Bearstalk

It's game day. I would like to see Fields and the offensive starters play at least 2 series and hopefully score on at least one. I want to see Fields getting the ball out quick with timing. Main players I will be watching besides Fields: Wright and Claypool on offense. The entire D-Line and Gordon on defense. The media is going to be so polarizing after this one. If Fields looks good as a passer, look out MVP. If he looks bad, he is a bust. There is no in between.

To whom it may concern. I quit with cable or Direct TV several yrs ago. I just have the internet and an antenna . I do a couple streaming services. The only NFL games I dont get are on ESPN. Last yr I subscribed to NFL+. It was 40 a year and I got every primetime games, and access to non area games on all devices but not TV. This yr NFL+ premium for 80 a yr allows you to watch the NFL network, The RedZone and access to all games being played on all devices plus TV. Can watch all games in reruns and access to all 22 narrative games. I use to pay 140 a month, now my TV and internet with a couple streaming services is 60 a month. 80 for the yr seems like a good deal for me…

Here is my best 53-man guesstimate as of 8/5. Getting DL down to 9 is going to be tough. Blue/Bold is the Special Teamers. The Bears lost key ST contributors in DHC, J. Thomas, S. Weatherford, M. Adams, R. Griffin, and look like they will be losing Ebner's, and maybe even Jaylon Jones' ST snap share. 2 QB Fields, Justin 21/1 Walker, PJ U/CAR - This seems like a lock, a 3rd QB would be a waste. 4 RB Herbert, Khalil 21/6 Foreman, D'Onta U/CAR Johnson, Roschon 23/4 (ST) - replaces Ebner Homer, Travis U/SEA (ST) - replaces Griffin - I don't see more than 4, Ebner odd man out here. 1 FB - Blasingame, Khari U/TEN (ST) 3 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.

At the start of Free Agency, NFL.com listed their top 100 FAs. After the Yannick signing, here is what Poles did (w/ 2023 Cap hits): 27. Tremaine Edmunds ($14.6M) 34. Yannick Ngakoue ($10.5M) 44. Nate Davis (6.9M) 59. TJ Edwards ($5M) 89. Robert Tonyan ($2.6M) Also signed Demarcus Walker ($6.4M), D'onta Foreman ($2M), Andrew Billings ($2.7M), Travis Homer ($1.7M), Rasheem Green ($2.4M), Dylan Cole ($1M), and Terrell Lewis ($1M) who all should contribute. That's 12 players for $56M. Drafted: Darnell Wright, Tyrique Stevenson, Gervon Dexter, Zacch Pickens, Tyler Scott, Roschon Johnson, Terrell Smith, and Kendall Williamson. Then acquired DJ Moore…

Did I see he signed?!?!?!!?

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

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?…

Between last year and now , Poles has changed the offense to be capable of high end production. Adding DJ is easily the biggest move and I rate restructuring of the OL second. I think ever spot on the oline has been upgraded. I expect Jones to be better. Jenkins is an upgrade over Whitehair that didn't have a good year. Whitehair is easily a huge step up from Mustifer. Davis is a top 10 RG in the league. Wright, as a rookie, will be better than Reif last year. WR room: Moore, Mooney, Claypool, V Jones, Tyler Scott , Pettis, ESB. How are the targets going to be distributed ? Ideally Moore has close to 100 catches, Mooney and Claypool both reach 60 catches each, S…

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…

The gift that keeps on giving. I thought a 2nd rounder was steep for a WR3, but at the time, not knowing they would be able to get Moore, I understood it. However, now after a good chunk of the season, an entire offseason, and now he lands on the PUP for the start of the real offseason training camp. Not a good trend. With the addition of guys like Moore, Tonyan, and even Scott, and possibly some increased PT for Velus, Claypool is going to be the odd man out. Only so many targets to go around. It seems like the pecking order is Moore, Mooney, Kmet, Tonyan, RB1, Scott, then Velus or Claypool. By the time you get to the 5th player, that is about 5 targets a game.

Rookies and QBs are in the house with the rest of the team joining them on Tue. https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2023/07/22/bears-rookies-quarterbacks-report-to-training-camp-2023/

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.

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.

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 …

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?