BearFan PHX

absolutely

yes yes!

Yeah, Im not down on him - hes young and just learning. if he makes mistakes, its not the same as if its a vet who has been making the same mistakes for years. But, Benedet had a couple penalties and gave up pressures that were part of the reason Caleb was holding the ball and running around last week. So Im just calling balls and strikes - but Im impressed with him, and expect him to continue to grow, so not calling for him to be benched or anything like that at all.

watching the film, Caleb wasnt as bad as I thought after watching the game. The Saints called zone blitzes a few times and Caleb didnt throw the manufactured pick, but he ran around after that, and people were covered. Also, Benedet got blown up on several pass protections and that accounted for the other plays where Caleb was running. In terms of the zone blitzes, thats on Caleb AND Johnson, because they got beat "rock paper scissors" style, because the hot read was taken by the dropping linemen. They all need to learn and adjust to these tactics and situations. This wasnt as easy as "Caleb had trouble with the 27th ranked defense" it was more a matter of how the play calls lined up, and what to do when its a zone blitz and your hot read is taken. They will adjust Im sure.

Wow, with Tyrique Stevenson and Kyler Gordon out, this is gonna be a tough game for the defense. I can see us winning this game, but I can also see us losing it too. But even if we lose, these losses on defense shouldn't be an excuse for Caleb's performance. He needs to take another step this week. I expect we will be running the ball a a lot too - eating clock limits opportunities for the Ravens to expose our CBs. Hopefully, that should take pressure off of Caleb too. Coming back from multiple touchdown deficits will put him in a bad spot. We need to limit the penalties on offense, stay of our 3rd and long situations, and play crisp ball. If I see that, and the Ravens run up 35 points and beat us, I'll accept it. But there is nothing saying we can win this one either. Lets Go Bears! Take another step!

There is no comparison between Caleb and Justin. Even last year with no coaching, no plan, Calebs numbers destroy anything Fields has ever done in a season by a lot. It's just true.

Fields is a tremendous athlete. When he ran int he open field (before we told him to slide) he was a threat to score on any play from anywhere on the field. He reminded me of Hester that way. But Fields has never shown an ability to process and get the ball out on time. I dont believe he is a QB. Caleb is still growing, so those who say he hasnt arrived yet are correct. He needs to be a top 5 QB before anyone can say he is provably worth that overall #1 pick. To those who say "show me" I say that is completely reasonable. But Caleb has already shown a lot more than Fields ever did. Even Calebs horrible season last year was the 5th best season for a Bears QB of all time. And yes, it wasnt good enough. This year we keep seeing evidence that Caleb is getting the ball out in rhythm, and growing. I fully expect him to be a major stud. He definitely has the right teacher. But I think Fields would never be a great QB no matter who handled him, or what he was given. He just doesnt process. Caleb is on his way to greatness. Not there yet? Totally fair to say. But there is no evidence that he isnt on schedule either. I love what Im seeing from Caleb, and he will learn as defenses throw things at him, like the Saints zone blitzes this week - at least Caleb didnt bite and throw the picks. And when protection breaks down, every QB holds the ball and runs. Caleb often makes something out of that too, in Mahomes-like fashion. I wouldnt trade Caleb for any other QB from his draft right now.

So true re: Swift. I thought he was gone for sure, now that he's playing so differently than he ever did, he can play himself into being kept. And youre right that Poles and Johnson will wait for the end of the year to do formal analysis. Thats right too. But anyone casually looking at our cap can see that Moore, Kmet and Edmunds are likely to be gone. Kmet can still possibly play his way back, but hes a little too expensive.

Agree with all of this - the writing has been on the wall since the draft. And your rationale is the reason - it's not that Moore isnt a good WR he IS, but is he the best expenditure of $20M on this roster with Burden coming up? Probably not. But Moore is a good player, we will trade him, and not just cut him of course. Not saying you said we would cut him! Just he is probably worth something decent in trade.

I think there were a few times the Saints zone blitzed, and the lineman dropped right into the throwing lane of our hot read. Caleb, to his credit, didnt throw the pick, and ran around instead, usually not to great effect. Williams and Johnson will have to work to build a better answer to that - and thats exactly what this season is for. Benedet also had a terrible game, two killer penalties and got beat a bunch by Chase Young. Not saying Jones or Trapilo are a better choice, but if theres a good LT in the draft next year that falls to the right place, we shouldnt hesitate to pick him just because Benedet and Trapilo are on the roster. Ditto possible trades or free agents.

Hes nothing if not intense. I love it. Everything I wanted from Vrabel is here in abundance with Johnson. Our future is bright.

We werent Fields haters - we just watched the games, and despite hoping he'd be great (I was excited when we drafted him) he turned out to be a turd. That was obvious already 3 years ago. But to say Caleb hasn't grown this year is a huge mistake. Time is gonna show that opinion is trash too. Caleb's gonna be FINE. In fact, he's gonna be a top 5 QB within the next year or so.

yes, anyone with eyes can see - JF sucks

I really love this guy.

Right. Narratives are stories that persist above the facts. If you win three games with a last minute scores then you're the "Cardiac kids" and then people expect the pattern to continue. Reality is bumpier than that, and neat little generalizations always fail to capture the full truth. If we keep winning, then eventually the story will change about us, and then theyll say we are better than we are, and that any bad moments dont fit the new story. And it'll be BS then too, but more fun to read. But in the end, it's all nonsense meant to allow a causal observer of the NFL to feel part of a story line thats easy to understand and full of absolutes. Simple and neat, and easy to repeat at a bar to seem like you know football. We here who spend more time on this than that, know that even the best teams have bad plays and games. This is gonna be a bumpy road, but the 4 game view should always be trending upward. So far so good.

Since the bye week, Swift has been a different back than Id ever seen from him before. If he continues like this, it's easy to say we should keep him. That doesnt mean we wont draft a better prospect, or that Monangai wont challenge him for RB1 - anything is possible, but on his own merits, Swift has been a completely different back than I'd ever seen from him before. It's great to see unexpected growth from players, especially unlikely from veterans, and i think it speaks loudly about how effective our coaching staff is.

Different defensive coordinators are trying different methods to get into Caleb's head. It worked today. That will give Caleb and Johnson a week to learn from it. Every new thing Caleb sees and then learns is one less thing that can trip him up later. Its a process. And Tremaine Edmunds has been moved to WLB from MLB, and thats going to get him more tackles and put him in good positions to be impactful

The OPI penalty today on Loveland was crazy. He was standing there in ready to catch position for quite a while before the defender ran into him. In basketball that would be a charge on the defensive back. Crazy. Im not a conspiracy theorist, so Ill just say i hope the bad calls get evened out over time with calls to our advantage. But i can see why some people might think it was on purpose, because they really are awful calls.

I agree with all of that. I just keep repeating - it will be uneven this year, and it should be more consistent and even in the back end of the season. I with it was crisp right now, but it takes time I think. I also have faith that BJ will get us there, and ride the team hard to make it so.

I think we have the speed at LB to (mostly) contain Jackson. We win or lose these games coming up purely on our own. It all depends on how consistent we can be that week. We are in all these games, even to win convincingly, but we can flame out too if we dont play with more discipline. Luckily, that seems to be coming in big supply each week from the coaches. This week were were good on the ground and on defense, and controlled the game the whole way. Next week, lets hope its Calebs turn. In time, all phases will show up together on a regular basis, and thats the contender we are looking for.

yeah, we didnt have it in the passing game, but coach called a really great game. we were truly in command of the game the whole way, even with the passing game being trash. Johnson will have lots to coach Caleb about this week. And thats how it needs to happen anyway.

I dunno about a run, but we are definitely sniffing the playoffs. 10-7, with a possible WC game was the prediction we all seemed to kind of agree on early, and I think we are still there. Not saying it couldnt be 11-6 or whatever, but WC game is probably about where we belong right now. I still maintain this season is for building consistency. We sure didnt have it in the passing game today. I have faith that BJ will get it straightened out. He coached a great game today even as our passing offense faltered. The outcome was pretty clear the whole time. We were in control. We scored 26 points, and took a knee on the 20. We could have had 29 easily, and 33 too possibly if we needed it. We're OK, but damn we looked sloppy today. We are all looking forward to seeing our team impose its will on our opponents, but its a process to get there. i think we are on the right track, and we will clean up the issues that arise.

This has been a frustrating day for the passing game. The mission for the season is to work on consistency on offense. It won't be a straight line upward. Bears will build on this, BJ will give them hell this week. We need to eliminate offensive penalties at the LOS too. But the sky is not falling - trust the process.

Dalman needs to get his shit together.

Bears continue their search for consistency on offense. Some good flashes in the run game, and the defense is dialed up again. Dennis Allen predicting whats gonna happen again - Dexter dropping out in the zone blitz almost had a pick there. Hopefully the offense shakes this off and finds their rhythm. This is the ongoing mission for this whole season.