Bears Week 5 vs Commanders, Thursday at 7:15pm CST, Amazon and probably local TV in Chicago

[WrigleyField 22]

Actually the 6th example also started out 0-5 too, it's just that the coach (McAdoo) was canned much later (2-10) whereas the other 5 examples were canned by that 5th loss.

 

The other thing is it often isn't planned around byes and such, even though we all naturally look at those opportunities. In the McAdoo example, they had a bye going into 1-6 followed by a home game off the bye.  Obvious opportunity.  But they held onto him until week 13, which was exactly one week AFTER a mini-bye. so they just transitioned on a normal week, instead of a week earlier on a 10 day break, lol.

 

Coincidentally said mini-bye was off of a Thursday night matchup against : Washington.

[raw]

20 hours ago, Hairyducked Idiot said:

Going into 2022, it was reasonable to take a breather year to reset your cap situation and stop trading away picks.  But that didn't *have* to mean full scorched earth. That was Poles' choice and he gets to live with the results.

I really, really want to like Poles.  His value approach to accumulating picks is 100% the right move.   There's a very plausible world where the Carolina pick ends up first overall and Bryce Young for Caleb Williams, DJ Moore, Darnell Wright and a few miscellaneous picks is a franchise-defining haul.

But he makes so many bizarre positional priority decisions that are directly destroying the team.

 

Agree that the 2022 approach was reasonable. But it didn't have to be so drastic. I'm fine with trading old guys like Mack and Quinn. I'm even fine with the logic of trading Roquan, but then going out and spending big on LB the next year is contradictory. But he could have added 1 long-term piece, non-draft wise. He was willing to spend big money on Ogunjobi, but was not willing to spend the same money to help his QB (OL or WR) in his pivotal 2nd year of development.

As for the position priority stuff (and the LB spending is a big part of that), I feel like maybe that's a bunch of letting Eberflus have his say. Like Edmunds reeks of Flus wanting an Urlacher type in the middle of the defense, and he's said as much. I also think he's a WILL LB which is a different point. But if some of these moves are OC/DC influenced (Patrick, Edmunds, drafting hella DBs) then I'll be willing to let Poles get another chance. Then again, he's the one that picked the coach (actually some stuff out there questioning if he did fully pick Flus) and allowed him to have that much personnel say as an inexperienced coach. 

[jumbo]

I heard some chatter about the owners wanting Flus and telling Poles that. Makes you wonder if they told Poles "Flus is the guy, but you can meet with him to confirm you want to work with him. You'll be his boss and have fire/hire authority. If you like him and the arrangement the job is yours?"

I've never wanted to accuse the Bears owners of meddling or being the ultimate cause of the franchise's problems but they did tell Emery he had to keep Lovie for a season, so I wouldn't put it past them. If I was Poles and didn't absolutely love Flus I'm not sure I would have taken the job, since GMs don't tend to get second chances like coaches. At the same time, there are only 32 of these jobs available and it's probably wise not to pass on it when opportunity is there. 

[CubinNY]

32 minutes ago, jumbo said:

I heard some chatter about the owners wanting Flus and telling Poles that. Makes you wonder if they told Poles "Flus is the guy, but you can meet with him to confirm you want to work with him. You'll be his boss and have fire/hire authority. If you like him and the arrangement the job is yours?"

I've never wanted to accuse the Bears owners of meddling or being the ultimate cause of the franchise's problems but they did tell Emery he had to keep Lovie for a season, so I wouldn't put it past them. If I was Poles and didn't absolutely love Flus I'm not sure I would have taken the job, since GMs don't tend to get second chances like coaches. At the same time, there are only 32 of these jobs available and it's probably wise not to pass on it when opportunity is there. 

If I remember correctly, Poles was on a short list of guys "ready" to be GMs. He didn't have to take the Bears job. People in that position will not take a job and not have the people they want in key decision-making positions. It's Poles team, bad or good as one goes up the pecking order. I don't pretend to understand how the NFL works in terms of making coaching changes. With so few games and complicated nomenclature changes for offense, firing someone and putting new people in place appears insurmountable for many organizations unless you have an Urban Meyer situation. 

If I were Poles, I would fire Eberflus on Friday, win or lose. 

Edited October 5, 2023 by CubinNY

[Brian707]

Problem with firing Eberflus is then you not only have to hire someone to take over as HC, but also DC. I think they are just going to let the season play out. They will win 3 or 4 games and have probably two top 5 picks. I really hope they fire Poles too.

Edited October 5, 2023 by Brian707

[WrigleyField 22]

37 minutes ago, jumbo said:

I heard some chatter about the owners wanting Flus and telling Poles that. Makes you wonder if they told Poles "Flus is the guy, but you can meet with him to confirm you want to work with him. You'll be his boss and have fire/hire authority. If you like him and the arrangement the job is yours?"

I've never wanted to accuse the Bears owners of meddling or being the ultimate cause of the franchise's problems but they did tell Emery he had to keep Lovie for a season, so I wouldn't put it past them. If I was Poles and didn't absolutely love Flus I'm not sure I would have taken the job, since GMs don't tend to get second chances like coaches. At the same time, there are only 32 of these jobs available and it's probably wise not to pass on it when opportunity is there. 

My assumption is that at most, Flus was a common bond between Bears and Poles that made the bond strong. Not being forced on it.

 

We know it wasn't a purely linear process and they never claimed it was going to be.  Teams often do just fine (Detroit had a similar process arguably with a heaver President hand, and look to have done pretty well with their pairing).  But it makes sense they were basically cross checking lists during the process.  And Poles said as much.

 

But to create the conspiracy we have to believe Poles agreed not only to a forced pairing but to REALLY carry ownerships water on this.  I believe a guy might accept to "forced terms" on a head coach, but Poles reported spurned Minnys follow up overtures to focus on Chicago.  Bears have never had a problem getting highly valued GM-HC commodities from the "rising ranks".  If ownership was as meddling as people want to believe AND was constantly requiring to engage said coaches and GMs in their media cover ups, I feel like you'd probably see guys turning down interviews.

[WrigleyField 22]

On the Emery front.  A GM being forced on a successful head coach is not at all uncommon.  Off top of my head, GB just had that with the finally McCarthy year as an example.  No one's panties should be in a bunch about that "forced pairing" and I doubt Emery's was.  He was allowed to make the change a year after going 10-6.  Not exactly like ownership was pulling strings there. 

 

So for all we know most GMs might prefer it that way be cause they have an easy out year after getting the organizational side established in year 1 while not really having to be concerned with staff stability.  That's assuming the coach is a known/solid commodity.

[Soul]

Oh my god, I forgot this game was Thursday.

[gflore34]

Watch some film reviews of Fields vs. Broncos, it's hard not to be a little encouraged.  He looked off defenders, was decisive, read properly, what's confusing is how much was due to a terrible defense and how much was it a step forward for Justin.  Let's see what he does tonight nevertheless, the aggressive, decisive version of Fields, there's no reason that cannot carry over.  For what its worth St. Brown also helped out the running game, simply because of effort, he brings a lot more to the table than Claypool.   Even though I said if it was choice between this coaching staff and Claypool, I'd take Claypool.  Eberflus deserves some credit for jettisoning Claypool, sounds like it more than just a lack of effort in games.  Which makes sense, generally you play like you practice.

[Brian707]

Since I like burning money, I placed a bet on the Bears +6 

 

[BigSlick]

Hey, listen guys. The Bears are underperforming their pythagorean expected winning percentage: by the numbers they should have 0.8 wins by now. So factor that in. 

 

(I'm putting some money on Washington)

Edited October 5, 2023 by BigSlick

[We Got The Whole 9]

Really interested in seeing how Wright holds up against that defense and is Jenkins playing?

[gflore34]

11 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Really interested in seeing how Wright holds up against that defense and is Jenkins playing?

Think they may be targeting the 15th for Jenkins, after being out 6 weeks, short week of practice, don't believe it makes sense to throw him to the wolves.  Of course, it is the Bears.

[jumbo]

4 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Think they may be targeting the 15th for Jenkins, after being out 6 weeks, short week of practice, don't believe it makes sense to throw him to the wolves.  Of course, it is the Bears.

It could have been a 3 week injury and the team wanted the roster spot. I saw some tweet about him a week ago indicating he was feeling good and moving, etc., so he may be in good shape already. Hard to say. I think they're better when he's in there, so I'm hoping he suits up and Patrick takes a seat. 

[UMFan83]

5 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Think they may be targeting the 15th for Jenkins, after being out 6 weeks, short week of practice, don't believe it makes sense to throw him to the wolves.  Of course, it is the Bears.

he's practiced fully all week I believe, wouldnt be surprised if he plays

[jumbo]

Just now, UMFan83 said:

he's practiced fully all week I believe, wouldnt be surprised if he plays

I think he showed up on the "estimated" practice list earlier in the short week AND actually practiced in their live practice

[Bobson Dugnutt]

Last night in the score, Mark Grote said he would be surprised if Jenkins isn’t playing based on what he’s heard.

[UMFan83]

Thinking about this game I came to the realization that I'll be disappointed if the Bears lose and I'll be disappointed if the Bears win.  What a horsefeathers team.

[Brian707]

22 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Thinking about this game I came to the realization that I'll be disappointed if the Bears lose and I'll be disappointed if the Bears win.  What a horsefeathers team.

What about a tie?

[NorthsideAvenger]

3 minutes ago, Brian707 said:

What about a tie?

Don't put that evil on these teams. 

[minnesotacubsfan]

36 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Thinking about this game I came to the realization that I'll be disappointed if the Bears lose and I'll be disappointed if the Bears win.  What a horsefeathers team.

I can never be disappointed with a Bears win, but I get what you mean. I think more than anything I want JF to shine. I feel like this org has let him down so terribly bad he deserves better, either by making it here or getting a second chance someplace else. if its the latter, I feel like I will begin to cheer every bears loss for a long time because horsefeathers them

 

Edited October 5, 2023 by minnesotacubsfan

[gflore34]

12 minutes ago, minnesotacubsfan said:

I can never be disappointed with a Bears win, but I get what you mean. I think more than anything I want JF to shine. I feel like this org has let him down so terribly bad he deserves better, either by making it here or getting a second chance someplace else. if its the latter, I feel like I will begin to cheer every bears loss for a long time because horsefeathers them

 

I'd like to see him shine as well, carry over what we saw against Denver.  Don't expect as good a game but, further evidence that he's not the problem.  But, what if it goes the other way and we see him revert to his play in games 1-3?  I'd think that offers proof that he is problem.

[minnesotacubsfan]

19 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

I'd like to see him shine as well, carry over what we saw against Denver.  Don't expect as good a game but, further evidence that he's not the problem.  But, what if it goes the other way and we see him revert to his play in games 1-3?  I'd think that offers proof that he is problem.

I'm not sure it does, the coaches have a hard time game-planning to his strengths this year. One thing that did happen against the Broncos was a very different gameplan, from what analysts are suggesting

[BigSlick]

We’re rather depressingly back in the position of watching these games solely to evaluate whatever young talent we have, so a win doesn’t bother me.

 

I’m not rooting for losses either because this team is gonna have a top 5 pick most likely anyway, and I’m over being excited for top picks for this administration. I just want to see the team competitive again

[We Got The Whole 9]

9 minutes ago, minnesotacubsfan said:

I'm not sure it does, the coaches have a hard time game-planning to his strengths this year. One thing that did happen against the Broncos was a very different gameplan, from what analysts are suggesting

In the first 3 games they moved him out of the pocket a total of 7 times. In week 4 they did it 8 times. You see the amount of carries Herbert had. That was against an awful defense and he faced 3 good ones to start the year, but it's definitely more emblematic of what we saw last season. You cannot plant Justin in the pocket and expect him to pick apart a defense. He needs to shift the pocket and open up passing lanes and have the threat to run in the back pocket. What we need to see though is, when teams blitz and take away the moving pocket, sometimes he just needs to eat the sack and come back and get them the next play. He can't panic and try to make a pass that turns into disaster like the scoop and score last week.