BearFan PHX

Im glad we didnt bring anyone in from outside. Strategically, it didnt matter when Flus got fired, but its good to see Warren and Poles can exercise some authority. I think we can take this to mean that we arent looking at Belichick or Vrabel for HC at the top of our wish list next year. I wouldnt want Belichick right now either. 10 years ago, sure! I agree that Brown needs to focus on Calebs development most. Most of us from the couch could do at least a mediocre job of handling timeouts and challenges and stuff like that. Hopefully Brown can do that stuff without getting too distracted. One interesting thing now to watch is how the defense plays. If they are at least the same, then Eberflus brought NOTHING, and all that smoke about him being a good DC clears to reveal what a fake he was the whole time. If they drop off, then that says something about Eberflus having had some positive effect.

ranked by PFF, who gets linemen wrong all the time. Braxton Jones has been incredible value for a 5th rounder. We rode him for several years. But whenever you need a sack, you can just bull rush him, and he loses every time. I dont want him at LT next year. Not starting anyway.

Flus needs to be fired, but I dont personally care if it happens now or at the end of the season. An interim coach is probably just more chaos and noise. Even if he wins, or gets everyone together, if he isnt the HC next year, then it was just more to learn and forget. And I think we need to make our decision of the next head coach with the full plate of options available, and a lot of them are currently coaching somewhere else right now. So falling in love with an interim coach because he is mediocre instead of awful is a trap. Also, as you all know, I dont hate Poles, and if we could somehow get the right coach, I wouldnt mind keeping Poles after that. My gut says go with Cunningham, but I dont really have any strong evidence for him over some other candidate I dont know anything about. But more than anything else, we have to get this next Head Coach right, or we are back in hell and Caleb is done in Chicago. I mean, he'll play here, and at some point hold out, if it's all regular Bears all around him. We need a head coach to take this window, with Caleb and make it into a winner we can support for 10 or 15 years. It's that or hell. THere is no in between right now, because Caleb wont stay for it after a couple more years. So the decision about the next Head Coach is EVERYTHING. Who do we trust to make this biggest franchise decision in the last 30 years?

for sure. I just dont know if theyve given him that responsibility yet? If they havent, as a rookie, he did the right thing. Eberflus could have called it at any moment there.

right. this wasn't on Caleb.

I agree with you regarding the first time Poles hired Flus. But when he kept him after last year, that was the second time. He also OK'd Getsy, Waldron and forced Waldron to keep Morgan as OL coach and run coordinator. Whoever the next head coach is, no more arranged marriages. Let them pick their staff! Is Poles the right guy to make that decision? And to find the OL we need?

I assume you meant Wright at RT and Banks at LT? I'll definitely check out your names. it's good to have some idea some players worthy are available! I dont think I can see extening Jenkins though. Hes a pretty good player, but hes injured too much to rely on. Maybe Kiran A will be in the mix next year, and Ryan Bates at OG too?

sounds like your house is in order even as Halas Hall isnt. And of course that's much more important than our loveable, frustrating but ultimately not as important Bears

This is the general wisdom, for sure. There has to be a path to a decent OL if youre willing to spend the draft picks and cap space. i think we are, so I have hope (but no names yet) that we can do it. The two main things we need, are the two things Poles has struck out on: head coach and offensive linemen.

yup.

first off I dont hate everyone at all. I like a lot of the roster, and I think the scouting department has done well. I think Ian Cunningham is probably pretty good, and i think Poles has been good at some parts of his job. But the coaching staff is awful, and the question is who should pick the next one. It's simply not true that Im a negative thinker. For example, I dont care if they fire Flus now or at the end of the year. It's not personal with me, I dont hate on Flus, I just think he isnt a good head coach. It's not emotional with me. And since we all know hes gone after this year, the next topic inevitably becomes, who should pick his successor. And I just dont want the guy who picked Eberflus twice, Getsy, Waldron and made Waldron keep Morgan to be the guy that makes that decision. Poles has done lots of things right, but i dont trust him to pick the next head coach, and if he gets that wrong, then Caleb is over for us forever.

yup, and we knew this LAST YEAR too which is why its hard to trust Poles to pick his replacement.

I havent looked at any actual data, but in general, finding good young free agent OL is very rare. Teams hang on to them, for the obvious reason - and thats why we need them too, because we havent been building through the draft long enough yet.

i totally agree. Im just saying, in general, if you have the #3 pick and theres a stud pass rusher there, it'd be hard to ignore, and that would be a problem because we need OL help. If the OL talent isnt top 5, and you can trade back then great do it - we agree. But Im saying if we have pick #6, it's easy to take OL whereas if we have pick #3 there will be some voices in the room about edge rusher.

If you put your thumb over Eberflus' fake hipster haircut, you can see he is Nagy in disguise.

So maybe it gets clearer now. Do we want to let Poles, the guy who kept Eberflus this past offseason, to be the guy that picks the next head coach? I assume we all understand how that single decision is going to shape the next 10 years of this franchise, and Caleb's career in Chicago. To me that one narrow question is the whole thing. If you only look at that small corner of this, you have to be able to say YES to keep Poles despite any other mitigating or positive factors. And I dont see how anyone can. It's not like we didn't know who Flus was last year. The first year, fine, it was a teardown. But last year we KNEW. We saw this same stuff over and over. We could have had Harbaugh, or if we hire Johnson, Kingsbury, Belichick or whoever anyone likes, we could have had them this year already. Poles signed off on Waldron. And Getsy. And HE is the guy responsible for making Waldron keep Morgan as OL coach and run game coordinator. Maybe he's good at some things and bad at others. Fine. He is terrible at picking coaches. Picking our next coach is the most crucial decision the franchise has had in 30+ years. How can he be the guy? Maybe Warren and McCaskey will hold his hand. Maybe theyll bring in Accorsi or Polian to help. Does that sound familiar? Maybe with help they can collectively get the coach decision right. But do we want to have to hold Pole's hand? If you cant trust your guy to get it right, you gotta replace him, dont you?

If they fire Flus this week, then great, if they dont i really dont care. He needs to be gone for next year, but i dont need some revenge or punishment. The big question is who should be our next HC for next year, and the obvious 1b question is who should make that choice?

boy are you off base. If youre the head coach and you see it taking too long, you can call that timeout and stop the clock. It's all narrative from you. Yuck.

so maybe if we had someone in a sort of head coaching position, they could have called timeout to try the tying field goal. We should get one of those.

Win or lose this one, Caleb is a gamer!

Thanks 50 Best to you too

it pissed me off too. I thought we were gonna see Bagent. This offense has made really good halftime adjustments.

Wow. Caleb gets totally kneecapped and comes back with that TD throw. Ii agree, we need 3 or 4 new players on the OL. And yes, everyone is demoralized. Id love to see players believing more, but it is hard to when you KNOW the ship is sinking? I also agree with you about Montgomery. I have always loved him. I think we need to get Roschon Johnson more involved too. I do love power backs.

I feel the same way. The roster is pretty good. We do need a little more. OL, a pass rusher etc - we all know. But it can be found in a single offseason. I also dont need a yeller per se, but it has to be someone who brings real accountability. You see how Dan Campbell is. He doesnt seem like a genius. He has amazing coordinators. But the one thing he excels at is just personal energy. He is the Daddy of that team, and that's what you need. Belichick did it quietly, Harbaugh yells. Either way getting the team motivated and disciplined is the name of the game. I love Ben Johnson's Xs and Os, but i wonder if he has that thing we are talking about.

For sure, a great OL makes everything else look so much better.