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true. the 3rd emergency QB doesnt count against the gameday 47 or 48 or whatever that number is. But if that costs us one of our drafted guys getting poached off of the practice squad, then all the more reason to have taken a HB earlier and not trade down?

Im talking about in the 3rd round and later - our trade backs. There was an interview with Jeff King, which i cant find now, where he acknowledged that they were hoping for other HBs earlier; Kaleb Johnson, Cam Sketbo and one other guy I forget. There have also been a ton of articles suspecting the same. It seems like, more than once, we targeted a HB and traded back only to have someone pop up in front of us and take one of those HBs within a few picks of our new traded back picks. From all of this, I conclude that Pace read the board as afar as who needed what, and maximized value by trading back, but failed to calculate other teams trading in front of us to snag that HB. Also, just logically, would you rather have Kaleb Johnson or Cam Skatebo vs. our extra later picks that we got in those tradedowns?

It could happen, but with the emergency QB thing, it wouldn't impact the game day roster as all. As for the 53-man, the bottom 3-5 guys come up and down from the PS anyway, so having one fewer guy do that to have a 3rd QB (if he is that important) seems like a no brainer.

How do you know he misread the board, let alone multiple times? The running backs didn't pop off crazy, but the OL sure did.

Here's an interesting idea. Im not saying it will happen, but it has occurred to me. Given these facts: Case Keenum has said in interviews that he had planned to retire before this offseason, and then he met with Ben Johnson, and that turned him around. Keenum's primary role on this team is to mentor Caleb. We just paid Tyson Bagent, extending his contract. Roster spots are precious. Is it possible that Keenum will transition from player to coach when we cut down the roster? I could see him as Caleb's mentor, and he doesnt need to be a player to do that. Just thinking about stuff. Not saying i know it will happen, but it does fit the facts, and open a roster spot on the 53?

Yes, I am talking about the HBs. In multiple cases, we could have taken a HB we coveted, but instead traded down, betting they would still be there, and in each case, they miscalculated. I've also said that if Trapilo starts and does well, and Monangai is a good contributor, then it all ended well anyway. That's true. But it doesn't change that Poles also misread the board multiple times. If you have 30 lottery tickets, and you trade them for 1 lottery ticket, that is a mistake, EVEN IF the one you got turns out to be the winner in the end. Unless you had some inside info that your ticket had a batter chance to win, it was a mistake. The conversation with Jeff King was about missing on HBs. So unless we had Monongai rated higher than Kaleb Johnson, Cam Skatebo, and there was one other I'm forgetting, it was a series of mistakes. And that doesnt mean that the players we DID get wont be good. We could have done a great job of identifying late round talent, and having a board deep enough to withstand these mistakes too. We could have a great board, and misplayed draft day, both. But if I'm gonna praise Poles for drafting Odunze, for example, then I can criticize him for misjudging how far he could trade down to get HBs too.

I think DA blitzes alot and does a lot of line stunts. Im not saying we are going to have low points scored against us but will produce more TOs and big plays.

Since the Bears are not telling everything decision making in this draft , no one is right or wrong. I assume your talking about Ersery or a RB. They could have liked Ozzy more than Ersery but we will never know. Teams value players differently depending on how they think a player will fit their team. Everyone can be right because we will never know. I will say, Kyle Monongai was not their first, second or even 3rd choice for a RB. I still think he will ball out and none of it matters.

This was all understandable. The Bears failed every QB that I can remember in the last 35 years or more. Any QB with talent can look at the Bears and think exactly like Caleb. He talked to his dad about the Bears and his dad took the steps it takes to go to war for his kid. The step that they took speaking to espn writer Seth Wickersham about possibly dropping the "nuke" was necessary for their plan, but it also brought the repercussions we have today as Seth looks to cash in on the details he was given. If Caleb survives this, it will be a miracle. When I say this, I mean coming to Chicago and not his predraft/book concerns. They nearly ruined him his rookie season, but have since taken the necessary steps to give him a chance to succeed. My assumption is Warren and Poles went to ownership and told them how it will go from here on out if they ever want to see daylight from the bottom of the nfl dumpster again. They have non disclosures in their contracts, so there wouldn't be a book but they need to assure the league that the McCaskeys have no say on who they hire, sign, or draft. If this is the case, Warren and Poles deserve recognition.

again, most of what im talking about is the trade downs, and whether we got the player we expected to get when we made the trade. i think we didnt, and so we miscalculated in our trade downs throughout the draft. And I think that's a problem. Its OK to see positive and negative things in your team.

I think when there is a negative media story, and you want to get ahead of it, you WANT that hard question, because it gives you the chance to say your side of it? From the reporter's point of view, he's hoping Caleb says something definitive, so he can write his story with quotes "I am my own man, my dad doesnt speak for me" etc It's like when reporters ask "how did it feel scoring the winning TD?" It's not because the reporter is wondering whether the player was sad or happy lol everyone knows the player is thrilled - it's to generate a quote for the article "Winning means everything to me" or whatever. AZ54 - completely agree with your take on it.

Agreed. He even said he has to put his dad in check from time to time. I liked it. Now, time for Caleb to remove umm from his vocabulary.

Yes if that grown man’s father is running around publishing books about what his son should be doing in his professional career. I’d ask that question if I were there. Is he the face of the franchise or a puppet with his father making the decisions behind the scenes This was actually the best question for Caleb because it gave him the opportunity to distance himself from his fathers opinions and tell everyone that he is in fact making the decisions. I think he answered it very well and came out looking like the owner of his decisions and his career. Plus he did it in a way without alienating or embarrassing his father and their relationship. now I think his teammates and coaches can trust him more that what he says is what he means and there won’t be some other backstory that comes out later.

I guess if I was part of Media,I would jump at anything to write about

This was such an odd topic because most fans could care less about the story, but the media kept telling each other that it was a big story. So odd. If anyone was in Caleb's shoes and not a previous Bears fan in late 2023, I would not expect anything different. KOC made Darnold look like the 2nd coming of Dan Marino, they play in a dome, have a great defense, and a decent WR in Justin Jefferson. Why would you not want to go there? Or you can go to the Bears where they were quick to cast off Trubisky and Fields, and had Matt Eberflus as the HC, and a revolving door at OC and DC. Depending on when the comments were given, the Bears started 2-7 and 3-8 in 2023 and if not for a late season surge, would've had a top 5 pick themselves. I am just glad this has been put to bed.

The vibe around this team really is different. Before, the optimism was based on hope, now it is legitimately backed up with the players and coaches. Still early but it is nice to see the change this soon. Every time there was a controversy before, Flus would downplay, deflect, or flat out not comment on it. When in reality there were like 10 huge elephants in the room. Now both Johnson and Williams have come out and addressed what could've morphed into something bigger. Players on both sides of the ball, especially ones that were here from last year are saying how things are more challenging. Sweat said DA's defense has a lot more complexity to it than he is used to. It makes sense because how complex could a Flus defense really get if Flus was the mastermind?

Besides that other media pundits praise Finley for asking the important questions. I would have just told Finley ,( you cant be serious with that question)

and Patrick Finley asking one of the most ridiculous questions of all-time "Caleb, does your dad speak for you?" Can you imagine asking a grown man this question and being serious about it? Our media has always been mixed, either super homer or super negative, but this is on an entirely new level of stupid. The media gets Caleb for only a few minutes to ask questions you can't get anywhere else and he felt it was necessary to get that answer?

I like everything the Bears are giving us right now. BJ expects the best of everyone and Caleb looks more definite in learning. It is all a good situation for the success of the team going forward. I think we have a Perfect Storm brewing and it will surprise most of the fanbase. I in turn, am all in.

I agree with you on the majority of the time it was one read. I think in most cases, if not open the run option was in order. I just dont think you base his future as quarterback on his first year in judging whether he can expand his QB skills on reading defenses. I think Kingsburg kept it simple for him in the first year on purpose. The results were , they were winning games. In the same light I think the Bears put to much on the plate for Caleb and part of the reason he struggled. Poor coaching doomed Caleb from looking better.

I agree, also I think the Burden pick was a surprise because they didnt expect him to be there. At that point I thought they planned at trading 39 or 41 before the draft to have another high pick. they traded 41 for 56 and 62. Poles mentioned whether to pick DL or OT first and ended up getting the two players they wanted Ozzy and Shemar. They seemed elated with all of their first 4 picks. (watch their body language). As you watch the rest of the picks, the body language was different.

I watched this one before. She talks about the 3 players that they were interested in . Goes on to say( I just think). I get that is what she thought but I cant find anywhere where Jeff King says it. Being interested in players and drafting them are two different convesations. I have watched many of her interviews and she brings up (what she thinks they should do) or her impression of what they want to do. She brings up about she thought RB and LT were their priorities, no where can I find where the Bears mentioned that at pick 10. Why did they not move up two spots to take Banks, if he was the target? That would have been a cheap move one or two spots. Poles as shown before he has no problem moving around the draft to get players he wants. They clearly were going to draft a RB and a LT prospect somewhere in the draft, my point in the way the draft fell, they were targeting Loveland. As AZ said, he showed the war room tape of Colston before the draft started. If I was in the room and didnt know who they were targeting , that could be a clue they wanted him and wasnt getting him in the second round. Now if Jeanty was there, I think they may have taken him but I think they had planned (guessing the draft board) of taking a prospect in the second round. They ended up with 3 picks in the second. None of this matters anyways , no matter who we thought they were taking, they didnt take one player I thought they were interested in. I think they targeted Loveland at 10. I think they liked Tripilo in the second and thought they could get him. They dont set their draft board according to what the general public thinks the best players are.

yeah its obvious that BJ was thrilled with Loveland. On that day I said i suspected he knew he ought to get a LT, but wanted the TE instead, when Loveland was the guy, he was overjoyed, not having to do the boring conservative thing, but to add firepower. But mostly, despite the only quotes i had happened to find, i was more talking about about whether we traded back too far and missed HBs we wanted with those tradebacks, and that it happened more than once. Probably Kaleb Johnson and Cam Skatebo. Now I cant say Im unhappy with Kyle Monangai either. And if Trapilo ends up starting, and Monangai ends up a big contributor, then im gonna say our board was pretty smart and deep. But none of that says that Poles didnt miscalculate the trade downs either?

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.