raw

I've always been team "let him get reps" but if they are going to gameplan and playcall and have the personnel that they did Saturday, there's no reason to play him in that mess. If Claypool is a go, I do see the value in getting reps with him and Velus (they should get a ton of targets each). But if no Claypool, there's not much to gain by him playing.

Elway doesn't do anything any more. He's in a consulting role now.

Whelp there goes that

I wouldn't mind it. I'm just not sure if the Bears will do it or not. I didn't really expect Poles to sell off MLB-style early in the season either. He pretty much broadcast that he's tanking, so sitting Fields seems to be is in line with that. Wouldn't they have sit Fields Saturday though? The put him out there yet obviously protected him. It's 50/50 for me. I wouldn't be surprised either way. If it was me I'd shut him down, but it's not me. I think you can justify sitting him the final 2 games over the final 3 games. He sat out the final drive, you can say it was because of the nagging injuries (shoulder, foot, ankle or whatever) and that it's just become too much. Plus, they just had the bye so you wouldn't have brought him back for 1 week post bye.

What do you guys think are the odds that the Bears shut down Justin for the last 2 games? I know they aren't "tanking" but there are some clear "not trying to win" things going on. The play calling, the play design, and general conservativeness (short field punts, playing for FGs, playing vanilla on D and not boosting the pass rush). I do think the organization sees things like us fans. Yeah, we want to win. Yeah, we want Justin to play well, but it wouldn't be terrible if they lost. But there's no Fields development happening right now. Outside of LT, every other lineman was not the intended starter this season. Hell 3 of 5 weren't intended to be playing out of the bye 2 weeks ago. Missing their top 3 WRs on the depth chart. Missing 3 starting DBs and the only LB on a future Bears roster. For God's sake there was a play where Fields rolled out left and there were 0 receivers on that side of the field (looked like setting up a throwback screen which was snuffed). Fields needs the reps, but he also needs to go into this offseason completely healthy. Playing with this OL makes that tough. And if you are handing off on every true pass down, that's not doing anything for him. And he won't be throwing to any of these guys going forward, except maybe Velus, who should be 5th on a good depth chart. With the shoulder thing still lingering, I wonder if the Bears don't just say "we've seen enough" and tank the last 2 games, with reasonable cause.

This crazy, unpredictable fantasy season continues. Like I said, I was down 10 with two guys that average 20+ each going Saturday night. Jacobs and Adams combined for 9.5. Sunday early, Aaron Jones got me 5.9 points. He averages 17-18 per game. So out of a projected 55 or 60 points, I got 15. So, I needed either Tyler Higbee to have a career game or Mike Evans and Zach Moss to each completely crap the bed. Somehow, I got both! Higbee put up 30+! Evans had 1 catch, 5 yards until overtime last night, where he picked up 4 more points. So now I have a 29 point lead, but with the way this week has gone, I'm not conceding anything. The Chargers like to horsefeathers the bed when it matters (doesn't matter as much to them, as it matters to me, but still). And if Higbee can get 30, the Colts starting RB certainly can pull it off. Haven't won the championship in about 10 years in this league (been in about 13-14) but have had about 6 top 3 finishes including 3 runner ups (also two 4th, two last place).

NGL, there's a lot of pride involved in NOT wanting the #1 pick for me. The Bears haven't finished with the #1 pick since 1947. The only time(s?) they've had the worst record in the league, it's been tied for the worst. Most famously, they lost a coin flip to the Steelers where they took Terry Bradshaw.

I probably don't care enough to rewatch the game, but it seemed like Gordon was on the outside most of the day with Blackwell in the slot. I thought both played well, as did Jaylon Jones. But IIRC, Gordon had a LOT of coverage on Diggs, and he only ended with 2 catches. I wonder if we don't have an outside CB on our hands moreso than the slot CB they've tried to make him into. I know we've been told the slot is so important in this defense, but I personally think outside CB is more important, if Gordon can handle opposite of Johnson going forward, you have a strong tandem there.

I should have known better than to have 2 Raiders on my team when it matters. Down 10 with Jacobs and Adams going. Opponent only projected to get about 24 more points. My Raiders duo average 41 points between them this season. Combine for 9.5 points. I'm losing by less than a 1/2 point with Aaron Jones and Tyler Higbee left to go for me vs Mike Evans and Zach Moss (Colts 1A RB with Jonathan Taylor out). Went from being projected to win comfortably by 28 points to projected to lose by 0.28. Can never make this horsefeathering easy.

Eh. There's still plenty of good OL available in free agency and the draft. Odds are, he wasn't getting any of those top guys anyway. Jenkins was as likely as any top FA ever gets simply because of Getsy, but that was us fans connecting dots. Poles still has 0 excuse to not build up this OL. And the wiggle room he had this offseason without knowing if he had a franchise QB is gone. If this OL isn't fixed or at least significantly improved in 2023, he probably can't have a job anymore. Justin doesn't need a super massive uptick in pass blocking either, he just needs average pass blocking, its extraordinarily doable. I'd venture to say a full season of Patrick at C is a step in the right direction. Exactly. I've been arguing such on another message board. Give Patrick a shot at the position they signed him to play. Get rid of Whitehair and his 14.1M cap hit. Need at least 1 true stud at LG or RT and a high draft pick at the other, with tons of depth everywhere. They may have some w/ the guys they drafted last year, Borom, Leatherwood but add more.

Trevor Lawrence should be next. Yea it drops off, but he's only started two games. Like... there should be a snap minimum or something lol I'd also definitely put Brisset after Lawrence. I forgot about Lawrence. Holy hell.

Why do they have so many alternates for what's now a flag football game and skills weekend? So, Mahomes, Allen and Burrow pro bowlers. I'm assuming Herbert, Tua and Jackson are the 1st three alternates. I don't know that Huntley "deserves" it over anyone, but they basically took him over scrubs like Zach Wilson/Mike White, Tannehill, Russ Wilson, Carr, Davis Mills and Trubisky/Pickett. But you'd think at that point they'd just stop naming alternates.

You could sign me up for the Carolina one now. There's enough edge rushers between 6-10 who could justify the talent difference with Andersen. He's basically valuing Pittman and DJ Moore as 2024 3rd round picks. We've seen what WRs go for. Obviously, neither are AJ Brown, Tyreke Hill or Devante Adams, but we've seen Hollywood Brown go for a 1, Claypool for a very high 2nd. Those guys are getting 1st round picks in return and he's treating them like throw-ins. Those would be no-brainer trades for the Bears to make. I think the trade would be more like Bears trade #2, Colts/Panthers trade their 2023 1st, their WR, and another pick (thinking either 2023 4th or 2024 3rd). I'd probably still do that. LOL. And I agree. I think there's DEs I like a lot between 6-45 that justify missing out on Anderson. Myles Murphy (Travon Walker level athlete, who went 1 last year), Tyree Wilson (6'6" monster, with 7' wingspan), Isaiah Foskey from Notre Dame, Jared Verse from Florida State, Felix Anudike-Uzomah K-State, BJ Ojulari from LSU (brother also an edge in NFL), Derick Hall from Auburn, and even 6'7" Andre Carter from Army is an interesting prospect. I'd probably take those trades, add a WR, add an extra pick, and move back up to take whichever position you don't take at 6-8 between OL/DE either late 1 or early 2nd.

Eh. There's still plenty of good OL available in free agency and the draft. Odds are, he wasn't getting any of those top guys anyway. Jenkins was as likely as any top FA ever gets simply because of Getsy, but that was us fans connecting dots. Poles still has 0 excuse to not build up this OL. And the wiggle room he had this offseason without knowing if he had a franchise QB is gone. If this OL isn't fixed or at least significantly improved in 2023, he probably can't have a job anymore.

I was fine with NOT paying a WR. Like you can't make that trade for Cooper (even if the Browns didn't give up a ton) if you are not sure you have a QB. That is wasted money, paying a guy 20Mil to get 600-700 yards because your QB is on his back or just bad. Plus, he is a FA after 2024, so if Fields wasn't the guy you'd probably have wasted 2022 on Cooper + 2023 because next year would be the year you're either benching Fields if he's Zach Wilson bad or you'd get rid of him and bring in another QB with the 2nd pick and spend a year developing him with no talent around him either. Same w/ Kirk or whoever. Don't want to be stuck paying a WR 18Mil when you don't have anyone worthwhile to throw to him. Juju's actually bad and is a zone beater only. He doesn't help with the Bears separation issues at WR. That's all so counterintuitive. Money just isn't that scarce of a resource. You're better building around a failed QB, then adjusting, than not building when you actually already had a QB in place. GMs just aren't good enough to thread needles like that around timing. You have to be in constant build mode or you minimize your usable windows. I mean, yeah that's true and all. But when you factor in Kirk's 18M and Cooper's 20M and you had a team with limited cap resources AND you had to throw in picks for Cooper at a point when you only had 5 of them, they just weren't logical moves to make, especially in lieu of OL help. It's hard to look at things in hindsight because we now know Fields is legit and those guys would be good with him. But neither is an AJ Brown or Tyreke Hill caliber player. You can generally find guys like that all the time (Claypool may be one of them).

Jack Conklin just re-signed with the Browns as well. I know a lot of Bears fans had Jenkins and Conklin as their 1-2 targets this offseason. I wasn't sold as much on Conklin, but Jenkins I wanted bad.

Kirk's deal was worth the money. Add in Zay Jones too. The last guy I liked who hasn't produced is Cedrick Wilson, but you could at least make a case he's stuck behind Hill and Waddle. When he got snaps in Dallas he produced. Juju has been great for KC. Not sure what type of deal he would have taken to come here as he obviously took a one year deal to prove it with Mahomes as his QB. And then Cooper was available in trade for peanuts. Everyone seemed to believe Kirk’s deal wasn’t worth what the Jags paid, IIRC. JuJu and Zay are in this discussion based on hindsight. The Amari deal would have been great. I’ll give you that one. I wanted Burks, Watson or Pickens if and when the Bears picked. Was speechless they went defense instead. I was fine with NOT paying a WR. Like you can't make that trade for Cooper (even if the Browns didn't give up a ton) if you are not sure you have a QB. That is wasted money, paying a guy 20Mil to get 600-700 yards because your QB is on his back or just bad. Plus, he is a FA after 2024, so if Fields wasn't the guy you'd probably have wasted 2022 on Cooper + 2023 because next year would be the year you're either benching Fields if he's Zach Wilson bad or you'd get rid of him and bring in another QB with the 2nd pick and spend a year developing him with no talent around him either. Same w/ Kirk or whoever. Don't want to be stuck paying a WR 18Mil when you don't have anyone worthwhile to throw to him. Juju's actually bad and is a zone beater only. He doesn't help with the Bears separation issues at WR.

You don’t have to give him a pass. nobody expected him to make the team a success year 1. What he could have done was make the roster better, but he made it much worse. Yeah, I'm probably as OK as anyone with what the Bears did this season. I understand what the thought process was. As I've said, it was "Justin is probably awesome, but I don't want to operate with the assumption that he will be awesome". It's pretty much what Pace did. Got Trubisky, saw a promising rookie season, and threw away money and draft picks assuming that he had the QB. That being said, I agree here. There's a big difference between "let's not assume Fields is awesome" and "let's see if he can make chicken salad out of this feces". Poles could have signed a decent lineman. He was going to throw a bunch of money at Ogunjobi. He could have thrown that at Laken Tomlinson or Austin Corbett and have 1 sure thing OL heading into next season. Like nobody was going to be upset if you paid a lineman and Fields wasn't good enough. It's not wasted money, like trading a 1st for Hollywood Brown if you don't know the QB is good. Granted, he got draft picks from them, but he didn't HAVE to cast aside Mack, Smith and Quinn. And I know Gordon and Brisker may be decent, but he could have taken 1 offensive player under 30 on Day 2 of the draft. The Mack trade was mostly fine as well, but instead of Fields + hoping Jones, Jenkins, Claypool, Brisker, Gordon, and 2023 draft picks are fine, the Bears could have had Fields + 1 solid vet lineman + a Day 2 WR or OL + Jenkins + 1 of Brisker/Gordon + a stud on D in Roquan. Would have less money this offseason, but there's already big time players being taken off the market (Elgton) and will potentially be more.

Whelp! There goes my top free agent target. Rumors have been going around that the Bears would be very interested, so I'm guessing the Packers weren't trying to let that happen.

I am more concerned about his ability to find talent than making proper cost benefit analyses. Most guys at least come in and acquire a handful of quality players in their first offseason. But Poles failed miserably there. Not a single good offensive player and a couple ok defensive guys. This team is still largely a Pace acquired roster, especially at all the difference making positions. That’s weird. Eh. I know the jury is still out on them (as it is for most of this roster, including Fields), but Poles has added what looks like at least an adequate, Charles Leno level LT in Braxton Jones and added Chase Claypool who is potentially a very productive WR in a good offense. But yeah, the guys to most likely be "stars" of a playoff contending team are from the Pace era (Fields, Jackson, Jenkins, Herbert maybe, Mooney and Kmet maybe)

Yeah this is crazy. I know some of this is based on likability and some of these guys probably talk to him or are friends with him. But we never heard this about Trubisky (because he wasn't good) or Cutler (because nobody liked him). I heard on ESPN this morning (I know they suck, but background noise as I work) them say that the Jets would be so much better off had they correctly drafted Fields over Wilson. It seems like the only people that haven't crowned him as the next great NFL QB are Packers and Vikings fans who are scared to death of the next several years.

there's definitely hope and good reasons to be hopeful, but I am disappointed with with Poles has done FA wise to date. At least we didn't get saddled with the Ogunjobi contract, I guess. FWIW he has a 61 overall grade this year. That was a bad contract in the first place. He was never 13Mil good.

So, right before the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception, Franco Harris has passed away at 72 years old. Franco was going to be the guest of honor at a TON of events around the city of Pittsburgh this weekend. The NFL scheduled the Raiders @ Steelers so perfectly on the day after the 50th anniversary, on Saturday Night Football on NFL network to help celebrate the event that put modern day NFL football on the map.

Lamar Jackson's MVP season (also to a 17-game pace, because only a 16-game season) 4603 total yards (3322 passing, 1281 rushing) 66.1% comp % 43 TDs (36 pass, 7 rush) 6 INT 7.8 Y/A 113.3 QB rating Lamar with 9% of his passes going for TDs is always mindblowing to me. But just looked it up and it's been done 3 other times since the 1960s. Ken Stabler once, Aaron Rodgers has actually done it twice.

I was told that this is Bear weather.