Bears Week 14 at 49ers, 3:25 on FOX

[Wilson A2000]

670 the Score callers wondering if Eberflus and Poles being bad helped us wind up getting Caleb. Yes that’s true, but the decision was still terrible to hire Eberflus in the first place. 

[WrigleyField 22]

Poles doesn't need to be extended.

But it does require Warren to have the most significant role in hiring.

 

Thats I guess bad news if you're hyper focused on a top down view of GM-HC that is frankly less common than people treat it.  It's fine if you want the most in demand coach (obviously with having to trust Warren)

[gflore34]

6 minutes ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

Poles doesn't need to be extended.

But it does require Warren to have the most significant role in hiring.

 

Thats I guess bad news if you're hyper focused on a top down view of GM-HC that is frankly less common than people treat it.  It's fine if you want the most in demand coach (obviously with having to trust Warren)

If Ben Johnson is their target they should do whatever it takes to convince him the correct structure is in place.

[jersey cubs fan]

19 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

It's not rocket surgery - 1. Improve run and pass blocking 2. Add a downhill power RB 3. Add a DE who can get to the QB - I believe even Poles is capable of figuring this out.

He’s had several offseasons to improve the team and he has not. He spent money on mediocre RBs and hoped one DE would somehow solve the entire pass rush thing. He’s invested in LB over the line.  He’s triple and quadrupled down on non impactful guys in the secondary every draft and stuck with mediocrity across the line. Poles may know what this team needs to get better but he has not shown in three years the willingness or ability to find it. 

[WrigleyField 22]

13 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

If Ben Johnson is their target they should do whatever it takes to convince him the correct structure is in place.

For most in demand coaches, the correct structure is a GM with relatively less power so they can bend to their will.  May even want 53 man say.  

 

Or it's an Eberflus who will likely be deferential to the GM. For as much as most are convinced Poles had no say in Flus, he was also a fairly safe choice for a first time, young GM.  He just chose the safe choice that actually still hit all the low end returns.  Or maybe it was really ownerships/Phillips choice fully. I tend to think it was likely somewhere in middle and not forced / arranged.

[We Got The Whole 9]

19 minutes ago, jersey cubs fan said:

He’s had several offseasons to improve the team and he has not. He spent money on mediocre RBs and hoped one DE would somehow solve the entire pass rush thing. He’s invested in LB over the line.  He’s triple and quadrupled down on non impactful guys in the secondary every draft and stuck with mediocrity across the line. Poles may know what this team needs to get better but he has not shown in three years the willingness or ability to find it. 

Yep, he should be punished appropriately for his draft record and ignoring critical positions in FA. 

 

New article suggests he might just resign after the year being that he'll be a neutered lame duck. That's actually plausible to me.

 

The McCaskeys are to blame yet again for hiring Warren and in general for stringing Poles along. Poles hates the guy and this year has had to watch the HC who approached him with interest, but was rejected by the unqualified CEO out of horsefeathers spite, put his moribund franchise into the playoff picture. Warren has been as useless as Acorsi and Polian and yet has unilateral authority because he negotiated a stadium deal in the past. 

 

Only the McCaskeys could create a clusterfuck like this.

[gflore34]

25 minutes ago, jersey cubs fan said:

He’s had several offseasons to improve the team and he has not. He spent money on mediocre RBs and hoped one DE would somehow solve the entire pass rush thing. He’s invested in LB over the line.  He’s triple and quadrupled down on non impactful guys in the secondary every draft and stuck with mediocrity across the line. Poles may know what this team needs to get better but he has not shown in three years the willingness or ability to find it. 

That's the problem, maybe, Caleb, being his QB, will lend more urgency and willingness to truly address the problem.

[raw]

25 minutes ago, jersey cubs fan said:

He’s had several offseasons to improve the team and he has not. He spent money on mediocre RBs and hoped one DE would somehow solve the entire pass rush thing. He’s invested in LB over the line.  He’s triple and quadrupled down on non impactful guys in the secondary every draft and stuck with mediocrity across the line. Poles may know what this team needs to get better but he has not shown in three years the willingness or ability to find it. 

Yeah, my concern is the ability to find it. I think it's pretty obvious he knows he has to do better on the OL. But it's not like he just figured this out. The Bears have played 12 offensive linemen this year, Poles has acquired all but 2 of them (Jenkins, Borom) in his 3 years. So he hasn't ignored OL, he just apparently thinks guys like Ryan Bates, Lucas Patrick, Dan Feeney, Nate Davis, Coleman Shelton, etc are good enough....which scares me.

[raw]

16 minutes ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

For most in demand coaches, the correct structure is a GM with relatively less power so they can bend to their will.  May even want 53 man say.  

 

Or it's an Eberflus who will likely be deferential to the GM. For as much as most are convinced Poles had no say in Flus, he was also a fairly safe choice for a first time, young GM.  He just chose the safe choice that actually still hit all the low end returns.  Or maybe it was really ownerships/Phillips choice fully. I tend to think it was likely somewhere in middle and not forced / arranged.

I think it was definitely more forced/arranged than not. Bears interviewed a bunch of dudes. Poles interviewed Quinn and Caldwell, first day on the job. He interviewed Flus 2nd day. They hired Flus 3rd day. They have the same agent, who I believe was part of the committee to find the next HC and GM. 

Definitely was a safe choice, his Fox to Pace, but he definitely didn't have a full vetting process like he should have this time. 

[gflore34]

3 minutes ago, raw said:

Yeah, my concern is the ability to find it. I think it's pretty obvious he knows he has to do better on the OL. But it's not like he just figured this out. The Bears have played 12 offensive linemen this year, Poles has acquired all but 2 of them (Jenkins, Borom) in his 3 years. So he hasn't ignored OL, he just apparently thinks guys like Ryan Bates, Lucas Patrick, Dan Feeney, Nate Davis, Coleman Shelton, etc are good enough....which scares me.

Think its rather obvious the types above aren't working, if he's any sense or intelligence at all, he's going to try something different when targeting OL help.  Will that different be an improvement?

[raw]

9 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

That's the problem, maybe, Caleb, being his QB, will lend more urgency and willingness to truly address the problem.

It's not about him trying to do the right thing because he has Caleb and he's the best prospect the team has ever had. It's about his own self preservation. Caleb fails, Ryan Poles is never an NFL GM again. 

[raw]

1 minute ago, gflore34 said:

Think its rather obvious the types above aren't working, if he's any sense or intelligence at all, he's going to try something different when targeting OL help.  Will that different be an improvement?

You'd think. But I don't think he was trying NOT to get good OL the last 3 years. He just didn't want to pay what good OL cost. And what if the top guys are signed off the market as tends to happen? What if someone offers guys more money? What if a guy prefers a different fit? He could get stuck overpaying mediocre guys, just to get a "name" in here.

Just because he's going to try something different doesn't mean it will work.

[gflore34]

2 minutes ago, raw said:

I think it was definitely more forced/arranged than not. Bears interviewed a bunch of dudes. Poles interviewed Quinn and Caldwell, first day on the job. He interviewed Flus 2nd day. They hired Flus 3rd day. They have the same agent, who I believe was part of the committee to find the next HC and GM. 

Definitely was a safe choice, his Fox to Pace, but he definitely didn't have a full vetting process like he should have this time. 

I strongly believe Eberflus was an arranged marriage, Eberflus would still be the HC had Warren and Poles not double-teamed McCaskey for hours.  I also believe Poles wanted Eberflus gone after last season but, was overridden by McCaskey.

[raw]

4 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

I strongly believe Eberflus was an arranged marriage, Eberflus would still be the HC had Warren and Poles not double-teamed McCaskey for hours.  I also believe Poles wanted Eberflus gone after last season but, was overridden by McCaskey.

That's my working theory as well

[gflore34]

6 minutes ago, raw said:

You'd think. But I don't think he was trying NOT to get good OL the last 3 years. He just didn't want to pay what good OL cost. And what if the top guys are signed off the market as tends to happen? What if someone offers guys more money? What if a guy prefers a different fit? He could get stuck overpaying mediocre guys, just to get a "name" in here.

Just because he's going to try something different doesn't mean it will work.

We'll see, I believe his next draft is going to heavy DL and OL, it's almost certain the Bears' first rounder is going to be within the 10.  Placing them well within range of top two OL and DL prospects plus I think he'll go for line help with the two second rounders.

[raw]

Draft will be interesting. The only OL I like top 10 is Will Campbell, who I don't think gets past New England (decent change they pick 1 and trade back though, I'd guess). I hope Poles doesn't force the OL pick early, and there is a lot of DL talent in the range the Bears will be selecting.

[jumbo]

8 minutes ago, raw said:

That's my working theory as well

The Searstower guy on twitter - who was around a couple years ago making predictions - said this:

This past offseason, Warren wanted to replace Flus

Poles argued to keep him and Warren allowed it

Now Warren is wanting to be more involved in the coach hire, Poles maybe lost some credibility?

 

Guy may be full of it, but it would explain Warren's increased involvement

[WrigleyField 22]

He did spend relatively top OL dollar one time... 😕

 

Also let a pretty youg/good one walk his first year.

 

That positional swing alone was hugely detrimental to the state of the OL.

 

[WrigleyField 22]

1 minute ago, jumbo said:

The Searstower guy on twitter - who was around a couple years ago making predictions - said this:

This past offseason, Warren wanted to replace Flus

Poles argued to keep him and Warren allowed it

Now Warren is wanting to be more involved in the coach hire, Poles maybe lost some credibility?

 

Guy may be full of it, but it would explain Warren's increased involvement

There may be a lot of CYA going on, but it's murky at best.

[We Got The Whole 9]

13 minutes ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

He did spend relatively top OL dollar one time... 😕

 

Also let a pretty youg/good one walk his first year.

 

That positional swing alone was hugely detrimental to the state of the OL.

 

The Daniels move was so incredibly stupid and then he horsefeathered it up more by spending a bunch of cap on horsefeathers and blocking compensation

[WrigleyField 22]

I know there's also that idea of like "theres only so many of these jobs, guys aren't gonna pass up opportunities", but (1) Poles literally did pass up other opportunities to focus on Bears one and (2) I kind of think you need to be a little daring and crazy to excel in these roles.  I like when a Ben Johnson is confident and out there enough to be like "nah, I have demands". It's a leadership role. If Poles accepted constraints he wasn't comfortable with...  🤷

[gflore34]

30 minutes ago, raw said:

Draft will be interesting. The only OL I like top 10 is Will Campbell, who I don't think gets past New England (decent change they pick 1 and trade back though, I'd guess). I hope Poles doesn't force the OL pick early, and there is a lot of DL talent in the range the Bears will be selecting.

It's super early nevertheless, here's NFL Tankathon' Mock - https://www.tankathon.com/nfl/mock_draft

[jersey cubs fan]

29 minutes ago, jumbo said:

The Searstower guy on twitter - who was around a couple years ago making predictions - said this:

This past offseason, Warren wanted to replace Flus

Poles argued to keep him and Warren allowed it

Now Warren is wanting to be more involved in the coach hire, Poles maybe lost some credibility?

 

Guy may be full of it, but it would explain Warren's increased involvement

This to me seems more likely. Poles handicapped Eberflus his first year and when he has a chance to significantly improve in year two he chose to kick the can down the road. I think he felt a loyalty to Eberflus for guiding the team through two self imposed terrible seasons and he owed Eberflus a season of trying. 

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The more I think about it, the more I would rather just fire Poles now. The locker room is completely gone and the drafts have been thoroughly uninspiring.

And I know it's a cliche from me, but I'm gonna hate it if we use a top-10 pick on defense. It makes sense in a short-term, trying to put out fires sort of way, which is the wrong way to draft that high.

If you ever want to have a top offensive line, you're going to need a top LT and this may be your last chance to draft one.

[Wilson A2000]