I don't know if everyone realizes this, but this is the oldest rivalry in the NFL. I don't think that has been brought up on these broadcasts before.
Shoulda lined Fields up under center and have him sneak it in the conventional way if you wanted to keep it in his hands.Hey let’s line up in shotgun on fourth and less than a yard really dumb.
I thought he scored too honestly. And they even said on the broadcast they think he scored it just wasn’t clear enough to reverse it.Even with the dumb play-call, I'm convinced that he actually scored. Goal-line technology has been used for years in soccer. Why can't they use it in the NFL?
This isn't even pretending to be an NFL offense personnel-wise. Most of these guys (including Fields) won't be in the league in 3 years.When will the Bears escape their 1930s offensive philosophy? Not this year.
I don't care what your receiving corp looks like. 11 pass attempts for 70 yards in today's NFL oughta be a criminal offense.
This isn't even pretending to be an NFL offense personnel-wise. Most of these guys (including Fields) won't be in the league in 3 years.
There is no reason to even bother watching the 2022 Bears, and caring about them is just self-harm. This team's goal as set by their GM is to make the calendar say January, and they will accomplish their goal soon enough.
And even if you give the Bears that goal line TD, 17 points is never going to beat Rodgers and the Packers.
Yes Yes a hundred times yes.Agree. This was all set up by ownership’s unfathomable decision to allow Pace and Nagy to spend future draft picks to get Fields in the first place.
Fields was set up to fail from the start.
Just to argue the other side a bit. Imagine a scenario where Ryan Pace brings to ownership the trade they want to make and are told no. Suppose that player turns out to be the quarterback the Bears have been looking for like 50 years. Think fans would ever forgive that?Yes Yes a hundred times yes.
That's exactly the point. Pace did not have the organizational commitment to make long-term decisions for the franchise, therefore moving on from him was the only way to avoid a catastrophic principal-agent problem.Just to argue the other side a bit. Imagine a scenario where Ryan Pace brings to ownership the trade they want to make and are told no. Suppose that player turns out to be the quarterback the Bears have been looking for like 50 years. Think fans would ever forgive that?
I think you can easily argue they both should have fired before the 20-21 season
Totally agree. It's ugly that this is something that's emerging as a team building path in the NFL, but it's rational for Poles to proceed this way.The strategy is to fix the salary cap and get back some draft capital. Signing a couple more free agents on offense wasn’t going to fix anything. This roster needed an overhaul and it won’t be pretty.
Where I disagree is that Poles is using Fields as scapegoat to avoid blame. I don’t think that’s fair to Poles. I think the fan base is incredibly supportive of Fields and understands that he hasn’t been given a lot to work with this year. I don’t know one Bears fan who hates Justin Fields.That's exactly the point. Pace did not have the organizational commitment to make long-term decisions for the franchise, therefore moving on from him was the only way to avoid a catastrophic principal-agent problem.
This was no surprise. Everyone knew exactly what he was going to do.
Totally agree. It's ugly that this is something that's emerging as a team building path in the NFL, but it's rational for Poles to proceed this way.
And that is why I get cranky when the media indulges the total farce that there is a development or analysis process going on with Justin Fields. He is purely, 100% a sacrificial lamb and Poles has never given the slightest iota of thought to him as a long-term NFL player. This is a Potemkin football team, and the Brad Biggs' and Dan Pompei's of the world should be more honest with their readership about what they're being fed here. But the make believe is cashing everybody's checks, which Poles always knew, and it keeps the wolf from his door for six months, so Fields is worth more to the Poles Administration as a temporary object of fan hatred than a 2023 second rounder, it's all so cynical.
You're revealing why the Poles gambit works.The reasonable approach is to plow ahead with the rebuild and trust that even on a bad football team you can see growth and the emergence of an NFL quarterback if it’s there.
I reluctantly agree with this, and it feels like a re-telling of the Mitch Trubisky saga (there's obv some differences, but the broad strokes are similar). The biggest differences to these old eyes is that Fields' big plays seem bigger than Mitch's big plays with the Bears.Yeah. The Bears would love for Fields to magically become a super hero QB who can win by himself. But they’re not going to do anything to help make it happen.
The notion that Fields has time to develop isn’t true. He’ll be halfway through his rookie contract after this year and the Bears won’t be able to count on him as a starter in year 3.
Every single one of us Bears fans have seen this movie before. Fields will struggle this year and the Bears will bring in “competition” in the off-season. Someone like a Gardner Minshew. Fields will be given no rope at all in season 3 and is in and out of the lineup.
After season 3, the Bears decline Fields 5th year option. They also probably fire their offensive coordinator. Fields is then in and out of the lineup in season 4 as he “struggles to learn the new offense” and Eberflus and Poles are desperate for their first winning season
After season four, Fields becomes a free agent, the Bears draft a QB in the first round, and Eberflus is under pressure to win right away with a rookie QB.