Soul

Surprisingly fun game to watch JAX/CIN to kick off the weekend.

Yeah, I don't care about any of that stuff. It doesn't benefit me in anyway. I have a preference that sports teams should play in dense urban areas, but football might be the exception with their short schedule. Even in cases where it doesn't impact me directly I do just think it's better. I think the Super Bowls and Final Fours are overrated. But it amazes me that San Antonio built the Alomodome for ~$300M in today's dollars, never attracted the NFL team they were after and have hosted just about as many Final Fours as anywhere else (though no SB) . And now new stadiums will cost $2B to hopefully get a couple of those SBs and Final Fours. I'd love to see some financial argument that someone could spend < $1B and get a multi-purpose convention center that gets year round business, but can scale stadium seating for mega sporting events. Maybe it's not a feasible one though, but football stadiums are just very nuts now. Soldier Field is in an urban area but it’s kind of awkward, being located away from public transportation and not having much in the way of Chicago culture around it. Unless you are looking for that coveted Football / T-Rex combo experience. That said, I have so many fond memories of Soldier Field, going back to the 1970’s and watching games in the bitter cold with my Dad. I’d be fairly devastated if they left, even though it might make sense depending on what this new project would look like.

If they struggle to score 20 points and get 200 yards against this Lions defense, you’d almost have to do something. Short of firing Nagy (which I'm doubtful would happen), I'll speculate that Pace pulls Nagy aside and tells him, look you need to stop calling the plays. I mean, surely Pace saw the difference last year once it wasn't Nagy calling the plays! He's the guy who needs to recognize that and take action. Otherwise who will? If it's the McCaskeys that need to reach down to the HC, bypassing the GM, then that tells you all you need to know about these guys. But I just can't see a mid-season firing because it's never happened.

I would have strongly disagreed with that take before yesterday, and I probably still disagree but I'm more open to this way of thinking. That said, I am no football savant and have no idea if it would really do any damage. But he sure looked rattled out there late in the game which is not something I expected from Fields, even as a rookie QB making his first start. Yeah, yesterday was pretty bad. It's hard to even say that Fields would have been better yesterday had he had time with the 1s before last week or if he got a legit chance to compete for the job in camp. But it couldn't have been any worse. Mark me down in the (apparently) unpopular camp of wanting Dalton/Foles until Nagy is gone. Nagy will ruin Fields, I have no doubts about it.

https://www.change.org/p/chicago-bears-fire-matt-nagy-1672dec0-ccf0-4815-a688-46e4f2884b51

Trubisky not being the long term answer and Nagy consistently refusing to put together a game plan to play to Trubisky’s strengths can both be true. And quite likely was. True, I thought the Trubisky pick was bizarre at that position and wasn't at all surprised he turned out the way he did. But, there were times when he looked really good especially on the move so why didn't Nagy design to that more, or did Mitch just not take advantage of those opportunities? Difficult to say. With Fields though, I feel like good coaching and gameplan is all he needs to develop into an upper-half QB at least. I don't think anyone can doubt his raw abilities.

Yep. That checks out. By the way, this isn't a comparison between Trubisky and Fields. However, this feels like a continuation of Nagy's failures to adapt to his QB's strengths and weaknesses. That's exactly how it feels to me as well.

I don't recall the Bears doing it mid-season. Could be wrong? Regardless I can't see it. They'll ride Nagy until the offseason and if it's a losing season they'll analyze whether they want Pace to continue without him. I think Pace bought a little goodwill with the Fields move. But I'm looking at this cruddy OLine, the empty chairs at TE, and the secondary (maybe they'll improve??) and I'm still seeing overall failure @ GM.

Look at the schedule after Detroit. They may get it right against DET but it's going to be tough for those guys afterwards.

I feel like Nagy will ruin Fields if he’s the guy who gives Fields his first set of NFL starts. But he’s in charge right now. It’s his ship to sink, with career-altering consequences for Fields.

…at least part of that was because they never bothered to try to establish the run. oh come on. Establishing the run wasn’t the issue. They couldn’t establish a forward moving play. They were thoroughly dominated.Look I’m not saying running the ball would have won them the game but to not even make it part of the game plan was just another bizarre choice from a head coach full of bad ideas about how to run an NFL offense.

Yeah, complaining about the run game is akin to complaining about the defense today. They barely had the ball on offense, were behind all day, and were in long down and distances all game with being sacked every series. …at least part of that was because they never bothered to try to establish the run.

I'm not here to form opinions on Fields right now because it's way too early. But I don't get why Bears fans are acting like Fields is some sure thing. I don't think anyone has said he's a sure thing. What Bears fans are "acting like" is open to interpretation. But what is clear is he is the most talented QB the Bears have ever had on the roster in their 102 years of existence. But I also think most of us are aware what happened to the last guy that with great talent (Cutler). I don't think Fields is a sure thing, but he's as close to a sure thing as the Bears have ever had And if he fails, I think it will say more about the organization as a whole than him as a talent. It’s a sure thing for me if he fails it’s a condemnation of the Bears as an organization that can foster a great QB. The graveyard of QBs. That’s what many would already say about the Bears. It becomes official if Fields busts.

They handed the ball off to Montgomery 10 times all game. In their rookie QBs’ first start, the Bears only handed the ball off to their best offensive player 10 times. And they weren’t down by enough points to justify not running the ball. I went into the game thinking there would be a lot more straight up runs and a lot more run pass options or gadget plays. Far fewer drop back passes. I can’t even conceive why Nagy thought this would work.

It’s far too late to expect defense. They played well today for as long as can be expected given they spent way too much time on the field desperately trying to keep this thing afloat.

This time I’m not accepting any of the arguments that the QB was a failure. It’s 100% staff. Fields is a no-doubt top prospect period end of story.

With them already having Fields and not having a 1st rounder, I'm at no point going to root for the team to lose this year. But I do hope they do just bad enough to get Nagy and Pace canned. Isn’t that basically rooting for them to lose?

Here I’ll say it…he doesn’t look good. Totally overwhelmed He’s making a lot of mistakes as much as everything else is a disaster It’s all bad. All bad.

LOL worst PI call since the non PI in Saints/Rams

At this point the best scenario is to keep Fields on the sideline, fire Nagy, then have Fields come back fresh with a new staff. I don’t want Nagy ruining the best Bear QB prospect in a generation.

Sorry Nagy but your D can’t bail you out for 60 minutes straight.

It really is a joke. The man cannot call an offense. What is his problem? Want to win or not?

Embarrassing.

Browns have a very good set of players on O and pretty good play calling to go with it.

He's amazingly predictable. Scripted plays are over. He can’t call an offense in-game.