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Well Watsons 2021 salary cap hit isn't very big. So they can make that work with minor manuevers. They don't really have extra picks from which they can deal from, but if they wanted to they could deal from the picks they do have, including having all their future firsts. So if it's really something Hou wanted to entertain and CHI was really motivated, sure. But I'll be honest, I really don't know they can build a team around the cap constraints. I think they'd have to move on from Mack by 2022 once Watsons cap hit gets bigger. Will be too much for 2 players. But maybe they could be all in for 2021 then retool. But it's tough to retool once you've traded maybe 3 or 4 future 1sts. They can definitely make it work. Watson's cap hit increase in 2022 actually sets up perfectly with the Bears being able to get out of some of the big contracts. Even if they don't cut Mack until AFTER 2022, they can save 24M by cutting Quinn and Jackson with a June 1 designation. Then there's Foles 7Mil off the books. Goldman could be a June 1 cut. If the cap is 200M in 2022, the Bears currently have 75M in cap room. Granted, only 24 players under contract, but that also includes guys like Massie who will certainly be cut this offseason.

I think Robert Saleh was the "star" coaching hire in this cycle. Him coming with Mike LeFleur makes this a slam dunk hire for the Jets. Word is they are sticking with Sam Darnold for 2021, and may be looking to trade down from 2. Sounds like Titans OC, Arthur Smith to Atlanta, who is also going to hire Terry Fontenot from the Saints as their GM. Saints and Niners also will get the two 3rd round comp picks for grooming minority hires.

The LIons hired Brad Holmes from the Rams as their new GM. The good news is that Ed Dodds was right there in the running, and he's a candidate a lot of Bears fans wanted. So, if he doesn't get a job this cycle he may be there for the Bears next year if they ever move on from Pace. The bad news (at least for me personally) is that since he's from the Rams, this could mean Brandon Staley is a strong candidate for the HC job....and he's probably my favorite candidate for the Bears next coach.

Lions hired a GM. It's Rams scouting director Brad Holmes. His hire doubles the number of black GMs in the NFL, and also makes the Rams the first team to get 2 3rd round comp picks under the new diversity initiatives.

Harden had no issues until the last 4-6 weeks when he made it known he wanted out. He got out. I don't see why he would be an issue going forward....until he wants out of Brooklyn.

From 2014-2027, the Nets will have made one 1st round pick....that pick was Jarrett Allen who was included in this trade. Cleveland seems to quietly benefit a ton from this trade.

So, a lot in that press conference was said about getting better play out of the QB position. Essentially, Trubisky was thrown under the bus multiple times. The irony is Mitch brought the team together after the 6-game losing streak that was apparently very impressive to ownership, and his play at QB is one of the primary reasons the Bears even got to 8-8 and the playoffs before being neutered by the game plan Week 17 and the wildcard game.

Meanwhile, in the division.... The one thing the Bears always had was being run better than the Lions.

On the other hand the freaking Steelers won the North and they suck. Everybody in the NFC West is quite beatable. The worst matchup is Seattle on the road but I'm not sure they still have the same aura the past few years, with quite a few home losses for a team that was supposed to be impossible to beat in their stadium. AFC North had 3 playoff teams this year. NFC West had 2 and another team the Bears tied with them. So, on paper that's 6 teams equal or better than the Bears, not including GB x 2, and Tampa, and potentially whatever AFC team they get for the 17th game. That being said, I don't pay attention to projections. 6-8 new teams make the playoffs every year. Granted, the Bears could be 1 of the, but odds are 3-4 of these teams aren't very good next year.

About to get some real information out of this press conference I'm sure!

Feels like the Bears constantly are facing a tough schedule like the ebbs and flows of other divisions is perfectly lined up with the Bears rotation haha. 8th easiest schedule this year.

I personally don't mind if this is taking a few days. This shouldn't be an easy decision, especially if not a clean sweep. It's not like they're going to run out of good candidates for any role they are hiring. Sent from my SM-A115AZ using Tapatalk

I don't believe there have been many rumors on that Phillips story. There was a tweet from some rando that got some play but I have not seen much of anything suggesting it's on the table, let alone imminent. It should happen, but I'm more just hoping than reading the tea leaves. Also, Pace would need an extension to get 2 more years on his contract, not sure if you were just implying that would happen. The story was from David Kaplan said on ESPN100 that he got a text from someone connected at Halas Hall. And i fully believe the story about Pace quietly getting extended an extra year to have his contract end with Nagy's. I have nothing to tell me I should believe either of these, but both seem like logical outcomes.

I don't understand how 3 straight blowouts in the championship games means the playoff should be expanded. Maybe an extra game makes it more likely an injury evens the playing field some but I agree 2 makes more sense than even 4 at this point.

Sounds like Carson Wentz is off the board with the Eagles firing Pedersen.

He's literally had 3. And that's counting this 0 turnover game as 1 of them. Sent from my SM-A115AZ using Tapatalk So he’s good against Nebraska, Penn State, Rutgers, and Michigan State (a collective 12-21 record), is effective but throws a bunch of picks against Indiana, is complete trash against Northwestern, is great against Clemson, and doesn’t turn the ball over but is neutralized against Alabama. It’s not an inspiring body of work. Yes. All after a 40 TD, 1 INT regular season last year with wins and fabulous performances against #8 Wisconsin, 13 Michigan, 8 Penn State (in consecutive weeks, mind you), 13 Wisconsin, 25 Michigan St, the same IU defense that gave him trouble this year and brought back every starter but one, and a Cincinnati team that went 20-2 the following 22 games after facing Fields.

He was 12/27 for 114 yards and 2 picks in the big ten championship. I’m not convinced he’s a first round talent. Carolina may have cost itself 5 draft positions with a stupid win over Washington, but the silver lining is they won't have a chance to talk themselves into Fields. He may well end up being great but he's had a few too many of these. He's literally had 3. And that's counting this 0 turnover game as 1 of them. Sent from my SM-A115AZ using Tapatalk

Yeah, it's mostly nonsense teams can use as an excuse not to hire a black coach. DUI, fight in college after being called a racial slur, multiple rapes when he was on the Colorado staff, some assault stuff that got him banned from campus. But nothing since he's been an NFL coach. “The arrest report outlined the incident: Bieniemy was with five friends in a parking lot when he allegedly approached a lot attendant from behind and grabbed her by the neck. The victim told police the contact was not painful, but it startled her. She said the man also made comments while holding her. "She stated that the male who grabbed her said something about 'a bunch of black males all at once being her worst nightmare,' " according to the report. The victim told police the group of men then dropped their pants and began urinating nearby.” I don’t see why these things would be disqualifying for head coach but not assistant but that’s pretty gross. Yeah, I didnt know those details. That's bad.

Bienemy isn't going anywhere. Apparently bad in interviews and some off field concerns. Only teams that likely would want him are Atlanta and maybe LAChargers. Sent from my SM-A115AZ using Tapatalk I hadn't heard about off field concerns before. One article I found mentions a few things from his college years and a DUI from like 2001. Is there more than that? Yeah, it's mostly nonsense teams can use as an excuse not to hire a black coach. DUI, fight in college after being called a racial slur, multiple rapes when he was on the Colorado staff, some assault stuff that got him banned from campus. But nothing since he's been an NFL coach.

I don't like this line of thinking. The goal shouldn't be average anywhere. People have suggested getting rid of Fuller and Hicks, trading whoever you can on D to built the offense, but that's not how you build a team. If you have good players, keep them. Offense, defense, special teams. If you have to build the Rams, build the Rams rather than chasing a pipe dream of mirroring KCs talent. Obviously if the choice is a potentially great edge rusher vs a potentially great QB, you go with offense but you can't ignore the defense or you end up with Trestman's Bears. Sent from my SM-A115AZ using Tapatalk

Bienemy isn't going anywhere. Apparently bad in interviews and some off field concerns. Only teams that likely would want him are Atlanta and maybe LAChargers. Sent from my SM-A115AZ using Tapatalk

I asked the same about Mack yesterday. But Jackson looked like trash out there this season. My oversized gut says that's more on him than the idiot DC. I think its more on Jackson, Mack was being double teamed, horse collared, chopped etc. thought he did about as well as he could. I've been down on Mack since he's basically disappeared but, a good portion of his ineffectiveness has to attributed to the fact no one else can get to the QB, he's doubled teamed, held and Pagano' use of him is made him invisible. It's a combination of things w Jackson IMO. Teams legitimately schemed away from him last year and early this year after his 2018. When the Bears were 5-1, he was literally getting 0-2 targets in the pass game. I think Pagano starting to try to manufacture plays for him to make and Jackson pressing to make plays out of desperation, backfired. But a new DC is definitely needed. The hope is a new DC and Quinn coming into to camp healthy (remember he didn't practice like the first 2 weeks, and the drop foot rumors), that guys like Mack and Jackson can get back to 2018 levels. Neither is that old where this is impossible.

Nagy will hold them back on offense and Mitch is the perfect QB to do that. Mitch was playing QB for a contract yesterday and couldn't even try for a 1st down on a 4th down scramble. The only thing that they could've kept Nagy was they did play hard for him but now with an issue with the culture of this team, he's done. A poor in-game coach with a poor offensive scheme who can't call games who brings in a DC who can't scheme against a broken QB who elderly and can't throw for more than 5 yards and you play off coverage. They make up for it by having a GM who can't draft. How did that 1st and 2nd Rd combo of Trubisky and Miller do? All trash. horsefeathers em all. My same thought, burn it all down, the approach on defense may have been worse than Nagy' offensive approach. You know the excuse for not being aggressive on D is all personal missing due to injuries. Sometime in these playoffs a team is going to realize Brees is limited and they'll use it to kick the horsefeathers of them. While i certainly wouldn't be upset if they tore it all down, because I'm pretty sure that's how this is going to end ultimately. But I don't think it's necessarily the best course of action right now. A complete tear down includes tearing down personnel. And this team still has Mack, Quinn, Jackson, Whitehair and other big contracts they can't get out of right now. So, you're looking at a torn down front office and coaching staff with the same 8-8 team minus their best offensive player. I also don't think Pace's drafting is bad. His valuation of draft picks is horrible, but just this past draft it looks like they got 3 decent to potentially really good starters (Kmet, Johnson, Mooney) and a couple role players (Vildor, Gipson showed flashes). Montgomery is pretty good. Roquan's a star. Daniels, Nichols, Jackson (most years), Cohen, etc. He finally was able to get this team comp picks. I think the most realistic scenario is that Pace is able to get lucky in a trade for a short term vet QB (so they don't trade up in the draft and have his and Nagy's future tied to another potential QB of the future development), and Nagy is finally able to run the offense he wants w/ a better QB, an improved OL and run game. And if it doesn't work, they can get out all their contracts within 2 years and can properly start over from the top to personnel. But meanwhile, there's hope that the short term QB can become long-term and that Nagy can grow into a Tomlin/Carroll type of leader/motivator of a coach who can have 15 years of success. Sure it's a long-shot, but no less of a chance than it is to go Jags full rebuild which I can't think of a recent time has actually ever worked.

Yeah, my thinking as well which is why I had the 2022 conditional pick in there. The Eagles don't have any leverage in a Wentz trade. He was bad this year and will cost them 35Mil to be a disgruntled backup, and they can't cut him. Maybe there's enough competition for him (Colts, Niners) to where they can get a 2nd day 2021 pick, and if that's the case....more power to them.

I honestly do not see the latter happening in any way. Promoting Pace would be so bizarre. Why do it? He's young, established but not particularly accomplished. If you want to go with the prez/gm model, just hire a prez who will take it from there. I'd be shocked with that result. Everything else is on the table. I've said it before but they could do worse than bringing both Pace and Nagy back. I'd be fine with it. I think one of the worst things they could do is clean house from Pace on down and allow Phillips to make another hire. I hope you're right. I'm more anti-Nagy than anti-Pace if we're being honest, so I definitely am not advocating for him to be fired. And as much as I dislike Nagy for his offense's consistent inability to score TDs for the most part of the last 3 years, I think he's a good CEO coach type and think his offense would work if they got the QB position right. Honestly, I'm really warming up to the idea of a Carson Wentz trade. His contract isn't terrible for the trading team (essentially 2/47.4Mil) with no dead money after 2022. But a Wentz trade could make a ton of sense for both sides. Something like Wentz for Foles + picks. I'm not sure what picks, but I wonder if the Eagles would even take 2022 picks with conditions so they could maximize Wentz's value if he performs well. So, Wentz for Foles + 2021 5th round + 2022 conditional 2nd/3rd. Philly gets out of Wentz's money, get Foles back, where he won a Superbowl. He can backup Hurts or give him more time. Nagy loves familiarity based on his coaching hires and backup QB choices. Wentz should be pretty familiar with a lot of the offensive concepts as Nagy and Pedersen are obviously Reid disciples. It also prevents the Bears from moving up for a QB in this draft or settling for a 2nd tier guy that's probably not going to be good enough. And it gives them flexibility to potentially let Robinson go and spend an early pick they would spend on a QB on a WR instead.