AZ54

I could not have asked the Bears to do more than what was done this offseason. If Caleb can't succeed with this supporting cast it's because Caleb can't succeed. I'm not expecting great things in Wk 1 because everyone is learning the offense. There should be a lot of positive drives in the first few games and consistency should be there by midseason.

Dennis Allen said very clearly at one of his early press conferences that pass rush comes up the middle not the edges. I know Poles got the message because he ran out and signed Dayo then Grady Jarrett and then drafted a protege for Grady in Shemar Turner.

46 is an insane number. Assuming that was just regular season that’s 2.7 long drives per game without a running QB to rescue bad plays.

I have done that and formed my opinion of: Show me. If Caleb does have mistakes in a 400yd passing game, i can be happy but also don't have a problem pointing out how he could have had 450yds. I hope is coach feels the same way.

This falls into the wait and see department. If this team were to really take off and look like a legit playoff contender then I'd be ok adding someone like Thibodeux mid-season. Even though he'd make us better I wouldn't do this now because there are too many questions about roster makeup to give away future draft capital. I don't even know if Caleb is the QB of the future yet.

KC, LA Rams, and Buffalo have done just fine with run-of-the-mill RBs. Saquon was something of an anomaly because most Superbowl winning teams do not have an elite RB in the modern era. Speaks volumes about how rosters are being built these days. Swift's money will likely be needed elsewhere next year and he'll get replaced by a mid-round pick. If our QB and receiving groups become what we think they can we might get away with another day 3 RB to compliment Monangai and still be ok. This offseason has been one of our best but as you said, enough with the what-if scenarios it's time to start seeing this show up on the field.

I was thinking surely they planned for this but this doesn't seem like much of a plan... https://packerswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2025/06/09/jaire-alexander-release-green-bay-packers-defense-2025-analysis/84112283007/ "In terms of true cornerbacks, the Packers’ depth chart now consists of a former fifth-round pick in Hobbs, a sixth-rounder in Hadden (by Kansas City), three seventh-rounders in Valentine, King and Hadden, and a former UDFA in Nixon."

https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/why-rome-odunze-has-become-one-of-fantasy-football-s-hottest-names

Nobody has a complete roster. Some teams have enough talent at positions to cover the gaps. We're still finding out who our blue chips are.

Reports were that Kiran was looking better at LT the last week of practices. He now has a a few weeks of practice to build off of this month before camp starts. When guys like Thuney say he's strong, don't rule him out once the pads come on.

We do now with Loveland and Burton in the mix. I think our top two TEs and three WRs are a better combination than what Detroit had. Oline made some huge gains this offseason, still not where we want it to be but we'll see how it goes by the end of the season. As long as Ben can the details of the "why" for these plays into Caleb's head then he'll be fine.

I was on the Vrabel bus as well but now view Johnson as the clear best choice.

These two videos popped up on my feed today and I thought in light of the draft picks and what we've seen and heard about in our practices it was good for me to get a sense of the vision for the offense. (If these have been posted before I couldn't find them) In both videos at times they talk about how effective Goff was using his RBs as outlets which immediately reminded me of the reports of Johnson yelling at Caleb "faster, faster" when he was late on the outlet to Roschon this week. The 12 personnel video gives insight into the various strategies Johnson is using to stress defenses with 2 TEs alignments...beyond just the usual run/pass options. Colt McCoy did a good job breaking down the various blocking schemes Johnson used to neutralize the Vikings varied fronts. That pertains directly to our opening week matchup.

Agreed. Knowing what the big picture should look like versus knowing all the tiny pieces needed to make it look like that. Plus you need to know how to get men across an entire offense or defense to know and execute those details in real time on-the-fly against an adaptive opponent where things will be different than planned.

I think many coaches know what it should look like. Coaching and leading people is are two different things. Even copying someone’s management BKMs doesn’t necessarily equate to success. Dennis Allen failed as head coach twice yet everyone here is glad to have him as our DC myself included. Ben Johnson decided he wasn’t ready to be a head coach last year. He wanted a year to reflect on it and how he would approach the job. He put deliberate effort into that with talking to coaches and other leaders. He seems to have understood the difference in the leading part of the role and showed up day one knowing how he was going to handle that. In the end some people have it. Most don’t. I hope he’s the one.

I watched all the press conferences. Again the keyword from the players is “Details”. These coaches demand everything be done right. A reporter asked Ben where that focus comes from. Is it innate to who he is or something he learned from other coaches. His answer: It’s more about learning from where I’ve seen other coaches fail and not wanting to make those same mistakes. He added that he’s seen more bad football than good. Ben Johnson is not one of these guys from a “coaching tree”. He’s building his own tree. other observations: YouTuber Matty Dubs said something interesting after the first OTA practice: During a simple Handoff drill rotating QBs and RBs Caleb was first in line with Swift. Bagent/Roschon, Keenum/Homer, Reed/Wheeler then Caleb/ Monangai He said the coaches will line them up so the starting QB gets the most reps with the top two RBs. I thought that sounds logical but it’s also the first practice. Now we’re in minicamp and that same drill had the same lineup. Add in all the chatter about Monangai looking good on the last drive today not just running but also catching passes. Even on drills Monangai catches cleanly with his hands. I’m thinking we’ve got our #2 RB Trapilo continues to impress. I expect he’ll be with the first team to start training camp. Ben Johnson said for the LT it’s all about having the best pass blocking anything they get from that player in run blocking is a bonus. Kiran is struggling.

I am surprised how things leveled out in the red zone. Those are only passing TD correct?

Your the best stats man here: Which rookie QB had the best passing numbers in the redzone? Not a presumptive question as I don't know the answer.

I don't look at their stuff but I'd be willing to bet CJ Stroud was easily top 10 on their rankings last year, maybe even at 6 like Daniels this year.

I don't think anybody is over stating what Kmet can do as a receiver. He's good there, has really good hands but doesn't have the agility that you see with Loveland. Kmet isn't elite either as a blocker. He's a jack of all trades but that is still valuable for a play caller especially when paired with Loveland between the 20s. Both TEs will be effective in the redzone too. If anyone knows how to use these two TEs effectively it's Ben Johnson.

Likely at 9, this is clearly a receiving biased ranking.

One thing I think I see from the limited highlights is that early on in the offseason Caleb was always patting the ball and then throwing. As a DB or DT you love to see that. In recent clips I don't see him doing that. It's not entirely clear yet because a lot of sources mix in highlights from different practices. Are the coaches forcing him to break a bad old habit? I hope so and it's something I'll be looking for as the team begins training camp. With some of these reports about inaccuracy I would say if he's in the early stages of breaking a bad habit it will affect some of his touch, timing, and accuracy because he's got to be deliberate to skip the "pat" and just throw as soon as he sees it.

When I watched Keenum’s press conference someone asked him about making the 53 man roster. He hesitated just a bit and looked away before answering with some generic statement. It felt a bit deceitful to me. I’m going to go out on a limb and say there is already an agreement in place of some sort regarding the final roster. That can be either way. I’ll watch and see what he says about his family but my suspicion is that he’s getting money to work for the summer. If Caleb builds a good relationship with him then there’s nothing stopping him then from chatting about things during the regular season.

Yes if that grown man’s father is running around publishing books about what his son should be doing in his professional career. I’d ask that question if I were there. Is he the face of the franchise or a puppet with his father making the decisions behind the scenes This was actually the best question for Caleb because it gave him the opportunity to distance himself from his fathers opinions and tell everyone that he is in fact making the decisions. I think he answered it very well and came out looking like the owner of his decisions and his career. Plus he did it in a way without alienating or embarrassing his father and their relationship. now I think his teammates and coaches can trust him more that what he says is what he means and there won’t be some other backstory that comes out later.