BearFan PHX

Well said - doing it a year early is the key. If you can draft well consistently, even trading down for more assets, you keep that pipeline full. Trade good players a year before the last year of a deal, and get draft capital out of those moves as well as clear cap space, if they arent special core players like a QB or a dominant edge. hell the Patriots traded Akeim Hicks to us that way. We got and paid our guy, but they sure didnt suffer. They kept winning super bowls while we thought we got the prize. Free Agency is for priming the pump until you get this circle going, and for filling holes, but long term, when its rolling you can pretty much go BPA + trade downs, and smart trades of the guys you have peaking and amass lots of talent and then coach em up - that's the way to be sustainable. And every GM knows this in theory, Poles spoke about it at length when he first got the job. But saying it, and doing it are two different things. I think Ben Johnson is bringing accountability to all corners of the building.

I guess the competitive answer to that is to go with hard to defend, and draft and develop your own receivers so you don't need free agents. Easier said than done of course. But that's probably what Ben Johnson would think about it.

Bears have always been a "Winter Team". A history of great running backs and defenses. It makes sense. At one point someone (was it Muhsin Muhammad?) said "Chicago is the place where receivers go to die" and barring a couple exceptions, like the Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffries era, it's been mostly true. That's on WRs and QBs alike. So now we finally have a modern coach, who understands the pass game, thankfully combined with that throw back hard ass leader of men we've always needed, but been McCaskey-afraid of for so many years. As a result we're aiming at 50 points a game territory here, like the Lions are/were, and at the same time the passing records here really are low hanging fruit - having been that winter team for so long. The combination of those two things tells me that in short time Caleb will break all the records; 4,000 proper, and 4250 (17 game adjusted) both as well as a whole mess of other team bests pretty quickly. If the progress Caleb has shown continues, he's gonna be an elite franchise QB by the middle of next year. Does anyone here have a nephew who can play on the D line?

That's how I saw it too - the Browns game was the first one of this new level. And not just that crazy throw to Moore, but his footwork, how he was decisive, his timing, and his body language - you could see it slow down for him, and his accuracy has been a lot better from then on too. I couldnt agree with you more.

I think Caleb's Career TD to INTO ratio is actually number 2 all time. With Rodgers, Brady and Mahomes all on that list. But to qualify you need to have thrown at least 1500 passes and Caleb only has just over 1,000 right now. But his TD/INT ratio would be 2nd all time only behind Aaron Rodgers.

Thinking the same thing.

for sure - like the defensive line! I think between DJ, JJ and Edmunds there is $45M right there.

Well with the way we are unable to stop the run, a good 3T is necessary, to tackle runners AND to collapse the pocket. So i agree DT is definitely a need. And we need a real stud edge too. Hopefully we can fill both needs in the offseason. We could debate which is more important, and Im not even saying you arent right - but if we get both, then we are ready to rock.

I really like David Montgomery, but I really like Kyle Monangai too

BJ does a great job of getting everyone touches. Even 2nd stringers get playing time, even if he has to bring them in as a 6th OL or whatever. And this keeps players happy AND makes sure your depth players have some experience, which we have seen this year is a really good thing to do.

you could tell last week two - the game slowed down for him. he is becoming what he looked like he could become from the draft!

I hope Burden is OK

agree and amen to both these comments.

amen

aaaahhhhh

here comes the nasty blitz

DA has some nasty blitzes in his pocket for this drive.

He is gonna be great for us for many years!

Think of it this way - Caleb is keeping pace against the Niners good defense with what the Niners offense is doing to our terrible defense. Impressive.

Caleb has been deadly. That pass rolling to the left was ridiculous.

no, youre not. hes gotta be gone next year.

We can still win this, but I am glad we are getting punched in the nose 2 weeks before the playoffs. We need to realize that when it comes to the really good teams, we need to give more.

it's like an NBA game - you really score by getting a defensive stop. ANd maybe DA is saving some nasty stuff for the right moment at the end. I kind of feel that a lot of our midgame woes are because if we start pressing early, they can respond with our lack of pressure. So we kind of try to slow things down and get to the end game where we pull out our aggressive stuff for the surprise knockout. All this changes when we have a D line that can pressure the QB. That's the missing piece.

love it

100%