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John and Tim are back to celebrate many a return. The Fire return to their winning ways, Andre Franco returns to action, Jonathan Bamba returns to his early season form, and Robert Lewandowski returns to scoring! The guys spend time winding through the plethora of attacking options Gregg has at his disposal and how he may deploy them come playoff time against Charlotte.

They do take a detour to less positive stations, checking back in on the decision to bench Andrew Gutman for Noah Allen, which inevitably leads to John crashing out about - and stop me if you've heard this one - roster building!
This one has everything you could ask for, the good, the bad, the ugly, the epic highs and lows of Chicago Fire Football.
Tune in to hear it all on the latest episode of The Bonfire!

Check out Andrew’s work for Backheeled here: https://www.backheeled.com/who-best-mls-spending-transfers-ranking-every-cso-designated-players/
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Tim and John are joined by Andrew Clausen of http://Backheeled.com as the Fire battle back but settle for a draw in the last (scheduled) Soldier Field game of 2026. The trio talk the difference Griezmann has made for Orlando, both in this game and 2026, what that says about the Fire and Lewandowski moving forward. After a bit of banter, Andrew then walks through his latest analysis for Backheeled breaking down the effectiveness of the top decision makers in MLS when targeting Designated Players. He breaks down the methodology, some of the results and of course lets the guys know where Gregg falls in the pecking order.
Then focus shifted to the upcoming game against the Colorado Rapids and what could be in store for the Fire as they take on a side that has gotten some good results in 2026 despite serious ‘flux’.
Andrew breaks down the tactics of what Colorado wants to do while Tim and John discuss how the Fire may be able to take advantage of the structure (and maybe get a penalty off old friend Miguel Navarro).
All this and more on the latest episode of The Bonfire!

After a decade of trying, the Fire finally head out of Atlanta with a win. John and Tim break down the Fire's 3-2 victory over Atlanta United, focusing in on why it might not feel like it's exactly time for a victory lap. From Robert Lewandowski's ongoing scoring drought to concerns with the defense and midfield, there are a lot of questions about whether the team is ready to meet the standards they've set o1ut for 2026.
After talking about what they didn't like – and a few things they did, including Anzor Mekvabishvili's strong play in the second half – the duo turn to Wednesday's game against Orlando City, the Fire's final scheduled matchup at Soldier Field in 2026, as Lewandowski is once again set to face off against Antoine Griezmann.

An old friend of the Fire returns as Kevin Egan joins John and Tim around The Bonfire. The lead MLS on Apple TV host and former Fire broadcaster talks about why he's excited by Chicago's resurgence. Talking about his experience in the summer of 2013, when Mike Magee joined and made the Fire a must-watch (and can't-lose) team through through the summer, Kevin tells us why he believes this is "the most exciting time ever to be a Fire fan."

He then says why he thinks Saturday's showdown in Atlanta is a "must-win" game for the Fire as they push for playoff positioning, making Saturday's matchup key to the team's ambitions this year.

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In their last test against a top team before the playoffs the Fire fall to New England 2-1.. but still manage to clinch a playoff spot!
Andrew Gutman returned, Andreas Hanche-Olsen debuted, and the Fire may have found themselves on the wrong side of some questionable officiating yet again.
Tim and John get together to break down the consistent issues that keep popping up, If the Fire are really set up for success in a playoff run, and what the attitude inside the locker room might be. All this and more, on The Bonfire!

For the second game in a row, the Fire can't seem to stop themselves from counting down from 11. This time, it's Captain Jack who's sent off after getting two yellows against the Philadelphia Union, his former team, and for reasons to dumb to get into, he'll miss the Fire's two next games.

Down a man, the Fire couldn't hold onto the lead that Maren's absolute beauty of a goal gave them. John and Tim break down a performance where the Fire didn't show enough backbone to a playoff spot before looking forward to the possibility of a revenge game against the Revs this Saturday.

We're back - in more ways than one. John is back around The Bonfire, proving to all the doubters that he is, in fact, still alive, and he and Tim break down a pair of impressive wins for the Men In Red.
There's a lot to like in the victories over Vancouver and New York City, including the play of Maren Haile-Selassie, fresh off a new deal that will keep him in Chicago for the long haul.
John and Tim break it all down as they keep one eye on the impending arrival of the white-hot Philadelphia Union on Wednesday.

The Bonfire is once again burning. Ahead of the Fire's match against Vancouver at Soldier Field, Tim is joined by Joe Chatz to preview the match.
With John currently doing whatever the exact opposite of a vacation is, the duo wax poetic about Puso Dithejane's first international goal for Bafana Bafana, before casually mentioning that Robert Lewandowski got a hatty and a yellow for country.
The latter matters because it means that he'll be back in Chicago and set to join his Fire squad as they take on the team at the top of the west.

The Fire went to Nashville looking for their first win in the Music City.... and left disappointed. It continued a downward slide by the Fire that's extended a month at this point, as the team's now winless in seven games.
John and Tim break down the performance, but they spend most of their time focusing on what's not clicking with a squad that once looked like it was about ready to go toe-to-toe with teams like Nashville.

Former Fire assistant Marko Mitrović came to town and snapped the Fire's undefeated streak, turning it now into six straight without a win.
Alex joins John and Tim around The Bonfire to break down Thursday's 2-1 loss to the New England Revolution as the trio talk about what didn't go right on Sunday before switching focus to a tough date in Nashville on Saturday.

A club-record crowd were at Soldier Field to see the Chicago Fire once again take on Lionel Messi and Inter Miami and once again, the GOAT was unable to score against the Men In Red and the teams landed with a 1-1 draw, with the Fire's goal coming from a beautiful Lewandowski strike.
So naturally, John is pissed as hell. It might be because it was a draw, marking the fourth time in a row where the Fire had a draw in league play. As Tim tries to talk him off the ledge on that one, the two debate what isn't clicking with the Fire as they head into the toughest stretch of the season, starting with a discussion of the next team on deck, with Marko Mitrovic's New England Revolution coming up Sunday.

It was an absolute goal fest on the shores of Lake Ontario. Maren Haile-Selassie got his second brace. Lewandowski scored and set up one of Maren's goals and Walker Zimmerman couldn't stop himself from helping Gregg out for old time's sake by adding an own goal. That would have been great except for the fact that Josh Sargent scored a hat trick and Derrick Etienne Jr. added a stoppage time goal that kept the Fire from all three points in the Battle of the Great Lakes.
With John out on the IR, Joe Chatz joins Tim to make sense of it all as they look towards the Fire's upcoming game against Inter Miami and the battle of Barça alums coming up at Soldier Field on Wednesday.

It looked like the Fire were set to have a quiet end to their transfer window. Then this week happened. Recording hours before the transfer window closed, John and Tim bring in Alex to talk through the flurry of moves, from those that were expected (like acquiring Johan Gómez) to those that weren't (signing Philip Zinckernagel to a new, shorter-term deal that sees him become a DP), to those that, as of recording, haven't officially happened yet (Noah Allen to the Fire).
Join the trio as they break down all of the moves and what it means for a Fire roster that is striving to compete for trophies.

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The Fire remain winless in Seattle, notching their 3rd draw in 9 attempts at Lumen Field since the Sounders joined MLS, but that doesn't mean the day was without victory.
Robert Lewandowski turned heads with two big goal contributions, but was only the tip of the iceberg. Maren Haile-Selassie, Sam Rogers, and Die D'Avila all turned in Man of the Match quality performances as a late equalizer sealed a point for the Fire
Tim and John talk, Seattle and a bit of transfer panic as the deadline is only days away without the major move needed to get the Fire over the line in the Eastern Conference and into Concacaf Champion's League contention.

Hot Takes LIVE is so, so back. Matt is joined by Alan, the-Pole-with-the-goal, and John from The Bonfire to talk all things FIRE now that the World Cup is over and Club soccer reigns supreme. But that doesn't mean an end to international matches! John says the Fire laid an egg against Monterrey, do you agree? Lewandowski is scoring goals for GGG, but nobody seems to be celebrating like it's a success. Will Franco or Bamba have a DP spot next season?

The Fire are out of the Leagues Cup courtesy to a 2-1 loss from Hugo Cuypers and CF Monterrey. To help break down what that means and the state of the Fire for the rest of the 2026 season, John and Tim talk to Fire legend Dax McCarty about what he saw last night at SeatGeek Stadium.

The Fire's win streak is over but the undefeated streak continues after a heavily rotated Fire squad gets a point against the Red Bulls in New Jersey. John and Tim break down the issues from the 1-1 draw, but the real focus is ahead: The Fire's next game is against CF Monterrey in the Leagues Cup quarterfinal.

The duo break down what to expect from Hugo Cuyper's and a very strong Rayados squad including other familiar faces to MLS watchers.

The Fire continue their winning ways. It may not have been a picture-perfect victory but it was still a victory. It was also David Poreba's first MLS start as he sets up an assist after making it into the XI with his Robert Lewandowski, his favorite childhood player who sealed the win with a strike from the spot.

Puso Dithejane's emergence is the main story, however, as he once again found the back of the net. John and Tim break down what they liked – and didn't – from a hot muggy night in Orlando.

The Fire's continue their winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Portland – their second in a row over the Timbers but also just the second in the teams' respective MLS histories.
John and Tim talk about all that's working well for the Fire who are on their first five game winning streak in a quarter century, and find themselves singing about some (relatively) unsung heroes in Robin Lod, Maren Haile-Selassie and Sam Rogers, who was starting in MLS play for the first time since February and had a strong performance.
After that, they switch gears to talk about the Fire's upcoming game against Orlando City, but mostly, hone in on why they think that Antoine Griezmann might be a budding Florida Man.

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The Fire stay perfect! Berhalter's side extend the win streak to 4, and finish as the top team in Phase 1 of the 2026 Leagues Cup. John is joined by Apple TV Match Analyst Neil Sika to talk to recap the tournament and talk the return to league play as the Fire face off with Portland Timber in Soldier Field on Saturday.
Will the Fire keep the good times rolling? Or will Marti Cifuentes begin his tenure with a win in league play?