raw

So, I just posted in the other NFL thread that the NFC is terrible re: Saints making it in. But really, the NFC is terrible. The Bears are behind the 8-ball with 5 losses, but they definitely can sneak in again as an 8-win ish team. LA, Arizona, GB, Tampa, and Dallas are for sure in the playoffs. Lions are for sure not making it. The other teams are: Saints- starting Trevor Siemien/Taysom Hill 49ers- always injured, Jimmy G better keep playing like yesterday or they'll be playing a rookie QB WFT- QB situation is a mess NYG- Daniel Jones is their QB, team is worst than Bears PHI- Jalen Hurts is their QB SEA- Geno Smith is their QB MIN- Cousins is solid, Bears have a shot to take care of them to get edge CAR- Sam Darnold is their QB ATL- Ryan is old and team is worse than Bears And these teams are fighting for 2 spots. Nobody on this list seems like a sure bet to coast toward a wildcard berth. None are probably winning a playoff game anyway, but in the Bears situation, they gotta try to compete. They don't have a 1st so they need to win as many games as possible to make that pick further down in the draft. I honestly don't think they will trade anyone. Even trying to pseudo compete, I would still try to trade Robinson, Hicks, and one of the QBs. If anyone gives anything for Foles, that's a no-brainer. I'd also give up Dalton for a decent offer, though I think he's a guy they could bring back as the #2 next year. Bears got dead money counting for him anyway, may be able to lower that for a guy that Fields seems to genuinely like and learn from. Hicks, to me, is just taking up space. He's not a big difference maker so far this year. They've had good games without him, bad games like yesterday with him. Give the reps to other guys (Nichols, Blackson, Tonga) to see how big of a role they can have in the future. Robinson is a completely different situation though. He's obviously not performing this year, but maybe not completely his fault. May be killing his ability to get a 3rd round comp for him with his non-production. I think he's looking at a 1-year deal if things keep going this way. So, you're maybe looking 4th or 5th round comp. And that's in 2023 anyway. If the Bears can even get a 4th in 2022 for him, they gotta do it. They only have 5 picks (2 difference making picks) next year, another would be nice. 2022 picks are WAY more valuable than 2023 at this point, given the cap issues and like 32 free agents on the roster.

It's pretty impressive. But it's all about to go to isht when Hill comes back. Payton has been waiting for this moment his whole life. Maybe they'll lose out and get to draft my boy Matt Corral. The Saints defense is elite, like Super Bowl level elite. This is still a playoff contender no matter who is under center. Michael Thomas likely returns next week, and the schedule gets much easier the rest of the way. Maybe I’m nuts, but I’m not totally sold that Taysom is the starter the rest of the way. Sean would be wise to start Siemian and use Taysom in his more natural gadget role. Saints should be pretty safely in a playoff spot, regardless of QB. They are 2 games up on the loss column of everyone other than the shoe-ins in the NFC. NFC East and North are only getting 1 team. Even if the 49ers get healthy and play offense like yesterday, there's still another WC up for grabs. Saints just have to hold off the severely flawed Vikings, Bears, Panthers, and Seahawks if Russ comes back. And we know Sean Payton can win with anyone at this point.

He's definitely in that Kirk Cousins, Nick Foles, young Andy Dalton, Sam Bradford tier of QBs. Very accurate. Will take the occasional deep shot, but more comfortable checking down to short, intermediate area. Of course, unlike those guys, he has the pleasure of playing with Belichick/McDaniels so he may be much more successful than those guys. Not gonna hate though, he's playing pretty well right now. 3rd in the league in passing attempts, so they actually aren't holding him back either. But he's bottom 1/3 of the league in QB rating (to be fair, 3 guys drafted ahead of him that have played are the bottom 3).

You guys (the ones minimizing the best Fields game of the year) are the ones who even mentioned Trubisky. Nobody is acting like Fields doesn't have flaws. You are arguing against nobody. We also aren't going to do the thing where we act like Fields playing a good game is bad. He played very well today. Maybe the best game of any rookie in this class has played this year (read this on Twitter, haven't seen Daniel Jones much). It doesn't mean there's no looking back and he will continue to linearly get better each game......which is absolutely fine because literally NOBODY is saying that.

Sent from my SM-A115AZ using Tapatalk

Hicks is active. I thought his hamstring was shot after last week

I think their make up is of a team that will win a bunch more regular season games than most think. Derozan and Vooch aren't guys who typically miss many games, and they can win games with those 2 and their depth pieces depending on the matchup. And they have no guys who need to load manage. They don't rely on the 3 enough to have a bad shooting game keep them from winning. They'll just drive to the basket and get to the line if they are struggling from deep. They play good enough perimeter D that the 3 probably won't kill them too much either.

Out for the 49ers: Kinlaw, Hurst, Tartt, Al-Shaair, and Ford are out tomorrow. Kittle, Greenlaw, Gould and Mostert will continue to be out. Trent Williams is questionable (but I'll guess he'll play) That's DT1, DT3/4, SS1, ROLB1, DE2, TE1, LOLB1, K1, RB1. Of course they will have their 2 best players (Bosa and Warner). The Bears arguably will be missing their best 2 players (Mack an Montgomery), but otherwise should be healthy in terms of contributors this season save for maybe Hicks, who I'd guess will miss as well.

I have Kyler, Hopkins and I started Tonyan hoping he'd have a good game as one of 2 familiar faces for Rodgers (plus I have bye weeks and injuries). They combined for 28.3 of their projected 50.1 total.

I've definitely said the last 2 weeks that the gameplan/playcalling has been fine as far as max protection, moving pockets, etc. The problem seems to be route combinations. There's seems to be way too many stop routes where the WRs are sitting down in curls against man coverage. There's not many quick slants (Mooney dropped the only 1 I remember last week). There's not many screens. There's not many plays designed to get the ball out quickly to a guy that creates immediate separation. Part of it is guys aren't creating separation, part is the route combos aren't separation generating routes, and the other part is sometimes Fields isn't seeing them quick enough if they are open/called.

Just getting caught up on all the stuff going on with the Blackhawks organization. All I have to say is horsefeathers the Blackhawks! Guess I won't follow hockey again anytime soon.

There's people making out Lachavious Simmons not getting any practice at RT into a thing. Like who cares? He was the 5th option to play RT this season. That's akin to complaining that Nick Foles is getting no practice reps. He's not supposed to be playing, don't waste your time when the guy in front of him needs all the reps he can get (talking about Fields and Wilkinson). Wilkinson went out with Covid like an hour before the game. It's not a miscarriage of justice that Simmons wasn't prepared to start. He had no reason to be prepared to start. You can argue that Simmons over Bars was a bad decision, but Bars likely had no RT practice snaps either. Simmons at least played entire preseason games at RT this year. He didn't suck because of lack of practice, he sucked because lack of ability. I get neither likely had first time reps, but given they were down to Wilk wouldn't you give some reps to whoever is the swing guy for that game? Even if just scout reps? And if the answer is that Bars was the swing guy, did they over think it by having Simmons jump him? Yes they absolutely overthought it. Bars has been the "extra" linemen on a bunch of plays recently so they probably wanted to keep him in that role. It does make sense to get the healthy backup(s) some practice reps, but when the starter is bad...that guy needs all the reps he can get as well. More important to give Wilkinson reps to improve since he's the one supposed to play than give Simmons/Bars minimal reps. Could just be though that Peters is wrong. His statement made it seem like Simmons has never played RT, when he played entire games there in the preseason.

There's people making out Lachavious Simmons not getting any practice at RT into a thing. Like who cares? He was the 5th option to play RT this season. That's akin to complaining that Nick Foles is getting no practice reps. He's not supposed to be playing, don't waste your time when the guy in front of him needs all the reps he can get (talking about Fields and Wilkinson). Wilkinson went out with Covid like an hour before the game. It's not a miscarriage of justice that Simmons wasn't prepared to start. He had no reason to be prepared to start. You can argue that Simmons over Bars was a bad decision, but Bars likely had no RT practice snaps either. Simmons at least played entire preseason games at RT this year. He didn't suck because of lack of practice, he sucked because lack of ability.

I honestly don't think Mack does anything as far as chances to win/lose this game. Guessing Quinn is going to be back from Covid list or they wouldn't have made this move yet. So, I don't think this moves the needle that much. The Bears will win or lose this game based on their ability to put up 20-24 points. I don't think Mack being gone means the 49ers become an offensive juggernaut (4 of 5 games w/ 21 or fewer scored). Same with the Steelers.

And they're discussing an IR stint. Luckily a 3 week IR stint would only be 2 games as they have the bye. But if they IR Mack, even for the 3 games, and lose to SF Sunday, they actually should conduct a firesale. Shop Quinn, Ogeltree, Hicks, Nichols, Goldman. Really any D piece, but those are the guys who might have positive value. Few are pending FA anyways. ARob will be tricky to deal because of his salary (unless they took a contract back). And I'm inclined to only deal from the D and not take a weapon away from Fields (even one that he hasn't clicked with). Based on what I've read, its not based on weeks its based on games missed meaning the bye week doesn't count. For instance George Kittle went on IR and was expected to only miss the minimum. He's been out 3 weeks but only 2 games, so he's not eligible to play this week against the Bears. https://www.nfl.com/news/49ers-te-george-kittle-calf-to-be-placed-on-injured-reserve Yes, I was going to post this as well. Have to miss 3 games. I don't think they'll IR him because of that. But probably won't see him til after the bye.

Jenkins in a few weeks? Dude hasn't even had one OTA practice, much less training camp or regular season practices/games. I'm sure he's learned the offensive system and worked closely on the stuff he can work on but can he really just be thrown into the lineup with little practice? Back doesn't necessarily mean starting and on the field on gameday. If he's practicing in 3 weeks, I consider it a win for this season's development.

Sent from my SM-A115AZ using Tapatalk

I mean, evidence that we have point toward that definitely being the way they justify stuff. We are beyond the point of needing the Lord's help.

I wanted to stay put and hope for Samuel Cosmi. Last I looked he was the highest rated rookie OL in football per PFF. I loved Jenkins as a prospect, but I felt the Bears needed more of a guy who could play LT instead of a RT. I loved the player, hated the trade up even at the time. Ironically though, Jenkins was going to be handed the LT position in Chicago and Cosmi is at RT for WFT. Cosmi also went 1 pick before the Bears original pick to Washington. If the Bears had stayed put and the draft still unfolded the way it did (Bears started a run of 6 OTs in 15 picks), I would have LOVED Terrace Marshall in the 2nd and Spencer Brown in the 3rd. If Cosmi's not still the top rookie OT, then I'm pretty sure it's Brown who's been pretty good for Buffalo so far. Would have been a killer draft and still possible to get Borom, Herbert, and Tonga. I don't care about the side thing in Jenkins but in hindsight got too caught up bein excited about a guy I liked as a possible pick at 20. Seemed like a steal, but yea there were multiple options, either at Tackle or elsewhere (I know you glossed over the Humphrey suggestion, but Mustipher probably is the weakest part of this line) Creed Humphrey was a guy worthy of a 1st round pick as well, who would have been a steal in the 2nd. But he was never a realistic pick for the Bears. They didn't bring in a vet to compete with Mustipher in the offseason. They surely weren't going to give him competition (or replace him) with a rookie, no matter how highly regarded. They tried drafting a young C 4 years ago and Daniels had to be moved to guard in less than 1/2 a season because he couldn't handle certain things at the position right away. There's no way they were going to risk that happening again with another young C.

I wanted to stay put and hope for Samuel Cosmi. Last I looked he was the highest rated rookie OL in football per PFF. I loved Jenkins as a prospect, but I felt the Bears needed more of a guy who could play LT instead of a RT. I loved the player, hated the trade up even at the time. Ironically though, Jenkins was going to be handed the LT position in Chicago and Cosmi is at RT for WFT. Cosmi also went 1 pick before the Bears original pick to Washington. If the Bears had stayed put and the draft still unfolded the way it did (Bears started a run of 6 OTs in 15 picks), I would have LOVED Terrace Marshall in the 2nd and Spencer Brown in the 3rd. If Cosmi's not still the top rookie OT, then I'm pretty sure it's Brown who's been pretty good for Buffalo so far. Would have been a killer draft and still possible to get Borom, Herbert, and Tonga.

My God.

I think the Bears are trying the quick passing game. The problem is the extent of their quick passing game is to have all the WRs run 5 yards, turn and stop. Stop routes don't work to Fields' strengths as he doesn't anticipate throws well. He's not a guy that's going to have the ball out before a WR comes out of his break. He's a "see it open, throw it" type of QB (Cutler was too FWIW). So, the coaching staff is doing him no favors. Also, the Bears haven't executed or maybe even attempted a screen pass since the long Cohen TD in 2018. Isn't that supposedly the best way to slow down a pass rush? I think they attempted one screen to Herbert against the Pack that he dropped. You're right. It also wouldn't have been successful. But yeah, every other team seems to be able to do basic stuff like this.

I think people in protocol due to close contract can get out of it with 2 negative tests. Unless it's a situation where test was on Saturday, results weren't known till after the game Sunday, and it's 7 days from test? I would assume no symptoms and previously vaccinated can get him back by Sunday with a couple negative tests late in the week. Yes. For a vaccinated player/coach pretty sure it's 5 days from the test. If he has no symptoms, he can test negative Saturday and Sunday morning and be good to coach the game. If unvaccinated, it would be 10 days minimum. I'm pretty sure I read in camp that 100% of all coaching staffs league-wide are vaccinated. Those who aren't were already fired.

I think the Bears are trying the quick passing game. The problem is the extent of their quick passing game is to have all the WRs run 5 yards, turn and stop. Stop routes don't work to Fields' strengths as he doesn't anticipate throws well. He's not a guy that's going to have the ball out before a WR comes out of his break. He's a "see it open, throw it" type of QB (Cutler was too FWIW). So, the coaching staff is doing him no favors. Also, the Bears haven't executed or maybe even attempted a screen pass since the long Cohen TD in 2018. Isn't that supposedly the best way to slow down a pass rush?

Already an interesting storyline for this upcoming Sunday..... May get a glimpse into life with an interim head coach. Matt Nagy has the Covid. I would assume he's vaccinated, so he may be able to be cleared in time for this game if he shows no symptoms. For those counting that is: Damien Williams, Caleb Johnson, Robert Quinn, Jimmy Graham, Elijah Wilkinson, and now Matt Nagy who have gotten Covid in the last 2 weeks. Had Goldman, Ifedi and a couple linemen with it earlier this year. So, this probably isn't the last we've heard from the virus this week.