raw

Honestly, I'm kind of throwing out last week's game as a bunch of nothing. I know they had extra time to prepare, but it was Kyle Shanahan, a 2x Superbowl HC after going as an OC that many fans are willing to give up a first round pick to trade for vs a group of coaches who basically failed their way upward to positions they had no experience with. That's an understandably tough game to start with on the road, and they didn't really get the extra time to prepare for because of the botched firing and players being off until the Monday after Thanksgiving. That's not to say that this week will be any better, because they coaching talent they face is still going to be great and there will be a better overall team to go along with it. Also, no Dexter tomorrow, so this could be ugly.

Draft will be interesting. The only OL I like top 10 is Will Campbell, who I don't think gets past New England (decent change they pick 1 and trade back though, I'd guess). I hope Poles doesn't force the OL pick early, and there is a lot of DL talent in the range the Bears will be selecting.

That's my working theory as well

You'd think. But I don't think he was trying NOT to get good OL the last 3 years. He just didn't want to pay what good OL cost. And what if the top guys are signed off the market as tends to happen? What if someone offers guys more money? What if a guy prefers a different fit? He could get stuck overpaying mediocre guys, just to get a "name" in here. Just because he's going to try something different doesn't mean it will work.

It's not about him trying to do the right thing because he has Caleb and he's the best prospect the team has ever had. It's about his own self preservation. Caleb fails, Ryan Poles is never an NFL GM again.

I think it was definitely more forced/arranged than not. Bears interviewed a bunch of dudes. Poles interviewed Quinn and Caldwell, first day on the job. He interviewed Flus 2nd day. They hired Flus 3rd day. They have the same agent, who I believe was part of the committee to find the next HC and GM. Definitely was a safe choice, his Fox to Pace, but he definitely didn't have a full vetting process like he should have this time.

Yeah, my concern is the ability to find it. I think it's pretty obvious he knows he has to do better on the OL. But it's not like he just figured this out. The Bears have played 12 offensive linemen this year, Poles has acquired all but 2 of them (Jenkins, Borom) in his 3 years. So he hasn't ignored OL, he just apparently thinks guys like Ryan Bates, Lucas Patrick, Dan Feeney, Nate Davis, Coleman Shelton, etc are good enough....which scares me.

It all netted a franchise QB, though. You can hate individual moves and general direction, but the 2022 teardown led to the 2023 trade that brought the Bears the 2024 franchise QB. I just don't know what getting rid of Poles does for this franchise. You get rid of the OC to give Caleb a better chance. You get rid of the HC to give Caleb a better chance. You get rid of the GM.....and you are in a situation where you have a GM tied to a guy he didn't draft. So if he tries to rebuild this team HIS way and Caleb doesn't shine through all of it, then you have a GM saying "well, this isn't MY quarterback and once we get my guy, we'll be well on our way". Isn't that the situation you were just in with Poles? Isn't that the situation you were in with Pace inheriting Cutler? You gotta let this thing play out with Poles. And one of my stubborn points is that I don't think you can hold Flus against him. All signs point to: A) Flus wasn't 100% his hire. Remember the HC and GM searches were happening at the same time. They interviewed liked 9 coaches, 3 got 2nd interviews (Quinn, Caldwell, Flus) and 1 just happened to have the same agent as Poles and was hired on Poles' SECOND day on the job. Clearly not a full hiring process from Poles himself. B) The rumors that Poles wanted Flus fired last offseason and couldn't. Half of the Bears fanbase wanted to trade the pick again and build around Fields. While that was the obvious anti-choice to most of us here, that would have been the easy choice for Poles. I see little reason to believe the guy who only had eyes for Caleb in this draft back in November, wanted to pair him with a defensive guy. This is not to absolve Poles of all. The record is the record. The deficiencies on this team have been the same since he took over, except for WR, and hopefully QB. But I fully believe he now knows he can't half-ass the trenches and will do what it takes, after all, his career is tied to Caleb Williams. I believe he will do everything he can for him to succeed.

I don't think Abdul Carter makes it past Carolina, wherever they pick (Ahead of the Bears). I also don't think Will Campbell is there wherever the Bears pick, and he's a guy I don't expect to get past New England. I really don't like the OL options after Campbell, in the top 12. I don't think it's realistic to expect the Bears to move on from Braxton at LT. Taking a guy to play guard in year 1 and then potentially taking over at LT for Braxton in the future is on the table, but I still think only Campbell applies there early in the draft. The edge class is really interesting in the 10-20 range. While Carter will be gone, I do like Jalon Walker and Mykel Williams from Georgia. Walker is more of a 3-4 OLB (don't know what D they'll be running) and Williams is more of a freak athlete project. Pearce (small) and Scourton (huge) are also there in that range. If Mason Graham falls that's another DL player you kinda have to pick. As for offense, if Campbell is gone, I think you'd be reaching for Banks (OL2) and I don't love him as a temp guard. Or you're basically picking Ashton Jeanty. And I must say, if Ben Johnson is the head coach and brings along Hank Fraley (Lions OL coach, potential OC for Johnson) then Jeanty is probably going to give you amazing production, though obviously not great value that high for a RB

out to the woodshed to put him out of his misery?

One was with Jimmy G. But yeah, I'd trade for Shanahan or McVay

I'd probably trade for McVay if it came down to it. LOL. He's better than Shanahan to me. He's done more with less, and he's actually gotten over the hump in the Superbowl. But if I can get Ben Johnson, I get him for just money. IDK if Johnson can be a good HC, but honestly, the bar for the next coach is just "not idiot". Flus legitimately was possibly the worst coach in the league and statistically speaking, the worst coach of all time in close games. So the bar is pretty low. And honestly, I feel like if 3 OCs and 2 HCs in 13 games hasn't broken Caleb, I don't know what will. We saw some good stuff from Waldron even, and it's been better under Brown so far against elite defenses. So, being that level is probably good enough offensively with improvements on the OL and naturally from Caleb and getting on the same page with Rome and DJ more consistently. Give me someone that has attention to detail and knows that time and timeouts are important.

Unfortunately for him, he's done all types of losing.

They worked out together in April, before Caleb was even officially drafted. After they traded for Allen; he, Caleb, and DJ all worked out together. Rome was actually there as well without knowing who he'd be drafted by. But I know Keenan lives(d) in LA so they maybe worked out more?

Waldron could be better. And there'd be a lot fewer complaints about him if Caleb was doing a better job of simply throwing the ball accurately more consistently.

It kind of feels like there were set roles planned for each of the WRs before the season started. Keenan was the guy they brought in to make Caleb's transition easier. He was the safety blanket. And I feel like because of that, Waldron is basically making Keenan the primary read on every basic pass play. They call DJ's number primarily only vs clear man coverage looks (particularly to the single wide side). They call Rome's number when they want to take a shot. Just a lot feels disjointed. Not using guys the correct way. Keenan's depth of target is the highest of his career. DJ's is the lowest since his 2nd year, I believe. They should be used the exact opposite way. Rome is probably being used fine, but he's still the 3rd/4th read way to much. And I fully believe DJ is unhappy with the pass offense seemingly being run thru Keenan instead of him.

I know it's been mentioned that DJ walked off the field mid play early when Caleb scrambled from one side of the field to the other. But has anyone noticed that DJ was on the field the very next play and ran a go route (Rome caught the in for like 15 yards). So, he wasn't hurt (maybe butthurt) he just quit mid play.

Oh this is dumb.

I'm not "blaming" the OC per se. But I do think some of this is on him. If you know you are on your 5th OT to start this game, and your QB is a rookie that is getting rattled, and you have a bunch of weapons at your disposal.....at some point, it's a failure on your part to not adapt to protect all these things and put up more than 9 points against like the 28th best defense. Probably wouldn't have been enough today, but this hasn't been a 1 week problem. And the bigger picture issue is that he hasn't shown enough to make anyone believe he'll be the one that can turn things around when the rookie QB improves and the OL hopefully has reinforcements.

Agree with every word. Shane Waldron has been perfectly competent, if not even good as an OC. He took Geno Smith from a laughable bust to a probowl QB. Of course he can take the best QB prospect of the last 5 years to success.......but Bears.

Arizona doesn't apply pressure. Last in the league in pressures (not last in sacks though). I also think the questions on the OL were overblown. I mean you had Jenkins health questions, Davis desire questions, questions on who would start at C, and then if the tackles could take a step. But all 6 of the guys who competed to start in camp were guys who have been average-ish or better in their careers. The injuries were predictable, but every team has had them.

Stats are weird when you completely tank 1 season and start 0-5 the next season. They don't have an issue winning on the road on Sundays. They have an issue winning, because almost half the time, they weren't capable of it. Since they've been capable of winning games (aka not tanking, not having a UDFA rookie starting, and taking out 0-5 start last year), they are 8-6 with 3 games they had a 90%+ chance to win.

So far the formula for the Bears is: Feast on bad defensive coordinators. Bend but don't break against good offenses. Really need turnovers in their favor to beat teams without far inferior talent on the field. That formula would means wins vs Arizona (bad defense), NE (bad defense, turn the ball over), and Seattle (mediocre D, turns ball over). Other games: SF with their injuries kinda levels out that talent matchup a bit, assuming the Bears get healthy by then. But they are a great D and don't give you the ball. GB gives you a chance 2x, because Love will give you the ball. But it's Green Bay Min, I still don't know what they are. Good defense/great DC, but they've allowed 29+ three of the last 4 games. Darnold is probably good for 1 turnover if you get pressure on him. Injured LT Detroit looks like a juggernaut, so I don't even think the Bears can fall back on last year's performance against them. Obviously, things can change between now and when they actually play. And flukes apparently happen as well. But I'd go into AZ, NE, SEA expecting wins. I'd go into both DET games expecting losses. I'm expecting a loss at SF. That puts them at 7-6. I think they can get 1 from both GB and MIN, which puts them at 9-8. But every team either has a better record than them or are within 1/2 game record wise, except NE. They could also spiral and lose a bunch of these games.

So, I was resigned to the fact that when Flus was retained last year that this was at least a 2 year thing. But Poles seems like the type that would really value what the players are saying. So far, off the top my head, you have Jaylon questioning why he can't travel with top WRs. Byard questioning just allowing the play before the Hail Mary. Kmet questioning players' discipline. DJ questioning the handoff to Kramer. Those are your leaders. Their words speak volumes. If they continue to question Flus, all bets are off. The defense, cited as a reason you couldn't change coaches, would probably see very little drop off, especially initially. The Bears actually have ALL 11 starters under contract for next year. The only contributors who are FAs after the year are Darrell Taylor and Jack Sanborn, 2 pretty replaceable players. So if you don't drastically change the scheme, you shouldn't have much drop off on the defense. Also a big factor could be how Caleb and the guys feel about Waldron. There was the captains meeting earlier in the year with him. You can't allow Flus to hire a 3rd offensive coordinator, so that could seal his fate as well. You also can't risk Caleb having a 3rd OC in 3 years, and that potentially happens if you let Flus hire a new OC and then he's fired the year after. Ultimately, I think this is a similar decision to Fields. Poles wasn't 100% sure he was the guy. A better guy became available and he moved on. Gotta look at Flus the same way. If you aren't 100% sure he's the head coach of your next Superbowl team, then move on. I'm not sure who the better coach is though. Who's the Craig Counsell to Flus' David Ross? Feels like they'd go with experience, but all the experienced guys are DCs as well. It kinda feels like Ben Johnson or bust. But Johnson doesn't have HC experience. Don't know if Poles would gamble with another 1st time coach after putting so much faith in another.

Just started watching this. And man, I still hate that it feels like Keenan is the primary on most plays. DJ has stuff schemed for him, but it's all screen horsefeathers. But they are literally running DJ and Rome on decoys to open up Keenan, when it should be the other way due to speed reasons. Like the screen throwaway was DJ blocking for Allen. You run it the other way, you get a bigger blocker and a faster receiver being targeted