WrigleyField 22

I'm not holding my breath, and even if it does happen how confident can we be that Michael Reinsdorf will be able to find the right person. When will this change happen? If they've decided that GarPax isn't their guy anymore, do it today before they screw up another trade deadline. I mean realistically the Bulls are not in bad shape if you remove GarPax from the equation. They have the team in a great cap position, they have fairly valuable trade assets, they have talent just not superstar talent. I don't mind crediting them for doing that. The problem is that I have no faith in them from here, barring getting lucky on a draft pick turning into a superstar. The fact that they replaced Hoiberg with Boylen without talking to anyone else and then doubled down by extending him for no good reason tells me all i need to know about their ability to turn around this team. Pax (removing Gar here) does some things well, I credit him for the baby bulls plan that worked, I credit him for clearing the cap space and having the team in a position to sign LeBron and Wade in 2010 even though it didnt work. I credit him for consistently having the team in good financial shape. But we just need a new voice for the organization. 1 ECF appearance in 17 years isn't cutting it... Yea, Pax had some moments, but this is his basketball ops through and through. If changes don't include him, it's meaningless IMO. Doug Collins is probably the right in house candidate who could help guide Michael's search for a real VP of basketball ops role. Then let him fade away for the most part as well.

Has a Pace Connection. Sounds like he recruited him while at EIU.

Sounds good to me.

A majority would be tough even if the Cubs weren't a sad sack of LT avoiding horsefeathers.

If "having a QB" can be classified as a Joe Flacco or Eli Manning I still have hope the Bears can get that relatively soon. Edit, realized I left Ravens off the initial list. They had the most early success of those examples, but the SB came a little later. Ravens 2007 5 - 11 John Harbaugh becomes HC 2008 11 – 5 2009 9 – 7 2010 12 – 4 2011 12 – 4 2012 10 – 6 (Super Bowl XLVII Champions)

2013 was an interesting draft. Really bad at the top with Fisher, Joeckel, Mingo, Jon Cooper, Tavon Austin, and Dion Jordan failing to live up to expectations. But then you have some absolute studs down in the draft like Hopkins, Slay, Ertz, Leveon, Kelce, Armstead, Keenan Allen, etc. Long probably gets propped up a bit, because he was the face of the franchise after the Lovie era which had a bunch of personalities. He lasted thru the end of the Cutler era, one of the few Trestman era survivors. Basically the Bears version of Starlin Castro. But I agree with that last part. I think fans are looking at it as Pace has had 5 years to turn things around. But I think internally, they see him building a long-term contender. They see the talent he has amassed and I don't think starting over is something they see as an option. May or may not have forced Fox on him as a hire to turn around the lockerroom. Young GM and young coach leads me to believe this is a long-term move. I'm fully expecting Pace to get another shot to pick a QB. that's a good comp Yes, I like this analogy. As for the patience of Pace, I think its clear things could be much worse. I guess the McCaskeys just have to be comfortable with Pace's process and thinking that has led to this. The 5 year record is clearly not good, but if you handicap the "building" years and see 2019 as a blip, I doubt they are thinking of a move anytime soon. I'd still pretty much tie Pace and Nagy together. Right now Pace has 2 years left on his contract and Nagy 3. Nagy would have to be really bad next year to move on after year 3, I think, so he'll get a 4th year, barring a 2-14 season or something. So the question then ends up being if Pace can go into his final year/Nagy's 4th year as a potential lame duck GM. Or if things go well in 2020 again (even modest success like 10-6), they may look to extend them both. I don't love these comps as there is some confirmation bias, but I saw this elsewhere and thought it was pretty interesting. If you're viewing Pace/Nagy as the package deal, there is plenty of evidence to support patience (as long as you kind of wave off Pace's Y1-3 record). Outside of these teams below, of recent SB winners you have the Pats dynasty, Denver who won in Y1 of Kubiak after stalling under Fox, Steelers at the end of Cowher/Y2 of Tomlin basically and extension of that dynasty, and Philly winning in Y2 under Pederson (and then a couple repeat SB winners from this list). But clearly a lot of good coaches/dynasties taking some time to meld. Rams 1996 6 – 10 Dick Vermeil becomes HC 1997 5 – 11 1998 4 – 12 1999 13 – 3 (Super Bowl XXXIV Champions) Giants 2003 4 - 12 Tom Coughlin becomes HC 2004 6 – 10 2005 11 – 5 2006 8 – 8 2007 10 – 6 (Super Bowl XLII Champions) Saints 2005 3 - 13 Sean Payton becomes HC 2006 10 – 6 2007 7 – 9 2008 8 – 8 2009 13 – 3 (Super Bowl XLIV Champions) Packers 2006 8 – 8 Mike McCarthy becomes HC 2007 13 – 3 2008 6 – 10 2009 11 – 5 2010 10 – 6 (Super Bowl XLV Champions) Seahawks 2009 5 – 11 Pete Carroll becomes HC 2010 7 – 9 2011 7 – 9 2012 11 – 5 2013 13 – 3 (Super Bowl XLVIII Champions) The tough part for Pace will be threading the needle from the 2018-2020 window he initially set up, to re-opening the window in 2021 without any reset/retool year.

Bears fan? He's from Naperville. So I'd say yea. Or just not a fan of large waterways.

Obviously injuries are at times somewhat unpredictable. In time will probably will be viewed similarly to the Tommie Harris pick. A little less impact just based on positional impact, but a brief but impactful peak that was cut short due to injury.

Tim, can you work on that thing from Black Mirror where you can block people from your real life. Comp will be sent upon completion of project, thx.

Interesting. I'm not totally following the PPE part. Are they saying he won't be eligible for that escalation now? If that's the case, his "new" 2020 hit is less than a million extra. The 2021/22 hits feel pretty modest, with a lot of the hit going to 23/24 where the cap should be much higher, and it's pretty much all unguaranteed by that point wiht little dead. Basically it's a 2 year additional commitment to Eddie with non back-breaking cap hits.

Got a VM and email reminder yesterday about the possibility that I'll get my number called for the season ticket wait-list. Gotta say that this exciting offseason really has me thrilled about the possibility of dropping several thousands of dollars on these schmucks. On the other hand I'm about to have 2 children under 2 and live and work in the burbs. Geeze, I'm sure I'm gonna use these a ton.... What's another 15 years on the Wait list if I re-enroll? Maybe less as I'd hitch on with my BIL who would be my ticket partner if I jumped at it now. ETA - well my BIL emailed me back and agreed he doesn't think its a good time to jump at them. Back in the queue I guess!

So Cleveland still has a HC and GM opening and WAS still has a GM opening? That's it, right?

Uh, not to be ageist or anything but I highly doubt Virginia McCaskey is going to be the voice of sanity in the NFL.

He's been a really good OC at just about every stop he made as an OC.

As far as young Ks go, he's about as projectable as you can hope for. Robbie Gould was 77% his first year and that was with no attempts past 50, and even limiting his 40+ attempts. In fact it wasn't even until Robbie Gould's 5th year in the league until he made a 50+ yarder. Not saying hell be the next Robbie Gould as he has to put in the work, but he has the skills to do so with time. I think it would be worthwhile to bring in a camp leg next year, but they can avoid the circus of last year's battles at least. Maybe Nagy can focus on more important things like his QB now. :?

Maybe this isn't the right topic to post this under...By my math, there's aprox. $75.6M coming off the books from last year, which includes players no longer on the roster and any salary decreases (i.e. Lester). And there's aprox. $41.8M in additional salary, which includes salary increases due to both contracts and expected arbitration increases (as projected by MLBTR) and all of the minor signings. So, that leaves approx. $33.8M decrease in money spent on salary from last year. Is there something I'm missing? Is there another reason other than they don't want to spend money for that amount of decrease in spending??? No. There is not. Any recent major real estate activity occurring in Wrigleyville?

Don't forget, "noted smock-wearer, and Baylor Head coach" https://ftw.usatoday.com/2020/01/panthers-matt-rhule-smock-baylor-origin

Who da fuq

I mean I hate Yadi like the rest of yall, but add decent play for a long enough time in a position that churns through players... you're gonna make an all decade list. Obviously Posey would be a better choice.. But Yadi is next in WAR! Here's a fun recency bias survey; Would you rather have the 2010's WAR or 2000's WAR team of the decade? C- Jorge Posada, Ivan Rodriguez 1B- Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman (close call as to position as he spent more total time split in OF spots) 2B- Chase Utley, Jeff Kent 3B- A-Rod, Chipper Jones (A-Rod obviously another close call, but 3B did edge SS). Fun note, 2010's WAR leader Adrian Beltre was 4th in the 2000s (and the Defensive WAR leader)... what a bad, bad man. SS-Derek Jeter, Miguel Tejada LF- Barry Bonds, I already have Chipper and Berkman as backups.. they're the next two.. soo Brian Giles CF- Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones RF- Ichiro, Bobby Abreu DH- Jason Giambi, Jim Thome P- Randy Johnson, Roy Halladay, Javier Vasquez, Pedro Martinez, Mariano Rivera, Joe Nathan -Serious WTF for Vasquez. He made 1 All Star Team. But I guess he was consistent and durable.

In the replies: [tweet] [/tweet] So only 2B and 3B came outside the top 2 WAR leaders. Those are your recency bias Twitter fails. That's actually not bad.

This came across my Twitter feed. I gotta say ripping off the Capt Andrew Luck Twitter account is lame, but if you are gonna do it, do it right. Last line ought to say "misfires"

Its relatively low risk, as its only guaranteed for injury. The positive is that if he breaks out (ha, but play along) , you have him locked in for Y5. The downside is if he is hurt you are potentially stuck. The other option I would think is declining the option, and you have the transition tag or franchise tag in your back pocket if he were to break out. That transition tag amount I think is the same as his option. The franchise tag would be a tick more. But you'd also then lose out on that tag for anyone else. With Jackson locked up now, I'm not sure losing the tag would be a big factor in the Bears decision making process. In the scenario where you don't give him the option and he plays okay, but not great and you let him walk, he may factor into getting you a comp pick. There I'm sure are other nuanced differences between the options.

Wasn't this the guy who just called the Castillo hiring?

Did he do something funny? https://sports.yahoo.com/report-jason-garrett-refuses-to-accept-his-fate-even-though-cowboys-have-repeatedly-told-him-hes-out-192541044.html Oh that's great. My fixed the glitch meme is actually gonna hold true. Garrett: "So Mike, this is weird, how are we gonna have two head coaches? You wanna rotate every week? Two on two off? "

Did he do something funny?