The shadow of impending roster cuts hung heavy over the fourth episode of HBO’s Bears Hard Knocks.

Cuts always play a big part in the show, but in this case it was all almost anticlimactic, as the Bears named their 53-man roster in the afternoon and episode four aired about five hours later with nothing said about the actual cuts.

There was nothing HBO could do about these cuts except change the broadcast schedule.

Still, the drama was real, and the laughs and jokes in other episodes of the series were replaced by the somber mood created by a season-ending injury.

The show focused on the attempts of several players in Kansas City to make the roster, including Velus Jones Jr., who is converting to running back, running back Ian Wheeler, quarterback Austin Reed and safety Adrian Colbert.

The show is known for telling the backstories of players who usually get little attention, and Colbert’s story is one of its best. HBO told how Colbert was riding a bike as a 9-year-old, was a star on his youth football team, but then was blindsided on his bike by a woman going 55 miles per hour.

Colbert had a broken collarbone and nose, as well as numerous other injuries, was in a coma for two weeks, and then was told he would never play football again. And yet he was in Halas Hall telling people he needed every rep he could get against the Chiefs to make the roster. They showed his touchdown-saving pass breakup and then his safety blitz that set up the easy pick-6 for Reddy Steward.

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Of course, it was all for nothing, as Colbert was among those released on Tuesday, along with Reed, who also left after his longest playing time of the preseason and a strong performance.

If those two were the losers in the drama, the tie went to Wheeler. It was a painful tie, and HBO captured one of the most emotional moments of the preseason involving him after the game.

Wheeler will be paid to play for the team this year, but is not on the active roster because he was placed on the injured list after tearing his ACL in the game.

Earlier in the week, running backs coach Chad Morton and assistant coach Jennifer King had put Wheeler through a so-called “good cop, bad cop” training program, with Morton constantly encouraging him as a drill sergeant and King being more optimistic.

The brawl at the end of practice last week that broke out after Gervon Dexter’s hard hit on Wheeler was shown in all its brutal majesty, and afterward King told Wheeler, “I told you that in this league, playing high is a self-correcting problem.”

She and Morton had repeatedly told Wheeler in the first few episodes to slow down in his attempt to make the team.

“Your growth in three weeks is incredible,” King told Wheeler, who then pointed out that he was still running too high. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

He did it.

After injuring his knee in the game, Wheeler was given a long hug from his mother, Beaura, in an emotional moment after the Bears walked her into the locker room. In the final scene for Wheeler, Ryan Poles tells him he will be placed on the injured list and will get another chance next year, but needs to stay mentally focused to improve as a running back.

One of his goals must be to finish lower down.

The clear winner of the game and, as it turned out, the day the team was cut was Jones. He managed a couple of runs, including the winding 39-yard touchdown. And the man they call the Ferret King because of his late ferret, Crash, actually made the team.

HBO was unable to make cuts from the episode due to a production deadline, but the episode will no doubt be a key part of the final episode next Tuesday, as the Bears begin preparations for their game against the Tennessee Titans on September 8.

There were also more light-hearted moments in the episode, such as Tyson Bagent’s father’s big night arm wrestling in a Kansas City bar or when Reed told everyone in the group that they would remember the undefeated Bears in the 2024 preseason just as much as they remembered the Legion of Boom and the 1985 Bears.

They have a finale scheduled for next week, with Caleb Williams sitting out the final preseason game and Chiefs receiver Mecole Hardman telling him he will be nervous before the opener, even though he said last week he was never nervous.

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