpetshi Perricard may have more weapons and is smaller, so he likely moves better. I think we need to see him for another year before we figure out who he is.

Anon: Which coaching shifts do you think will stand the test of time?

MF: I’m going to bet on Wim Fissette and Iga Swiatek, mostly on the basis of Swiatek’s talent and on Fissette being a pretty genial guy that everyone seems to get along with. Swiatek has a ton of weapons, some of which she has holstered for most of her dominance: when she first broke out, she could spin the ball as well as anyone and was volleying and hitting drop shots with aplomb.

If Fissette can help her unlock the closet where all that stuff has been stored the past couple years she should start winning Grand Slams outside of Paris and he will be a huge hit.

Christopher Z: For both tours, who had a down or absent year that you expect to make a comeback in 2025? Looking at the Australian Open entry list, some big names using their protected ranking include Pablo Carreno Busta, Nick Kyrgios, Reilly Opelka, Jenson Brooksby and Belinda Bencic.

CE: Bencic, the 2021 Olympic gold medalist in women’s singles, jumps out to me because when we spoke recently she sounded very serious about her chances of getting back to a really good level.

Belinda Bencic is hoping to return to the top of the WTA Tour after giving birth to her daughter. (Tiziana Fabi / AFP via Getty Images)

Of the others, it’s hard to imagine Kyrgios coming back from so long out and being a consistent factor on the tour, but I wouldn’t rule out him having enough to produce a magical moment or two. Of the others you mentioned, Brooksby at 24 looks like having the best shot at climbing his way back up the rankings next year.

The players to look out for might be the ones who began a comeback this year, like Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu and are looking to build on those foundations in 2025, ditto Karolina Muchova, who’s ranked No. 22 despite only returning from a nine-month absence in late June. Matteo Berrettini’s season only began in March because of injury so perhaps he’ll have a more settled 2025, though I fear at 28 he may have peaked already.

Otherwise, I’m excited by the prospect of a fit Denis Shapovalov after the long layoff he had, and how about Ons Jabeur? She hasn’t played since August because of a knee injury that wrecked her season, and surely everyone in tennis will be hoping that she can come back and be a factor next year.

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Kevin M: What’s the latest with the proposed changes to ATP/WTA scheduling?

MF: Two words: Not much. The leaders of the ATP like making their players play at least eight Masters 1000 tournaments. The WTA just secured equal pay down the road in exchange for mandatory attendance at the biggest tournaments. The only way any change happens is if players start refusing to show up at events after the U.S. Open. I don’t see a shorter season. Maybe the tours lose enough 250-level events that they gain back a week but it’s hard to see that anytime soon and it would harm tennis’ status as a global sport.

Tom J: Any news on the premium tour ideas that were floated earlier in the year? Has that just come to a temporary haunt until Indian Wells/Madrid again or is there behind-the-scenes progress?

MF: Tennis honchos keep referencing productive discussions. Players are fed up and feel like they are getting gaslit. The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) has hired a team of lawyers and litigation of various kinds could begin in 2025. That could force change — or at least some serious talks instead of happy talk and gaslighting.

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Alex H: Do you think Jack Draper or Katie Boulter will continue to have another great year? Who is your tip for the next crop of Brits to emerge?

CE: If Draper can stay healthy then I see no reason why he can’t make the top 10. In tennis circles in Britain and outside it, the feeling is that Draper has top-five potential.

Boulter’s progress has been steady over the last few years, but the big question mark is whether she can deliver at the Grand Slams. She’s never reached the second week of a major, and last year didn’t even go beyond the second round. Improvement, or lack of it, at the biggest events will decide whether Boulter continues being a very solid top-30 player or something more.

Britain’s No. 2 Raducanu has had a very different career, winning a shock Grand Slam at 18 but struggling for the kind of consistency that’s been Boulter’s hallmark since. That’s what she’s striving for now, and with Maria Sharapova’s former trainer Yutaka Nakamura joining her team Raducanu is hopeful that she can stay fit and get back towards the top of the sport. A word also for Sonay Kartal, 23, who won her first title and cracked the world’s top 100 in 2024, having ended 2023 ranked world No. 235.

From the next generation, there is a lot of excitement about the British women coming through. The huge-serving Mika Stojsavljevic (16) won the U.S. Open juniors in September and came agonizingly close to a first tour-level win at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. She is arguably the pick of the bunch. There’s also Hannah Klugman (15), who won last year’s international under-18s tournament, the Orange Bowl, and came within a match of qualifying for this year’s Wimbledon. Keep an eye out also for Mimi Xu, a 17-year-old with excellent technique, if not the easy power of Stojsavljevic.

Mika Stojsavljevic will hope to build on her success in 2025. (Luke Hales / Getty Images)

The boys are not at quite the same level, though Henry Searle, 18, became the first Brit in 61 years to win the Wimbledon boys’ singles title in 2023. Charlie Robertson, also 18, has had a promising year and is mentored by Andy Murray, but standing at a possibly generous 5ft 8in he’ll likely need to do some growing to make it on the ATP Tour. Oliver Bonding (18) and Viktor Frydrych (17) both went out early in the Orange Bowl last week, but are considered decent prospects.

Julian G: How do you see the popularity of tennis in the United States evolving over the next few years? It feels like other sports are making breakthroughs (F1 “Drive to Survive”, Golf with the popularity of YouTube), while tennis is at a standstill with the flop of Netflix’s “Break Point”.

MF: If USTA numbers are to be believed, tennis participation continues to rise, though outside New York City and some other urban centers where courts are scarce, I do see a lot of empty courts. As for television ratings, if the stars can keep making finals and breaking through with the help of their sponsors, that can help make up for the failure of Break Point. Plus, we’ll all be watching Zendaya and her boys on “Challengers” streams for a long time. Sequel? Please?

James Hansen: This theme is connected to the below questions, so I’ll put them in before answering more widely…

Anon: As always, my question is about the effect of tennis’ subpar broadcasting on the sport. The hideous light tan or pink court surrounds making the ball impossible to see as it bounces; the still too-high camera angle leaves calling slices or topspin up to the announcers; hardly showing the final handshake while loving ‘the box”, while sometimes not ID’ing who they are.

Sarah Bordeaux: What’s the latest and/or future of tennis broadcasting in the US? Tennis Channel (Plus) is now a standalone product, are there any potential suitors coming for Grand Slams or other broadcast rights, including for the Challengers/NCAA tournaments/etc, and what exactly is behind the Tennis Channel deal?

Sinclair has been very open about its desire to explore ‘strategic alternatives’ for the Tennis Channel, whether selling a stake or the whole property. Its move to direct-to-consumer suggests a willingness to try and keep up with a changing media landscape tennis is yet to really get to grips with.

ESPN will pay $2.04billion (more than £1.5bn) to air the U.S. Open through 2037 in a deal signed this year, while Wimbledon’s broadcast deal with ABC and ESPN networks comes in at $52.5million (£40.3m) per year as of 2024, according to SP Global. Broadcast rights remain gold dust, even as cable TV revenues decline and direct-to-consumer alternatives can, to date, only vainly attempt to make up the shortfall. Those broadcast rights — which are converted into the broadcasting that many fans, like Anon above, feel is often subpar — are important to Grand Slams because their value is tied to in-person attendance. If you are a huge tennis fan who can watch a tournament for free where you live, you are less often going to pay for a ticket to be there in person.

To keep that balance, the broadcast rights are very restrictive. Any footage cut up and put on YouTube or social networks like X, Bluesky and TikTok will get copyright-striked and taken down in short order, whether it is posted by a player who wants to reach their own fans or a fan just having some fun as part of the online tennis community.

This is where popularity comes in. A sport cannot grow if it cannot be discovered. A fan in the U.S. who sees a Coco Gauff TikTok or a meme about “Challengers” and wants to learn more about the world currently can’t watch highlights except on official channels and can’t watch much tennis at all without several subscriptions. A player who wants to engage people by documenting their life on tour can’t post highlights of their own matches. And in sanctioned media properties — whether documentaries produced by stars, or something like Break Point — tennis has largely failed to show fans why they should care about anyone outside the biggest stars where Formula One and golf have turned players further down their rankings into compelling personalities. Then, if they do make it, they already have an audience invested in their journey.

As cable in the U.S. gets less and less profitable, these lucrative media rights are, eventually, going to get less lucrative. If tennis doesn’t change its relationship with discoverability, it is going to get a big and bad shock when they do. Expect much more coverage of this here in 2025.

(Top photo of Jack Draper: Getty Images; top photo of Karolina Muchova: Associated Press)

Ashton Jeanty was into basketball more than football as a kid. So before he grew up to be a 5-foot-9 battering ram in cleats, his favorite athlete was LeBron James. Jeanty, who bounced around the globe as the son of a Naval officer, spent a chunk of his childhood in Florida when James was on the Miami Heat.

“Seeing (LeBron) beat all the odds,” said Jeanty, “I feel like I’ve been doing that same thing in my career.”

It’s why the Boise State running back will forever be the answer to that same question — Who’s your favorite athlete? — for a generation of Broncos fans.

Jeanty didn’t win the Heisman Trophy, finishing second to Colorado’s Travis Hunter. But he did collect the most points by a Heisman runner-up and forced the narrowest margin of defeat since 2009. He also took home the Maxwell Award (player of the year), Doak Walker Award (best running back) and unanimous All-American honors. And Jeanty has another major milestone in his sights.

He enters the College Football Playoff at 2,497 rushing yards this season, just 131 yards shy of college football’s official single-season record, set by Oklahoma State’s Barry Sanders in 1988. Considering Jeanty has averaged 192.1 rushing yards per game this season, there’s at least a decent chance he rewrites that record in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff against Penn State on Dec. 31.

But Jeanty is more than just a Heisman runner-up and future first-round NFL running back who is on the verge of a record-breaking statistical accomplishment. At a Boise State program with a reputation for giant slaying and a rich history of running backs, he has managed to stand above the rest.

“Ashton Jeanty is phenomenal for college football, and he’s going to be phenomenal for the NFL,” said Boise State coach Spencer Danielson. “Not only from his play on the field but also the culture he brings with him.”

There is some nuance to Sanders’ record. He rushed for 2,628 yards in only 11 games on his way to the Heisman in 1988; Jeanty has already played 13 games. And Sanders’ unofficial record is 2,850 yards if you add in the 222 yards he racked up in the Holiday Bowl, before bowl game stats were officially counted.

There will be those who discount Jeanty’s record if he does set it, but Sanders won’t be among them, sending a tweet ahead of Boise’s victory in the Mountain West championship wishing Jeanty luck.

“My fans can gripe, but records are made to be broken & I am rooting for you,” Sanders wrote.

Hey @AshtonJeanty2 – Wishing you luck tonight.
My fans can gripe, but records are made to be broken & I am rooting for you. I love seeing all these @NFL and @NCAA #RBs showing the value of the position. #RunTheRock pic.twitter.com/bk0NtPbAL0

— Barry Sanders (@BarrySanders) December 6, 2024

Asked about Sanders’ mark, Jeanty said it would be “like the cherry on top, to break a record that’s been around for decades,” especially after he came up just short in the Heisman race. But as Boise State enters the inaugural 12-team Playoff as a No. 3-seed from the Group of 5, the record — attained or not, contested or not — doesn’t change what Jeanty has achieved.

The stats are staggering, like if Paul Bunyan played high school football. Nearly 2,500 rushing yards, an FBS-leading 30 total touchdowns, 7.3 yards per carry and six games with 200-plus rushing yards. His season low was 127 yards against Portland State, and he got pulled at halftime. Jeanty outrushed 115 FBS teams this season all by himself. The next closest player to him in terms of rushing yards is North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton with 1,660. That’s less than the 1,889 yards Jeanty has gained after contact. He’s the first back to eclipse 2,000 yards rushing since 2019.

“I love watching Ashton play — the mix of physicality, speed and control,” said Alexander Mattison, a former Boise State running back now in the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders. “But I’ve been able to get to know him, not just as a football player but a genuine person. It’s fun to see him get everything that he deserves. He loves the game, and if you love the game, it will love you back.”

There is an impressive pedigree of running backs at Boise State, with Jeanty set to become next in a long line of Broncos bell cows who have gone on to play in the NFL. Jeanty surpassed Cedric Minter as the program’s all-time leading rusher this season and broke a number of other records Minter has held since at least 1980. But the string of modern-day tailbacks stretches to Ian Johnson, who famously won the 2007 Fiesta Bowl on the Statue of Liberty handoff, followed by Jeremy Avery, Doug Martin, D.J Harper, Jay Ajayi (the former single-season record holder), Jeremy McNichols, Mattison and George Holani.

It’s quite a list, and that’s just the running backs. Former quarterback Kellen Moore is the winningest QB in FBS history (50) and the program’s only other Heisman finalist (he finished fourth in 2010). He remains a Boise State icon. Yet after this season, no one compares to what Jeanty has produced on the field or what he embodies off it.

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“He’s a unanimous captain, part of our leadership council,” said Danielson, who added that he meets one-on-one with Jeanty each week after those council meetings.

“Every single time we have those meetings, it is nothing about Ashton. He’s asking about the team, a player, asking how he can help lead better, have more of an impact,” said Danielson. “That is uncommon. He’s different in all facets.”

Jeanty does care about the awards and accolades. He hasn’t shied from that, whether rattling off the individual goals he had for himself this season or lamenting his Heisman finish by stating: “I really felt like I should’ve walked away with the award.” It’s part of why he returned to Boise State this season, believing he could achieve everything he wanted right where he was.

But Jeanty also cares about the legacy he will leave behind. It’s why he embraced being a team captain and leader and de facto spokesperson. It’s why he spurned more lucrative name, image and likeness (NIL) offers to transfer elsewhere last offseason. It’s why he established the Ashton Jeanty Endowed Scholarship for Football — in October, even before he broke all the records and became a Heisman finalist and carried the Broncos to a Mountain West title and first-round bye in the CFP. The scholarship has raised more than $180,000 toward its $200,000 goal, which will support future Boise State athletes.

“He’s like a movie star here,” said athletic director Jeramiah Dickey. “We had to finally get him security so we could cut off the autograph and photo lines. It was our responsibility to help him because he’s such a good kid, he didn’t want to say no to anyone.”

Jeanty is already the most decorated player in program history and has put Boise State in position to compete for a top-flight national championship for the first time. He has a chance to set a single-season rushing record that could stand for decades.

And none of it will outlast what he has meant to Boise State football and the community that surrounds it.

“Culture is about the people who are here — just bringing back what Boise State’s been, having a positive influence over everybody,” said Jeanty. “People won’t remember the stats, they’re not going to remember the games. But they’re going to remember how I treated people, how I carried myself throughout my time here and the impact that had.”

— The Athletic’s Vic Tafur contributed reporting

 (Photo: Loren Orr / Getty Images)