AZ54

The cat is out of the bag. I always watch several film breakdowns each week. This week there are so many Bears film breakdowns it is insane. I’m not even talking about the short take stuff from big media orgs which I find to be mostly useless blather. These guys are just fun to listen to and they catch some small details that I don’t ever hear in the usual play breakdowns reviews

I've only seen 3 quarters of a Broncos game. You give me season long stats which does not inform about the types of passes made. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2025/passing_advanced.htm Caleb has 8.4 Intended Air Yd/Att, Nix 7.6. (FWIW last is Aaron Rodgers at 5.8) Caleb has faced 110 blitzes vs. 67 for Nix. The 2nd year QB who is leading the pack is Drake Maye and I think I'm going to go watch a little more of that game.

just another example where this Bears coaching staff has resuscitated a players career.

I watched most of the Broncos game curious about Bo Nix. All I could think of was he is the second coming of Jacoby Brissett. Almost everything he threw was an outlet or underneath route. Those deep intermediate throws we see from Caleb each week over LBs and between safeties non existent. Moving Safeties with his eyes …non existent. When he did get a little pressure his eyes came down very quickly. I can’t see how the Broncos short passing game wins playoff games. I think the best way to put it is that I expected to see some of the Sean Payton Drew Brees type of offense. That was old offense was nowhere to be found. I share the frustration with some of Caleb’s missed throws but IMO what he is doing on offense is much more advanced than what Nix is doing. I'm confident Ben Johnson is pushing Caleb in the right direction.

The number one thing I think I’ve learned in the last two weeks is that we have far too much money invested in our LBs. We’re getting decent production out of special teams caliber players. I realize we’re still a better team with Edwards and Edmunds on the field. In many ways scheme was simplified. We also faced Mason Rudolph and a moribund Eagles O. With better DBs returning to the field LB weaknesses can be covered up somewhat. If we have to rely on Edward’s, Hipolyte and a rookie or Sewell, Demarco Jackson I think we’ll be alright DJ Moore is the most obvious trade target to get us more cap space. Edmund’s is the most obvious cut. I have to say I believe DJ adds more value to the team. We might do both but it will depend on return for DJ. I’d like a 3rd Rd pick but maybe we can find a late 2nd Rd offer.

Given that, and using it as sort of a baseline for the team, then we can add in the gameday tweaks.

While that is interesting, I don't know what algorithm they are using and I can't see how a season long statistical trend is relevant when you add in Gordon, Johnson, and remove Wyatt and Kraft from Green Bay. Add in Trapilo giving up less pressure off the left edge than the consistent push back into the QB we saw with Theo.

If we’re going to carry a pure NT type on the roster I’d replace Billings with the Big Citrus out of Iowa State in rd 3. Bigger faster maybe not stronger because Billings is a beast. Both have a love for the buffet. Better length helps Orange as a space eater whereas Billings gets moved around a lot. Iowa State’s defensive scheme is pure garbage. I think better coaching can get more out of Orange but I’m not going to say there is huge upside. Then again I’m talking about round 3 but he can become a good piece in your DT rotation which is a lot more than we get from Billings. https://www.profootballnetwork.com/domonique-orange-nfl-draft-week-10-2025/

Dayo doesn’t have enough strength to hold up outside much less do anything inside. Any winning he does inside is coming off a stunt but you can’t live by that. Booker and the new DE are both playing the edge better. We have to hope Dayo responds to the competition because cutting him is painful next year with at best a $17mil cap hit. If we draft an edge high it seems more likely Turner moves inside which is where they had him earlier this season before needing help at DE, then IR. We really need an interior pass rusher anyway.

Ozzy is already better than Theo and peak Braxton. He’s not perfect but there won’t be any looking back now because any team can win with how well he is playing right now. It only gets better from here. I’m watching this film a second time because it is fun watching Darnell against Jalen Carter. It’s fun watching Dalman against Jordan Davis so might need to have a 3rd view. This Dline is very talented so our guys did not win on every snap but they won the vast majority of them.

The LT competition is over.

Newman too has looked good in limited action.

First and foremost is figuring out what we do at safety. Both Brisker and Byard are UFAs this offseason. Byard is getting old but I feel good about getting one more year out of him, potentially two. Brisker is having a good but not great season. His health concerns are a problematic long term risk. I think we sign Byard, let Brisker walk, then draft a safety high for Byard to help come up to speed. Stevenson and Smith are both under contract until 2027 so they stay since they are cheap. Wright would be a good signing but he might cost far more than we can afford especially since I still think he's only backup material.

I felt the same way when I saw the replay. Izzy has to engage earlier on the play instead of waiting but it’s also a case where you need the DE to get upfield a bit to create the space.

With weather like that the Eagles game was never going to be good for passing stats. Nonetheless I still saw good things from Caleb that I haven’t seen much of before. On a couple plays the Eagles blew up the screens and Caleb just threw the ball in the dirt. On one pass play with a shallow crossing route he threw with nice touch to I think OZ who took it for a first down. In the past he put too much velocity on the ball on some of these short routes. He might have cost himself an INT with another soft toss on a screen but regardless I think he’ll learn from that and this is still a sign of growth.