The turning point came when legendary college football player Nick Saban told Matt Eberflus, “You can’t be a transactional leader.” He followed it up with the same thought shortly thereafter: “Being a transformational leader means you serve other people and help them for their benefit. And you have a vision of what you want to accomplish and what your vision of the offense should be. And you’re going to try to inspire people to help you do that.” Pause. And finally: “You have to be someone that others can emulate.”
This column is not about the show, but about the power that Hard Knocks has and brings with it when it invades the world of your football team and points cameras at everything you do.
It will prove to be either a gift or a curse.
After the first episode, it’s too early to say where the next four episodes will take us, but if history is any indication of how it might impact the upcoming season, HBO Presents: Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Chicago Bears could be the “docuseries” that ends the Bears before they even begin.
The history of the show is more of a telltale sign than an analytical analysis or a prediction from FiveThirtyEight. It makes sense that the Bears would fight to be the center of the show for as long as possible. Eventually, though, the progression of elimination will catch up to all NFL teams when it comes to the series. Especially when there are teams that have been there three times and you have never been there. This, thanks to all of Ryan Poles’ offseason transfers and acquisitions, will inevitably put the Bears on Hard Knocks’ radar as their next possible victims.
In the 18 seasons of “Hard Knocks,” only three of the featured teams have won a Super Bowl after being the focus of the show.
Last year, the show brought bad luck to the Jets. The year before that, it tried to jinx the Lions, who opened the 2022 season 1-6 after a 1-3 preseason, only to eventually turn things around and finish 9-8. They still missed the playoffs, but won three times as many games as the Bears. It would be easy to say the show brought bad luck to the Cowboys in 2021 (and also in 2002 and 2008, when it was shown), but then again, it’s the Cowboys we’re talking about here. It’s hard to blame HBO for Dallas and coach Mike McCarthy’s recent postseason history.
In 2017, the Tampa Bay Bucs dropped from a 9-7 record to 5-11/last place in the NFC South after falling victim to Hard Knocks. A similar scenario occurred with the Los Angeles Rams in 2016 (from 7-9 to 4-12), and then there’s the injury to Jamal Lewis in training camp of Hard Knocks’ inaugural season in 2001 that many believed prevented Baltimore from winning the Super Bowl title again. And they haven’t returned since.
In general, Hard Knocks teams don’t have a particularly good track record when it comes to recovering from incidents. Before the 2024 season, only seven of the 19 Hard Knocks: Training Camp teams made the playoffs in the same season they were featured, and of those seven, only one reached the conference title game: the 2010 New York Jets. That was also the last time the Jets reached the postseason. Coincidences don’t lie.
The show has won 18 Sports Emmys. It is the most acclaimed sports documentary series on television, even when you include ESPN’s “30 For 30.” And for the first time, “Hard Knocks: In Season with the AFC North” will cover an entire division during the final six weeks of the season. As for the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers, pay close attention to the Bears during the regular season and see how they fare after their “Hard Knocks” experience. You have been warned.
A documentary or a reality show or both? The football “universe” created by Marty Callner and narrated by Liev Schreiber has served many purposes and been called many things, and no one can yet put their finger on what it is. What most people do know is that reality shows do two things, and do two things well: They reveal almost everything the cast doesn’t want to reveal, and when they force you to see yourself as you really are, it often destroys you.
Unless you are related to, married to, or slept with a Kardashian.
As a Bears fan, you can only hope that the dysfunction (if there is any left from the pre-Caleb Williams era) doesn’t resurface. As an HBO and NFL Films franchise, you especially hope it does.
Having to face your own demons, along with potential promises and unrealistic expectations, are usually the components that “Hard Knocks” brings into play that lead to a team’s downfall. But one moment in Episode 1 could have the power to undo all of that for the Bears. It was when safety valve/running back D’Andre Swift, immediately after the Yoda Saban cut, tells Williams, “It’s your team, bro. You got the key to it. Say it, bro. If something’s wrong, you got the key to it, bro. Use it. Go for it.”
Transformative rather than transactional. Either a gift or a curse.
Caleb Williams stood before a Bears team meeting, rattled off his $25.5 million signing bonus and engaged in a time-honored rookie tradition: singing.
As a bonus for fans, the Sun-Times has included a special “HARD KNOCKS” BINGO card for the Bears. Viewers can use the card to check off key people or storylines mentioned in each episode.
The “Hard Knocks” crew announced a “hilarious” surprise in the first episode.
After years of fighting against it, participation in the series in training camp has so far proven to be meaningless.
It covers the past and future of the franchise.
The Bears’ documentary series “Hard Knocks” doesn’t premiere until Tuesday, but backup quarterback Tyson Bagent may already have the funniest reaction.
The “Hard Knocks” crew announced a “hilarious” surprise in the first episode.
Hell has frozen over. The Bears will be at Hard Knocks.
The Bears will make the most of their television time.
The Bears have had many forgettable seasons in the four decades since their Super Bowl victory, and the fact that they have risen back to national prominence is a positive.
The Bears were selected for the first time since the HBO show launched in 2001.
