jersey cubs fan

Congrats on the gift of time being added back to your life

Good news: breaking the law is the new market inefficiency

The Bears had an OTA cancelled today for violating CBA agreement with full contact in earlier OTAs. Maybe a blip on the radar, but this is an inexperienced staff, with no person in charge of any area with experience in that role before, with the exception of the special teams coordinator. Probably a lot more growing pains we're going to have to deal with.

TT is against it

If counting on Nico to not miss games due to injury is part of your plan, you're doing it wrong.

Phillies Fire Girardi

Yup. They projected as a 75-80 win team, and the underlying #s (I.e. controlling for their horsefeathers 1-run game record) think that's exactly what they've been Shoot for mediocrity and terribleness is on the table. That's just part of putting together a baseball team.

Well that's good news

#ALLSeasonsMatter

If it was me attempting to comment on the theoretical motivations behind one person accusing another of rape I would not do it

it was a cool couple of days above the .400 level

I highly doubt that.

The lack of playmakers on defense and lack of even decent players on offense does keep the #1 pick on the table. I bet it won't happen. But I'd be shocked if they are drafting outside the top ten in 2023. And they are absolutely going to run run run manage the clock and hope to generate TOs. The only part of the offense that is remotely above average is the running back room. They have a little bit of depth and diversity there. They have one receiver who can easily be double teamed and shutdown with no other threats. Siemian had Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, both coming off multiple 1,000 yard receiving seasons when he put up those numbers for a defending super bowl championship team. Fields is in the first year of a new system with a horrible supporting cast. It's not the same situation. I was thinking about who Siemian had on offense, did not take the time to look nevertheless, I do not think its beyond the realm of possibilities that Fields will improve. At the very least this coaching staff will make a better attempt at putting him in a position to succeed, this alone should make a positive difference. I am assuming Fields does improve, but improving on his rookie year doesn't necessarily translate to more than a handful of wins this season. If he eclipses 3,000 yards with 60% completion percentage and throws as many TDs as INTs while fumbling only 10 times with this supporting cast he will have shown marked improvement from last year and this team will still suck.

The lack of playmakers on defense and lack of even decent players on offense does keep the #1 pick on the table. I bet it won't happen. But I'd be shocked if they are drafting outside the top ten in 2023. And they are absolutely going to run run run manage the clock and hope to generate TOs. The only part of the offense that is remotely above average is the running back room. They have a little bit of depth and diversity there. They have one receiver who can easily be double teamed and shutdown with no other threats. Siemian had Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, both coming off multiple 1,000 yard receiving seasons when he put up those numbers for a defending super bowl championship team. Fields is in the first year of a new system with a horrible supporting cast. It's not the same situation.

I think that's more or less the plan for 2021. Not that they won't try and develop Fields progressions and stuff, but I think they'll lean on a run game and hope to end up in positions where they're just playing from behind and have to throw.

They lost 9 of 10 in late April and are 4-6 in the last 10 in May and are somehow just one game under .500? That’s oddly impressive.

Gotta win 1 of next 2 to avoid going back under .400

I agree they didn't hatch a plan to purposely lose as many games as possible in 2022. Maybe Fields is too good to net them the #1 pick anyway. But that doesn't change the fact that Poles did nothing to help the 2022 team stand a chance at being competitive. It was all about 2023 and beyond. It's tanking.

yea, I dont know how anyone can look at what Poles has done (or more importantly not done) and think anything other than he doesn't believe in Fields I see it as one of 2 things: 1) They don't believe in Fields and/or putting him in a position where if he's elite he'll show enough despite being hamstrung by resources or he'll prove to be a bust in which case they can justify dumping him and picking their own QB 2) They do believe in Fields and/or are natural on him and think that having a superior coaching staff/offensive gameplan and their handpicked scrap heap guys they added will make a giant difference. If its the second one, then either they are really smart and have proven they have a strong ability to identify coaching and player talent, or they suffer from the same 'smartest guy in the room' syndrome that has been the downfall of so many other executives and coaches throughout the NFL. I don't believe they are outright sabotaging him though necessarily. If Fields sucks so they trade him off and he becomes a star elsewhere, all the sudden Poles looks like a moron and his seat starts getting warm. You can count on one hand the number of 1st round QBs that fail on their original team and then become a star elsewhere. Brees...Favre...probably 1 or 2 I'm missing. Technically Favre was in the 2nd round but he was one of the first few picks of that round. You can probably count on one hand the number of 1st round draft pick QBs who've been abandoned by a new regime. I think there's a 3rd option in there. They have some level of faith in Fields but not enough to carry this team in 2022, which is what they'd need to contend this year. They aren't giving him weapons because if they did he'd be expected to use them? So they are going into 2022 with the hopes of being a run first, second and third team, maybe throwing 18 times a game just to mix things up. Load up on young depth on the offensive line, pound the ball, create an identity on offense while not actually scoring points, let the defense keep you in the game and maybe you win a couple unexpectedly. There are enough bad teams on this schedule that they can beat a few just with competence and turnovers, and then you load up in the 2023 draft with all the talent you can give Fields to open it up. If Fields stumbles in 2023, you draft your QB in 2024 and hope that guys shows enough in his 2nd year to net everybody a contract extension. Or if Fields survives this gauntlet you get that contract extension even sooner. Because by then you should have the surrounding cast to help a young QB. The other issue though is I don't see how this defense can be anywhere close to dominant enough to keep this team in games this year.

What do you disagree with? Poles inherited a bad team and made no effort to make it competitive in 2022. They required bare minimum upgrades and didn't even try. yea, I dont know how anyone can look at what Poles has done (or more importantly not done) and think anything other than he doesn't believe in Fields I can squint and rationalize a way that he believes in Fields, I just don't see how you can think Poles isn't giving up on the season.

This must be the answer to the question: How to sound like the biggest a-hole while making obvious criticisms against the Bears offseason? Authors points: WR corps looks bad, TE corps not good enough to make receiver group as a whole satisfactory (I agree) Velus Jones not an ideal pick at 71 (I agree) Poles is giving up on this season and will blame Pace (I do not agree) Evaluating Fields is more important than BPA because it means a better evaluation of the most important position (I get it) I wish more had been done to the offense, too. Developing Fields is critical, and giving him more weapons/OLine help would be/would have been awesome. Poles deserves some criticism of, or at least opinions on, his offseason, no doubt. This clown took 1000 words of hyperbole and not very funny sarcasm to make his case. What do you disagree with? Poles inherited a bad team and made no effort to make it competitive in 2022. They required bare minimum upgrades and didn't even try.

just noticed the Cubs went back over .400 for the first time since before facing the white sox

Well then you just missed 2 runs lol Edit: 3 And 3 more