The 10 Most Notable Chicago Sports Moments of 2024
A rough year. A weird year. A fascinating year.
ONE OF OUR MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAMS racked up the worst record in modern MLB history.
The other MLB unit gave their new manager a record-breaking contract, only to finish with the exact same record as the previous season.
Our NHL team welcomed a generational talent, yet finished the season with the third-fewest points in franchise history.
Our WNBA and MLS squads landed last in their respective divisions.
Despite huge expectations, our NFL squad stumbled through the second-longest losing streak in the team’s 104 years of existence.
And our NBA team remains stuck on the treadmill of mediocrity.
So yeah, it wasn’t a great year for sports here in Ye Olde Windy City.
It was, nonetheless, a fascinating 12 months, with moments that offered hope, frustration, and silver linings. And we couldn’t look away.
Nor, frankly, did we want to.
Here, in chronological order, are 10 of the most memorable Chicago sports events of 2024, some good, some bad, some odd, and all of which have us chomping at the bit for a new and improved 2025.
March 4-7, 2024: Chicago Bulls Crush the West
316-505.
That’s the Bulls’ all-time road record against the Western Conference, so when the franchise makes some noise on the Coast, it’s notable.
In March, make some noise they did, as they took down a trio of (relatively) good cross-conference antagonists:
3/4/24 - @Sacramento - 113-109
3/6/24 - @Utah - 119-117
3/7/2024 - @Golden State 125-122
Coby White and DeMar DeRozan were en fuego over the three-game streak, averaging, respectively, 27.6 and 31.6 per game. After the Bulls took down the Dubs, fans were feeling pretty good about things…until they dropped three of their next four. Sigh.
March 28, 2024: Chicago White Sox Debut the Campfire Milkshake
Sometimes you go to a professional sporting event to watch the game. Other times, you go to enjoy the promotional giveaways. And other times, you go for the food.
Re: the 2024 Chicago White Sox, the Campfire Milkshake was the best reason to hit Guaranteed Rate Field.
The fine folks at the Eater described the cold and creamy delicacy as such:
“Burned marshmallows swimming in a sea of whipped cream. A puddle of chocolate drips down and covers the rim of the 16-ounce plastic souvenir cup which is filled with Prairie Farms Belgian Chocolate ice cream mixed with graham crackers. A piece of a chocolate bar marks the final touch.”
Even though it’ll set you back $15, the Campfire offered just the kind of yumminess that makes multiple double-digit losing streaks semi-tolerable.
April 25, 2024: Chicago Bears Draft Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze
Admit it, you were crazy psyched when Roger Goodell called Williams’ and Odunze’s names from the NFL Draft stage in Detroit.
In retrospect, snatching up Jayden Daniels and Brock Bowers would’ve been the better move for the Bears, but on Draft night — and during training camp, for that matter — we all thought Williams was Patrick Mahomes incarnate, and Odunze was the second coming of Larry Fitzgerald.
Despite the Bears’ craptastic 2024, both players have plenty of career left to justify their Draft spots. And we look forward to seeing them do just that.
May 1, 2024: Chicago Cubs’ Rookie Shota Imanaga Wins His Fifth-Straight Start
Imanaga is a beast, hard stop.
In his rookie year, the 31-year-old lefty — who plays the game with the sheer verve of a Little Leaguer — finished with a record of 15-3, an ERA of 2.91, and a WHIP of 1.02. He landed fifth in Cy Young Award voting, and had the Cubs been, y’know, better, he’d have been in the conversation for the top spot.
Imanaga’s season was bookended with eye-popping win streaks: Five W’s up top and six to wrap it up.
Shota’s May 4 win over the Mets — a 1-0 gem — was arguably his finest outing of the year, as he allowed 3 hits and no runs in seven innings, striking out 7 along the way. In another era, he’d have been allowed to finish the damn game, but, y’know, 21st Century baseball, amirite?
June 20, 2024: Chicago Bulls Trade Alex Caruso to the OKC Thunder for Josh Giddey
The day following this deal, I dropped a who-won-this-trade article here on CSS, a piece I buttoned up by saying:
“This is far from a perfect deal. But at least it gives us something different, and at this point, I’d much rather have different than yet another .500 season, and yet another Play-In Tourney flameout.”
Giddey’s had his moments during his brief Chicago tenure, most notably his 29/15/10 triple-double in Chicago’s 12/28 road upset of Milwaukee. But he’s also scored in single-figures in eight of his 28 games — not a great look for a guy who’s looking for a huge extension.
Bulls fans can take solace in the fact that over in Oklahoma, Caruso is having his worst offensive year since his rookie season. But he’s playing well enough on the defensive end of the floor, so the Thunder opted to gave him a 4-year, $81 million extension.
So who did win the trade? Welp, Giddey’s only 21, so let’s wait to bestow the final grade until, say, 2027.
July 4, 2024: Chicago Blackhawks Rookie Connor Bedard Wins the Calder Memorial Trophy
Coming into the 2023-24 season, the hype on the Blackhawks then-18-year-old center was so intense that anything less than the Calder would’ve been an epic fail.
But Bedard earned his hardware, putting up 22 goals and 39 assists for a total of 61 points. For context, Minnesota’s Brock Faber finished a distant second among rookies with 47 points.
As of this writing, the Hawks sport the NHL’s worst record, but Bedard makes them eminently watchable, and, barring ill health, will do just that for the next decade.
September 22, 2024: Chicago Sky Rookie Angel Reese Breaks the WNBA’s Single-Season Rebounding Record
Charismatic, controversial, mercurial, and a rebounding savant, Reese is the millennial Dennis Rodman, minus the bizarre political stances and the general weirdness, and if we were ranking this list in order of awesomeness, Angel’s cray-cray board-work would be #1 with a bullet.
In any other season, Reese would’ve been the WNBA’s runaway Rookie of the Year, but thanks to that whole Caitlin Clark thing, Bayou Barbie finished a distant second.
You can be certain that the emotional paint-prowler wasn’t thrilled about the voting — the Reese/Clark beef is sort of a thing — which is why all of us can’t wait for Angel’s sophomore season.
September 27, 2024: Chicago White Sox Set MLB Record For Futility
In a vacuum, this doesn’t stand out from any other Pale Hose 2024 loss.
The pitching was decent enough — Garrett Crochet threw four scoreless innings, and the bullpen allowed a reasonable 4 runs on 4 hits — but the offense was anemic per usual, mustering only 3 hits and crossing the plate just once.
Completely unmemorable…except for the fact that this was the Sox’ 121st stinkeroo, breaking the 1962 New York Mets’ record for losses.
I don’t have stats on this one, but I’d bet that 50% of the 44,435 fans (allegedly) in attendance drowned their sorrows in a Campfire Milkshake.
I know I would’ve.
October 13, 2024: Caleb Williams Goes Off in England
Believe it or not, there was a point during the 2024 NFL season when the Bears were legit.
Heading into their Week 6 game against Jacksonville at Wembley Stadium in London, the Monsters boasted a record of 3-2, a win total that was simultaneously frustrating and titillating: Frustrating because Chicago rode into the season with realistic postseason aspirations, and 3-2 wasn’t a playoff-caliber record; and titillating because our rookie quarterback seemed to have found his NFL mojo.
The previous week against Carolina, Williams had the best game of his professional life to that point, completing 20-of-29 passes for 304 yards and a couple of tuddies.
Staring down the Jags in the U.K., the USC product looked like an All-Pro, racking up 4 touchdowns and a career-best 91.6 QBR. Best of all, Caleb was sacked just thrice, one of only 9 times this season he was dropped behind the line less then 4 times.
The following week against Washington, Williams completed just 10 of his 24 passes for 131 yards and no touchdowns, while the Bears suffered a season-altering loss. (#HailJayden) Do with that information what you will.
November 24, 2024: Chicago Bears Fire Head Coach Matt Eberflus
Since Chicago Sports Stuff’s February 23, 2024 debut, we’ve used a ton of oxygen yammering about former Bears coach Matt Eberflus, some of which we wasted the day before Flus was whacked:
“After a series of boneheaded decisions in last Sunday’s nightmare loss in Washington — a.k.a., the Hail Jayden Game — and after massively pooping the bed with his Offensive Coordinator hire (Shane Waldron, gross) it’s apparent to everybody on the planet other than the dudes who sign his paycheck that Eberflus doesn’t have the wherewithal or creativity to ever bring a Lombardi Trophy to Halas Hall.”
Well, yeah.
Considering how badly the Bears have performed during the brief post-Flus era — 0-4 record, 21-point average margin of loss, two games in which the offense put up less than 100 yards through the air, blah, blah, blah — it’s possible that Matt wasn’t as bad as we thought, that it was a player fail rather than a coach fail.
But two things can be true at once — the roster and the sidelines weren’t properly built for success.
So let’s blame GM Ryan Poles, shall we?