2021 Bears season

[Old Style]

 

what the hell did you read in that post lol

 

 

"ESPN Chicago radio that the Bears never promised Dalton the starting job" - I read that as the Bears did not promise Dalton to start, according to a rumor. I like that. Why promise Dalton anything?

 

"now the Bears don’t want to come out publicly and say he was lying" - i think I misread this the fist go around, thinking that the person reporting the rumor was the one who could be lying. But is this saying Dalton lied and said he was promised the starting job? Who is the "he"?

Yes, the Bears organization doesn't want to come out publicly and say my friend was lying to me in a private text. SMDH

[minnesotacubsfan]

 

 

"ESPN Chicago radio that the Bears never promised Dalton the starting job" - I read that as the Bears did not promise Dalton to start, according to a rumor. I like that. Why promise Dalton anything?

 

"now the Bears don’t want to come out publicly and say he was lying" - i think I misread this the fist go around, thinking that the person reporting the rumor was the one who could be lying. But is this saying Dalton lied and said he was promised the starting job? Who is the "he"?

Yes, the Bears organization doesn't want to come out publicly and say my friend was lying to me in a private text. SMDH

By "the guy reporting the rumor" I am referring to the ESPN report/reporter, not your friend.

 

But I think I missed something here, did Dalton claim that the Bears promised him he would start? I don't remember hearing that

 

eta: i totally missed this last spring.

[PosterToBeNamedLater]

Kurt Warner breakdown of some good (first vid) and areas of struggle (2nd vid) for Justin Fields:

 

 

[UMFan83]

NFL Execs voted the Bears to be 14th in the NFC this year:

 

https://theathletic.com/2803927/2021/09/03/nfl-execs-rank-the-nfc-1-16-bucs-and-packers-in-front-nfc-west-power-and-weakness-up-front-with-giants-and-bears/

 

14. Chicago Bears

Votes: 12-15-13-14-12 | Avg: 13.2 | Median: 13

 

The Bears were 8-8 and in the playoffs as the NFC’s seventh seed last season. They replaced quarterback Mitch Trubisky with Andy Dalton and Justin Fields. Yet no voter ranked them higher than 12th in the conference.

 

“Why would everyone put Chicago so low?” a coach who did not vote in this survey said. “Someone probably spent a lot of time looking at the schedule, but I’d put them ahead of Minnesota, who I think is way too high. I’d put them ahead of Dallas. It’s not going to be long for the kid (Fields) to play, and they will be more explosive with him. I just think they are better than they are given credit for. I saw them twice in preseason and they were running around, flying around pretty good.”

 

The Bears play the NFL’s toughest schedule of opposing quarterbacks when using 2021 Quarterback Tiers results as a guide. They play four games against Tier 1 quarterbacks, tied for most in the league. They are the only team with zero games against Tier 4 quarterbacks. The gap between Dalton’s average vote and the average for Chicago’s opponents is larger than the gap for any team in the league. Fields, while exciting, is unproven.

 

“Chicago absolutely should be this low,” a voter said. “You’ve got an unproven first-year defensive coordinator taking over for a couple guys (Chuck Pagano last season, Vic Fangio before that) with a combined 50 years in the league, and they subtracted Kyle Fuller, so there is some uncertainty there. On offense, everyone wants to talk about the quarterbacks, but without the back (Tarik Cohen), they are not explosive enough. All the quarterbacks there are going to find it tough sledding.”

 

The Bears also have issues on their offensive line.

 

“I don’t see Andy Dalton in that tier of guys that makes your team better,” a voter said. “If that is where they are going to go, it will be very interesting. They could struggle at quarterback and on the offensive line. That’s a bad combination.”

[WrigleyField 22]

Interesting perspective, although notably they did run out the bad OLine bad QB play last season when they went 8-8. Granted they were a lucky 8-8, but 12th in conference is pretty low.

 

But also, yea the schedule does them no favors.

 

I do think they have a pretty wide band of likely outcomes compared to what's probably typical. It wouldn't take much fir it all to unravel apart, which has a lot to do with how Pace has built the roster the past couple years especially.

Edited September 3, 2021 by WrigleyField 22

[minnesotacubsfan]

I realize the strength of the schedule is a significant indicator of success, but every year teams overachieve or fail to reach their last season's success. Injuries also come into play. The biggest change-maker in a team's success is often the QB play. If Fields turns out to be as good as I certainly hope he will be, 12th seems reaaaaal low.

 

except for the one caveat; the offensive line. That seems like our achillies heel

[ChiCubsFan]

I realize the strength of the schedule is a significant indicator of success, but every year teams overachieve or fail to reach their last season's success. Injuries also come into play. The biggest change-maker in a team's success is often the QB play. If Fields turns out to be as good as I certainly hope he will be, 12th seems reaaaaal low.

 

except for the one caveat; the offensive line. That seems like our achillies heel

 

12 seems spot on to me. They could be a top 10ish team if JF comes in relatively quick, doesn’t get murdered, and makes a bunch of big plays. Or they could be a bottom 10-15 team if things don’t go quite right.

[Tim]

I realize the strength of the schedule is a significant indicator of success, but every year teams overachieve or fail to reach their last season's success. Injuries also come into play. The biggest change-maker in a team's success is often the QB play. If Fields turns out to be as good as I certainly hope he will be, 12th seems reaaaaal low.

 

except for the one caveat; the offensive line. That seems like our achillies heel

 

12 seems spot on to me. They could be a top 10ish team if JF comes in relatively quick, doesn’t get murdered, and makes a bunch of big plays. Or they could be a bottom 10-15 team if things don’t go quite right.

Not sure how to interpret your post. I'm not sure if you caught that the rating is for 12th out of 16 teams in the NFC.

[UMFan83]

I realize the strength of the schedule is a significant indicator of success, but every year teams overachieve or fail to reach their last season's success. Injuries also come into play. The biggest change-maker in a team's success is often the QB play. If Fields turns out to be as good as I certainly hope he will be, 12th seems reaaaaal low.

 

except for the one caveat; the offensive line. That seems like our achillies heel

 

12 seems spot on to me. They could be a top 10ish team if JF comes in relatively quick, doesn’t get murdered, and makes a bunch of big plays. Or they could be a bottom 10-15 team if things don’t go quite right.

Not sure how to interpret your post. I'm not sure if you caught that the rating is for 12th out of 16 teams in the NFC.

 

I’m not sure why you all are saying 12 when what I posted said 14th lol.

 

Anyways the Bears lost 8 of their final 11 games last year, only beating 3 terrible teams (Texans, Vikings, Jaguars). Their 5-1 start included multiple miraculous comebacks. They lost depth in multiple position groups and they have the hardest schedule in the league (at least based on last years performance).

 

There are also improvements in several areas so I’m not necessarily counting out the bears completely but I don’t blame anyone who has a pessimistic outlook on the bears season.

[Thurman Merman]

I'm thinking this has the signs of a 5-12 or 6-11 season followed by a 12-5 or 11-6 season due to Justin fields and some free agent improvements.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Overall ranked at 14, but your post says 12th was the highest anyone suggested. That still feels low

 

 

 

 

Hopefully

[minnesotacubsfan]

I'm thinking this has the signs of a 5-12 or 6-11 season followed by a 12-5 or 11-6 season due to Justin fields and some free agent improvements.

I'd guess 7-9

[Old Style]

I'm thinking this has the signs of a 5-12 or 6-11 season followed by a 12-5 or 11-6 season due to Justin fields and some free agent improvements.

I'd guess 7-9

I’ll bet you a million dollars the Bears don’t go 7-9.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I'm thinking this has the signs of a 5-12 or 6-11 season followed by a 12-5 or 11-6 season due to Justin fields and some free agent improvements.

I'd guess 7-9

I’ll bet you a million dollars the Bears don’t go 7-9.

Ha, I’d be willing to give him a chance at 3 commas for a 7-9 finish.

[minnesotacubsfan]

It (7-9 season) probably is optimistic

[BigbadB]

Well, how about 7-10?

[raw]

Saw an interesting poll asked on Twitter. It asked would you rather have Dalton start 16 games, with Fields in final game, and the Bears win double-digit games, but lose in 1st round of playoffs (2017 Chiefs scenario) or would you rather Fields come in relatively early in the season, but the team wins 6 or so games, but Fields wins Offensive Rookie of the Year (2020 Chargers scenario)?

 

It's really a tough call. While winning games would be really great, I feel like starting Dalton for 95% of the season is a waste of time. I think I'd rather know that Justin Fields is good, with elite potential (like Herbert) at this point next year. Fields being good is much more important to this team's future than another 1st round playoff exit.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Well, how about 7-10?

Hahaha -I completely forgot about the 17 game season

 

ETA: make it 8-9

Edited September 4, 2021 by minnesotacubsfan

[WrigleyField 22]

I will take the winning games scenario.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Saw an interesting poll asked on Twitter. It asked would you rather have Dalton start 16 games, with Fields in final game, and the Bears win double-digit games, but lose in 1st round of playoffs (2017 Chiefs scenario) or would you rather Fields come in relatively early in the season, but the team wins 6 or so games, but Fields wins Offensive Rookie of the Year (2020 Chargers scenario)?

 

It's really a tough call. While winning games would be really great, I feel like starting Dalton for 95% of the season is a waste of time. I think I'd rather know that Justin Fields is good, with elite potential (like Herbert) at this point next year. Fields being good is much more important to this team's future than another 1st round playoff exit.

I'd take Justin Fields all season because Andy Dalton winning double digits seems like total myth. Alex Smith doing it with the Chiefs was entirely different; different QB, different coach, different everything.

[David]

Saw an interesting poll asked on Twitter. It asked would you rather have Dalton start 16 games, with Fields in final game, and the Bears win double-digit games, but lose in 1st round of playoffs (2017 Chiefs scenario) or would you rather Fields come in relatively early in the season, but the team wins 6 or so games, but Fields wins Offensive Rookie of the Year (2020 Chargers scenario)?

 

It's really a tough call. While winning games would be really great, I feel like starting Dalton for 95% of the season is a waste of time. I think I'd rather know that Justin Fields is good, with elite potential (like Herbert) at this point next year. Fields being good is much more important to this team's future than another 1st round playoff exit.

 

I saw that and considered it a total no-brainer.

[Old Style]

Always take the wins. But there’s no chance the ginger QB takes this team to the playoffs.

[Rex Buckingham]

Yeah, you definitely take the wins, because that means the other pieces are performing and give you more hope for the future when you add Fields to the mix. And you become a better FA destination (assuming there is any money to spend.)

[David]

what the hell is wrong with you people picking the dalton scenario

 

you absolutely take the justin fields proving he's good and winning offensive ROY over a first round exit with andy horsefeathering dalton and still not knowing what fields is and wasting an entire year of potential development.

 

what the hell am i taking horsefeathering crazy pills

 

 

that said, if justin fields is *that* good right away, the bears aren't going to be bad this year.

[WrigleyField 22]

what the hell is wrong with you people picking the dalton scenario

 

you absolutely take the justin fields proving he's good and winning offensive ROY over a first round exit with andy horsefeathering dalton and still not knowing what fields is and wasting an entire year of potential development.

 

what the hell am i taking horsefeathering crazy pills

 

 

that said, if justin fields is *that* good right away, the bears aren't going to be bad this year.

I don't need to see Fields to know he's gonna be awesome.

 

And if I'm somehow wrong, it didn't matter that we *knew* or not.

 

Just win baby.