DABEARSDABOMB

Spot on

Unless I’m mistaken - I think the Bears made those moves when Virginia was alive. I thought she passed after the Ben Johnson hire. So maybe with her nearing the end they felt like they had to swing big!

Likewise - hope the surgery goes smoothly

Exactly - I’ve seen enough of paper champs from the Bears. I want to see badass production and significant growth on the field.

This is like Nagys first year. They traded for Mack and that worked in year one - it was the wrong move though - gave up too much assets out of gate and it hampered team to fill and be more aggressive in filling two years after. Hold the chips so we can see who develops, who doesn’t and where they need to pivot.

He is setting a whole nother standard and really kind of showing Caleb and rest of the team - they got a lot to work on to get to level needed - I LOVE it!!! Dude just seems to be wired different. I hope Caleb is there next week for the rookie and younger player OTA and than in his month off basically is full bore working on all the things BJ pressed him on these past few weeks. We got to see that passion burn for Caleb to push himself cause it’s clear he has a ways to go (and he was NOT pushed hard enough last year - that is on him just as much as coaching staff - but we basically wasted a chunk of last year cause I think he missed a whole year of being pushed to grow and see what the standard really looks like).

I think we all saw enough to know Caleb has a lot to work on. He also has a lot of talent. Facts are he has a totally new standard being set from the top on down. Ben Johnson is a proven play caller who knows offense and is a stickler for the little things - from how to get in and out of the huddle, to how to line up, where the ball goes, and even how you handle your emotions on sidelines. He knows all those little things add up and create a material difference. Caleb has never been coached like this. Caleb has talent - that is clear - but now that he has an elite offensive mind to work with him - he also is going to see how hellacious the work effort is and what it takes to be elite at the NFL level. Let’s hope Caleb has it in him cause I think there is probably a bit of an eye opening experience going on right now with a number of players who were used to the cupcake nature of Eberflus. And I for one say it is about ducking time! And Caleb seeing Keenan who is a good back up leverage his smarts to look better than him just puts more pressure on Caleb to elevate all aspects of his game.

He owned it well - I also liked some of the quotes from Johnson on how he watched film with Caleb on how he reacted on field in terms of showing emotions and is working with him on that too…going back to all the little things matter. Caleb handled this little issue well and I think he has learned from it too.

I think the reality is more of this is via Caleb’s dad than via him. But I have seen a few quotes from camp about Ben Johnson ripping Kmet a new one for lining up in wrong position etc. Evidently he did same to Caleb for a big play that worked but was not the right decision. I LOVE it. For years Bears coaches and players were too soft - they need someone with a totally different standard. Bears evidently also did some 6 on 7 today which is not something they have done regularly. This forces Caleb to be even sharper with his reads and throws since defense has more numbers. Again I love it. I’ve told myself I won’t get too excited without seeing real production on field - but dang it I can’t help myself.

Excellent

And it could be - last year - many thought Flus wasn't right but McCaskey wasn't there yet to fully change his ways. Clearly when they moved quickly after the Thanksgiving debacle you could see more of that change. I think same with how they handled the hiring process with Ben Johnson and I think we even saw that with how they handled some of the assistants too - paying for a Dennis Allen as well as an EB at RB coach (who has some alpha in him). And if Warren and Poles were actually suggesting the change last off-season and McCaskey wasn't ready - he than saw that they were right - it may also just continue to support and help him learn a bit more as well as an owner so that maybe in time he learns how to get this right (and hopefully someone else in that family is also observing and getting schooled).

That is helpful and am fine if it was more his dad pre draft - but nothing good about going along with this post draft. I just hear about the film stuff etc - maybe it was other players who leaked it - kind of hard to imagine they really were that incompetent. Of course I never supported that final year of Flus. But if this was all part of the initial pain and now Ben Johnson and this offseason is what it takes to get everything over up I’ll forget about it…come on Bears!!! 🐻

I actually hate this and it makes me very worried about Caleb. Who is leaking this shit and what good does it do? Has to be coming from Caleb’s camp. How about instead of worrying about the narrative - just work right now on getting better…ripping Flus and spending time to leak this crap does nothing good.

Loveland is supposed to be an excellent blocker - with a high degree of athleticism. That is why he went where the Bears took him. Or at least that is what they saw in him to take him where they did. It is the combination of high end blocking tools with high end athleticism that make him a unicorn type of prospect at TE which at least in the eyes of Poles justified him drafting him where he was. Whether Bears scouts are right, we shall see - but this isn't a Jimmy Graham who you knew was in there to catch passes vs. block...he's supposed to kind of have the Jimmy Graham pass catching ability while also being a good run blocker, meaning play actions should work really well with him in there, including in 12 package with Kmet on the field too. Knowing how much Ben Johnson leveraged the playaction game in Detroit - you got to think this is going to be a huge focal point of the Bears offense (also helped that Detroit had a very high octane ground game and oline). BJ was also elite in how he mixed those things up too.

That is me too - I want to see it in the season .