Possible Bears Practice Squad Cinderella Stories

The Bears have signed Bill Murray to the practice squad.

So they've got that much going for them, which is nice.

All Caddyshack, Stripes and Ghostbusters lines aside, they've got a real group of Cinderella stories at the bottom of their roster, or at least hopeful of making the roster. Murray is one of them, a 6-foot-4, 280-pound defensive lineman who played one game for the New England Patriots last year after playing college ball for William & Mary.

They added three other practice squad players from outside the Halas Hall sphere of influence: Former Rams 6-3, 233-pound linebacker Daniel Hardy, former Pitt defensive lineman Deslin Alexandre and former Tulsa and Virginia Tech kicker John Parker Romo. Alexandre had 16 career sacks at Pitt while Hardy had four tackles last year in six games with the Rams.

The other practice squad players they signed were all already with the team until being waived on Tuesday or Wednesday: linebacker Micah Baskerville, defensive tackle Travis Bell, fullback Robert Burns, tight end Stephen Carlson, offensive lineman Aviante Collins, linebacker DeMarquis Gates, defensive lineman Jalen Harris, tackle Roy Mbaeteka, cornerback Greg Stroman Jr. and wide receiver Nsimba Webster.

They also brought back quarterback Nathan Peterman to the 53-man roster as a backup or third quarterback. Coach Matt Eberflus didn't want to mention which will be the backup to Justin Fields at this point but it would be no surprise to see Peterman the actual backup at this point due to Tyson Bagent's inexperience.

The Bears finalized the deal for Trent Taylor, the former Bengals punt returner and slot receiver.

Taylor couldn't help feel a bit stunned when Cincinnati waived him after he had averaged 9.7 yards a punt return in his career.

"I was a little surprised when Cincinnati let go of me considering the production I gave them in punt return the past year but they had a draft pick in the fourth round (Charlie Jones) that they felt like they wanted to go with," Taylor said. "I understand it's a business and that's how things go. So yeah I loved my time in Cincinnati but happy to be here in Chicago."

Taylor's career started in San Franciso and he played then under current Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower.

"Yeah, it's a weird feeling because like I don't know anybody in the building," Taylor said. "I don't know the offense, but like I have a spot on the team, which is just like a weird feeling right now."

Taylor already had one big game in Chicago.

The 5-foot-8, 180-pounder had a career high of 92 yards on six catches against the Bears in a game Robbie Gould won with five field goals for San Francisco, 15-14.

"Yeah that was a memorable one for a lot of different reasons but I had food poisoning the night before the game so I was like throwing (up), like I never went to sleep," Taylor said. "So I, like, called it the 'Chicago flu game; is what we joke about. But yeah, it was a fun one, it was very memorable for me. I think that's the most yards receiving that I've ever had in a game was here in Chicago. So hopefully I can keep that up."

If Chicago flu game sounds familiar, it's the name given to Michael Jordan's Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals when he scored 38 points and made seven rebounds with what many think was food poisoning, and the legend had it that he got it from pizza at the hotel.

So where did Taylor's food poisoning come from?

"I think it was in the hotel," he said. "I think it was like some pizza that we ate. So yeah, I might be staying away from pizza around here. So we'll see. But yeah pizza is supposed to be good around here so I might give it a second chance."

Just like MJ.

The Bears also officially put guard Teven Jenkins and backup center Doug Kramer on injured reserve.

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