gflore34

Eh. I'm happy to see them in a playoff game. They wouldn't be better off if they came up short. It's always been a good chance that Nagy/Pace will have a chance to select a QB in the 2021 draft, considering the timing of Nagy coming in after Mitch was already here. Unless Mitch takes them deep in the playoffs, they aren't going to need to give him a crazy deal. It will be something they can get out of in a year. If they show no progress in 2021 then they will be in a better position to clean house top to bottom and allow a new GM/Prez type to figure it out. I'm still not convinced they let Pace lame duck it. But a token one year extension or something seems pretty blatantly admitting he's on the hot seat as well. I think barring a collapse theyre committed to Pace and probably Nagy too. I wouldn't be shocked at a Pace multi year extension. Even if they hadn't raked out a playoff spot, I think 8-8 seasons could buy this duo quite a bit more time that the average fan would want. That is unless there is any truth to the rumor about a unannounced extension and Pace already has a deal running through 22 and not 21. Needless to say this offseason will be interesting though. I think we'll see a relatively big QB investment and a lot of cap deferring games so they can go for it again in 2021, even though they definitely shouldn't be doing the latter. If a QB is drafted does anyone trust Pace? I could see him taking Jones or Mond who, from what I understand, are Mitch 2.0. Maybe, with Nagy' input this time they can get it right, don't trust they'll hit on the correct pick but, they've not had chance so, we don't know.

I think yesterday's game was such a glaring example of the fact that the Bears have glaring holes in a few important areas, its hard to ignore even if the end result was the playoffs. They finished with the same record as last year despite an easier schedule and snuck into the playoffs only due to an extra playoff spot being created. I am going to enjoy being in the playoffs but still hoping/expecting changes to be made after the season. I'll be angry about this outcome if/when its clear nothing will be done I guess one can view the playoffs as the Bears playing with house money, they've no reason to avoid taking chances, being aggressive. Of course, that's never worked with Mitch but, what difference does it make? Quite probably going to lose but, if they can pull some stuff on their asses with Mitch they could win. Which would be hilarious, setting up another meeting with the Packers maybe, losing to them a third time will prompt some changes.

I don’t know about very very mediocre. They were ranked 7th in the league in defensive DVOA going into this week, maybe there are better stats out there to evaluate defense, feel free to suggest. But your remarks on the individual players are valid, so maybe as a collective unit they hold their own but their individual pieces are not at the level were at 2 years ago. Still think the secondary is a strong unit but are often burdened by a lack of pass rush. Jaylon Johnson has potential but for every big play he’s made, he’s countered with a glaring mistake. But he’s a rookie and I like what I’ve seen With our season on the line, we just had to implement a gameplan based around the fact that we all knew our defense had little chance to stop our biggest rivals' offense. I don't feel comfortable calling the defense "good" under those circumstances. What has happened to Mack? He was a monster in 2018 and has since, basically, disappeared most especially vs. the Packers, they blatantly held him in the 2019 opening night game, which explains his lack of impact in that game. I'd even go so far as to say it was the primary reason the Packers won that game, Bears should have had a safety either by a Mack sack or holding in the end zone, among the many other times Rodgers should have been sacked. I don't think its the Packers all of sudden learning how to stop him either, there's got to be something else, he's been a non-factor since the start of the 2019 season.

The worst possible outcomes to the 2020 season, limp into the playoffs, thereby, giving ownership an excuse to retain Pace and Nagy. They're not in position to draft a potential QB with Pace calling the shots on the 2021 draft. At least they didn't pull the trigger on a Trubisky extension such as the Eagles and Rams did with Wentz and Goff. I don't think they will, regardless of the QB situation, if they re-sign him, it'll probably be a one year incentive driven deal.

I miss all of his wacky three team trade proposals. Most of them made more sense than the embarrassing Darvish trade. Maybe some of us arm chair GM's over valued Darvish? If we didn't the trade was historically terrible and embarrassing, four marginal talents (baseball wise relative to others) that could be found among hundreds of other players in hundreds of other places, nothing special, you could find these types in later rounds of any draft.

I wonder what percentage of Jed's paycheck is for blatantly lying about ownership mandating a slash to the payroll 100%. He’s the Ricketts hatchet man. Mind you this return for Darvish was the "best" he could do, doesn't that make you all warm and fuzzy about the future?

When you sit back and think of all that has to go correct over the next 5-6 years for any Preciado, Santana, Cassie or Mena to make it to the big leagues. It's not even realistic to consider they'll amount to anything, sure Jed said it's a fools errand. The fact that he couldn't acquire someone closer with a more realistic chance is why he deserves wholesale criticism. Today he mentioned something along the lines of often times trades which initially appear to be bad, turn out, in time, to be good. horsefeathers you Jed Hoyer, bad trades end up being bad trades 99.99% of time, who are you trying fool? The initially bad one but, turn out good trades aren't filled with teenagers you have to wait 5-6 years with everything going right to see any return.

not sure if you were meaning to imply otherwise, but willson's value shouldn't exactly be at a low point right now. weird 2020 stuff aside, he improved drastically defensively (in ways that look like they'll stick) and he wasn't bad offensively. No, definitely meant Contreras value is high just don't trust Hoyer, in light of the Darvish trade, will be able to get that back.

So what low end teenage prospects are available? If the Darvish trade was the best Hoyer could do with a player at his highest trade value, just think what he could do with Contreras. Years from now, when the Cubs are in the midst of losing 95+ games every season and Hoyer is long gone, one of these lotto tickets will have developed in a good major league player. People will then praise Hoyer for his eye for young talent in all his trades.

That's a good analogy, can't help but think none of them will amount to anything, they remind of the kind of garbage the Braves used to make trades in the 90's, early 2000's. Todd Hollandsworth for Angelo Burrows and Todd Blackford, granted Hollandsworth was nothing great, Burrows was gone by 2006 and Blackford was done by 2009.

His numbers are goodish so :dontknow: Devil's Advocate Post: 2020: Yu Darvish - 76 IP, 2.01 ERA Zach Davies - 69.1 IP, 2.73 ERA 2019-2020: Yu Darvish - 254.2 IP, 3.39 ERA Zach Davies - 229 IP, 3.30 ERA 2018-2020: Yu Darvish - 294.2 IP, 3.60 ERA Zach Davies - 295 IP, 3.60 ERA 2017-2020: Yu Darvish - 481.1 IP, 3.70 ERA Zach Davies - 486.1 IP, 3.74 ERA I don't actually think Davies is anywhere near as good as Darvish, but it's kinda remarkable how similar the top line results are for both guys. They are however, is there any doubt Davies is going to be obliterated as a Cub? He's going from one the best pitcher' parks in baseball to Wrigley Field, at times, it can be pitcher' park but, on those days when the wind is blowing out and minimizing contact is in order not a good environment for Davies' to be successful.

It's a few things: - Signing bonuses aren't always linear. They're agreed to when kids are 14/15, and finalized at 16. Sometimes the $1M 14 year old develops a little better than the $3M one. So while the huge money kids are almost always still the top kids in the class, the order can get fudged a bit in that intervening period - When going from amateur to professional ball, you change to an almost entirely new ecosystem of scouts. That's how you get like Nico Hoerner going from being a 40th-ish ranked draft prospect to a top 100 overall guy after 6 weeks in short season ball - In this case specifically, the only place they've been seen since March was the instructional league in October. Longenhagen lives near there, so luckily he has actually seen 3/4 of these guys in the last few months. So while I typically value Keith Law's or Jim Callis' opinion more, I think Eric's opinion holds much more weight currently Isn't troublesome that they've got to be framed in a such a manner to put any positive spin on them? Doesn't it mean there's a long shot to none they'll amount to anything?

But still, it doesn't read all that hopeful, there's nothing about any of them that jumps out plus they're eons away.

Looks that way now, lots of risk being taken on by the Cubs, historically that's never played out well. I'd say there's a better than average chance none of these guys are Cubs in two years than any one of the prospects panning out to be a productive MLB'er. Prospects which are all, what, 4+ years away at best? Zach Davies? Weren't the Cubs one of the few teams against which slow, slower and slowest was effective? Remember when Bryant was being shopped and we couldn't get what we wanted for him. If I was a GM on a team that needed a 3B, I would be calling Jed with offers of 2 16-year-olds for Bryant plus cash. Look on the bright side, the Cubs could probably field one hell of a 19U team.

Well played sir. I spit my coffee onto my laptop from laughing when I read this! Might as well, probably still has better stuff then Davies, he's only 39.

Looks that way now, lots of risk being taken on by the Cubs, historically that's never played out well. I'd say there's a better than average chance none of these guys are Cubs in two years than any one of the prospects panning out to be a productive MLB'er. Prospects which are all, what, 4+ years away at best? Zach Davies? Weren't the Cubs one of the few teams against which slow, slower and slowest was effective?

Yes but, its the Cardinals and except for a few blips here and there throughout franchise history, them losing to Ram team with a QB nobody' heard off is definitely within the realm of possibilities. They'll lose and the Bears will back into the playoffs after getting destroyed by Packers.

Product of Rodgers? Hasn't Rodgers historically been unkind to his TEs? Was it Rodgers or McCarthys schemes? And Graham was aging by the time he signed with GB, he just happens to be having a late-career revival with Chicago And WTF is up with that? This kind of horsefeathers almost never happens for the Bears.

That's a certainty, there's nothing good coming from this Bears season, they've won too many games thereby, eliminating any chance at drafting a QB. They'll lose to GB in most heart breaking, kick in the balls manner which will enable them to miss the playoffs. Maybe a GB sweep will seal the fate of Pace and Nagy, that could be a good result. Just for horsefeathers and giggles I looked at Jimmy Graham' stats, one could argue he's having his best season since 2017 with SEA, a pro bowl season. Kind of surprising given he had Rodgers as his QB the previous two seasons of course, some no name GB TE is currently having the season of his life. Robert Tonyan. In the interest of being fair to him, the Packers have been bringing him along since 2017, after the Lions discarded him. So good for him for hanging around until he got his chance. I just think he's a product of Rodgers just like many others, and will disappear if he leaves GB. Kind of sick of seeing him make big catch after big catch! Most certainly, I wouldn't be fooled into thinking he could replicate such play with any QB. Rodgers is having his best season - for him - since 2016, might explain why Graham didn't fair as well as I thought he would in his GB years. Just find it pleasantly surprising the Bears, with horseshit for QB's, managed to get anything out of him.

Why is he worse than Murray and Goff? From a purely statistical point of view there's not much distinction, all of them are about the same QB.

Unfortunately the Bears will already be down 35-10 so they won't be able to mount that comeback :D That's a certainty, there's nothing good coming from this Bears season, they've won too many games thereby, eliminating any chance at drafting a QB. They'll lose to GB in most heart breaking, kick in the balls manner which will enable them to miss the playoffs. Maybe a GB sweep will seal the fate of Pace and Nagy, that could be a good result. Just for shits and giggles I looked at Jimmy Graham' stats, one could argue he's having his best season since 2017 with SEA, a pro bowl season. Kind of surprising given he had Rodgers as his QB the previous two seasons of course, some no name GB TE is currently having the season of his life.

To his credit Pace has hit on several non-first round picks now, if he could fix the problem with first rounders.

the Illini are trash Pretty much sums it up at the moment, thought maybe, just maybe, this was the year we'd see a talented Illini team kick the crap out of teams. But, we're back to the same old horsefeathers - getting out hustled, out toughed, pushed around, out coached - although, I will say the officiating was a deciding factor in two of their three loses. Maybe they'll improve however, right now they're 7-10 seed, possible bubble team, just horsefeathering sucks, the talent is there, no question. Brad has got to start working the refs, they're allowing a mugging of Kofi every time he gets the ball in the paint, its ridiculous, what's it going to take, Kofi hauling off on someone? Guess Brad has started working the officiating - we'll probably see a change tonight vs PSU and maybe, a game or two thereafter then, the officiating will resort back to allowing teams to pound on Kofi.

If you resign Trubisky, you can draft EDGE or WR in the 1st round, depending on who is there. That frees up letting Arob go or trading Mack. If you draft OL, you will likely have to bring Arob back. Or, you simply BPA the pick I guess the point is if Trubisky plays himself into a new contract you have more options than if he flat out sucked and you HAVE to draft QB in the 1st. I’m really not in the mood to draft a linebacker. My preferences for the first round would be o-line, QB, WR Don't think OL is also a good choice? Seems Lawrence is looked upon as a franchise QB, is there someone else flying under the radar who might emerge as a franchise QB?

Whenever the Bears and Mitch do well on offense my first response is their opponent must have a real shiity defense. I'm not going to be sucked into thinking a change in play calling, playing to Mitch' strengths, and the OL starting to jell are the reasons for success.