Week 13: Bears at Eagles Friday 2pm on Prime

[minnesotacubsfan]

6 minutes ago, Derwood said:

This is all great, but now we've all moved the goal posts of expectations such that going 10-7 (for example) will feel like a failure

ugghh..good

 

even if they lost out, there has been a ton that happened this season to feel happy about going into the offseason. But I dont think that will happen, he was 5-1 against GB as OC in Detroit. With the roll they are on right now, I have to believe they will take at least one game against GB

[Banedon]

17 minutes ago, Derwood said:

This is all great, but now we've all moved the goal posts of expectations such that going 10-7 (for example) will feel like a failure

Ok.  I don't see where this is a problem.

[Derwood]

4 minutes ago, Banedon said:

Ok.  I don't see where this is a problem.

It's not a problem, just pointing out that while a 10-7 finish would have been a thrilling improvement back in August, it now feels like it would be a disappointment. Change in perspective

[gflore34]

Win or lose, I'd like to see Caleb have big to great game vs. the Packers.  Really drive home it's only a matter of time before Caleb and the Bears are a fixture among the best in the NFC.

[gflore34]

4 hours ago, raw said:

While I agree Ben taking more control of personnel is ideal, and I know Poles will never get credit, but I feel like everything he did led to this all being possible. He didn't HAVE to gut the roster and bottom out, but without that, we don't get the trade that led to Caleb. Half the (stupid) fanbase thought he should have traded again and kept Fields, he obviously should get credit for NOT doing that, even though it all seems like the biggest possible no-brainer at this point. 

I think at the very least, we gotta respect his ability as a salesman. He sold Warren/ownership in getting rid of Flus, mid season, for the first time in franchise history. He sold Ben on this being the best job out there. Ben obviously chose the Bears, but Poles could have easily gotten impatient waiting for a HC and I think it's pretty clear he identified Ben pretty early on as his guy. 

I tend to believe there's some truth to the theories that Poles was kinda forced into (though he didn't fight) the Flus hire. I tend to believe there's some truth to him wanting to get rid of Flus before 2024 and wasn't allowed to by ownership. And I could buy an argument that Ben knew the Poles/Bears' interest and turned down jobs last year waiting for the Bears job. Ben also could have demanded to bring in his own GM and didn't. 

Basically, there's nothing with the way things are right now that proves to me that this wasn't Poles' vision the whole time. Maybe Warren made the purses open. Maybe Warren is co-responsible for everything. Maybe Poles could've/should've gotten things to this point sooner and more efficiently, but you can't convince me that the end goal wasn't elite QB prospect/play + big time offensive HC, and that's what we potentially have, regardless of how it got here.

I'm fully convinced Flus was forced upon Poles.  I also believe he and Warren relentlessly double teamed McCaskey to fire Flus.  Had they not, there's no doubt Flus would have been allowed to finish the season.  You know the whole we've never in season fired a HC nonsense.

[Wilson A2000]

On 11/29/2025 at 6:06 AM, Geographyhater8888 said:

Biggest road win since the 7-1 Bears defeated the 6-2 Giants 38-20 week 10 2006?

 

I’ve been thinking about this. That was a great win, but I’d put these up there:

-Last season’s final game against the Packers in Green Bay. The Bears needed to win to give them confidence headed into this season. 

-2018 Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit against the Lions.

-2010 against the Vikings at TCF Bank Stadium when Wooten ended Brett Favre’s career.

-2006 against the Cardinals “The Bears are who we thought they were!”

[UMFan83]

4 hours ago, bukie said:

Bears 9-3, 1 seed in NFC

Niners 9-4, 7 seed in NFC.

Yeah we will enter Week 14 as the number 1 seed in the NFC but a Bears loss, Seahawks win over Atlanta and Rams win over Arizona and the Bears drop to the 7 seed. 

[Wilson A2000]

 

[BigSlick]

Remember we only have to split the Packers games in order to stay in first (assuming we’re at parity in the other games)

If we can’t split the Packers series at worst, then we don’t deserve to win the division anyway. 
 

It’s time to end the Packers dominance of this rivalry. Let’s go. 

[bukie]

22 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Yeah we will enter Week 14 as the number 1 seed in the NFC but a Bears loss, Seahawks win over Atlanta and Rams win over Arizona and the Bears drop to the 7 seed. 

Flip side is if the Bears can win, they keep the 1 seed, open up the division lead, and end the season with 3 of 4 at home.

[BigbadB]

14 hours ago, Banedon said:

With this Carolina upset, it's fun to revisit the results of the Carolina-Bears trade in 2023:

No idea why all of these graphics ignore Tory Taylor. Granted, he's nothing special at this point, but he was a product of this trade.

[BigbadB]

15 hours ago, raw said:

While I agree Ben taking more control of personnel is ideal, and I know Poles will never get credit, but I feel like everything he did led to this all being possible. He didn't HAVE to gut the roster and bottom out, but without that, we don't get the trade that led to Caleb. Half the (stupid) fanbase thought he should have traded again and kept Fields, he obviously should get credit for NOT doing that, even though it all seems like the biggest possible no-brainer at this point. 

I think at the very least, we gotta respect his ability as a salesman. He sold Warren/ownership in getting rid of Flus, mid season, for the first time in franchise history. He sold Ben on this being the best job out there. Ben obviously chose the Bears, but Poles could have easily gotten impatient waiting for a HC and I think it's pretty clear he identified Ben pretty early on as his guy. 

I tend to believe there's some truth to the theories that Poles was kinda forced into (though he didn't fight) the Flus hire. I tend to believe there's some truth to him wanting to get rid of Flus before 2024 and wasn't allowed to by ownership. And I could buy an argument that Ben knew the Poles/Bears' interest and turned down jobs last year waiting for the Bears job. Ben also could have demanded to bring in his own GM and didn't. 

Basically, there's nothing with the way things are right now that proves to me that this wasn't Poles' vision the whole time. Maybe Warren made the purses open. Maybe Warren is co-responsible for everything. Maybe Poles could've/should've gotten things to this point sooner and more efficiently, but you can't convince me that the end goal wasn't elite QB prospect/play + big time offensive HC, and that's what we potentially have, regardless of how it got here.

I always tried to find the good in what Poles was trying to do. I did a lot of research to try to figure out if he actually was involved in the hiring process for Eberflus or not, but there just isn't much out there. If he is admitting he did, he might be protecting the higher ups that actually did do the hiring. According to records, Ryan Poles was officially hired on January 25th, and Eberflus was hired on January 27th. 

First time GM hiring his head coach in day 3? I'll admit I know nothing of the entire process and maybe some of the interview is how you interview coaching candidates, so maybe Poles had some meeting time with coaches before his official hire. I'd say at best, Poles had his choice of Jim Caldwell, Dan Quinn or Eberflus. Even that isn't really getting to bring in the guy "you want". Maybe a first year GM doesn't warrant that kind of respect. I'll just say that while I was a fan of his hiring based on his pedigree, and I soured on him when everything he tried to do was backfiring, and I'm of course back to ecstatic about what he's accomplishing now. There were definitely times I was an apologist moreso than others here for some of his head scratching moves. I never did hate the Claypool trade. I thought the guy could legit help this roster, but the dude truly was a headcase.  

[BigbadB]

18 hours ago, Wilson A2000 said:

Eberflus, Turner, Claypool, Taylor (where he was drafted), Everett, Shelton, Pickens, and Davis were the relatively big misses that I can remember, but yes lately Poles has been on a roll

Seems a bit early to write off Shemar Turner. 

[BigbadB]

11 hours ago, Derwood said:

It's not a problem, just pointing out that while a 10-7 finish would have been a thrilling improvement back in August, it now feels like it would be a disappointment. Change in perspective

I don't find that to be true. To me, they are already playing with house money. Most didn't even predict 9 wins, let alone anything they get beyond that. I was on the edge of my seat for the Eagles game, but I have also tempered my emotions on 3 and outs, points given up, etc.... It's different than expecting wins. The wins are just a wonderful surprise in this process of watching Ben move this franchise in the right direction. 

[Geographyhater8888]

9 minutes ago, BigbadB said:

I never did hate the Claypool trade. I thought the guy could legit help this roster, but the dude truly was a headcase.  

If Claypool was worth what he knew would become a top 40 pick then this package of draft picks +DJ from Carolina never manifests with the third pick or lower. He traded away Mack, Smith and Quinn, it’s counter intuitive to help the team mid season if contending for the #1 pick was his vision. 

[BigbadB]

17 hours ago, Banedon said:

Something tells me there will be a lot more free agents interested in Chicago this offseason.

I nearly posted the same thing yesterday. Winning gets people's attention. Players want to play on teams that have a bright future with great coaching. Seeing all the videos out there of Ben's after game pep talks have to be enticing to a guy looking for a team. 

My concern is how they figure out a way to add talent this offseason. It's way too early to talk next year, but the raises to Jonah Jackson, Dayo Odeyingbo, Grady Jarrett and Jaylon Johnson in 2026 is beyond significant. While I feel like Swift may have earned his final year of his contract, I don't see how that's even remotely possible with the cap crunch this team will be up against next year. Same with maybe bringing Byard back on another one year deal. Sure hope some of these guys are willing to rework their contracts. There aren't many cuts after Edmunds and Swift that give them significant cap space.

[BigbadB]

2 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

If Claypool was worth what he knew would become a top 40 pick then this package of draft picks +DJ from Carolina never manifests with the third pick or lower. He traded away Mack, Smith and Quinn, it’s counter intuitive to help the team mid season if contending for the #1 pick was his vision. 

No doubt. That's why I mentioned a few pages back that some of Poles disasters were so disastrous that they ended up becoming great. Don't know if Poles hired Eberflus, but he does take credit for it, and if it's Dan Quinn, maybe Quinn doesn't hose the 2024 season as badly as Eberflus did. End result is Ben Johnson.

[Brian707]

15 hours ago, bukie said:

Bears 9-3, 1 seed in NFC

Niners 9-4, 7 seed in NFC.

 

[Geographyhater8888]

1 hour ago, BigbadB said:

No doubt. That's why I mentioned a few pages back that some of Poles disasters were so disastrous that they ended up becoming great. Don't know if Poles hired Eberflus, but he does take credit for it, and if it's Dan Quinn, maybe Quinn doesn't hose the 2024 season as badly as Eberflus did. End result is Ben Johnson.

If your end goal is tanking then hiring Flus is the perfect hire. I’ll never know if that was his intention but those 2 sharing the same agent is one theory behind the hire.

But I think we owe a lot more credit to David Tepper than we’ve given him. The rumor was JJ McCarthy was Poles QB2 so and his plan b in the event Caleb pulls an Eli and or they didn’t land the #1 pick, so we all owe David Tepper a lot of gratitude.

Edited December 1, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[Banedon]

1 hour ago, BigbadB said:

I nearly posted the same thing yesterday. Winning gets people's attention. Players want to play on teams that have a bright future with great coaching. Seeing all the videos out there of Ben's after game pep talks have to be enticing to a guy looking for a team. 

My concern is how they figure out a way to add talent this offseason. It's way too early to talk next year, but the raises to Jonah Jackson, Dayo Odeyingbo, Grady Jarrett and Jaylon Johnson in 2026 is beyond significant. While I feel like Swift may have earned his final year of his contract, I don't see how that's even remotely possible with the cap crunch this team will be up against next year. Same with maybe bringing Byard back on another one year deal. Sure hope some of these guys are willing to rework their contracts. There aren't many cuts after Edmunds and Swift that give them significant cap space.

Nashon Wright gonna get paid by somebody.

[raw]

1 hour ago, BigbadB said:

I nearly posted the same thing yesterday. Winning gets people's attention. Players want to play on teams that have a bright future with great coaching. Seeing all the videos out there of Ben's after game pep talks have to be enticing to a guy looking for a team. 

My concern is how they figure out a way to add talent this offseason. It's way too early to talk next year, but the raises to Jonah Jackson, Dayo Odeyingbo, Grady Jarrett and Jaylon Johnson in 2026 is beyond significant. While I feel like Swift may have earned his final year of his contract, I don't see how that's even remotely possible with the cap crunch this team will be up against next year. Same with maybe bringing Byard back on another one year deal. Sure hope some of these guys are willing to rework their contracts. There aren't many cuts after Edmunds and Swift that give them significant cap space.

So, I've thought about this offseason a lot. LOL. The Bears are in an interesting place. This season will either end with a playoff berth, or worst case, the best team to miss the playoffs. I think reasonable improvements from the offense in general, and Caleb specifically, in Year 2 of Ben, combined with better injury luck on D could make this team a legit SB contender as soon as 2026.

I think in this situation, you kind of have to "run it back" with as many players as possible. Re-work the guys that are going to be here long-ish term (Jaylon, Montez, Dalman, maybe Kmet). Don't mess with contracts for guys like Dayo and Grady. I'd probably lean to cut Swift still, but no way do I let go for Edmunds. That can give you up to 30M in additional cap space, which is enough for a really good DL while also bringing back a couple safeties. I'd let Nahshon walk and hope he gets you a comp pick (though unlikely if you sign say, a Trey Hendrickson). 

The tough one is DJ Moore. Part of me would love to trade DJ. He's a big source of cap savings, while also being one of the few players on the roster you can get something of decent significance for, that you can afford to give away (Burden to take his place). But he's not putting up numbers and the 2nd round pick you may have been able to get before the year, is probably a 3rd or 4th and 6th at best. So, I'd probably keep him on his contract.

Personally, I'm going for it this offseason. I'm calling Vegas and Cleveland to see if they will trade away their DEs. I try to talk them out of Crosby/Garrett right up to the tampering period. I'm giving up two 1s (+ for Garrett) especially if this year's 1 is in the mid-to-late 20s. That doesn't work, then pivot to Hendrickson or other trades (trading for a pass rushing DT is also on the board here). This is like 2018, but with already knowing you have your QB/offense and not just hoping it works out on that side. 

[Wilson A2000]

1 hour ago, BigbadB said:

I nearly posted the same thing yesterday. Winning gets people's attention. Players want to play on teams that have a bright future with great coaching. Seeing all the videos out there of Ben's after game pep talks have to be enticing to a guy looking for a team. 

My concern is how they figure out a way to add talent this offseason. It's way too early to talk next year, but the raises to Jonah Jackson, Dayo Odeyingbo, Grady Jarrett and Jaylon Johnson in 2026 is beyond significant. While I feel like Swift may have earned his final year of his contract, I don't see how that's even remotely possible with the cap crunch this team will be up against next year. Same with maybe bringing Byard back on another one year deal. Sure hope some of these guys are willing to rework their contracts. There aren't many cuts after Edmunds and Swift that give them significant cap space.

The good thing is that the Bears don’t have that many holes to fill. Right now I think the Bears only have $12 million of cap space and Dayo has a $22 million cap hit and dead money next year. Re-signing Byard for $15-20 million and getting another pass rusher are the only holes.

[Wilson A2000]

43 minutes ago, Banedon said:

Nashon Wright gonna get paid by somebody.

It’s not going to be the Bears

[jersey cubs fan]

2 hours ago, BigbadB said:

My concern is how they figure out a way to add talent this offseason. It's way too early to talk next year, but the raises to Jonah Jackson, Dayo Odeyingbo, Grady Jarrett and Jaylon Johnson in 2026 is beyond significant. 

I had no idea that Dayo was due such a huge raise. Oof. What a terrible signing. Hope they can get some sort of injury settlement relief to get out of that one but assume there will be a big dead cap hit. 

[jersey cubs fan]

17 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

The good thing is that the Bears don’t have that many holes to fill. Right now I think the Bears only have $12 million of cap space and Dayo has a $22 million cap hit and dead money next year. Re-signing Byard for $15-20 million and getting another pass rusher are the only holes.

Disagree there. This is a mid tier roster with plenty of holes and/or room for improvement.