“Through thick and thin, Bears win.” Caleb Williams’ “bar” dropped after the preseason win over the Cincinnati Bengals , and at the end of Episode 3 of “Hard Knocks,” giving fans a mantra to follow — and HBO a great way to end its best episode of the season. When the cameras took us inside Bears general manager Ryan Poles’ office as he both explained why they were interested in trading for pass rusher Matthew Judon and then his feelings after Judon went to Atlanta, they provided a phenomenal glimpse into things we don’t often see.
Advertisement That’s “Hard Knocks” at its best. We got a lot of the quarterback — and plenty from his backup — in the third episode. And for the many Tory Taylor fans, this was a punter-friendly hour of television.
Overall takeaways Jon Greenberg: If I were a Bears fan, I’d be ready to run through a wall, or at least one of those paper signs they use at high school football games, after watching this episode. This was the best of the three episodes so far with a ton of Caleb Williams , inside looks at the front office during the draft and its attempt at trading for Judon, the awaited Matt Eberflus nickname montage and some fun mic’d up moments with Jaylon Johnson and Travis Bagent, Tyson’s loose-cannon, arm-wrestling dad. It was a pretty perfect episode of a sanitized, team-approved documentary.
Kevin Fishbain: Maybe we needed some preseason games to get such a complete episode, or a morning drive to Soldier Field.