2025 Bears Offseason Thread

[BigSlick]

Jayden Daniels was clearer the better player this year. But that is fine, if Caleb is still a very good QB (and I think he showed quite a lot to feel good about this year)

If Daniels ends up the superior player (and much remains to be seen) and Williams is still an excellent QB, I definitely won’t complain. We’d have an excellent QB! 

Edited January 19, 2025 by BigSlick

[UMFan83]

Has Eddie George ever been interviewed before for HC jobs?  What has he even been doing?

The Rooney Rule thing is interesting.  Moves like this clearly look like an attempt to comply with the rule.  But what's George going to do say no? If he does, they'll just bring someone else in.  So of course he's not saying no, this is why the rule is in place.  While its pretty clear Eddie George will not be the Bears next head coach, at least he can wow them and get his name buzzing.  Don't know if there are any examples of this working and leading to a HC job, but I think the rule works even in situations where the team is just trying to check off a box.

[SpongeWorthy]

14 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

The fact that after interviewing a gazillion candidates they still aren’t Rooney Rule approved so they have to rush in Eddie George to go hard after Ben Johnson is another layer of Bears stupid

kliff just called a sick game, probably either one of monken or brady will call another one tomorrow and we'll probably want to talk to all of them. although i have no problem making johnson a godfather offer and getting him off the market.

[WrigleyField 22]

22 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

The fact that after interviewing a gazillion candidates they still aren’t Rooney Rule approved so they have to rush in Eddie George to go hard after Ben Johnson is another layer of Bears stupid

No, not really.  Rooney Rules have to be in person and currently employed coaches (which is most candidates) can't interview until Monday at soonest.

[WrigleyField 22]

8 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Has Eddie George ever been interviewed before for HC jobs?  What has he even been doing?

The Rooney Rule thing is interesting.  Moves like this clearly look like an attempt to comply with the rule.  But what's George going to do say no? If he does, they'll just bring someone else in.  So of course he's not saying no, this is why the rule is in place.  While its pretty clear Eddie George will not be the Bears next head coach, at least he can wow them and get his name buzzing.  Don't know if there are any examples of this working and leading to a HC job, but I think the rule works even in situations where the team is just trying to check off a box.

I'm highly cynical about how effective the Rooney Rule has been.

 

But if the Bears are gonna sham up the interview they better leak some glowing reviews out of it, yea.  Heck, they could probably easily beat his salary even for a non coordinator assistant role if he wants to make a NFL jump.

 

If it's literally just to check a box, I hope they get all the fake/misplaced outrage that Patriots got.

[NorthsideAvenger]

.

Edited January 19, 2025 by NorthsideAvenger

[BigbadB]

6 hours ago, BigSlick said:

Jayden Daniels was clearer the better player this year. But that is fine, if Caleb is still a very good QB (and I think he showed quite a lot to feel good about this year)

If Daniels ends up the superior player (and much remains to be seen) and Williams is still an excellent QB, I definitely won’t complain. We’d have an excellent QB! 

I don't care what anyone says, a player's confidence is a huge factor in getting the most of his ability. Daniels can trust his line to either have the time to complete a pass anywhere on the field, or he can scamper around and take off running, which he is very good at doing. Caleb probably feels like someone is going to hit him from behind before he finishes his drop back. You can't play with an air of confidence when you have to have one eye looking over your damn shoulder. It's the worst thing you can subject your franchise QB to in his first year in the league.

I'm pretty confident that if the Bears drafted Daniels, Washington would be dancing in the streets that they got their guy, and the roles would have been completely reversed this year between those two guys.

All 11 defenders are all within 10 yards of Caleb on each snap. They are pressuring the Oline because it sucks. Defenders were willing to risk the deep one on ones time and time again because the pressure was too dominant for Caleb to ever have time to let a longer play of any kind develop. 

Who will have a better career? Who knows, but Daniels runs way too much for my liking. I like what Caleb offers, but fix the mother horsefeathers line already.

[WrigleyField 22]

1 hour ago, BigbadB said:

I don't care what anyone says, a player's confidence is a huge factor in getting the most of his ability. Daniels can trust his line to either have the time to complete a pass anywhere on the field, or he can scamper around and take off running, which he is very good at doing. Caleb probably feels like someone is going to hit him from behind before he finishes his drop back. You can't play with an air of confidence when you have to have one eye looking over your damn shoulder. It's the worst thing you can subject your franchise QB to in his first year in the league.

I'm pretty confident that if the Bears drafted Daniels, Washington would be dancing in the streets that they got their guy, and the roles would have been completely reversed this year between those two guys.

All 11 defenders are all within 10 yards of Caleb on each snap. They are pressuring the Oline because it sucks. Defenders were willing to risk the deep one on ones time and time again because the pressure was too dominant for Caleb to ever have time to let a longer play of any kind develop. 

Who will have a better career? Who knows, but Daniels runs way too much for my liking. I like what Caleb offers, but fix the mother horsefeathers line already.

Daniels probably will have to start running less at some point, but very clearly he has enough talent to buy himself the time to round out the passing game fully.  I mean it's only year 1 for him.

But yea, he ended up in a great spot.  Washington went about things the right way. Just super impressive all around. The Bears failed Caleb and would have failed Daniels, but regrettably I think Daniels has also shown enough where he has a better chance to be the better QB long term, even if Caleb is allowed the time to develop.  

[Wilson A2000]

8 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

Has Eddie George ever been interviewed before for HC jobs?  What has he even been doing?

The Rooney Rule thing is interesting.  Moves like this clearly look like an attempt to comply with the rule.  But what's George going to do say no? If he does, they'll just bring someone else in.  So of course he's not saying no, this is why the rule is in place.  While its pretty clear Eddie George will not be the Bears next head coach, at least he can wow them and get his name buzzing.  Don't know if there are any examples of this working and leading to a HC job, but I think the rule works even in situations where the team is just trying to check off a box.

He’s a college coach at Tennessee State 

[UK]

8 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

Has Eddie George ever been interviewed before for HC jobs?  What has he even been doing?

The Rooney Rule thing is interesting.  Moves like this clearly look like an attempt to comply with the rule.  But what's George going to do say no? If he does, they'll just bring someone else in.  So of course he's not saying no, this is why the rule is in place.  While its pretty clear Eddie George will not be the Bears next head coach, at least he can wow them and get his name buzzing.  Don't know if there are any examples of this working and leading to a HC job, but I think the rule works even in situations where the team is just trying to check off a box.

Eddie George has been coaching at Tennessee State (FCS) for several years with average results.

[raw]

51 minutes ago, UK said:

Eddie George has been coaching at Tennessee State (FCS) for several years with average results.

He was his conference's coach of the year this year and has built the program up to where they were an FCS playoff team. He was also part of the minority fellowship coaching thing the NFL did a couple years ago and spent a couple weeks with the Bears during camp.

I will say, I think this is the true spirit of the Rooney Rule, because everyone knows Eddie George but there's multiple people asking in here "what's he been doing?" and he's actually been a solid to decent head coach. This is the exposure he may need to get to the league someday. Also, agree that they should be gushing about how well he does in the interview (even if he bombed it) to make it even more than just a favor they are doing for a friend.

[NorthsideAvenger]

3 hours ago, BigbadB said:

 fix the mother horsefeathers line already.

This needs to be stamped on Poles forehead. 

[Soul]

..

Edited January 19, 2025 by Soul

[UK]

I

4 hours ago, raw said:

He was his conference's coach of the year this year and has built the program up to where they were an FCS playoff team. He was also part of the minority fellowship coaching thing the NFL did a couple years ago and spent a couple weeks with the Bears during camp.

I will say, I think this is the true spirit of the Rooney Rule, because everyone knows Eddie George but there's multiple people asking in here "what's he been doing?" and he's actually been a solid to decent head coach. This is the exposure he may need to get to the league someday. Also, agree that they should be gushing about how well he does in the interview (even if he bombed it) to make it even more than just a favor they are doing for a friend.

Agreed, this is good for Eddie George regardless of the true possibility of him becoming the Bears HC.

As far as the average results, he's 24-22 in 4 years however as you mentioned, made the playoffs last year.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

8 hours ago, BigbadB said:

I don't care what anyone says, a player's confidence is a huge factor in getting the most of his ability. Daniels can trust his line to either have the time to complete a pass anywhere on the field, or he can scamper around and take off running, which he is very good at doing. Caleb probably feels like someone is going to hit him from behind before he finishes his drop back. You can't play with an air of confidence when you have to have one eye looking over your damn shoulder. It's the worst thing you can subject your franchise QB to in his first year in the league.

I'm pretty confident that if the Bears drafted Daniels, Washington would be dancing in the streets that they got their guy, and the roles would have been completely reversed this year between those two guys.

All 11 defenders are all within 10 yards of Caleb on each snap. They are pressuring the Oline because it sucks. Defenders were willing to risk the deep one on ones time and time again because the pressure was too dominant for Caleb to ever have time to let a longer play of any kind develop. 

Who will have a better career? Who knows, but Daniels runs way too much for my liking. I like what Caleb offers, but fix the mother horsefeathers line already.

They're also pressuring because Williams can't beat them deep.  The book on Daniels was to crowd the line and blitz him early in the season, until he made them stop with some absolute dime bombs over the top 

[Hairyducked Idiot]

My concern is that Poles hasn't shown he is capable of fixing the line regardless of investment level.  Nate Davis wasn't cheap.. we've spent a normal amount of draft capital on the line.

My only hope is that it's a scheme/coaching issue not a personnel issue 

[WrigleyField 22]

49 minutes ago, Hairyducked Idiot said:

My concern is that Poles hasn't shown he is capable of fixing the line regardless of investment level.  Nate Davis wasn't cheap.. we've spent a normal amount of draft capital on the line.

My only hope is that it's a scheme/coaching issue not a personnel issue 

It's absolutely partially a coaching issue, but it seemed like he had a hand in the continuity of Morgan...

And one large investment is still at least one short of what he needed.  He's definitely underinvested.  No one is good enough to l underinvest long term.

Edited January 19, 2025 by WrigleyField 22

[gflore34]

6 minutes ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

It's absolutely partially a coaching issue, but it seemed like he had a hand in the continuity of Morgan...

And one large investment is still at least one short of what he needed.  He's definitely underinvested.  No one is good enough to l underinvest long term.

Will he spend the money this time?  The time for uncertainty, timidity is over, if he wishes to be a GM beyond 2025, it's now or never.

[jersey cubs fan]

2 hours ago, Hairyducked Idiot said:

My concern is that Poles hasn't shown he is capable of fixing the line regardless of investment level.  Nate Davis wasn't cheap.. we've spent a normal amount of draft capital on the line.

My only hope is that it's a scheme/coaching issue not a personnel issue 

He chose to overpay Davis instead of keeping daniels, so it was hardly an investment. It was a bad swap. He thought he knew what made great linemen and was wrong. He’s not good at this job 

[Derwood]

[gflore34]

29 minutes ago, Derwood said:

If he wants to win immediately I believe the Bears offer the best chance.  I do think it matters after the money, etc. these guys want to win.  And don't give me all that horsefeathers about the rest of the NFC North, Bears hire Johnson, Caleb improves, I'll take my chances.

Edited January 20, 2025 by gflore34

[BigSlick]

Damn nice, so we’ll find out by the end of this week if he’s coming here or not 

[gflore34]

55 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

Damn nice, so we’ll find out by the end of this week if he’s coming here or not 

What's more it finally be the end of all the fretting about the interviews and all that horsefeathers.  If it's not Johnson, it'll be McCarthy or Monken, all would be good for Caleb.

Edited January 20, 2025 by gflore34

[UMFan83]

I love the wording of that report. “Johnson will decide by the end of the week”. Have all 3 teams made it clear that he is their number 1 choice?

[Wilson A2000]

44 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

I love the wording of that report. “Johnson will decide by the end of the week”. Have all 3 teams made it clear that he is their number 1 choice?

I don’t know if the Bears and Jaguars are going to do that, but it seems like the Raiders pretty much have