Grading the Chicago Bears' schedule release video—“New Girl” stars can’t salvage a meh concept

The What

The conceit of the four-minute clip is simple:

• A Bears employee emails the top secret 2025 schedule to head coach Ben Johnson, but accidentally c.c.’s a few dozen other Ben Johnsons.

• In order to keep the schedule under wraps, the Bears employee—aided by such Midway Monsters as Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze—wanders around the city in search of all the Ben Johnsons on the email chain so he can destroy their phones, and, thus, avoid having them reveal the schedule to the public before the appointed time.

Not exactly Emmy material.

The Who

Now we have nothing against the sitcom New Girl—for that matter, we all think the show's star Zooey Deschanel is pretty dang cool—but the show went off the air in 2018!

So the choice to make two of its cast members, Lamorne Morris and Jake Johnson, the four-minute clip’s celebrity guests is, oh, let’s go with questionable.

Yes, both Morris and Johnson are Chicago area natives, but there are a ton of Chicago area natives who are A) Bears fans, and B) far more relevant than the New Girl duo.

Like Bill Murray. Or Seth Rollins. Or Barack Obama.

Before you scoff at the potential cost of securing such A-listers, remember: $6.4 billion.

Final Grade

In a vacuum, the video is slick enough. Ben Johnson is surprisingly at ease in his co-starring role, and Caleb and Odunze are their usual charming selves.

Lamorne and Jake also are perfectly swell—Johnson, notably, is charismatic and silly, as per usual—but considering the show for which they’re best known hasn’t generated a new episode in seven years, this has to be considered a misfire.

Let’s give it a C-. Better luck next year.