WrigleyField 22

I think we're close enough now to start talking magic numbers, as official elmination could be a factor in a early firing. 4 games left and they can't catch ARI, GB, TB, DAL on record, and can't catch LA on tie breaker. Due to the tiebreaker, 1 SF win or CHI loss eliminates them from the 6th spot. We're down to 7th spot now. 5 teams have a 2+ game lead on Bears and of those: Washington and Philly eadh have a +2 game lead in the standings and +3 and +2 in the Conf tie breaker. A Washington W and Chicago L puts them up +3 in standings and +4 in tie breaker, so that should effectively end it for the Bears. A Philly W and Chicago L keeps them alive I think. A Bears loss next week also is a Vikings W, but I think the Bears would still be technically alive at that point with a +3 in standing, but possibility to force a tie breaker. Anyways unless I have it wrong, cheering for Washington W and Chicago L should do it. Although honestly there are so many h2hs left, I think the Chicago L alone might be enough for mathematical elimination, largely because PHI and WFT play each other twice.

I don't buy that they are putting him in any danger. He hasn't taken the amount of abuse to where he will be shellshocked from getting hit in the future. He also isn't really developing any unfixable habits. If he doesn't turn out to be a good QB it's because he can't play, not because a coach ruined him in a span of 13 games. Agreed, I think the worst case is probably stalled and not regressive development. Fans still have a really bad case of treating every up or down game as a trend instead of noise. We should expect noise from young QBs. Hopefully the next coach does a better job minimizing the low noise, but it all goes into the development. I'd be really curious if the misthrows were injury related. I feel like he looked his most inaccurate last night, but if he's really not 100% his mechanics arent gonna be consistent I would guess.

I mean it's all probably at least a 50% luck at least, with the vast majority outcomes being a very mediocre and highly volatile season to season middle ground.

I'm just gonna go to bed convincing myself that George was really stuffing their walking papers into that envelope and just wait to be disappointed tomorrow.

Prob why he punted. Fun onside kick though!

Would be great if those were Paces and Nagy's walking papers the camera caught George stuffing in an envelope.

I agree he won't be back or hasn't been good enough to pine over, but the Bears D hasn't been bad with a terrible secondary. Clearly Desai has a future in the league. By what measure? They're bottom 1/2 of the league 18th in dvoa. Pretty middle of the pack ish.

I agree he won't be back or hasn't been good enough to pine over, but the Bears D hasn't been bad with a terrible secondary. Clearly Desai has a future in the league.

This DB is decimated and it already wasn't good. Only so much a guy can do lol

It was a deep fake. Act confused to confuse the defense. 5D chess guys.

This is gonna be one of those weird ass games we look back on in a decade. Especially if it ends up being Rodgers last Bears-Packers game.

Officially worth the pick lol

Its been true since the end of the Lovie era except for 2018.

Our Lambeau Leap

I'm obviously broke because I just assume they'll blow this, but I think they'll cover tonight.

This is a weird game so far.

Trace is more than believable in a president role. He's damn near ideal with his experience and connections. Ideally I'd probably want someone with some tram side experience. His is players/coach side. You've seen the agent route in basketball a little, but weren't those guys who started their own firms? I don't think thats Trace. But whatever business/team side he lacks, he's presumably gonna come in under Ted for a while still anwyays and he could slowly add that aspect to his knowledge base. But I'd gladly take him. Whatever he lacks it's beleivable he can build on it. Definitely seems well respected. And he isn't just a GM-personnel type that someone wants to call President.

Yea it's almost certainly not true, but the statement would basically be identical whether it was true or not. I've seen Armstrong floated before, but this is the first article that's tried to pass it as an actual thing and not just throwing out ideas. I often mock the "Bears should hire a Football man as President" takes, but Armstrong is actually somewhat believable in a Pres role, working on both business matters and oversight of a GM, without actually just being the GM. Presumably Ted would still be CEO, but more focused on stadium deal now and perhaps handing over the mantle to Armstrong in time when he decides to retire.

This isn't gonna stop. Jeez.

Oakland, Chicago for sure. Minnesota, Jacksonville seem more likely than not to have openings Fangio I'd put at 40/60 he's out, but a collapse down the stretch and their desire for a splash on offense could get him fired I think Judge is safe in NYG The wildcards are Seattle (do they fire a SB winning coach?), New Orleans (Payton want a change of scenery?), and Tampa (Arians retirement?), Is Jacksonville talk about Meyer quitting or being fired?

With college head coaches signing absurd extensions the talk of hot young coaches coming up from college is no longer an option. Or NFL teams are just gonna start competing at that level. There's some speculation these college deals are gonna force pro teams to compete.

Also it could be a pretty light year for openings. Definitely Chicago and Oakland. Probably Minnesota. Maybe New York Giants? Who else?

Seems to be the typical sort of list you see every offseason.

Yes believe it or not Yep from worst defenses in Bears history to a 10/95 contract in about 7 years. What a turnaround. Makes me think Nagy could be signing a 150M contract in a decade if he wants to try out the college route.

Fwiw, it was a decent listen. A little less specific about the Bears centric issues and they weave in and out of Brandon's personal business and leadership. Maybe the most interesting part is Marc says he felt in hindsight he wish he made the hard decision to cut bait with some of the old guard who were never gonna buy in to a different leadership way from Lovie. (he also admits he doesn't think Lovie should have even been fired, maybe a lesson for coaches who may walk into a tough situation like that). He spent a lot of time with guys like Martellus and others and getting their buy in and they did, but it was too much culture shock to many others, particularly the D. Looking at the defensive roster from 12 to 13: Idonije was gone. Urlacher was gone. Peppers was around in 2013, but he never came across as a malcontent. Tillman was there, by all accounts he's a wonderful person, don't see him making a big stink. That leaves Lance Briggs and Tim Jennings. I can definitely see Briggs, in particular, not buying in and it was kind of his team in 2013. Plus, I know from things Urlacher has said in the past, it wasn't a great situation once Cutler got there. I think the vets on defense saw the writing on the wall that the long goal was to make this an offensive driven team and Lovie wasn't long for the HC position (he actually lasted longer than they thought he would) and that meant their status on the team would be in jeopardy. Throw in Urlacher was allowed to walk after 2012 and they probably felt justified in their prophecy. It probably didn't help that Trestman was such a slug of a personality, but guys like Briggs and Urlacher would have only bought in if you brought in a Hall of Fame level communicator/sellsman at that point, and even then it would have been only when they felt like it. In hindsight, if they were going to field 2 of the worst defenses in franchise history, they would have been better off cutting/trading all those guys with Lovie. Yea it was a series of bad moves from the forced Lovie-Emery marriage for a year. Emery pissing of Urlacher, and then not resetting hard on the D. Not saying no coach could have navigated it, but it wasn't an easy spot and Marc certainly wasn't gonna be the guy. But even down to his DC hire of Tucker, who has subsequently done well at the college level and giving them a relatively younger/hunger roster is a kind of interesting what if.