Bears Week 16 vs Lions, Noon Sunday on FOX

[17 Seconds]

1 minute ago, UMFan83 said:

Ugh Daniels with 5 TD passes today. Caleb had the better game though. But that will get all the headlines

who gives a horsefeathers

[SpongeWorthy]

1 minute ago, 17 Seconds said:

who gives a horsefeathers

yeah man, i promise you'll never find peace or happiness doing keyword searches on twitter

[gflore34]

10 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Ugh Daniels with 5 TD passes today. Caleb had the better game though. But that will get all the headlines

If, and this is the biggest if, the Bears get the HC and OC correct, Caleb will dwarf Daniels in 2025.  He'll dwarf Nix, Maye as well.  Daniels will go the way of Stroud and regress in 2025 while Caleb ascends.

Edited December 22, 2024 by gflore34

[SpongeWorthy]

we have gone more than 4 complete games without getting a first down down on 1st and 10 when the game was within one score

[jersey cubs fan]

The lousy cardinals team that beat the tar out of the bears lost to Carolina. 
 

this bears team is really bad. It’s obviously way more than the coaching. The roster has to turn over again. I just can’t see how you keep Poles in the fold, unless he’s effectively demoted from having final say on personnel. The next coach is going to have a huge amount of leverage to demand final say. That’s going to give Poles a conflict of interest when interviewing these guys. 
 

it’s a much cleaner process to have Warren run it 

[BigSlick]

Aside from his completion percentage, which is below average for pro offenses these days, Caleb’s season numbers look really good. 
 

we do have something special in him at least. 

[minnesotacubsfan]

2 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

Aside from his completion percentage, which is below average for pro offenses these days, Caleb’s season numbers look really good. 
 

we do have something special in him at least. 

we have an NFL QB, which to US is something special

 

[BigSlick]

Just now, minnesotacubsfan said:

we have an NFL QB, which to US is something special

 

Literally haven’t had one since Cutler, so it’s nice. 
 

unfortunately we need 4 offensive linemen and an entire defense 

[jersey cubs fan]

2 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

Literally haven’t had one since Cutler, so it’s nice. 
 

unfortunately we need 4 offensive linemen and an entire defense 

There’s a non zero chance Carolina wins one more and bears lost out to flip up to 8. Virtually impossible to drop out of top ten. 
 

they’ll need 3 starters out of their first three picks and need another 3-5 in free agency. 

[minnesotacubsfan]

4 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

Literally haven’t had one since Cutler, so it’s nice. 
 

unfortunately we need 4 offensive linemen and an entire defense 

gotta DT (Dexter) and a CB (Johnson) and due to contract, DE (Sweat). the rest of it up for grabs (D)

offense, Williams, Odunze, Moore, Wright, and Kmet are worth keeping.

 

 

[gflore34]

7 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

Literally haven’t had one since Cutler, so it’s nice. 
 

unfortunately we need 4 offensive linemen and an entire defense 

The OL badness is exacerbated by the fact the Bears have had a historical level of bad luck with injuries.  Had they the average level of wear and tear on the OL it may have proved to be adequate.

[gflore34]

8 minutes ago, minnesotacubsfan said:

gotta DT (Dexter) and a CB (Johnson) and due to contract, DE (Sweat). the rest of it up for grabs (D)

offense, Williams, Odunze, Moore, Wright, and Kmet are worth keeping.

 

 

Kyler Gordon is worth keeping, I'm certain there's others, a hot take because nearly everything that could go wrong did.

[minnesotacubsfan]

2 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

The OL badness is exacerbated by the fact the Bears have had a historical level of bad luck with injuries.  Had they the average level of wear and tear on the OL it may have proved to be adequate.

when you havea  QB who makes their living running around the backfield avoiding the pass rush, you're going to have a lot of OL inuries. Those guys have to keep playing during the scramble drill and the longer they have to twist, run, turn sharply, etc the more likely they are to get hurt

[minnesotacubsfan]

1 minute ago, gflore34 said:

Kyler Gordon is worth keeping, I'm certain there's others, a hot take because nearly everything that could go wrong did.

yea, Gordon I guess too

[jersey cubs fan]

14 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

The OL badness is exacerbated by the fact the Bears have had a historical level of bad luck with injuries.  Had they the average level of wear and tear on the OL it may have proved to be adequate.

When Tevan Jenkins gets hurt it’s not bad luck. It should be expected. I really don’t think it’s luck at all. They went into the season with a bad offensive line and have gotten bad results. They weren’t prepared to play a competitive 17 game NFL season 

[Hairyducked Idiot]

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

Ugh Daniels with 5 TD passes today. Caleb had the better game though. But that will get all the headlines

According to the NFL universe, if the commanders had lost on the ensuing kickoff, then that was all garbage time.

It doesn't matter.  People will hate until you're unquestionably the best, then they'll say the refs give it to you

[gflore34]

4 minutes ago, Hairyducked Idiot said:

According to the NFL universe, if the commanders had lost on the ensuing kickoff, then that was all garbage time.

It doesn't matter.  People will hate until you're unquestionably the best, then they'll say the refs give it to you

I really don't care, I'll still take Caleb today and every other day, it sucks right now, I know.  Assuming the Bears luck into, stumble upon the right hire, I'm fully confident the dialog regarding Daniels and Caleb will be flipped next season.

Edited December 22, 2024 by gflore34

[Soul]

That Caleb passing line is all that matters to me.  Didn’t watch this game but who cares.  Caleb threw for a buttload of yards and no INTS.  Full stop.

This entire FO needs to go.  They lucked into Williams and he’s had to find his way to a solid rookie season swimming upstream against opponents and his own woeful team.  Other than a QB who succeeds against all odds, they’ve been an abortion.

[gflore34]

1 hour ago, Soul said:

That Caleb passing line is all that matters to me.  Didn’t watch this game but who cares.  Caleb threw for a buttload of yards and no INTS.  Full stop.

This entire FO needs to go.  They lucked into Williams and he’s had to find his way to a solid rookie season swimming upstream against opponents and his own woeful team.  Other than a QB who succeeds against all odds, they’ve been an abortion.

Caleb is all I Poles credit for, I don't believe there was that much luck involved, he made the trade with Carolina knowing full well Carolina was going to draft Bryce Young.  Poles knew Young was going to struggle thereby insuring Carolina' first rounder in 2024 was going to be a high pick.  Now, number 1?  That's probably the luck part, I believe Poles knew there was an excellent chance it was going to be top 5.

Edited December 23, 2024 by gflore34

[NorthsideAvenger]

I want Ben Johnson as HC but a part of me would advice Johnson to stay clear of this franchise. 

[raw]

2 hours ago, jersey cubs fan said:

The lousy cardinals team that beat the tar out of the bears lost to Carolina. 
 

this bears team is really bad. It’s obviously way more than the coaching. The roster has to turn over again. I just can’t see how you keep Poles in the fold, unless he’s effectively demoted from having final say on personnel. The next coach is going to have a huge amount of leverage to demand final say. That’s going to give Poles a conflict of interest when interviewing these guys. 
 

it’s a much cleaner process to have Warren run it 

So, I do think coaching is a huge part of it. I mean, just look at the defense with and without Eberflus calling the plays, even back to Alan Williams. It's been a difference of over 9 points per game with and without Flus calling the plays. 

I also don't think the roster needs to turn over quite yet. All the normal defensive starters are under contract. While this may be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it, you do have some building blocks on that side. Jaylon, Kyler, Dexter, and Sweat (for better or worse) are going to be around. Billings, Byard and Edwards are serviceable. Can't count on Brisker, Stevenson or Edwards to be good really, but those guys have been a lot better as recently as last year/early this year. 

Offense, it's all about Caleb. If Caleb is the guy, and all indications in a season where everything has been worse case scenario is that he is, then everything else offensively will fall in place if you get the coaching right. Got DJ, Rome, Kmet, and Wright for sure on offense. Braxton isn't terrible. 

It's not going to be an easy fix by any means, but there are a solid 8-9 pieces in place that you can see starting on a contending team. 

That being said, my strategy would be to go into this process with Poles and Warren leading the show. If a guy like Ben Johnson wants his GM to line up with him contract-wise, you can always fire Poles at that point, assuming Johnson has a guy in mind as his GM (Ray Agnew seems like an obvious choice). Who cares about the optics after a HC was allowed to do a press conference right before being fired. 

[raw]

1 hour ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

I want Ben Johnson as HC but a part of me would advice Johnson to stay clear of this franchise. 

Why? If it's because of history or some kind of curse horsefeathers, that's dumb. He's not going to get a better job than this. There isn't this magical, winning and super efficiently functional franchise just waiting to hire a coach. Those teams are good, and good teams don't fire their coaches. 

Johnson's choices will come down to:

Top 10 pick, franchise QB in Year 2 of rookie deal, 68Mil in cap space

Top 10-15 pick, no QB, not picking high enough to take one of the top QBs in a bad QB draft, 60M+ over the cap

Top 10 pick, 40 year old QB and his 35 year old WR1 buddy

Top 3 pick, QB already paid and coming off injury and ineffectiveness for a franchise that's been more inept than maybe any. But they got money!

Maybes: 

Work for Jerry Jones

Top 3 pick, can take a QB but again, bad QB draft. Little other talent on the offensive side.

Top 3 pick, can take a QB, but again, bad QB draft. Brock Bowers and Maxx Crosby

 

Patriots are probably a decent job too, if that opens. But I expect that to be Vrabel if so

[Soul]

1 hour ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

I want Ben Johnson as HC but a part of me would advise Johnson to stay clear of this franchise. 

If I’m Johnson one thing that weighs positively in the Bears’ direction is seeing Caleb do what he’s doing in a complete train wreck situation.  It’s a huge piece the Bears have that other bottom dwellers won’t.

[gflore34]

20 minutes ago, raw said:

So, I do think coaching is a huge part of it. I mean, just look at the defense with and without Eberflus calling the plays, even back to Alan Williams. It's been a difference of over 9 points per game with and without Flus calling the plays. 

I also don't think the roster needs to turn over quite yet. All the normal defensive starters are under contract. While this may be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it, you do have some building blocks on that side. Jaylon, Kyler, Dexter, and Sweat (for better or worse) are going to be around. Billings, Byard and Edwards are serviceable. Can't count on Brisker, Stevenson or Edwards to be good really, but those guys have been a lot better as recently as last year/early this year. 

Offense, it's all about Caleb. If Caleb is the guy, and all indications in a season where everything has been worse case scenario is that he is, then everything else offensively will fall in place if you get the coaching right. Got DJ, Rome, Kmet, and Wright for sure on offense. Braxton isn't terrible. 

It's not going to be an easy fix by any means, but there are a solid 8-9 pieces in place that you can see starting on a contending team. 

That being said, my strategy would be to go into this process with Poles and Warren leading the show. If a guy like Ben Johnson wants his GM to line up with him contract-wise, you can always fire Poles at that point, assuming Johnson has a guy in mind as his GM (Ray Agnew seems like an obvious choice). Who cares about the optics after a HC was allowed to do a press conference right before being fired. 

Yes, wanting to dump everyone in a lost season is just hot take nonsense, things turn around quickly in the NFL.  And the Bears, regardless of the other horsefeathers, have the best and most important piece in place - the QB - to experience a big turn around next season.

[gflore34]

23 minutes ago, raw said:

Why? If it's because of history or some kind of curse horsefeathers, that's dumb. He's not going to get a better job than this. There isn't this magical, winning and super efficiently functional franchise just waiting to hire a coach. Those teams are good, and good teams don't fire their coaches. 

Johnson's choices will come down to:

Top 10 pick, franchise QB in Year 2 of rookie deal, 68Mil in cap space

Top 10-15 pick, no QB, not picking high enough to take one of the top QBs in a bad QB draft, 60M+ over the cap

Top 10 pick, 40 year old QB and his 35 year old WR1 buddy

Top 3 pick, QB already paid and coming off injury and ineffectiveness for a franchise that's been more inept than maybe any. But they got money!

Maybes: 

Work for Jerry Jones

Top 3 pick, can take a QB but again, bad QB draft. Little other talent on the offensive side.

Top 3 pick, can take a QB, but again, bad QB draft. Brock Bowers and Maxx Crosby

 

Patriots are probably a decent job too, if that opens. But I expect that to be Vrabel if so

It's even remotely not close, especially for an offense minded HC.  Did people warn Campbell to stay away from the Lions because of some spookiness or what the horsefeathers ever?  Total horsefeathers.

Edited December 23, 2024 by gflore34