2025 Bears Offseason Thread

[jersey cubs fan]

It’s not nonsense. It’s not a myth. A poorly run organization stuck in a 1960s mentality has been a terrible place for quarterbacks. Coaching matters. Offensive infrastructure is a real thing. The bears have never had either. They’ve ruined talented players. They could have done it again if they kept Eberflus a day longer. 

[gflore34]

1 hour ago, jersey cubs fan said:

It’s not nonsense. It’s not a myth. A poorly run organization stuck in a 1960s mentality has been a terrible place for quarterbacks. Coaching matters. Offensive infrastructure is a real thing. The bears have never had either. They’ve ruined talented players. They could have done it again if they kept Eberflus a day longer. 

I agree, it also a fact Mitch and Justin are both fatally flawed and no amount of offensive infrastructure or coaching is going to change that fact.  The Bears didn't ruin them, didn't help them but, they didn't ruin them.

[BigbadB]

9 hours ago, gflore34 said:

I agree, it also a fact Mitch and Justin are both fatally flawed and no amount of offensive infrastructure or coaching is going to change that fact.  The Bears didn't ruin them, didn't help them but, they didn't ruin them.

When season records and lifetime records are easily broken, you have a flawed history of QB's. I have no issue with the term "where QB's go to die". Sure, they haven't developed anyone, nor have they done much to secure the position with a premium talent. Cutler sits alone at the top of the standings of most Bears passing yards by 9000 yards. Prior to Cutler, 14,686 yards was the most by a Bears QB EVER! And that was from a time when passing was practically a second thought.

[BigbadB]

Joe Thuney signed a 2 year extension. He'll be paid $51 or the next 3 years. That creates a lot of stability at 4 of the 5 Oline positions. That makes me happy.

[jersey cubs fan]

On 3/5/2025 at 10:09 AM, We Got The Whole 9 said:

So do we extend him for another year or two or just rent for 2025?

 

He's 1/16 right now. 

They will sign Thuney, who turns 33 in November, to a 2-year, $35 million extension, meaning he could be with the team through the 2027 season, a league source confirmed. The new contract includes a $33.5 million fully guaranteed for this season and next. Thuney’s salary cap number was going to be $16 million this season. But with the revised contract, his cap hit has been lowered to $8 million for 2025.

[Derwood]

The salary cap hits feel like its just a random number generator. I will never understand the caculus

[jersey cubs fan]

1 hour ago, jersey cubs fan said:

They will sign Thuney, who turns 33 in November, to a 2-year, $35 million extension, meaning he could be with the team through the 2027 season, a league source confirmed. The new contract includes a $33.5 million fully guaranteed for this season and next. Thuney’s salary cap number was going to be $16 million this season. But with the revised contract, his cap hit has been lowered to $8 million for 2025.

 

15 minutes ago, Derwood said:

The salary cap hits feel like its just a random number generator. I will never understand the caculus

The athletic is the only place I saw a reference to $8m in 2025 as the hit. Not sure how that would work 

[gflore34]

My goodness the Chicago media and media at large continues to harp on the incompetence of the previous coaching staff.  Yes, they were incompetent, how many horsefeathers times and how many horsefeathers people have state the obvious?  And what the horsefeathers does that have to do with Ben Johnson?

Edited May 20, 2025 by gflore34

[Derwood]

15 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

My goodness the Chicago media and media at large continues to harp on the incompetence of the previous coaching staff.  Yes, they were incompetent, how many horsefeathers times and how many horsefeathers people have state the obvious?  And what the horsefeathers does that have to do with Ben Johnson?

Until Ben Johnson breaks that cycle, they will continue to harp

[Brian707]

24 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

My goodness the Chicago media and media at large continues to harp on the incompetence of the previous coaching staff.  Yes, they were incompetent, how many horsefeathers times and how many horsefeathers people have state the obvious?  And what the horsefeathers does that have to do with Ben Johnson?

Not much to talk about as we enter the post draft pre training camp period

[gflore34]

11 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Until Ben Johnson breaks that cycle, they will continue to harp

This and as stated above there's nothing much else to talk about.

Edited May 20, 2025 by gflore34

[Brian707]

Let's see if the Bears and the added cap space invest in a RB(Dobbs, Chubb, etc)

[bukie]

RIP George Wendt.

[UMFan83]

Who wants to overreact to eye witness reports on the first day of OTAs with a brand new coaching staff and offense?  Chicago media is hilarious

 

 

Edited May 22, 2025 by UMFan83

[17 Seconds]

garbage from a garbage site, thanks for posting

[Thusly Boned]

3 hours ago, 17 Seconds said:

garbage from a garbage site, thanks for posting

I think Hoge is okay, but the rest of that crew is a total meatball clown car. It's unwatchable

[jumbo]

On 5/22/2025 at 3:56 PM, Thusly Boned said:

I think Hoge is okay, but the rest of that crew is a total meatball clown car. It's unwatchable

I listen to the Hoge and Jahns podcast. Tried CHGO but it is painful to listen to

[tfarks]

https://www.chicagobears.com/video/scouting-the-future-inside-the-bears-2025-draft-1920-football-drive

[UMFan83]

Positive report about Caleb's start with the new coaching staff:

https://www.si.com/nfl/nfl-takeaways-jim-irsay-greatest-accomplishment-colts#_wr5bovjjw

Quote

Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams has gotten a lot of attention for being out on the team’s old regime, but every indication over the past four months has been that he’s in on the new one. And I’d say that with this very important caveat: It’s pretty easy for a quarterback to buy in on a first-year coach with an offensive background who was hired, at least in part, to get his own career off the ground. No one’s lost a game. Or thrown a pick. Or had a plan come undone. That said, from Day 1, Williams’s buy-in on Ben Johnson has been high.

The 23-year-old was there, alongside DJ Moore and Rome Odunze, for the introductory press conference, which is a small, but notable, thing for a guy to do coming off his rookie year. That, in turn, gave the two their first chance to sit down and talk face-to-face. And it also showed that Williams had an understanding of the responsibility that would come with his place as the Bears’ franchise quarterback, which would be Johnson’s starting point anyway.

Williams was around the building a lot from that point forward, which gave Johnson, offensive coordinator Declan Doyle and QBs coach J.T. Barrett a shot to organically build their relationship. That facilitated some hard truths to be doled out at the start of the offseason program in April.

There were two areas where the coaches wanted improvement from Williams. Both related to how he carried himself as the quarterback, based on what the 2024 season showed. One was body language. The other was presnap procedure.

On the former, while the coaches understood the beating he took, they showed film to emphasize how he’d been slow to pull himself up off the ground. It was a long year. People got fired in-season. And in adverse circumstances, the staff explained, having a quarterback who was rolling with the punches would go a long way. On the latter, there was a smattering of small things—like on the first play of one game, he turned to his left, thinking the motion was coming, when it was actually coming from the right—that needed to be cleaned up.

To Williams’s credit, he welcomed every piece of criticism in an effort to get better. Which allowed the staff to move quickly to a lot of Lions tape, to give Williams an idea of what Johnson would be bringing from Detroit with him, and Matthew Stafford film, to bring some visuals to what they’d try to work him toward technique and fundamentals-wise.

Progress, thus far, has been steady, and Williams is working at it. The Bears adding Case Keenum to the quarterback room was, indeed, intentional, and Williams has taken advantage of it, in using Keenum almost as another coach after hours (to work around the CBA-mandated limits on what the coaches can actually do with the players at this point in the calendar). And, on the field, Williams has been good for at least one “did he really do that?” throw every day.

 

[gflore34]

15 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Positive report about Caleb's start with the new coaching staff:

https://www.si.com/nfl/nfl-takeaways-jim-irsay-greatest-accomplishment-colts#_wr5bovjjw

 

Well, horsefeathers me dead, didn't know anything positive regarding Caleb and the Bears was allowed.  Thought it was harp on what a pile of horsefeathers the previous coaching staff was 24/7.

[BigSlick]

the only thing i hate about media people harping on the last coaching staff is that they messed up in the most obviously dumb and stupid way possible. like in a way that shouldn't be possible at the pro level. 

you couldn't write a piece of fiction where the #1 overall pick QB watches tape by himself without any guidance from the coaching staff. thats simply something thats unfathomable to have occurred. and yet. it did. 

nfl teams are corporations worth billions of dollars. things like this shouldn't happen. it shouldn't even be possible for this kind of incompetence to occur, and yet the last several years of...this planet... prove that incompetence is possible at every layer of society. 

Edited May 27, 2025 by BigSlick

[Wilson A2000]

On 5/27/2025 at 3:11 PM, BigSlick said:

the only thing i hate about media people harping on the last coaching staff is that they messed up in the most obviously dumb and stupid way possible. like in a way that shouldn't be possible at the pro level. 

you couldn't write a piece of fiction where the #1 overall pick QB watches tape by himself without any guidance from the coaching staff. thats simply something thats unfathomable to have occurred. and yet. it did. 

 

nfl teams are corporations worth billions of dollars. things like this shouldn't happen. it shouldn't even be possible for this kind of incompetence to occur, and yet the last several years of...this planet... prove that incompetence is possible at every layer of society. 

Ross Tucker had a weird take on Caleb watching tape. He interpreted Caleb as saying, “I’ll watch tape when and how I want to,” while I interpreted it as, “No one is giving me direction as I watch tape; I’m all alone.” 

Edited May 29, 2025 by Wilson A2000

[jersey cubs fan]

5 hours ago, Wilson A2000 said:

 I interpreted it as, “No one is giving me direction as I watch rape; I’m all alone.” 

Yikes

[Wilson A2000]

1 hour ago, jersey cubs fan said:

Yikes

Oops! Edited it.

Edited May 29, 2025 by Wilson A2000

[We Got The Whole 9]

It sounds like Caleb still has horrible ball placement. Understanding the playbook and all of the different ins and outs of the offense, obviously that's going to take time. But I hate hearing that he's still sailing passes, not even close on a wheel route. Johnson and Co. have their work cut out for them.