BearFan PHX

One Elite pass rusher has won the day many years though! The Eagles had depth, so they had a rotation, but the bigger point is that a real pass rush takes even the best QBs out of the game. I'm surprised this is even controversial at all. Edge rusher is the second most important, and highly paid, position on the field. Im sure we can agree on that?

Logic fails you. Did you hear me say the Packers are 100% locks for the superbowl? Youre so caught up in whos winning and losing that youre missing the point. A dominant pass rusher, which is a very important ingredient in winning superbowls, second only QB, was available. Not only did we not get him, but he went to a divisional rival. And not only did he go to a divisional rival, but we have no one to block him. He's some math you rpobably wont understand, but everyone else reading this thread will so Ill say it anyway: For your bet to even begin to make sense, we would have to both agree that Jordan love is a SB QB right? Because I said Edge is the second most important position. But go ahead, you keep telling yourself that we dont need an edge rusher, and the happy rainbow fairies are gonna make Braxton be really good. Do I think we can scheme around Braxton's weaknesses a bit? Sure sometimes. Do i think Dennis Allen can find ways to create pressure? Of course. DO I want to see the skill players look great out there - of course I do! We will win games this year. But LT and Pass rush are big problems. And it's OK to talk about that, even though it makes you scared and need to protect your player friends who's feelings are being hurt by my noticing that they are playing crap. This is just our discussion about Charles Leno all over again. Its OK to say there are problems on the team. Your participation trophy stuff is weird.

that doesnt even make sense - its just your typical "root for the guys you got and dont complain about it, theyll be good soon, just believe, just clap your hands together and together our rainbows will save the day" it's embarrassing. Save your cheerleader booster club nonsense for some other homers. Poles screwed up again. We get better by admitting our weaknesses not with your participation trophies.

we would have had Burden either way with pick #39. This was downgrading from Ersery to Trapilo to get Turner. If we had taken Trapilo while Ersery or Banks was still on the board, then id read that our guys saw something extra special in him, in which case Id give it more time. But we didnt, we got cute traded down and then took Trapilo. Now Im not saying Trapilo won't develop and be good, but what i am saying is Ersery is already looking GREAT to the point where his team is looking to trade the free agent they just signed who was going to start, but now wont because Ersery got the job already. So the question is, is Turner going to be worth going from Ersery to Trapilo. Im not trying to predict the future with Trapilo, Im saying that right now, we got too cute in the draft, and missed the solid players we need. It's like Loveland. Hes obviously a great player and we are lucky to have him. But is he better than if we'd taken a pass rusher like Mykel Williams? If Loveland isnt an impact league leading TE, then pick 10 was too high to take him. Im saying that I LOVE our new coaches. And I really like Burden and Loveland a lot. But Im not sure Poles is doing that great of a job. He took Williams, which I think will turn out to look very good. Of course every single GM in the league would have known to do that. Even most of us here understood that was a no brainer. So does that make Poles good? Then he got Ben Johnson. Also a huge feather in Poles cap. And again, an obvious no brainer decision. And Johnson chose us as much as anything, and that was because of Caleb. Again, huge score for Poles, but does it mean he is a good GM? Wouldn't any GM who needed a new coach have wanted Johnson? I think Poles traded down too much in the draft. We could have even had Loveland, Burden and Ersery! And then Skatebo. Again, not dissing Monangai - if he plays like he looked in camp, then that is indeed a good move by Poles. But we are severely limited at LT and Pass Rush. These are huge problems at premium positions. We knew them going into the draft, and here we are after the offseason, and they are still glaring issues. It's nice to have 5 (6?) real playmakers WR and TE. But if Johnson is such a schemer, maybe we could have had one fewer TE or WR and address LT and Edge for real. It's frustrating because this was easy to see the whole time. I kept saying it. Before the draft, during the draft and now. We basically tried to fix the LT and DE with reaches we bought from a single 2nd pick we traded down. That's trying too hard, and in the end you out-think yourself.

Who should have been Ersery. Instead, we trade pick 41 for Trapilo and Turner. It's a mistake. Too cute in the draft room for Poles again.

so your point is that having a dominant pass rusher doesnt help you win superbowls? Did you watch the last one? DId you see the Eagles D line nullify Patrick Mahomes effect on the game? After QB what position DOES correlate to super bowls? and here's you: "Braxton Jones is gonna try really hard, and were gonna just get better and try really hard and dig down deep and try really hard"

Braxton is not good enough. Excuses are excuses. Hopefully Trapilo is ready at some point soon to replace him.

I dont know whats gotten into some people on this board, but Micah Parsons is a stud. Us not getting him is bad, Packers getting him is bad. Im so sick of the rosy talk. Can we be real? We have a coach that is real, its time for us to be real too.

well said.

Ok, so here's more "info" that just makes it more confusing. watching TTNL tonight, and came across this. First off, they know what it is and decided not to spill it because it's "personal" - if you hear them talk it doesn't sound like BS, I think they know, just like i think Courtney Cronin knows. They say it's "not the Bears fault" to a comment a listener said similar to mine above "there was an issue and the Bears didnt know?" the TTNL guys take every opportunity to take shots at the team when warranted, so if they say its not the bears fault, maybe it isnt. They also say its not Fraziers fault, so its not drug use or something like that. And more to the point they say "Thank God the Bears found it" as if it was something none of them knew about. So maybe the trainers detected some kind of medical issue. And they leaned on "personal" like it was testicular cancer or something. And "Thank God" fits that sort of level. So I have no idea, but watch about 5 minutes starting at 14:12

thanks, I mean, Wikipedia is wrong sometimes too, but thats the only information we have about all of this.

And here's something on X from Courtney Cronin - it says what we all already knew. But it's worded in a funny way. It makes it sound like it happened after the draft but before he came to Chicago. But if you read it carefully, it doesnt say it happened after the draft at all. Just that the Bears didnt KNOW about it until after the draft. And when someone speaks so specifically, they are usually trying to spin or hide something, in this case it feels like protecting the Bears organization from questions that they should have known before they drafted him? It could be substance abuse that relapsed after the draft, but we should have known about him being clean at least to know there was an issue. I never used to think secrets like this could be kept very long. But we also never found out why the defensive coordinator was fired either. I feel like Courtney knows, and a lot of the beat writers with close relationships know, but they also know some things are for publication, and others will make it so you never have access again, so they have to keep quiet about it. Mongo, like you, and probably all or most of us, I HATE not knowing. .

This is from Wikipedia Frazier was a highly-regarded junior college recruit and initially committed to the Kentucky Wildcats before flipping to the UTSA Roadrunners, becoming UTSA's highest-ranked recruit in program history.[5] However, he saw limited action in the 2022 season due to issues in learning the team's playbook.[6] He then faced academic issues in 2023 that led to him being inactive until the ninth game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zah_Frazier

sure lemme see if I can find it!

maybe its substance abuse. whatever it is, it caused problems in his college career too, so we should have known about it. Accountability is sunshine. Making excuses just invites mediocrity.

Good point. Not specifically, so I guess it could have happened between the draft and camp. I took it to mean that it predated everything. I'll tell you why. My personal GUESS is that it's something mental, he had problems in college understanding the playbook. Some people are guessing he doesnt know how to read. I have no idea if it's THAT, but I wouldnt be surprised if he is dyslexic or something. What we do know is that Frazier participated physically in early camp, but poles says it happened before he got there. So that tells me its not something obviously physical like a broken leg, because then it would have happened after he got here. They also call it personal. Could be a mental illness, a condition or something like that. If it was losing a family member, they wouldnt need to designate him out for the year. It looks to me like some mental issue that hes had before the draft. Mental illness, cant read, dyslexic, something like that. Something that our staff should have uncovered before the draft.

Even if he participated, Poles himself said it originates from before he was drafted.

whatever it was it happened before we drafted him, but we didnt know about it. Its not like we knew and said "hes a 5th rounder so who cares?" It could have been our first rounder just as easily. Somehow, there was something major that we didnt uncover. That's not a good look for a multi billion dollar business with all the tools they have at their disposal. Ben Johnson is showing us that accountability is the key to building a culture - its the only way you know whats broken and the only way to fix it. We dont have to worry about Poles' feelings. We can praise him for some moves and criticize him for others. We dont need to rationalize his failures, in fact thats the opposite of accountability. We should notice the good stuff and notice the bad stuff, and be willing to move on from the bad stuff. I remember we were discussing that we should keep Tevin Jenkins just a few months ago. Now, aren't you glad we didn't? Isn't it better for the Bears to move on from players who arent studs, and replace them with studs or people who are still developing who might become studs? I want the team to be great, I am willing to trade or cut anyone if it helps us get better.

no kidding, and then he gives PRAISE to his staff for finally figuring out what was wrong?

So here's the depth chart as it currently stands. We'll see who the MLB actually is in a couple weeks, and some of you guys might wanna suggest corrections. One thing that's really amazing is that green players are guys we got this year. We did a lot.

Here it is as of today. Notably, we only have 3 HBs. We let Brittain Brown go, and didnt trade for Robinson when he was available for a 6th round pick. That tells me we are looking to pick someone up on waivers or even make a trade. I like to think we will make a move on the D line too, but i have no evidence for it other than the poor play.

I guess just be clearer next time.

he looks big and bulky to me, like you said, no bend, he might be able to set the edge, but i dont see him getting around anyone on a pass rush. This is a real problem.

LOL yup we have definitely addressed the OL this offseason! We still need to look at LT, and Im sure we will look again at OL next year too, but it's good that we are finally taking it seriously. We should be able to run the ball this year. Now if we could only get a pass rush...

right, and theyve got McFadden on the trade block now.