WrigleyField 22

I have my god sons baptism Sunday so this should be the perfect opportunity to miss this beat down, and the NFL doesn't have the decency to flex it out so I'll probably end up watching it anyways? Ugh.

Got a 7-10 Bears into the playoffs with a wildcard match up against the Packers. http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/machine/_/factor/wins/results/401326535~1~401326552~1~401326564~2~401326570~1~401326593~1~401326549~2~401326585~2~401326575~2~401326524~3~401326529~1~401326556~2~401326580~2

A recurring segment call horsefeathers the Ricketts where you trash the Ricketts family.

A Nagy win followed by his immediate firing anyways would give me all the feels lol.

Does anyone mentally struggle with Dosunmu's name even now a couple months into the season? I have a (perhaps over simplified) expectation that Nigerian names are usually pretty phonetic and my brain keeps wanting to throw an N in there somehow.

Funny because I still see the occasional person pimp him as a short list candidate for the Bears job. Maybe not anymore.

Do they have a VP person or is GM their top role? Titles aside if it's a true head role, it wouldn't be parallel. That said, NBA teams have I believe total freedom to block their internal staff from being hired even if it's a perceived upgrade, and even if the top role. As I recall from the Karnisovas hiring process a couple teams blocked their guys for interviewing for the role, even though it was clearly a promotion and clearly was the #1 FO role in Chicago. This differs from the NFL for instance where teams can't block a guy from getting a "head of personnel" rol (most often being GM title).

He probably just thinks Tigers are hella cool

I think I had mentioned before, but yea I think the PS call-ups really alleviate some of that need. Since you can't dress the entire 53 man anyways, it just costs extra money for a pretty low benefit. It's kind of hard to remember, but it used to be going on the IR meant you were out for the year. It's gradually been relaxed to a very loose injury provision that it is now, but maybe managing it judicially and saving cap space is a good thing? Yeah, the rules have evolved just in the last few years. Used to be IR = out of the year. Then they added where you could have 1 or 2 guys come back from IR, but it meant they were out at least 8 weeks. Then I think within the last 2 years they added the short-term IR. That used to be limited to a certain number of players as well, but then they allowed for everyone along with the whole 21 day thing with those not on short-term. But yeah, I guess it does save money. And it does make sense to do it this way if guys are going to miss 2-4 games. I know you can't know how guys will heal from every injury and you are cautious with the better players, especially as they get older. So, it makes sense to evaluate the guys on your practice squad weekly over putting a guy on the active roster, be stuck with him for 3-4 games if he can't play and then add new guys to the PS just to cut guys for roster moves in a few weeks. And perhaps you'd be more agressive with a better roster with better chances, but maybe pocketing the little amount of cap space for rollover, in a pointless season is a good thing. It's a small amount, but I'm also just really getting used to orienting myself to the new reality when carry a half dozen injured active guys had been the norm for a long time.

I think I had mentioned before, but yea I think the PS call-ups really alleviate some of that need. Since you can't dress the entire 53 man anyways, it just costs extra money for a pretty low benefit. It's kind of hard to remember, but it used to be going on the IR meant you were out for the year. It's gradually been relaxed to a very loose injury provision that it is now, but maybe managing it judicially and saving cap space is a good thing?

The whole tampering thing is a sham, but at least no first rounders taken. Hopefully AKME is fully entrusted by Michael to buy 2nd rounders they want.

Yea I think what's interesting is the possibility that the source was high enough to seem unimpeachable as a source, but who has ulterior motive in leaking information. You mean like, Matt Nagy himself? No, not Nagy. I don't have a specific person in mind really.

I think that’s not what happened. Occam’s razor: the Bears are inept and the reporter got bad information from a high placed source. Yea I think what's interesting is the possibility that the source was high enough to seem unimpeachable as a source, but who has ulterior motive in leaking information.

Yeah I feel like he might be the one non-uniformed person in the org I still like I'm not sure what there is for you like so much, but I blame him for the defenses struggles closing out games. Maybe that's unfair, but he doesn't stile me as someone I'd hang onto if Nagy and Co go. I want/expect a clean slate so I'm fine with him not being back in 2022, but I think he has a future in this league. Wildcard though is a Greg Roman hire who has worked a lot with Fangio and may like to hire from that tree....

Tbf lots of good teams also barely beat them too, but Bears still stinks.

Why?

It feels like low 50’s FGs are expected at this point. I mean, not “make it or else” but definitely need to be able to kick it that far. Yea rarely do you see low 50s fall short. Wide sure. But damn.

This too: *Spider man meme for most embarrassing NFL franchise *

Robert Quinn playing himself to a point where he could be a trade asset pls. Lol Bears bad though. Lions are winning today

Best case scenario is something like: Source: Nagy is a dead man walking and everyone knows it. He'll be gone come Friday morning. Reporter: Nagy knows this too? Source: oh yea he knows he's done. Reporter: "Matt Nagy has been fired and his last game will be Thursday." Eeehhhh. Worst case scenario: the report was 100% true but now Geroge will reverse course due to the backlash.

I mean they could still fire him and not be lying. But at this point it wouldn't surprise me if they held off. Even if they embarrass on Thursday, George could say the external factors played a large role. Who knows where their mind really is.

"a" game? I feel like its been 4 or 5 games that everyone knew he was a lame duck There's a huge difference between a literal lame duck, if that's what's going on and a presumed one.

Absolutely. It's been widely disseminated that he's all but gone. You have to address that. Letting a lame duck coach a Thanksgiving day game is a laughably terrible decision. Letting the coach and special teams coach be the only guys that face the media on this issue, plus ARob in his preemptive press conference, is cowardly. A member of the front office has to step in here and say something. I agree with all of that. But if it is true, and Nagy is fired on Friday then isn't that addressing it? They won't just send a press release. They'd have to have a press conference and address the leak then. If it's not true, then yeah that's disasterous. Hell, it's terribly handled either way, but I guess I'm saying firing him and making the report true kinda makes the last 2 days of handling this OK. Just say, "yeah, we're sorry it got out. Matt was a professional in handling the situation/working on Thanksgiving, blah blah blah". If the report is true (or at least the part that it was pre-determined) I still have a big problem with how this played out. But yea there isn't really a favorable way to address it now. Although I don't think they could do more harm by addressing it now rather than wait it out.

I do mostly agree there. Things had seemingly improved a little with George as far as org optics like this go. So I was a little optimistic they were back to like mostly in over their head and not completely. But perhaps my optimism got the best of me. i wouldn't mind Bezos as long as he has decided to step away from Amazon and really focus on developing the Bears, mainly. but I worry the Bears would just be a trophy for him.. Its fine if it's a trophy. He would almost certainly be hiring a right hand person still to do most heavy lifting. Someone like Khan or Kroenke who are pretty involved still have highly trusted President types doing a lot of work. He could go hire the best sports exec he can find to lead his global sports empire (Bears, AH stadium, and anything else he wants to add to it).

I can get the desire to be above the rumor mill chatter to a large extent, but given everything I think it's an awful decision to let your coach and players away in the wind with this all. "No decisions have been made regarding the contracts of any coach or front office staff. The Bears organization remain committed to winning and will continue to evaluate our progress towards that goal. Each persons primary goal in the organization is on the Detroit Lions game this week." Somehthing like that is all that's really needed if the leak is mostly BS. If the leak is mostly true, there isn't a great response, but I do think the leak is a big issue then and a bad sign. I feel like trying to get Geo and Mikey to act like a 21st century org is truly defeating on a personal level. If thats what you want, you should be all for a quick sale to Bezos or some other like-minded megarich dude I do mostly agree there. Things had seemingly improved a little with George as far as org optics like this go. So I was a little optimistic they were back to like mostly in over their head and not completely. But perhaps my optimism got the best of me.