BearFan PHX

the McCaskeys need to sell this team

all that assuming Bates isn't good at center. I hope he will be, but after all this, i wont be shocked if he isnt. Also, as dangerous as it sounds, this coaching staff have not been shy about playing rookies either. Then again, they probably wont be the coaches next year anyway.

If a guy is organized, has leadership skills, and isn't a moron, he can be a head coach. The job isn't THAT hard. I mean just the head coaching part. If you've come up the NFL ranks, and you're a natural leader. We all know the rules and techniques about timeouts, end game, challenge flags, when to go for it etc. And if youre already a coordinator who has shown leadership, then you can do the team leading stuff too. The harder part is adding value to at least one side of the ball. That's hard. And we end up with a lot of nerds, like Flus, Trestman and Nagy, who are considered modern and innovative. And I get it, that's really hard to be good at. But it seems like they're choosing that stuff over the requisite leadership talent. For example, guys like Wannstedt, Jauron and Fox were tougher as leaders, but probably not as inventive in schemes. We need a smart modern offensive coordinator with a chip on his shoulder. Someone who isnt scared of losing the players. Ive been saying for a couple of years that Flus' body language in social situations seems very weak. Then i see him yelling on the practice field, and i think "ok, hes tough when hes actually coaching, but more beta when people are standing around talking." But then i see the state of discipline on this team, and i wonder. And all that not including the long list of stupid coaching decisions that most of us and any pee wee coach would know to avoid. I dont want him fired today. But I cant imagine Poles keeping him next year. And if were going to do that, why didnt we do it this past offseason?! I mean, a bunch of us were screaming about it at the time. Its not like this is hindsight. Flus had shown all these issues the past two years too. The first year we knew was a teardown. BUt didnt he lose THREE games last year where we had the lead with not much time to go, and coached them away to improbable losses? This isnt a mistake, its a pattern!

well youre right writers always take everything to the extreme. Narratives becomes stories for sure.

right, an improvement, but not someone you want to be tied to next year. If you signed him it would be to start this year - probably getting Kiran more reps is better long term

My guess is Kliff Kingsbury or Ben Johnson

no, we have a pretty good roster, but we need help on the OL. Caleb is a star in the making, and the coaching is holding us back. THis isnt about being negative, it's about wanting good people at all the positions including coaches.

Not predicting that, but it is a possibility. Our offense has done nothing much yet against any defenses other than the worst ones. I believe we have talent on the roster, but we aren't putting it together (yet?).

Not saying he's great or we need him long term, but we could have done this I suppose. https://www.nfl.com/news/vikings-acquiring-ot-cam-robinson-from-jaguars-in-exchange-for-draft-pick-compensation

I cant say youre wrong. I hope you are, but it's not for certain by any means - it could happen just as you say. What a punch to the gut.

and how about the three games he lost last year by mismanaging the endgame? It's a common theme with us, losing games we had a 95% chance to win in the last minute. and he goes for it on 4th and 1 two weeks in a row (or was the first one three weeks ago?) on his own half of the field, in the 2nd quarter within a score of the lead. WHAT?! You have a great punter and a defense, why gamble there? It's like gambling your house on a coin flip to win $100. Sure $100 is nice, but risking your house on a 50/50 for no real return commensurate with the risk is just dumb. Plus, while I do think Waldron's Xs and Os have been interesting, and modern, he often doesn't think thru the personnel groupings, and ends up with the wrong guy, like a fade to Carter instead of Odunze, or handing to Kramer instead of Blasingame (who was the FB when this play originated in the playbook), not to mention just giving it to Roschon. I've been on record that the nice guy style ends up with an undisciplined team without accountability. We see formation penalties, false starts, players acting foolish, unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, and they come out flat every week. We hear the players begging the coaches to coach them harder, and for a 15 play script. This is a joke. Get me an offensive coordinator head coach who instills discipline, and an offensive line coach that can get these guys working. Flus handling situational football, timeouts, chellenges, end game scenarios is just awful. Other than being some kind of D coordinator overlord, what part of the game is Flus GOOD at as a HEAD COACH? And the culture thing I read about in some articles is silly. We do have a lot of high character guys thanks to Poles, but nothing indicates that we have a culture of discipline or accountability, and we start flat. So where exactly is any cultural benefit? Can we please hire a head coach with some fire? This best friend crap does not work in tackle football.

Eberflus was so wishy washy on ESPN the other morning. Such corporate HR speak. I have a hard time believing he can hold the team accountable. We have all sorts of discipline issues, not just Stevenson (although wtf was that?!) so it's clear that he isnt getting it done behind closed doors. I dont care if the next coach is a yeller or not, but the players will have to respect him, and feel like they have to stay focused or it'll be another disaster. Im 100% on firing Eberflus - I wanted to do it during the offseason too, which would have been much smarter. But for the record, Im not saying to fire him right now, Im talking about at the end of the season, or the last couple games or something. The only move I'd make now is to add an offensive line quality control or something, because Morgan is not getting it done. Players dont know who to block. Kiran went to freakin Yale, I doubt its that hard to learn blocking assignments - beating an NFL player is something else, but just knowing who to block? Morgan must be an awful teacher.

LOL and 😢

exactly

It kinda does when they say it to the media instead of privately.

my friend is a Packers fan. When Caleb scored at the end he texted me "Wow, good job Bears" too soon dude. Crap. But yeah, it seems like Green Bay always does this, and that is about having a culture of winning, and believing that you can do it. Hoe did Eli manning complete that pass on top of Tyree's head? It's not something you draw up or practice, it's just what winner do. Michael Jordan' shooting percentage on big shots that matter is higher than his regular shooting percentage, even though he was always trying. It's a winner thing, and dare I say Caleb has it with those last two drives. He actually won that game twice for us despite the offense having done almost nothing all game. The wins will come, and then we will be one of the special teams that good things happen to. And when that happens the media is gonna LOVE us, and if there is anything to the referee thing, it will turn to our favor too. When Chicago beats a few good teams in a row, theyre gonna want to crown us. We just need to start to deserve that advantage.

I feel like you dont fire a coach for a single game no matter what. So I guess id say that the fact that that single game COULD be the final straw, means we already know we should fire him. And that's where I'm at with it. And it wont be right now, but instead at or near the end of the year. Ugh, we could have already had the new guy. I could imagine some people saying that we should hire Kingsbury, so he and Caleb already speak the same language to make the least of any delays by starting over. Maybe that's a good idea. Maybe hiring Ben Johnson is a better move. I dunno.

Kingsbury sure knows how to create an offense to hide shortcomings. Hed have been a great choice for Fields. I think he could have made him look more Daniels-like. Caleb should be fully dimensional, and Johnson would be exciting for sure. Im getting old - I keep thinking that 37 is too young for a head coach hahahah I should just shut up and be happy if we get someone that can take our offense to the highest level, even if he looks to me like hes 12 LOL

Yeah he is like a corporate HR coach. Maybe this is a problem that goes all the way to ownership? Maybe they wont hire a guy who has fire? I dunno. I agree 100% - this is the most important thing this year, and it was great to see a QB who is a winner. He did that with pure strength of will. The great ones can do that, and i think we have one in training.

yeah, and that is head coach stuff. Like timeouts, challenges, going for it on 4th and 1, and even the ability to veto trick plays like using Kramer as a ballcarrier. So Flus is failing in situational fooball AND general motivation and discipline. I dont think he is a total joke though, hes a pro, I just think he's a bottom 10ish head coach, and we could find someone who is better.

I agree with this, but Flus keeps making basic errors - how many times has he gone for it on 4th and short on his own side of the 50 when it wasnt necessary - early in the game, not down by a lot? He lost several games we should have won last year in spectacular fashion by poor coaching at the end, and in some ways i think you can hang this one on him too - although its a miracle and to Caleb's credit that we were even winning at all for that hail mary to matter. I cant say hes the worst coach ever, and I dont think we can fire him right now anyway, but he is definitely a lost opportunity for a good or great coach to give us an edge in winning. Id like to see someone brought in for the OL. The players have consistently had a tough time knowing their assignments, and it doesnt really make sense as to why unless Morgan is just a horrible teacher.

hes a real competitor, and this loss is likely to help him find an even more competitive version of himself. And hes clearly got that 4th quarter will to win thing the champions all have. I said earlier in the thread, and Ill repeat it here, our two goals for this year were for Caleb to learn to be an NFL QB, and for the team to face adversity and learn what it actually takes to win against the good teams. It's more than talent and execution, it's that other thing we see in winners. This hurt, but it's part of it this year.

I think this is right. Eberflus isnt the worst coach ever, but hes bottom 10. looking for someone else is taking a shot at something better. I love Harbaugh, and I would have signed him if I was GM, but I understand he is a polarizing figure. But why not Kliff Kingsbury or some offensive mind to pair with Caleb for his career, like Brady and Mahomes have had. I dont hate the guy, but Eberflus does consistently lose us games we should win right at the end with poor coaching. Hes certainly not giving us a positive edge in winning. I dunno who is available now, and the bye is past and we are probably stuck with him and Waldron unless they are willing to promote from within. But maybe do something about the OL coach Morgan at least? Youve got a guy that went to Yale who cant figure out who he is supposed to block. Maybe he needs a better teacher, cuz he isnt dumb, and it isnt rocket science either. I cant block anyone, but we could ALL learn the Bears' blocking assignments if we were properly taught. It's not that hard to know who to block. Actually blocking them is the hard part i think?

Yeah, there was TONS of holding on that play - and we STILL should have defeated the attempt. Grrrr.

100% - we didnt deserve this one, but we do see what a competitor Williams is, and how hot he was ont he sideline urging his team to win - thats GREAT stuff to see! Ive been saying, this season is almost like a video game - each level gets harder progressively, and as we reach each new level of opponent we will have to learn to dig deeper and win. This is a good tough lessons for us. Bloodied our lip, now we learn how hard it is to win. I wanted the win today for sure - but i think we can build on this and hopefully become tougher and better. before the season I invoked the 1984 Bears talking about exactly this - they had a great roster - most of the same guys on the 85 team, and they beat a lot of mid teams, but then they met Montana and the 49ers in the NFC championship game, and got beat pretty bad. They learned from that, and the team was totally different the next year. Hopefully we learn those kind of lessons this year. The goals are for Caleb to learn how to be an NFL QB, and for the team to toughen up. We are on schedule