raw

Yeah, I put Edwards the sentence before. 2nd was the typo

Why? If it's because of history or some kind of curse horsefeathers, that's dumb. He's not going to get a better job than this. There isn't this magical, winning and super efficiently functional franchise just waiting to hire a coach. Those teams are good, and good teams don't fire their coaches. Johnson's choices will come down to: Top 10 pick, franchise QB in Year 2 of rookie deal, 68Mil in cap space Top 10-15 pick, no QB, not picking high enough to take one of the top QBs in a bad QB draft, 60M+ over the cap Top 10 pick, 40 year old QB and his 35 year old WR1 buddy Top 3 pick, QB already paid and coming off injury and ineffectiveness for a franchise that's been more inept than maybe any. But they got money! Maybes: Work for Jerry Jones Top 3 pick, can take a QB but again, bad QB draft. Little other talent on the offensive side. Top 3 pick, can take a QB, but again, bad QB draft. Brock Bowers and Maxx Crosby Patriots are probably a decent job too, if that opens. But I expect that to be Vrabel if so

So, I do think coaching is a huge part of it. I mean, just look at the defense with and without Eberflus calling the plays, even back to Alan Williams. It's been a difference of over 9 points per game with and without Flus calling the plays. I also don't think the roster needs to turn over quite yet. All the normal defensive starters are under contract. While this may be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it, you do have some building blocks on that side. Jaylon, Kyler, Dexter, and Sweat (for better or worse) are going to be around. Billings, Byard and Edwards are serviceable. Can't count on Brisker, Stevenson or Edwards to be good really, but those guys have been a lot better as recently as last year/early this year. Offense, it's all about Caleb. If Caleb is the guy, and all indications in a season where everything has been worse case scenario is that he is, then everything else offensively will fall in place if you get the coaching right. Got DJ, Rome, Kmet, and Wright for sure on offense. Braxton isn't terrible. It's not going to be an easy fix by any means, but there are a solid 8-9 pieces in place that you can see starting on a contending team. That being said, my strategy would be to go into this process with Poles and Warren leading the show. If a guy like Ben Johnson wants his GM to line up with him contract-wise, you can always fire Poles at that point, assuming Johnson has a guy in mind as his GM (Ray Agnew seems like an obvious choice). Who cares about the optics after a HC was allowed to do a press conference right before being fired.

Caleb's game-by-game has gone.... Bad Bad Not great, but 363 passing yards and 2 great 4th quarter drives Good Great Great Bad, with should be GW TD drive Bad Bad Good, with should be GW FG drive Good, with game tying TD drive Amazing 2nd half, with should be game tying FG drive, at least Bad, but with 116.7 QB rating Bad I honestly think he can end the season on a positive note. Lions injured defense. Seattle is solid defensively, but traveling 2 time zones on a short week should make for a vulnerable defense. Packers, nothing to play for Week 18 could all be decent games. I don't expect the London game to come back around in any of these last 3, but if he can focus on just getting rid of the ball and self preservation, he could make things feel a lot better than they currently are even with an 11 game losing streak (should be noted, I am not worried about Caleb either way).

Lucky for them, the Bears will do that for them

This game is actually winnable. The Lions have played 3 games outside this year. 1 in Arizona. 1 in Houston. 1 in Green Bay in early November in 50 degree weather. But the Bears won't win. They'll lose miserably.

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.