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I love Will Anderson, but I'm not basing a trade down on being able to get him still. If you trade from 1, you have to assume you are forgoing the ability to draft whoever you consider the best player in this draft. There's enough DE talent in this draft that you can still get a pretty good edge player AND a bunch of other assets. I don't care if the Bears have to trade down to 20, I want the best package of potential impact draft picks.

The Bengals were going to have to have their 1st round game vs the Ravens HFA picked by a coinflip had the Ravens won yesterday, despite being a 1/2 game better. I think the logic between no coin flip or neutral site vs Bills is that they actually played the same number of games. The issue comes when one team played 17 games and the Bengals only 16. But since Bengals and Bills 17th game was actually against each other and determined who would have HFA in a potential matchup, it doesn't make sense that it wasn't treated the same.

Absolutely. Only bright spots in the organization right now are players he had no hand in acquiring. I'd certainly wait until the Bears actually show they can build something before giving Cunningham a shot with my team.

Well, let's hope Cunningham does NOT get plucked this hiring cycle. The Bears only get compensatory picks (two 3rd rounders in consecutive years) after Cunningham has been in the position for 2 years. So, they'd lose him for nothing if he gets hired this offseason.

Kingsbury was also the exception in that he wasn't a particularly good college coach either. 35-40 overall, 2 winning seasons out of 6(and none in his most recent 3), never more than 8 wins in a season(his first season). Texas Tech can be hard to recruit to, but not that hard. All true. He isn't very good. But he's handsome and has swagger. I think he should be able to get a high profile job and at least fake being a decent coach, and he theoretically should be able to recruit.

I'd be pretty disappointed if that was all they got for the #1 overall pick. Effectively, in that trade, DJ Moore would have to be worth the equivalence of another 1st round pick. The gap in value between 1 and 9 is immense. I don’t mind that trade if you are dead set on giving Fields ample weapons. Moore might be the best possible WR that the bears can acquire. That said I’d rather do that trade but with the Colts/Pittman I'd like another midround pick in this trade. I may prefer Pittman as well, but the difference here is that Pittman you would have to pay in a year. Just like you have to pay Mooney and Claypool by next offseason. Obviously, that's fine, and that gives you a chance to see a direct competition for a new contract with guys all in the same offense. But that also means you are going to probably lose 2 of them. A guy like DJ Moore is already under contract, so it allows you to sign 1 of Mooney/Claypool and still have Moore, so you aren't back in the same position in 2024 of not having enough at WR. Plus, again the Bears have to hit a spending floor. 20Mil to DJ Moore helps that or else you'd have to sign at least 1 of these WRs (2 of which you haven't seen much of in the offense, 1 who's injured) in order to spend that cash.

I 100% want this. I don't remember if there is anyone with coaching experience on the staff, but I'd love Lovie in a consulting role. Like you said, this is his defense. He never really had issue identifying guys who could play in his scheme. He was Ryan Poles' coach. And it's probably the last chance he gets to ever be involved in coaching for the rest of his career. It makes a ton of sense. Seeing some rumors he didn't connect well with players. Of course the dirt gets aired when a guy is fired, so grain of salt, but it does seem like his best role is more advisory in nature. On the other hand I really don't like the idea of them being "all-in" on Tampa 2 legacy systems. Personal attachment to Lovie aside, I want to see them being real critical of where their D scheme was lacking and adjust to the needs of the league. I mean, Eberflus is all-in regardless. If the HC is all-in, might as well get the best guy at the Tampa 2 to join him. That being said, I don't necessarily love the Tampa 2 at this point either. I do wonder if Flus would be willing to go in a different direction being that he did take on a CEO role instead of running the D. I know they didn't have much talent, but I wouldn't cry if Alan Williams didn't come back as DC. And I've always loved the idea of combining 2 different philosophies.

Wow. Keim out is interesting. Potential landing spot for Sean Payton and his handpicked GM? I have no idea what to think about that Arizona job in general. When do you get Kyler back? Does a HC even want to stake his career to a 5'8" QB? Really weird job opening. Also, FWIW, I always feel like a college-to-NFL coach should be able to be great going back to college. Especially a guy like Kliff. He can take credit for Mahomes. He knows what it takes to get guys to the NFL level. Seems like a huge sell to recruits.....though I guess at this point, the only true huge sell is the money.

Young is not a better prospect than Fields. If he was 4" and 25lbs bigger, maybe. But whether he goes 1st and Fields went 11th, Fields is the better prospect of the two. But I agree, they do have to do their due diligence on every possible scenario.

I'm not about to sweat about a 6th round pick not making it. The Bears mistakenly pigeonholed him into a nickel spot, but he's actually had his success this year on the outside. But you can't fault them for putting him in the slot as he's a 5'9", 175lb CB. He couldn't cut it in the slot, which is why he was cut. Kudos to him. But let's see if they keep him out there against a presumably well-versed in the offense, Chase Claypool at any point next year.

Obviously it's been 10 years, but I'm trying to remember a case of a former HC coming back into that org in an assistant role. Wade Phillips in DEN; that was nearly 20 years after. Any others? It would be unique, but Lovie is a unique guy. Two names that came up when thinking about long term coaches that left an organization were Shanahan and Holmgren, both of whom moved on to establish themselves as major figures in their next stop. Lovie coached two years at Tampa then came back home* to coach in college, which not a lot of established NFL coaches have done. He’s in his mid 60s and his head coaching opportunities are probably behind him. Does he want to be a full blown defensive coordinator again? John Fox has become a defensive assistant in his late 60s, albeit not to an organization he had previous ties to, but that particular wrinkle doesn’t strike me as an obstacle. 2000s era bears coaches wouldn’t have wanted Ditka coming back as a voice in the room, but Lovie isn’t that type of coach. I 100% want this. I don't remember if there is anyone with coaching experience on the staff, but I'd love Lovie in a consulting role. Like you said, this is his defense. He never really had issue identifying guys who could play in his scheme. He was Ryan Poles' coach. And it's probably the last chance he gets to ever be involved in coaching for the rest of his career. It makes a ton of sense.

Charbonnet is slow like Montgomery.

I love David Montgomery. He was one of my draft crushes the year he came out. I was all about re-signing him early in the season, but at this point, I think you have to get a more dynamic RB back there. He averaged 1.7 yards per carry LESS than Herbert. Like many predicted, he just isn't a fit for the outside zone, which the Bears do best. He's a tad slow to hit the hole and a tick late to see the cutback. He's a great runner, but I don't think he fits long term. I think the Bears either need 2 RBs in one to replace him, or 1 really good all-around guy. Herbert is a runner only. Not a pass protector, not a pass catcher. I think Barkley stays in NY. And like you said, Jacobs' usage is kinda of scary and he will likely get near Barkley level money. He is the type of all-around RB that the Bears needed. Tony Pollard would be a pipe dream. I think he's the perfect fit for what the Bears are good at and what they do. He has the quickness and vision to hit the hole on the zone read. He's a great receiver out of the backfield and if the Bears aren't able to add a stud WR, then they really need a receiving option to help out Fields. Sanders would be interesting, since he has experience in an offense where the QB was a huge threat as well, but he's not much of a receiver. Pipe dream = Pollard or get enough done in FA + enough extra early picks to take Jahmyr Gibbs from Bama. Solid options = Miles Sanders, Devin Singletary Cheap #2s = Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson, Samaje Perine Draft options = Roschon Johnson (Texas)- all around big RB, Zach Evans (Miss/TCU) - lot of speed

The more I think about it, the more I like the thought of adding an established veteran player in a draft trade. Give me Laremy Tunsil from Houston. Give me DeForest Buckner from the Colts. Give me DJ Moore from the Panthers. It serves a dual purpose. This team needs studs. Get a stud player that is already under contract. The Bears have to spend the money, and adding those guys and their 20Mil contracts would hedge against not being able to add players of that caliber in free agency and help them to NOT overpay guys to fill gaping holes on the roster.

The Colts player who mistimed his jump and missed knocking down the Hail Mary the Texans used to take the lead was a HS teammate of Damar Hamlin.

Ideally both win to put Indy at 3, to where they lock in on one QB and Hou and Indy battle for the better of the 2. Seattle would be a wild card because who knows if they'll bring back Smith. If they don't, you have 4 teams needing a QB (Hou, Indy, Sea, LV in the top 7). I just think there's enough a drop from Anderson to Carter and better DTs than DEs in FA which would make he hesitate going beyond 3. The greatest drop would be beyond Carter. I'm just not looking forward to Fields having no #1 WR again. I'd rather the Colts pick lower so they have to give up more in a potential trade. The dropoff from Carter to DT2 is huge for me, since I'm not a big fan of Bresee (their other 2 DTs stayed in school, so I guess he could too). But the Bears will sign a free agent DT. Like 0 question they will. They tried to sign a big dollar DT last year when they had no money, now they have the most in the league and a loaded DT class (as of today). Granted, they need multiple DTs but I'm thinking they add at least 1 stud in free agency so not getting Carter wouldn't be a huge issues. I actually like this DE class quite a bit. They probably have to sign a FA DE as well, but not as good of a class as DT and they also need a pair of DEs as well. But I'd be fine with losing Anderson if it means the Bears get a huge haul of picks for #1. I like several of the 2nd tier of DEs, even though my favorite one of the bunch, Jared Verse, announced he was going back to Florida State yesterday.

I've been clear about my vision for the Bears since before we even drafted fields. I want an elite pocket passing game. Screw defense, screw running the football. If fields is everything we want him to be, he can fetch just as much of a trade haul as the pick can Good thing Fields is fully capable of carrying an elite passing game. Just try and enjoy it when it happens. Nevermind the fact that many of the top offenses are elite outside the pocket, where Fields has excelled this year. And the fact that he wants Bryce Young, who also is not a pure pocket passer.

It's mechanical, based on my non-expert opinion. I think the couple of QB experts that do watch Fields' film (Dilfer, O'Sullivan, Tim Jenkins) have also agreed that he does have mechanical issues on the short throws. I think I have stated this before, but my non-expert opinion is that he is worried about overthrowing them. If you go outside and throw a football and you just casually throw a ball a short distance with your feet stagnant, you can obviously make the throw and get it where you want it. But if you really focus on your feet and throw stepping into it, you can really throw it harder and further. I think Fields is cognizant of not throwing it too hard or too far so he tries to "ease" it in on short throws. But he simply has to throw it like normal. It's a terrible habit to get into, because how do you determine what's a "short" or "easy" throw? 5 yards, 10 yards? Just throw it the same way every time. Aiming never works.

I mean at 9 it's hard to count on any one guy being there. It's light on the Jimmy Johnson chart. And trades to 1/2 for a QB usually blow that value chart up. They'd honestly need to throw in the '25 first or multiple Rd 2/3 picks to close the value. They should be able to do better, or just use the pick. Yeah, it absolutely takes more than that. Maybe a 3rd 1st round pick. Maybe a 2nd in 24 as well. Maybe DJ Moore. But it definitely takes more.

dropped 49 last night. still only 25. now averaging 24.5 ppg on 53/42/88 shooting i'm not going to pretend i wanted to keep him, but damn, we missed out I'm just going to assume it's because he's the only player on that Utah team. I refuse to believe he's elite after 7 years in the league.

Well they beat IU last night. And after losing it's 2nd best player earlier in the season, they lost their 3rd best player in what looked like a pretty catastrophic knee injury (based on him crying on the court in pain). So a pretty promising Hoosier season looks like it will be Trayce Jackson-Davis, role player Miller Kopp, and a bunch of players with little B1G experience.

Just pointing out this was my idea. Give me my royalties, Goodell! And at least say "Hi" if you're reading this board.

We've got to see what happens once Poles assembles an OL that'll be able pass block along with a full season of Mooney, Claypool before passing judgement on Getsy. Like it or not he was severely limited with the lack of talent this year. The onus is on Poles, last offseason one could almost justify him punting, this one, he's no excuse or limitations. The McCasky' should seriously consider replacing Poles if he can't put together an NFL caliber roster going into 2023. I'd like to better understand why we couldn't sustain that offensive outburst that we saw mid-season. I'm sure injuries to Mooney, Claypool and multiple offensive line guys played a big part but it seemed like the playcalling regressed a bit too, as did Fields performance. But we went from scoring ~28 points a game to scoring 15 points a game pretty quickly. I think more than anything, that was unsustainable offense. The 5 week span they averaged almost 30 PPG, Fields still never threw for more than 180. They were still 1 dimensional for the most part as they ran for 240+ in the first 4 of those 30 point games (also did the game before they scored in bunches). They were extremely efficient in scoring, which isn't sustainable when you can't execute a simple drop back pass when everyone in the stadium knows you have to execute a dropback pass. I think part of it was the injuries. I think part of it was the "tanking". I know they aren't intentionally losing out there or calling plays or strategies to lose, but IMO there was some clear not trying to win going on. And even in the 5 games since they stopped scoring a bunch of points, the Bears scored on their opening drive 4 times. And were a Dante Pettis 4th down drop away from scoring in all 5. And that included the Trevor Siemien game. And 2 of those games they only had 1 other scoring drive. That being said, maybe Getsy can't call plays after the scripted stuff. We honestly don't have enough data to determine that yet. But still, I think the biggest factor is that the offense was way to limited talent-wise, to sustain that level of scoring they showed in the middle of the season. Also of note, the Bears had a similar offensive stretch in 2020 when they went back to Trubisky over Foles. They ran the ball a ton, moved the pocket a bunch, and then good defenses (Green Bay and New Orleans in the playoffs) just didn't let the Bears do the same stuff they did to score 40 vs the Texans and Lions.

Getsy or Schrock?

This is going to be a fun offseason. Lot of takes already like, "the OL and WRs are terrible and all injured, but Fields didn't perform well enough" as if there is no correlation between the two. Like I really do get that he hasn't proven he's the next great thing as a QB. He has plenty of room for improvement, I'm not questioning that. But do we have to do this with every QB who's not Mahomes and Herbert? Tua wasn't good enough until he got a great OL and a top 3 WR in the league. Hurts wasn't good enough until he got a great OL and a top 5 WR in the league. Same with Allen. We were unsure about Burrow until he got Chase and could stand upright after he tore his ACL. Same with Lawrence until halfway thru this year. All this stuff matters. QB is the most important position in any sport, but it's not the only position. QBs need help and typically a lot of it until they establish a certain level of play, even then they still need to be surrounded by competence and it takes an adjustment period for even the best (see Rodgers, Brady this year) to get comfortable when their supporting cast isn't good enough or healthy enough.