Chicago Bears 2023-2024

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#951      

EyeoftheIllini

EyeoftheIllini
EyeoftheIllini
Illinirog70 said:
Here's what I'd like to see the Bears do...

Trade #1 pick for a haul--the BEST that they can get.

Keep Fields.

Draft Bo Nix with their #9 pick (most accurate QB in history, strong arm, good wheels, big kid.)

Use the rest of the picks to build up a powerful defense ,and offensive line; stock up for the future.

sign a top of the line wide receiver and a veteran stud defensive end.

Reasoning: they're not winning it all next year anyway-- so build up the best tools going forward and give Nix a year or two to learn behind Fields.

Oh yes--- Fire Eberflus-- he'll never be a winner. Get a charismatic coach to lead this team into the future.

Comments?
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First, I addressed Eberflus in post above. Doesn’t seem like he’s going to shown the door and I’m fine with that.

The rest sounds fine but fraught with peril. I’d guess there are 7-8 teams that will be looking for a new QB including the Bears and another 2-3 who may possibly be doing so. No guarantee that Nix is still there at Bears own draft pick. Plus, if you really think he is your franchise QB (you know, the most important position), are you going to play games trying to figure out how low you can get him? Only takes one team to jump up ahead of you.

Sure, signing a “top of the line wide receiver and a veteran stud defensive end” sounds great. First, are there any available next year? Second, no guarantee they sign with Bears. Third, I know they have cap money, but also need to re-sign Johnson to be contract or sign a lockdown corner. Is there money for all that?

I guarantee there won’t be money for that if you keep Fields for 2 years as that would require signing him to an extension. Highly doubt he’d do that and franchise tag could be even more expensive for that one year as I don’t think Fields is inline for a position defining contract extension. Even keeping him the final year of contract cuts into cap space not to mention the impact on team and QB room dynamics. And you lose the trade value of Fields, which really sounds like it will be a second rounder. I actually saw mock draft yesterday that had I think LVR giving up a 2 and 4 for Fields.

So while your scenario sounds good, this isn’t a video game or fantasy football. To accomplish what you say would not be easy. If Fields isn’t your QB you move on from him now. You want your new QB to sit for a year, you then sign a relatively inexpensive veteran to come in for a year. And QB position is too important to not take the top guy on your draft board. If that is Nix, way, way too risky to try and thread the needle and wait until #9. I don’t think you can go lower than #3. If WA or NE wants #1, I might risk it. But I really doubt Poles will surround what very well could be a career and franchise defining decision with all that risk.
 
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#953      

illinistephen

I
illinistephen
EyeoftheIllini said:
I think people under estimate how much work, time and effort goes into replacing a HC. Especially if you’re hiring one that hasn’t been a HC before. Also continuity just doesn’t impact the QB or offense. I wouldn’t have been broken up if Eberflus had been let go, but I’ve been of the mind since about week 16/17 that Bears would keep Eberflus and draft a new QB.

The team has shown improvement, especially the D after they got Sweat. The moves made last season for the D were done to fit Eberflus’s D. A top 5-10 D is a great friend of a rookie QB. To me it makes sense to keep HC for D and team continuity and get rid of the offensive brain trust who showed nothing that would lead one to conclude they’re who I want around a rookie QB. Plus Flus seems to be liked by the players.

Can’t worry about your successful OC being snagged down the line. At this point we’ll take the successful part and worry about the rest later. If OC is successful and leaves at least you know what kind of system will fit the QB, and make nice hire accordingly.
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Two problems I see with keeping Flus are:
1. Is he the best coach to develop a rookie QB? I don't think so. The best offensive coaches are either HC's or OC's interviewing for HC jobs. By keeping Flus you are limiting the pool of coaches that are interested in developing the most important position. The QB.
2. I'm not at all convinced that the defense is actually good under him. What I see is a defense that did good against crappy QB's like Taylor Heinicke, Brian Hoyer, and Josh Dobbs. Whenever the defense played a QB that was good like Mahomes, Love, or Herbert, the defense looked awful. They couldn't stop Joe Flacco in crunch time from getting 374 passing yards in December. The good win, the Lions, was the defense good, or is it that Jared Goff hates playing in cold weather?
 
#954      

Ramrod2010

R
Ramrod2010
mattcoldagelli said:
I've been a Fields guy, but man, if watching Stroud and Love on back-to-back days didn't drive home the need to take a swing on a QB, I don't know what would.
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Same thing happened to me.

I think you can win with Fields, but will Fields ever do what either Love or Stroud just did?
 
#956      

EyeoftheIllini

EyeoftheIllini
EyeoftheIllini
illinistephen said:
Two problems I see with keeping Flus are:
1. Is he the best coach to develop a rookie QB? I don't think so. The best offensive coaches are either HC's or OC's interviewing for HC jobs. By keeping Flus you are limiting the pool of coaches that are interested in developing the most important position. The QB.
2. I'm not at all convinced that the defense is actually good under him. What I see is a defense that did good against crappy QB's like Taylor Heinicke, Brian Hoyer, and Josh Dobbs. Whenever the defense played a QB that was good like Mahomes, Love, or Herbert, the defense looked awful. They couldn't stop Joe Flacco in crunch time from getting 374 passing yards in December. The good win, the Lions, was the defense good, or is it that Jared Goff hates playing in cold weather?
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I do have some doubts as you mention in #2. Definitely feel that way regarding Fields. Record improved and Fields did somewhat too, but against fifth easiest schedule. Certainly impacted how D did too as you point out. Still need pieces on that side of the ball, but think I have more confidence Eberflus can get the D to where it needs to be.

As to your #1, I still think you can get OC and QB coach under Eberflus who can develop new QB. Like I said, I wouldn’t have had any big issue if Flus had been let go, but I understand why Poles decided to keep him and came to the conclusion a few weeks ago that would be what he’d do. Hopefully it works out.
 
#957      

FlyNavy

FlyNavy
Los Angeles
FlyNavy
The evaluation is key when it comes to picking a new QB. So many mediocre QBs get picked in the top 5 makes you wonder what the teams saw when they made those choices. How did Carolina come to the conclusion that Bryce Young was a better bet than CJ Stroud? Why did the 49ers think so highly of Trey Lance that they traded a slew of picks to get him at #3? Why do the Jets screw up their evaluation every few years, or is it just a problem developing the QB?

On the flip side is Mahomes in 2017, who was thought of as an end-of-Round 1 prospect. Yet the Chiefs thought so highly of him in their evaluation that they traded up to #10 to get him. Same for the Bills, who traded up to get Josh Allen.

This QB evaluation, whether they go with Fields, Williams, Maye, or later in the first round, will be make-or-break for Poles, so I'd have to think he will be thorough. But the good news is that he has done this before and done it well: he was the Director of College Scouting for the Chiefs between 2016 and 2018.
 
#958      

RockfordIllini

R
RockfordIllini
illinistephen said:
Two problems I see with keeping Flus are:
1. Is he the best coach to develop a rookie QB? I don't think so. The best offensive coaches are either HC's or OC's interviewing for HC jobs. By keeping Flus you are limiting the pool of coaches that are interested in developing the most important position. The QB.
2. I'm not at all convinced that the defense is actually good under him. What I see is a defense that did good against crappy QB's like Taylor Heinicke, Brian Hoyer, and Josh Dobbs. Whenever the defense played a QB that was good like Mahomes, Love, or Herbert, the defense looked awful. They couldn't stop Joe Flacco in crunch time from getting 374 passing yards in December. The good win, the Lions, was the defense good, or is it that Jared Goff hates playing in cold weather?
Click to expand...

Agree wholeheartedly on point # 1 which is why I banged my head against the wall when he was first hired. You didn’t know what you had in Fields, but he looked like he could be a potential franchise QB. So you need to go all in on developing him. By hiring a defensive head coach you have one of 3 outcomes: 1. Fields is a smashing success, in which case your OC probably gets a HC job and you have to start over with a new OC. 2. Fields is a smashing success and you are forced to fire your HC to promote your OC (think when Lovie got canned in Tampa so they could keep Dirk Koetter and Winston together). Or the situation where we are at now: 3. Fields is uneven or worse and you start over with a new OC.

If you are drafting a new QB, you have to go all in on developing him and that includes hiring an offensive head coach.

And for the record, I think I’m in the keep Fields camp. I don’t think we’ve been asking the right question. The question is not “is he or will he ever be a Stroud or Love (gulp)”, but “compared to what?”

I don’t think Fields is a top 5 QB but I think he’s on that long list of mediocrish QBs, your Dak Prescotts, your Jared Goffs, Kirk Cousins etc that you can win with if you build around them and play to their strengths. There’s just no guarantee you will upgrade the position via the draft. Odds are overwhelming you either wind up no better than you are now or worse.
 
#959      

Mr. Tibbs

Mr. Tibbs
southeast DuPage
Mr. Tibbs
for the most part, its as if selecting a QB with one of the first 5 picks in the draft is a curse.
 
#960      

Roundball Sage

R
Roundball Sage
There are many good things about being a Chicago Bears fan. Historic franchise. Some all-time great and legendary players over the years. Playing outdoors in ‘Bears’ Weather’ not for wimps. Energetic and caring fan base. And a fan base that keeps hoping even when the team gives them little reason to.

But we just saw in the last few days one of the best things about being a Bears fan. And that is: That you are NOT a Dallas Cowboys fan!

We have been fed the nonsense for generations that Dallas is America’s Team. The franchise now has a valuation greater than some Nations. Their fans think that The Boys have some kind of divine right to win Super Bowls. And that with very deep pockets they have brought in and paid some top talent for many years now.

AND STILL... They can’t win The Big Ones. All that going for them and they fall on their North Texas faces each and every year.

And Dallas Cowboy fans were told that THIS was THE YEAR. All the disappointments of the past were going to disappear when The Boys finally grabbed the big trophy this time around.

BUT NO. The Fates again stepped in and showed that not only are the Cowboys NOT America’s team... but they are not even representing the Dallas Metroplex Area very well any more. And the fan base has gone from disappointment to frustration to anger. The Dallas elite do NOT like to lose. Ever. In anything.

And Chicago doesn’t like to lose, either. But we in the former City of Broad Shoulders have learned to live with disappointment and still carry on. We don’t have the same sense of oversized entitlement that Dallas fans have and so it’s easier for Bear fans to overlook the bad and focus on the good.

And the good right now is a chance to take what many say is the next great young QB to come into the League. Fields is not bad but he is hardly great. And greatness is what usually gets the job done.

So when you are giving thanks for the blessings in your lives Bear fans, be sure to give thanks that you are not Dallas Cowboy fans. And if Dallas really is America’s Team... then America looks like it’s in a whole lot of hurt.

And maybe Bear fans... you might even root for Green Bay or Detroit in the coming days. Not because you like them... but just because you're happy you're not watching Dallas.
 
#962      

FlyNavy

FlyNavy
Los Angeles
FlyNavy
Roundball Sage said:
And maybe Bear fans... you might even root for Green Bay or Detroit in the coming days. Not because you like them... but just because you're happy you're not watching Dallas.
Click to expand...

Only once in my life did I cheer for the Packers, and that was against the Vikings at the end of 2012. The Bears needed the Vikings to lose in order to make the playoffs. And, of course, the Packers lost, meaning the Bears missed the playoffs despite a 10-6 record (Lovie got fired shortly thereafter).

Since 1992, the Packers are 50-15 against the Bears. I can't stand them or their fans. With the above exception, I will cheer against them every chance I get, even when that meant cheering for Dallas.

Go Niners!
 
#965      

Emerson Bigguns

Emerson Bigguns
Emerson Bigguns
Illinirog70 said:
Here's what I'd like to see the Bears do...

Trade #1 pick for a haul--the BEST that they can get.

Keep Fields.

Draft Bo Nix with their #9 pick (most accurate QB in history, strong arm, good wheels, big kid.)

Use the rest of the picks to build up a powerful defense ,and offensive line; stock up for the future.

sign a top of the line wide receiver and a veteran stud defensive end.

Reasoning: they're not winning it all next year anyway-- so build up the best tools going forward and give Nix a year or two to learn behind Fields.

Oh yes--- Fire Eberflus-- he'll never be a winner. Get a charismatic coach to lead this team into the future.

Comments?
Click to expand...
I just don't think the Bears can draft a QB in the 1st and keep Fields. Having two developing QB's is going to limit the reps they can each get, impeding the development of both, create division in the locker room and in the media on who should be QB1, and put additional pressure on whomever is playing. Worrying that your next mistake could be your last is a huge detriment. Every time you lose, the entire organization has to answer the question...

The Packers were able to develop a QB in waiting only because they had established HOF type guys in the organization. As long as Favre was there, and subsequently Rodgers, there was no question who was starting. The next guy only got his shot when the vet was gone, and the youngster was the unquestioned QB1.
 
#966      

Illiniaaron

I
Geneseo, IL
Illiniaaron
EyeoftheIllini said:
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1746971919776399539
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#971      

Mr. Tibbs

Mr. Tibbs
southeast DuPage
Mr. Tibbs
hiberto said:
The Panthers had the worst record in the NFL and had the least passing and total yards of any team. I don't really understand why you'd want to interview the person that was responsible for that offense, especially when you need to improve in the passing game
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the NFL mandates that all teams really need to interview qualified minorities when hiring outside the organization

enough said
 
#972      

GrayGhost77

GrayGhost77
Centennial, CO
GrayGhost77
hiberto said:
The Panthers had the worst record in the NFL and had the least passing and total yards of any team. I don't really understand why you'd want to interview the person that was responsible for that offense, especially when you need to improve in the passing game
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Was thinking the same thing but, you know, the Bears.
 
#975      

IlliniFaninHoosierLand

IlliniFaninHoosierLand
IlliniFaninHoosierLand
hiberto said:
The Panthers had the worst record in the NFL and had the least passing and total yards of any team. I don't really understand why you'd want to interview the person that was responsible for that offense, especially when you need to improve in the passing game
Click to expand...

Grandpa said:
But is he qualified? Stats say no way!
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The argument for him is that he's part of the McVay tree. Rams RB coach in 2020. Added assistant HC title in 2021. Moved to TE coach while keeping assistant HC title in 2022.
 
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