Bearstalk

Yeah, I call him Lord Poles for fun, but truly believe he is going to make us a winner. IMO, he is the best we've had since Jim Finks. Below, is an excerpt from an article from The Atlantic I found to be outstanding. It tells the whole Justin story, without mentioning Justin at all. The whole article is great. Poles went on to say that every individual has his own timeline, and some players have to be allowed time to develop to “work through some things.” “But when it goes too far and too long, your locker room knows,” he said. “I always keep that in my mind. If I’m gonna ask those guys to take ownership of a bad game, a dropped pass, a missed assignment, I …

Just looked at this, and after all the wheeling and dealing, the Bears have a pretty strong amount of draft capital for next year - all their picks except their 7th, plus Carolina's 2nd, Miami's 6th, and the pick from Pittsburgh that's either a 6th or (possibly) a 4th. What's even more interesting is that the Bears have very few starters who are free agents next year - besides Keenan Allan, their only other free agent starter is Teven Jenkins, unless Coleman Shelton wins the C job or you count Khari Blasingame. Really, there aren't even many depth FAs of note - Khalil Herbert is no longer the starter and has Roschon Johnson probably pushing him on the roster. Larry Bor…

Just looking at the team pre-draft by position groups, it is hard to see how this team won't be better this year. Here is what I am thinking: QB - Right now a downgrade with only Bagent and Rypien, but should be an upgrade in the passing game and a dip in the running game production post-draft. RB - This group basically went from Foreman to Swift, and Roschon in his 2nd year. That is a clear upgrade and should negate any loss to the rushing game from the QB position. TE - The addition of Everett makes this a clear upgrade. TE3 needs to be a blocking TE. WR - Adding Allen and subtracting Mooney is like a double positive here. I don't think WR3 is a huge need wit…

Lots of rumors out there connecting him to the Bears. Anyone reading anything that suggests it’s more than just internet speculation?

I was just reading the new kickoff rules for the 2024 season. At first glance, it is quite a change. However, I think it will accomplish the goal of making kickoffs once again a vital part of special teams instead of an afterthought. Here is a link to the story (and new rules) on NFL.com. (What do you guys think about the new rules?) NFL owners pass new hybrid kickoff rule at Annual League Meeting In summary, if the kickoff lands between the goal line and the twenty-yard line, it must be returned. However, the alignment of the players and the point of release are totally different. Special teams will have to spend a lot of time getting ready to take advanta…

Bears bring in their WR2 for a 4th rounder. Welcome Keenen Allen

Thursday, August 1 @ 8 pm Eastern, 7 pm Central. YES! Football returns! They announced the Bears and Texans will open the 2024 preseason on a Thursday Night Prime Time Game. YES! YES! YES! Bears, Texans to kick off 2024 NFL preseason in Hall of Fame Game

With them participating in hall of fame game - they can start training camp early. I don't know if that means we have more practices than other teams or if it is just you start earlier and have more off days. I'm presuming more practices - which hopefully is a good thing (presuming they manage player health etc). The actual extra pre-season game, meaningless to me - but probably cool for Bears to be there given Mongo getting into the Hall.

OK, the combine is over, and some pro days have occurred. Who are you picking, and why, as the next QB for the Chicago Bears?

Reports are he is one of their primary focuses (vs. Saquon). I know the name is less sexy but this would be a really good get. He's still young and he's a really good football player. With rookie QB, Bears can afford to splurge a bit at RB (and it saves them from having to use another draft pick on the position in a draft where they don't have a ton of picks).

It is amazing how the media is handling MHJ literally skipping all public workouts but when Williams skipped working out at the combine, it was the biggest news for weeks. I bet this will be a growing trend and the norm in years to come. The top guy in each position group has more to lose than to gain by doing any of these workouts, and possibly get injured.

I’m in the UK, and cannot find anywhere to watch William’s work out, other than it’s being shown later on NFL Network. Is anyone seen the work out? Is there any chance that Rice is available in the 3rd round and would anyone take him. If he’s 70% of, Jerry, he must be work taking.

The Bears are still weak at WR3, Edge2, and need at least another rotational piece at DT with the loss of Jones. For upgrades, Center is the most obvious spot not listed. So priority seems to be WR/Edge, then DT, then Center. If they stand pat, they have #9, #75, and #122 to address those spots. They have talked about a big drop off in talent in this draft (due to players staying in school due to NIL), so there are fewer mid level players available. I assume that is why Poles has not been shy to dump draft picks later in the draft. What would you rather see the Bears do (not what you think they will do) with the draft picks? Do you think it is better to get a …

We've seen it day to day and year to year. The media is like the frog waiting to catch the next fly. It seems like no matter what channel you watch or starting you time into, the narrative is the same. They are irresponsibly reporting everything from politics to religion to racial matters every damn day. Why should it be so different when hearing about it Bears? The media, nation wide, has gone from "what the hell did the Bears do to Justin Fields? To, my God, I can't wait for the Caleb Williams era"! I watched ESPN , rolled my eyes and turned the channel. Watched GMFB and ditto. Our my headphones on to ride the stationary bike, ditto! I'm sick of it. That'…

The Bears have the T-15th best roster WITHOUT A QB, LMAO! ? If you add an average QB with a score of 2.0, the Bears would move to a top 8 team. Also, I think they are low balling the RBs and WRs. So Saquon on the Eagles is a 3.4, but Swift, Herbert, Roschon is only a 2.0 on the Bears? Also, Moore/Allen is only a 2.8, but the Eagles Brown/Smith is a 3.8? Their WR3 is DeVante Parker who is terrible now. If the Bears get an elite Edge or DT, that would bump those units up from 1.8 and 0.6 respectively. They believe our DTs are the 4th worst in the NFL. Only the Browns have a better LB-CB-S combo score. Bears are #2 there, which is impressive.

Ok, so before the draft, the Bears are going to have to do some work. There are some blue chippers that will be available this year. Here are a few at key positions for the Bears to consider: DT - Chris Jones, Justin Madubuike, Christian Wilkins, Leonard Williams, DJ Reader Edge - Josh Allen, Brian Burns, Danielle Hunter, Bryce Huff, Josh Uche C - Connor Williams, Andre James, Lloyd Cushenberry S - Antoine Winfield Jr., Kyle Dugger, Kamren Curl, Xavier McKinney WR2 - Tee Higgins, Michael Pittman, Mike Evans, Marquise Brown, Calvin Ridley, Gabe Davis, Tyler Boyd, Curtis Samuel TE2 - Dalton Schultz, Noah Fant, Gerald Everett RG - Kevin Dotson, Robert H…

With the addition of Byard (and subtraction of Jackson), the Bears are rolling out: Johnson, Stevenson, Gordon, Brisker, and Byard as the starting secondary with Terrell Smith, Greg Stroman, and Jonathan Owens as the first rotational players. Terrell Smith was the 2nd highest graded DB last year (behind JJ), and Owens had more snaps last year than any DB on the team. Can you name a better group, considering the depth as well? I can't. Also, this offseason was about clearing out the bottom of the roster. Blackwell, Ngakoue, Jackson, Jones, and Green were all in the bottom 10 players on the defense. There were a ton of bad snaps in that group that…

Let the level-headed, rational takes commence. https://x.com/rapsheet/status/1769131145688461483?s=46&t=cLrE-3h2uw3rACxhQZYEvg for 2025 6th rounder that becomes a 4th rounder if Fields plays over 51% of snaps (comparable to the Mac Jones trade compensation with a caveat, essentially). So no additional draft compensation for this year. Seems like a deal done to help Fields get some clarity on his future now.

I don't know how it won't be the Bears this offseason. What do you think?