2026-08-27 01:39:14
Some people are fans of the Chicago Bears. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Chicago Bears. This 2026 Defector NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here.
Your Team: The Chicago Bears, who are not yet the Hammond, Indiana, Bears.
Your 2025 record: 11-6, a staggering outlier for a franchise far more comfortable with 6-11. A new coach, a repaired and better protected quarterback, and the next big running game. We were comfortable with the Bears being persistently mediocre, and now we have to deal with the possibility that they could own the NFC North for more than one year, which they haven't done since 2006, when Rex Grossman roamed the Earth.
2026-08-27 00:33:31
Following Tuesday's news of Dolly Parton's death, the Defector staff convened to remember some of our favorite performances by her.
2026-08-27 00:01:00
It’s a rite of passage to get your ideals smashed in your early twenties, just in the normal course of trying to get your feet under you. It doesn’t seem to matter what exactly you care about, either. Whether you’re voting and then watching election results, or you’re trying to make a college relationship last beyond graduation, or you believe that with enough energy and grit, you and your ideals can save the trees, you’re in for a few bruises.
But every bright-eyed youth loses innocence in their own way. Today’s friend of a friend is out to solve the affordable housing crisis, but she’s about to learn that all of us, however committed to “the work” we may seem, have a greater aptitude for mess than for the revolution.
2026-08-26 23:36:00
In observance of Reds Week at Defector, Lauren and Alex decided to try a red lip, as modeled in this brief tutorial. Here, in the style of The Not-So-Great Defector Bake Off, are their results.
Lauren: Hi Alex! So as we start with moisturizer, I wanted to ask right up top: What’s your history with red lip, and, I suppose, lip products in general?
Alex: The first thing that feels important to note is that my lips have always been a source of insecurity for me, because they are very small! The closest I’ve ever come to considering injectables was when lip flips came out and the possibility of full, lovely lips was dangled in front of me. I haven’t done it—I think any change would simply be too drastic for me to get away with, because I’m starting with so little! But in my kinder moments, I also think to myself: I have my mom’s mouth, and I like her mouth, so I can live with this one.
2026-08-26 22:58:14
The competition for the much-coveted Who Won The Offseason Prize is nearly over. Despite a late rally from the Cleveland Browns, who became the first team to eliminate themselves from the regular season by quintupling down on the disaster that has been, is, and seems hell-bent on continuing to be Deshaun Watson, it seems clear that the winner will be the San Francisco 49ers. Besides, it's Reds Week, not Oranges Week, which means that even with that photo of Jed York in his jail smock, red is still the color of the day.
And York is part of that, too, with his arrest on Monday capping what has perhaps been the single weirdest offseason in recent NFL memory. Not only did the owner of the Red and Gold (see, we told you) get arrested near a trailer park in East Palestine, Ohio and midwife the phrase "criminal tools" into the popular lexicon, but he managed to steal center stage from his head coach Kyle Shanahan, whose auto accident in Palo Alto six weeks ago still confuses folks even after he offered not one but two explanations for it. And between them, they both trumped the ongoing urban legend of the Power Plant That Eats Football Players, a theory that was developed to explain the Niners' implausibly bad injury luck; it has been debunked by those pesky scientific types but will certainly rise again the next time a 49er gets hurt. The concept of an electrical facility that emits ligament-devouring Z-rays is too delightful to reject merely because it isn't true.
It is difficult to pinpoint just when the offseason became more important than the actual season in sports, though many people figure it was LeBron James' Year of The Decision, 2010. That was the summer when he left Cleveland, which is a small Ohio town 90 miles west-northwest of East Palestine, to pursue his bliss in Miami, before he found it again in Cleveland, which was before he found it in Los Angeles and directly before he found it in Philadelphia. Since then, each sport has sought to keep customers plugged in even without the benefit of games, hopping from the draft to the combine to free agency in the attempt to keep the suckers penned and feeding.
2026-08-26 22:51:26
This week on Nothing But Respect, we spent the entire episode talking through the last 13 years of Los Angeles Lakers ownership drama. Our guest Harrison Faigen is a longtime Lakers media guy, and he joined us for a lengthy discussion on Mark Walter, Joshua Kushner, and Johnny, Jimmy, Jeanie, Janie, Joey, and Jesse Buss. It's crazy they're all named that. The tie-in to Reds Week is that my name is Patrick Redford.
You can find Nothing But Respect in Apple Podcasts or whatever podcast app you use. Follow the show on Instagram, and contact the Broke Jumper Tip Line at (347) 380-6426. Thanks for listening!
