Bearstalk

Looking at the current roster, it seems like the top 46 players are set unless something extreme happens. That leaves 7 slots open. Using last year's 53-man roster position composition, here are the battle spots, 3 on offense, 4 on defense: On offense, it looks like the last WR spot is still up for grabs and is ESBs' to lose. By adding Moore, the WR room was knocked down a slot, which makes Pettis and Webster likely cut candidates. 6 WR? Can only have one of the following 6 players: WR6 (ESB vs Pettis vs Webster vs Ford vs Fountain vs Reed) TE3 still seems totally up for grabs. Will they go the H-Back route and Tonges or try for a more traditional 3rd TE?…

This may not sound like a big deal, but TE was an issue last year after Kmet, and the Bears needed 3 on the 53-man roster. This really upgrades TE3 from the likes of Chase Allen and Jake Tonges to Marcedes Lewis.

https://athlonsports.com/nfl/mike-greenberg-justin-fields-superstar-quarterback He’s a fan.

I know Pace is gone, but it is interesting that he was relentlessly hounded for the Trubisky flop (rightfully so), but then also criticized for Fields as well; while during those two drafts, Lynch drafted Solomon Thomas, then traded up for Trey Lance, who now looks to go into his 3rd season as QB3 behind Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold. If SF drafts Mahomes in 2017 or even Watson for that matter, they probably win the SB in 2019 and have a good shot of making it back in 2021 and 2022. These are Lynch's 1st round picks since 2017: 2017 - 3rd Overall - Solomon Thomas 2018 - 9th Overall - Mike McGlinchey (no longer on team) 2019 - 2nd Overall - Nick Bosa 2…

After the Kmet extension, $3.6M got applied to the 2023 cap, bringing the Bears cap space down to $28.4M, still the highest available cap in the NFL. The next 4 teams are the Cards with $25.9M, Jets with $23.6M, Panthers with $20.6M, and Cowboys with $19.6M. So only 2 teams over $25M and 4 over $20M left. The Bears could take on a vet for a $7.5M cap hit this year and still have the 3rd biggest cap. Poles has the Bears in a great position as they can still spend and save some to rollover for next year.

Why is this relevant to the Bears? Herbert signed after his 3rd year, so the Chargers didn't take advantage of his 5th year option. After this year (his 4th), his salary will go from a $8.4M cap hit to approximately $29M in 2024. If the Bears were to consider the same plan for Fields, that would be next offseason, and his big salary would kick in a year earlier than expected. That scares me. Also, I am surprised Herbert got that big of a deal. He was 18th in DVOA, 11th in QBR, and 12th in QB Rating. The only stat he was top 5 in was yards (which really don't matter unless you score). Even with 4739 yards, he still only had a 6.8 Y/A. If you took the name off an…

I expect the Bears to make a huge turnaround this year. Worse to first? Probably not. But they are going to be a first class contender. BETCHA! With that in mind, Poles' asst. GM, Ian Cunningham, will have a lot of suitors as a GM. Young, Great Resume, Checks all of the boxes teams will be looking for in a progressive GM. This leads me to bring up the new NFL incentive launched last year. So if I'm correct that would give us 2 additional 3rd round picks for Poles to use in his rebuild.

I was looking at some stats to see if there were other cases of QBs with similar stats to Fields after their second years, and surprisingly, there were actually quite a few and some that ended up very successful. Here is a screenshot of the output. 16 QBs qualified, since 1980, in their first two seasons, totaled less than 30 TDs, more than 20 INTs, Comp % under 60, and yards less than 5000.

Are we going to do anything to beef up the DE position? The draft didn't play out as expected with a run on edge players before our pick at 53. Poles was pretty clear weeks ago that he was seriously looking to add talent to that position. Since then a few players have come off the FA market, notably Leonard Floyd (BUF) and Frank Clark (DEN). There are still some big names available but do they really fit? Ngakoue is the most obvious pass rusher but Eberflus has already worked with him and if he was a priority signing for this staff IMO he'd already be here. Clowney doesn't seem to fit the HITS system either. Everyone else on the list is like a who's who of soon …

We all see the Power Rankings year after year and think the media hates the Bears. I honestly think there is a bias because of the rug-burned knees while covering Farv and Erin for the past 20+ years. While the Power Rankings this year don't seem to tell a different tale, the point spreads do. Bears 2023 Schedule ATS Week 1: Packers at Bears -2.5 Week 2: Bears -1 at Buccaneers Week 3: Bears at Chiefs -9.5 Week 4: Broncos -1 at Bears Week 5: Bears at Commanders -1 Week 6: Vikings at Bears (Pick em) Week 7: Raiders at Bears -1.5 …

I've only been able to watch 5min of this but already I think it's so good it deserves it's own thread. This is a drive from a game last year as his prep for doing this each week post-game.

Here's a couple videos with some good thoughts about our running game with Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright. Glynn Morgan explains how pulling either OT could make it really hard to stop our run game. If he's right in Week 1 GB could be in for a surprise. I like Schmitz's analysis on Braxton Jones and since he covers his run blocking you can see how he was utilized last year. The assumption is we'll now be doing the same type of plays from left or right.

As of now, we are a 2.5 point favorite to beat the Packers opening day. That means they would be favored by .5 at a neutral site. How do y'all feel about that?

Here are the best seasons for the top 4 receiving options for Fields: 87-1175, 4 81-1055, 4 62-873, 9 50-544, 7 That is 280-3647 yds, 24 TDs combined for just Moore, Mooney, Claypool, and Kmet. Take 10% off that for shared targets and you still have 252-3283, 21 TDs to just the top 4 players. No RBs, no WR4-5, and no TE2-3. Last year, with the worst passing offense in the league, Monty had 34-316, 1 TD, ESB/Pringle/Pettis/Jones combined for 57-810, 7 TD 91-1126, 8 TD and Herbert as RB2 had 9-57, and 1 TD, so the remainder of the receivers totaled 100-1183, 9 TD, if you take 10% off for shared targets, that is 90-1065, 8 TD. So in theory, i…

Gene Chamberlain put together a really good summary of our roster depth. This is not a by-position analysis, he focus on the bottom third of the roster where you get your special teams players. This is one aspect of what Poles did this offseason that is easily overlooked but I think this might become a strength of this team. https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/supporting-bears-cast-looking-stronger

Broke my back (T11&12) on May 11. Just released from rehab center to continue recovery at home. In too much pain to sit in this damn brace long enough to catch up on what I have missed in regards to recent developments of our Bears. Can you give me an update on what I've missed out on? Additions? Edge rusher? etc... I need to get back in bed. Will check bacm tomorrow. Thanks.

Poles has did a good job of upgrading the roster but what is the biggest question that needs to be answered going into training camp. BFX asked the question that spurred this poll.

Moore comes in with 364-5201 yds, 14.3 Y/R, and 21 TDs. That is over 70 receptions and 1K yards per year. Pretty cool comp I found, 5 years with original team, then traded, stats with original team: Diggs 365-4623 yds, 12.7, 30 TD Moore 364-5201 yds, 14.3, 21 TD Diggs first year in Buffalo: 127-1535, 12.1, 8 TD, All-Pro1, PB Diggs has had 3 straight years with 100 catches, no less than 1225 yds and 8 TDs. This also makes things easier on Mooney and Claypool.

The Athletic came out with their roster projection for the Bears. It's way early, but it's very close to what we've all discussed. https://theathletic.com/4616758/2023/06/19/bears-roster-projection-training-camp?source=user-shared-article One lingering question I have is about ESB vs Pettis at WR. ESB is valued in the run game and Special Teams. My belief is that he not an asset as receiver. Pettis has shown value as a returner and receiver, while being so so at blocking. These two players have specifically different values. My pick is Pettis, while theirs is ESB. I like the receiving production and return ability, given that Velus had some hiccups that …