Hairyducked Idiot

I think he's got the right idea of wanting to hear some darn good explanations from this regime for why it will be different going forward

Well, Erik Kramer is safe. Butts

Can't wait for pff to tell me Jones gave up no sacks this week

Still hoping for more garbage time yards

Lotta business decisions being made in defense

Good news, I don't have to hear about how we should look at Brown for permanent head coach anymore.

That was a terrible half from Williams. He goes into these stretches where he's terrified to throw the football. Lots of other things went wrong and lots of other players were bad too, but he's still the QB and he's the most important part of the offense.

Now two

The second-year question on Williams is going to be how much he can reduce the sacks. It's not all line.

I can't wait for WIlliams to lead an incredible second half comeback that leads to them tying the game as time expires with a touchdown, extra point pending. Then we somehow get 1-point safetied to lose.

Plot twist: Eberflus was the only thing keeping it all together

When you let Poles hire the next coach, you're committing to him for 2-3 years when we've seen no evidence he can put together a good roster. Fun

The bare minimum for correctly hiring a good head coach should be complete ability to hire his own staff.

I am reluctantly coming to accept that the Bears are probably going DE with their top pick this draft. I would strongly prefer offense, but it's likely going to be an awkward spot to draft OL. The kind of LT you can get in this draft in the middle rounds isn't a clear day-one upgrade over Braxton Jones, even though they might be a better long-term play, and I don't think this franchise is in the mood to make that kind of long-term decision when people are dying to win now. And I don't think there's any iOL in this draft that would warrant going where we're likely to pick. (Meanwhile, I think Amegadjie looks way more likely to be a guard than a tackle, and if he's not ready to challenge for a job next year, then that's another 3rd-rounder that Poles has set on fire). I don't agree that we have to go line in the first round. I think that's half meatball "Da Trenches!" sports radio filler, and half fans wanting to see the fires from this season put out in the draft, when imo that's not what the draft is for. That's what free agency is for. If there's another WR you like available when you pick, jump on him, you can never give Caleb Williams too many weapons. Same goes for a TE if there's one that emerges as a mid-first value between now and the draft. And honest to god, I get the "no RB in the first round"" but if we're picking like 14 and it's a choice between him and a defensive player, I'd rather take Jeanty. It's not like we're using a top-5 pick on him.

I have zero interest in trading draft capital for any coach

I could talk to myself into Jeanty. It wouldn't be my first, second or third choice. But I could talk myself into it. I think the most likely scenario is that we take a DE. It's a great draft for them and it's one of our biggest holes. I hate it because defense is stupid, but I can't argue that it doesn't make sense. I would gladly take an OL, but it's a bit awkard. There's no Alt in this draft and we wouldn't be picking high enough to get him if there were. If we're drafting 11-16ish, then we may be choosing between taking a second-tier tackle who isn't a clear day 1 upgrade over Jones, or taking an iOL way higher than most teams would consider an iOL in this draft. Drafting a non-edge defender in the first round would make me very sad. Defense is stupid. So maybe, for whatever reason, none of the line options make sense when it's our turn to pick. The good ones got taken before us and what's left would be too much of a reach. Then I want to be the team that takes the 2024 version of Brock Bowers: An unquestionably elite offensive talent at a position you wouldn't normally want to draft in the top half of the first round. I don't think there's a TE to fit that description in this draft, but Jeanty could be that guy if we're picking in the 11-16 range. The we can go iOL with our 2 second round picks. Poles will light our third-round pick on fire like he does every year. We don't have a fourth-round pick (unless Russell Wilson gets hurt soon). Then with whatevers left on day 3 the defense can have some guys I guess.

Now that we have a QB in place and we're as happy as you can be with the rest of the offense (you should never be happy in the NFL, always assume holes are going to create themselves), I wouldn't hate making another medium-sized investment into RB this offseason. Better than investing in defense.

Getting a cheap win over a packers team with nothing to play for would be a funny way to break the streak. But how great would it be to knock them out

Our team president or whatever not trusting our gm to do his job does not in any way make me feel better. Save us from ourselves, Caleb

I just want more focus on Caleb WIlliams' historic rookie season. Now the bad man is gone and we can talk about other facets of the team. Through 12 games, he's got 2612 passing yards, 14 TDs, 5 INTs. That puts him on pace for 3700/20/7. 3700 woud be good for the 11th most by a rookie in NFL history. He's already smashed all the Bears rookie passing records. He needs 395 combined passing and rushing yards to beat Justin Fields' most productive season (2022). He is currently on the longest interception-less streak in NFL history by a rookie QB, having not thrown one since Week 6 against Jacksonville. He is 15th in the NFL in passing yards, 16th in TDs, has the 5th lowest INT percentage, The number I've really got my eye on is 3838. That's the all-time Bears record for passing yards in a season, held by Erik Kramer. If WIlliams can average 246 yards a game down this final stretch, he passes that and takes the record. It's not a gimme, but he's averaged 276 the last three games under Brown. I'm hoping that the defense continues to struggle and we get into shootouts and garbage time the rest of the season. For the first time with a rookie QB, we don't need to ask ourselves "can he be our franchise QB?" The question is "how good of a franchise QB can he be?" Will he plateau as a Kyler Murray type or can he keep growing and become a top-5 QB in the league?

Yeah, like you said, even if we could get to 9-8 miraculously, and I doubt 9-8 would get in in the NFC and I doubt we'd be the 9-8 team that did.

Poles should be getting full control over the coach hiring. Just be normal you freaking weirdos

See you in 20 years when we draft one and people have forgotten and spend the off-season crowing about how amazing it's going to be. Gardocki to Sauerbrun to Taylor, the circle of life

Taylor is currently 23rd in net punting average fwiw

No NFL week 13 thread so I'll put this here: I am enjoying the Bryce Young renaissance. I dunno how high his ceiling is but he's playing like he has a chance to be a Dalton line guy and not an all-time bust. Give QBs until the end of their second season before you pronounce judgment. If they haven't shown it by then, then you start to eye the draft