raw

The universe consistently kicks his proverbial dog

Yeah, it is overstated by fans, but historically speaking, teams aren't picking up 5th year options for guys they aren't 100% sure are really good players. Even guys like Patrick Queen who is "good" didn't get his 5th year picked up because he's not a level above. I didn't mean to imply it's a big deal toward the cap, but it's a huge part of what goes into the decision to draft a QB or not.

Did he? I don't remember a bunch of checks, then again, I didn't watch 2 of the games live and half watched the other 2.

This seems to blame coaching moreso than Fields. I don't know if I can do that. I just feel we don't have enough information to come to that conclusion. Like the timeline is a mess. Early 2022- new scheme, 0 talent on the roster Mid 2022- Fields playing superhero ball, putting the team on his back in the run game Late 2022- what little talent was on the roster was traded/.injured or both, more of a mess. Summer 2023- raving about Fields command of the offense in year 2, added top 10 WR and top 10 pick on OL Early 2023- Fields struggling with same old stuff Early-Mid 2023- Fields playing best ball of his career....gets hurt Mid-late 2023- Fields back, better passing than 2022 and early 2023, but not as good as he was before injury. So is it that Getsy didn't want to put too much on Year 1 of Fields? Is he not putting too much on him now after coming back from injury? I complained last week that they didn't let Fields throw as much as any of the Bagent starts, but Fields threw 37 times yesterday, and it's not like we haven't seen the screen/short game for Bagent. Does Getsy not trust Fields? Or is Getsy trying to ease Fields back to the level he was pre-injury? I think everything's been too choppy to determine anything. I also think though, you can't wait around to see if everything works next year. Eberflus/Getsy are bad. Even beyond X's & O's stuff, the penalties, the lack of adjustments, the late game failures show these guys aren't good enough. And unfairly or not, Fields not overcoming this means he's probably not good enough. At least not good enough to where you pass up a QB with one of the top picks in the draft for the 2nd year in a row, while potentially guaranteeing him over 23M in 2025.

So, I watched a few things. And I think we'll always have the "chicken or the egg" conversation w/ Fields/Getsy. Like there are plays where the Vikings are clearly showing they are blitzing. On the scrambles early, there were no hot routes. There are plays where Fields is getting pressure, but none of the WRs are turned around yet. There are plays where Fields is getting pressure, and there are quicker/shorter routes, but the DBs are jumping the routes and nowhere to throw. IDK if Fields isn't checking to different plays or if Fields isn't allowed to check certain plays. We've seen him make checks before (usually run/pass, not pass to different pass). My guess is based on the WRs not having any sight adjustments or options with their routes, that Fields is not allowed to change things (because if he was, WRs would be able to as well). Obviously, part of that is Getsy having a rigid scheme. But part of it is also probably due to Fields' limitations in identifying blitz and checking into different looks. But the Vikings weren't even disguising things. They were showing blitz and if anything, they were disguising when they were NOT blitzing. There's some easy checks to assume blitz if you see blitz, Bears made no adjustments. Now Kyle will say the screens are the only things Fields can do. But Getsy's only history of adjusting to the blitz is having a 1st ballot HOF QB making the adjustments on the field, and I don't even know if he called plays. We will soon see if it's Fields or Getsy from Fields POV. But we may never really see Getsy call plays again. But it's hard to know if there are no adjustments because Fields isn't making them, because Getsy can't make them, or because Getsy knows Fields can't make them so he doesn't even bother putting them in. I feel like Siemien may have been able to audible some last year in his 1(?) start. But we don't have much to go on with Bagent since he is a rookie UDFA or in Week 18 last year because Peterman and whoever were just bad.

Yeah, I meant completion.

I didn't know that.....but I knew that. Like if I thought about it, I could have guessed that was the only throw beyond the sticks.

He's shown he can do that....when protected, where he at least can wait for targets to get open enough for him. The problem with every other team blitzing Fields is that every other team isn't a blitzing team. So you get them playing out of character and away from their own team strengths. So a team with half ass blitzes will get beat, even by Fields. And it should be noted that NO QB does well under pressure. Some do well vs the blitz, mostly due to getting rid of it before the pressure gets there. But none do well vs actual pressure. So if it's a good blitz, well designed/well executed/well disguised, there's not any QB that's going to be great against that. Fields is definitely worse than most, but IDK if it's a career killer. Honestly, he had several opportunities with the guys getting up the field where he could have just taken off up the middle. And they were sending 6 guys, so there was no spy behind them most of the time. The middle was open. He learns that, either he never has to throw vs the blitz or teams will stop blitzing him.

Was a weird feeling last night. I've been various levels of happy with Bears wins. I've even been indifferent to wins when it's a clear non-playoff season (or even when it's an 8-8 playoff season) and they win a game late to affect draft position. I've been relieved from winning a bad/boring game. But last night, I felt nothing. No happy, no relief, no indifference. Just nothing. Obviously, you have players and coaches who are doing whatever they can to win....ahem, not lose games. But it's just so Bears to completely magnify the gray area. This season became about evaluating Justin Fields to everybody but Eberflus and Getsy the moment we all realized that Carolina would potentially be #1 pick bad. Hell, could argue it was about evaluating Fields simply because they actually added talent to try to win with him for the first time, with the 5th year option decision looming after the season. So of course, he gets hurt after the best 2 game stretch of his career. Of course, he comes back with lame ass playcalling (not blaming Getsy really). We know if Fields is protected he can sit in the pocket and throw for 300 yards and 4 TDs. We know he can run for 100 yards on any given Sunday/Monday/Thursday. The team basically said they wanted to see him limit mistakes and produce in the 2-minute drill. He has eliminated mistakes in the passing game. The fumblers yesterday were obvious mistakes as well, and judging off Twitter (probably a bad thing to do anyway) most Bears fans pretty much assumed that was the last fumble was the lasting image of Justin Fields' Bears career. But then he puts together, for all intents and purposes, a 1-throw GW drive. Without getting into all the screens and all, we got what we wanted to see, but it still did nothing. Fields wasn't terrible. He wasn't great. He probably wasn't allowed a chance to be great. But there was also probably a reason why he wasn't, and it's likely he would not have been great if given the chance. It went from "we'll see these last 6 weeks" to "we'll see these last 4 weeks". If I had to guess, Fields puts up another big time passing game (270+ yards, 3 TDs.....looking at you Arizona). I'm guessing he puts up another game like last night/Detroit where he's checking down, getting rid of the ball quickly, not making too many mistakes, but not doing anything special either. Maybe there's another uninspiring GW drive. But the GB game will end in a late mistake and a loss on an otherwise solid game. He'll be another "what if". He'll go to another terrible situation. Anti Fields people will say "i told you so", pro Fields people will blame the situation. Meanwhile, the Bears will be wowed by a bad coordinator who is over his head as a HC and they'll ruin another QB in Chicago.

Demarcus Walker

I disagree with this. I was pretty anti-long term deal with Johnson for about 1/2 this season, but he is turning into a shutdown guy. Everyone drops INTs. Being in that position is what matters. He doesn't give up much of anything, other than his random defensive holding penalty per game. The attractive woman also putting out on the first date and the sex being amazing make it even more accurate. After the last 4 coaches, we naturally are looking for a certain baseline level of competency. We know what Harbaugh will do. He will stick up for his players in the media, unlike Flus. He will be conservative to an extent, but ballsy when he needs to be, unlike Nagy. He will be able to control a lockeroom, unlike Trestman. And the game probably hasn't passed him by like Fox. Harbaugh would likely lead a competitive team that wins more games than it loses. They'll be disciplined. They won't be a disaster on either side of the ball. But he ultimately won't win anything significant and will burn down all bridges to the organization when he's done, leading to another significant tear down and rebuild when he leaves town. But as Bears fans, we long for those 4-5 years of competency and competitive football. But the Bears should be taking a young QB. They should be getting a coach to develop and build around said young QB. Harbaugh hasn't really shown the ability to do either of those things. Harbaugh is a good short-term hire, but the Bears should be looking for the long-term, with a long-term QB in the fold.

Seems like things are really starting to click for Nix after 56 collegiate starts. He screams, "Jake Locker" to me, but I'm all for him putting up elite performances. Whoever wins next week's Pac-12 championship needs a great showing in the playoff to get another guy in that top 10 range. I think the sweet spots for the Bears pick (assuming Carolina's pick is 1 or 2) are 3 or like pick 8. Pair a QB with MHJr. if they finish with the 3rd pick. Or be in QB3 range for a trade down. 8th pick could be in the range of teams like Tampa, Washington or Atlanta if they blow the division lead they got today.

Done with Rodgers already?

I'd go a step further and say he has to have a good game passing.

just an FYI, Jaylon isn't reserved to the notion that Jaylon is gone. He came out after the trade deadline and basically said, "they aren't going to let me walk". He's expecting a tag if not a long-term deal

I'm not sure I'd be happy picking a CB. McKinstry is more talented than anyone in the Bears defensive backfield, but they already spent 3 second round picks on CBs in the last 4 years. Just pay Jaylon. I do think the top 2 OTs in this draft are potential stars, and the Bears need star players. Kool Aid could be too, but my assumption is him becoming a star would be in lieu of Johnson being on the team, which is a minimum return scenario other than cap space....which the Bears have plenty of

Jones is really good.

So, these last 2 sentences is actually making me re-think things. These are really good thoughts. The "new coach/new QB" scenario has worked. Right now, it's working in Houston. Obviously, 2nd in draft to currently in a playoff spot in the superior conference. But it's also has not worked even more. It didn't work in Jacksonville, technically (Urban Meyer). It didn't work for NYJ of the recent examples. Putting everything on a rookie is tough in the Bears' situation. There are still a bunch of young players on this team (most of the OL, Kmet, RBs, DBs), but Poles didn't bring in guys like DJ Moore and Montez Sweat to sit around and wait 2-3 years for a rookie QB to lead them to wins. A lot of luck would need to be involved in the new coaching hire, but it's definitely a good point that we shouldn't automatically expect the results in Houston in 2024.

Yeah, it was always going to take a 3rd year to be good. But 3-8 after a 3-14 season makes it so being good isn't even the next logical step. Being close to Detroit is fun and all, but this team still got embarrassed by KC and LAC. They still haven't beaten anyone of substance. Last year's roster looked exactly what 3-win, top of the draft order rosters look like. It didn't HAVE to look like that, Poles chose that. There was not 1 long-term asset to this team added last offseason, outside of the draft. Which obviously you want to build thru the draft, but they didn't have enough high draft picks that or this past offseason combined to do that without adding pieces in free agency. This year's roster has no business being top 5 bad again. Poles actually tried to field a team this offseason and it's still bad. Maybe it's because of the roster he put together in '22 (his fault), maybe it's because of coaching (his fault), maybe it's because of the QB situation (his fault) but it's bad.

You know QB wins are not a thing. I know QB wins are not a thing. That wasn't the point. I know what Bagent is. He's not a QB you win because of. He's a guy who "not screwing up" is his biggest asset, until he screws up like in NOLA. But the point is the optics of it all. I'm talking about the fan response to both on the roster. Maybe even the team response to wins/losses. I know it's all superficial BS that doesn't actual matter, but football is full of meatballs that this stuff matters to. And those voices are always the loudest and as much as teams should shut that out, it's not really worth it to hang onto a guy that's going to be looking over his shoulder with every loss.

Fields has to play Flus proof ball. Like settling for FGs does nothing. Of course, play calling for an inside zone on 3rd and 7, is BS, just check out of that horsefeathers and throw it to DJ. F these coaches, they don't have a future in the league, you maybe do. I think I said this in the other thread, but it's amazing how all the mistakes seemed to come back with Justin in there instead of Bagent. Late getting out of the huddle stuff. WRs not knowing where to line up a couple plays. The deep ball incompletion to DJ, Mooney was running to the same spot before he stopped seeing DJ closer to it. The stuff with the backup C. Tyler Scott slowing down on a pass that would have hit him in stride. Not blaming Fields for this stuff, but I wonder if the other players kinda of let off the gas a little knowing that they don't have to carry a limited ability QB anymore.

Montez Sweat the common denominator.

I was really saying to intentionally start him over a 1st round pick. I just think the 1st round pick is going to start. Even if it's not Week 1, it won't be long (just like it wasn't long for Trubisky or Fields). Just that Bagent can start if you determine your draft pick isn't ready for a few weeks. It's not anyone's ideal scenario, but it's more probable than Fields holding a rookie's spot for any amount of time, especially when you can get picks for Fields THIS offseason and not next, unless you pick up his 5th year.....in which case, it doesn't make sense to draft a rookie anyway. Plus, I know it will be new coaches and all, but I don't think you can create a situation with Fields and Bagent in the same QB room, especially if Fields doesn't win at least 1/2 of the remaining games. Just a controversy waiting to happen with an obvious lame duck QB with like 8 wins in 40 games and his backup having won half his 4 starts.

I think Bagent serves the same purpose as 1 and 3 though. 2 I will give you. He's still on his rookie deal so the money isn't an issue. But I also think if you can get picks for him, those picks > a shot he pulls it together.

Interesting that Fields only had 23 pass attempts today. Bagent never had fewer than 29, and that was his 1st career start when his team played with a lead all game. They repeatedly let him throw on 3rd and 4th and short last week. Pretty clear this staff doesn't trust Fields. Also seemed to be more plays with guys running the same/wrong route or lining up wrong, issues with the C who didn't know when to snap, and maybe even getting the play in with all the late huddle breaks. Not trying to absolve Fields of blame because maybe he doesn't take charge enough to get guys in the right spot. Maybe he's slow calling the play in huddle. But it seems the offense is more dysfunctional when he's in there for whatever reason.