Pixote

Something every Bears fan should take pride in: 23,204 men have played pro football. 6,082 have died. 17,122 players are still living. As of 2024, there will be a total of 378 members of the Hall of Fame. Of the 378 members of the NFL HOF, 32 are Chicago Bears.

I just read that Tennessee, our week 1 opponent, lost its #1 WR (DeAndre Hopkins) for four weeks due to a knee injury. (I doubt, at the age of 32, he will recover in time to start week 1.) That leaves them with Ridley as their top receiving threat. JJ will have no trouble shutting him down. So many injuries this preseason, seemingly many more than normal. Happy we are sitting out our starters in this 'extra' preseason 'meaningless' game.

Agree. On another note, it appears from every site I visit that the Bears' offensive line is BAD. Wright is being blown up by Sweat on every attempt to block him. Both of the guys fighting for Center are being overpowered by Dexter. Davis continues with his missed practices. Jenkins had a scare in practice but he was able to shake it off and return a play later. Jones was 50/50 on success against the rush. This SUCKS! DAMN IT! We need to get this fixed, and FAST!

Read this on the net this morning while making my normal round of visits. It seems there are those who believe the Bears might be a suitor for NE's Mathew Judon. He is upset he is not getting an extension. He is 31, soon to be 32, but if healthy (He had an injury last year) would be awesome opposite Sweat. Could be just blowing smoke. I have mixed feelings. It seems to me that Poles and Flus believe in Dexter & Booker to give our pass rush a boost. Here is the article: Insider Confirms Matthew Judon is in Play for he Bears

You also have to remember that this is just fluff—an extra preseason game. I suspect we will see some reps from starters in the following regular preseason matchups. It seems every other day, I read about a player on another team going down for the season with an injury. The last thing we need is to lose one of our key starters.

Fantastic! As has already been noted above, by signing him now, with WR contracts escalating rapidly, we not only save big time going forward but also ensure we do not lose him in the free-agent market. That trade with Carolina will be remembered as one of the best negotiated in the history of the NFL. Just saw this on the Bears.com site, answering a question posed: So he continues on his current contract for 2024 & 2025, then the new 4 yr. contract kicks in, assuring he is a Bear for 6 more years.

I am reading on NFL.com that Caleb will not play in the HOF game. Caleb Williams, Bears starters won't play in Hall of Fame Game; Tyson Bagent to start at QB vs. Texans

I couldn't agree more. Now that we have so much invested in our offensive skill positions, we must address this serious issue. I hope Poles will have this under control and we will see a vast improvement in 2024. Next year's draft has to concentrate on OL as its top priority,

I just read another article on a site I love for unique information I do not see anywhere else on the internet. It always comes across as legitimate and not clickbait. Ryan Griffin. Have you ever heard of him? I hadn't. Yet, it turns out that this was the guy Poles brought in as a veteran mentor for Caleb instead of having to pay a veteran Quarterback a respectable salary to sit behind him on the bench. Griffin has quite a history. Has spent two seasons with Brady, two years with Brees, was a 10 year veteran, and a great locker room leader. An interesting article (and a short and quick read) that proves more than ever, to me, that Poles is quite crafty and thinks outside the box as an innovative GM. We Finally Know Why Chicago Bears Refuse to Sign a Veteran Backup QB

Okay, Bears related due to our mutual dislike of Aaron Rogers. LOL I just read Rogers was mad at his teammates, calling them out on the field, because the offense was struggling in camp. This after he was AWOL from camp while on vacation. What an a**hole.

Because he sucked a** at the start of the season and only began to "shine" the second half of the season, he then blew away Dallas in the playoffs and returned to suck against SF. So he was a Jekyll and Hyde QB last year.

For sure, he would be traded, or cut, and not resigned. If kept, it would have been a stop gap. Maybe start games up until the trade deadline, then when the rookie was ready, trade him. Who knows, a team might have been desperate at that time if their starter went down and give us more than we got from Pittsburgh.

Depends. If we hadn't been in a position to draft Williams, would we have drafted a QB later that would be ready to start the first game of the season? If yes, I agree, they would have still traded Fields. If not, and the rookie QB had to sit for a spell, I suspect they would have kept Fields until the rookie was ready to start. As much as I like Baget, I don't think they would have turned the keys of the Offense over to him during that learning process.

It's difficult to believe (and painful to remember) that just two years ago before Poles began transforming the team, we were considered to have one of the worst roster of players in the league. We were laughed at, and unfortunately, rightfully so. What a difference with Poles as our GM!

I spend a lot of time scouring the internet for anything related to the Bears. It isn't easy to separate hype from reality. With that said, I honestly believe Dexter will be a monster 3T for us this year and going forward. Toward the end of last year, he provided us with a glimpse of his amazing talent. He redefined his body through diet and exercise. His attitude and motivation are top-notch. I am also encouraged by our DC comments about Martin and Booker. This defense is on the verge of being a top 5. One more thing. I keep hearing positives about Williams and Scott's development of chemistry. Scott seems to be making an impact in every capsule I read about the practices. He might become the receiver many of us envisioned when drafted. Could he be Allen's replacement? (With the need to extend DJ's contract, I wonder if we can afford to resign Allen).

With all our roster additions and changes to our coaching staff, anything less than ten wins and a wildcard slot would be disappointing.

I've been reading some articles by some naysayers who question the positive outlook many of us have for the Bears offense in 2024. After all, we got a new OC to replace the dumbass we had last year. We added dynamic skill players to our offense. So why are they so negative? Do they dislike the Bears? So, I did some fact-checking. Last year, the Bears offense ranked #18 in points scored (360). Where did Seattle rank? They were #17 (364). I know we have a dynamic set of skill players, but we also have a rookie quarterback. Geno Smith, Metcalf, & Lockett are certainly a good set of players. So should we be concerned that they, with our new OC, were basically tied with us as middle-of-the-road offenses when viewed by points scored? After all, KC was #15 (371), and they won the SB AGAIN. So I checked the time of possession, another point of concern by some of the naysayers. I was surprised that the Bears were second in TOP (31.58 min p/g avg), only behind Cleveland (32.19). KC was 14th (30.28), and Seattle, with our OC in charge, was dead last (26.39). The naysayers point out that we may rack up more receiving years, but that will be offset by a drop in production from our running offense, which in turn will drop our time of possession, which was fueled last year by our rushing offense. (And Seattle's TOP was terrible the past two years because of a more aggressive passing game.) So, is this a reason for concern? Looking at KC's rankings, maybe points scored and TOP rankings are overrated? There are obviously other factors involved. Maybe it's a good thing we drafted a punter. LOL

I really think they should consider doubling the cap, expanding the roster to 80 players, and playing a 24-game schedule. ? This long off-season is killing me!

I laughed out loud at this quote from the article you linked. Caleb needs to realize that his reps, who are "the best business minds available," will not give him the necessary advice to negotiate contracts in the NFL. He really needs to get a "full-time" certified agent. This entire episode could have gotten ugly. If he had missed any significant time in training camp, he would not have even been ready to start when the season kicked off.

I'm not sure, if I were Poles, I'd give up the right to use the franchise tag on Williams if, after exercising the 5th-year option, Caleb, negotiating without an agent, was making demands well beyond market value set by other QB contracts five years from now. I think that I've heard of such exemptions on contract extensions, but I don't think this has ever been done on a rookie deal for a player drafted in the first round. Does Poles want to establish a precedent for such an (IMO) unreasonable request?

Being a bit starved for news, I searched for anything Bears-related to satisfy my hunger. I came across two "Meet the Rookies" videos—one for Rome Odunze and the other for Kiran Amegadjie. I must say, both were amazing. It will take time to discover the true extent of how their talent transitions from college to the NFL. However, one thing I am pretty sure of is that the players Poles has drafted are of exceptional character. They are intelligent, articulate, dedicated to their profession, and driven to be great. Poles has been an outstanding GM. That said, I do wish he would add another Edge Rusher ? As good as our DBs are, with no pressure on the opposing QB, eventually coverage will break down. If Sweat misses time, they are toast. Even with Sweat in the lineup, a complementary piece is needed.

First, I can't believe Lynch will allow Aiyuk to leave SF. However, if he did, I'm sure he'd enjoy sticking it to the Bears again, this time by trading Aiyuk to one of our division rivals.

What was the date for the first Hard Knocks Bears? I forgot and am too lazy to go searching. Found it, Tuesday, August 6

I am finding the NYG Hard Knocks interesting. In episode one, the GM mentioned, as reported later, that they were interested in Swift as a replacement for Barkley. Episode two showed their HC doing pre-draft interviews with Caleb & Rome and their GM at the Combine, watching Rome run his 40. Now, I can certainly understand their interest in Rome and bringing him in for an interview. However, why would they bring in Caleb, knowing that drafting #6 in Round One, he would never be there to select? Were they considering trading up? It never mentioned why they brought him in, but it made me wonder about their thought process for doing so. It also confirms my suspicion that the reason Poles was swift to sign Swift ? at what was considered by many above market value was to assure he was a Bear since other teams were considering making offers to his agent.

I'm sorry. I see I opened a can of worms. This thread was started to address your Fantasy Keeper league. I mistakenly posted a point of view meant for the lengthy "catch-all" thread pinned to the top of the forum. Again, sorry I screwed this up. As far as I'm concerned, you can delete all posts made after my mistake to return this thread to its intended purpose.