AZ54

Do they have a CB we could swap for Bagent?

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/bears/2026/11/01/bears-tyson-bagent-ravens-nfl-trade-deadline-rumors/92557623007/ I can't see them offering anything more than a Day 3 pick. However, I could see Poles swapping picks. Maybe get a 3rd and give a 5th, not sure that would equate to a 4th Rd pick. It's risky with Caleb still gimpy. Maybe if the long rest this week helped Caleb heal up they'll be more inclined.

I agree, and was trying to post this earlier before my job got in my way. There is still a lot of noise about Mack returning to the Bears. I didn’t view him as a worthwhile centerpiece to get our D over the top but adding him to a front anchored by Jeffrey Simmons is different. Reportedly Mack wants out of LA and a shot at a Superbowl…don’t know if that’s true of just media speculation. It would make sense for an elite vet in what might be his last season. I’m surprised to see him, at age 35, still handling starter amount of snaps but maybe I shouldn’t be. If this trade were to happen I don’t know how we fit him in under the salary cap so it seems like we might be sending them a player. I don’t see anyone they’d want but I would absolutely trade Sweat for Mack. Since I”m already troling around the AI search: "Khalil Mack played 68% of the Los Angeles Chargers defensive snaps in the 2026 season. This figure represents his snap participation through the first six games of that season, during which he recorded 11 solo tackles and 3 sacks."

I read or saw somewhere that Tenn used Simmons on 90% of defensive snaps. If that’s correct it’s an insane amount of work. I figure this week his snap count will be much lower just because he’s learning the defense but long term DA needs to keep him more in the 70% range. From Brave AI search: "Jeffery Simmons played 86.6% (or 86.7%) of the Tennessee Titans defensive snaps through his first seven games of the 2026 season. This workload is part of a consistent trend, as he has played at least 80% of available defensive snaps in every season since 2020."

Feels like there is a little smoke and mirrors going on with this Seattle team. I watched them play against KC last week but KC just looked bad. There were plenty of open receivers but Mahomes just looked real bad for some reason. They aren’t a bad team. With all their rotational coverages Ben mentioned their rules during his press conference. Much of that you can decipher from film study but I can see where Ben spent some time talking with the former leader of their secondary Coby Bryant. Can we get a couple big plays by using their rules against them? Running against their front will be tough so I think this a game where the pass game has to open up the run.

No I think we need a couple players but none of them are on offense. That is set, for now. Of the two we need on defense one of them was a Pro Bowl caliber DT. We just went beyond that and got an All Pro Hall of Fame caliber DT in his prime. With that we no longer need an elite edge rusher. We still need good DEs who can contain the pocket and provide run support, and catch a QB who has to move off his spot, but we’ve got plenty of them. Everyone knows the Rams had Aaron Donald as their premiere pass rusher on their Superbowl team but who were the DEs? Simmons is better than an elite pass rusher like MIcah Parsons because he's also elite against the run. It is fair to assume we’d likely use next year’s 1st Rd pick on a DT. We just did that. Then we pulled forward the skill and experience it takes a player years to learn by using our next 1st Rd pick and now get to see the benefits a season earlier. We need another blue chip player in the defensive backfield…and we’ve got him stashed on IR returning soon. Like any team there will be needs over the next two seasons but they can be addressed with the picks we have. Adding CBs, OG to replace Thuney, DT and DE depth can all be done with day 2 picks, or some vet FA pickups. We will be a destination place for good vets who want a shot at a ring and are willilng to play on a below market salary.

I posted that in this thread last night

Now we have some fun with our upcoming opponent..and a decent breakdown of just a few plays.

So you want Quenton Nelson to protect your QB and help your run game? Here’s the antidote and this is from a game on 18 October. Credit to the Football Scout because he’s not just showing the highlight plays he reviews many plays that never hit the stat sheet.

For the last two years I’ve wanted the Bears to trade for Simmons, among others. Last year he got into his contract year and it was going to be expensive as in two 1st Rd picks and then we’d have to sign him to a huge contract. Poles says I have a plan…. we’ll let Tenn pay him the big bonus then swoop in during middle of their bad season and give them two 1st Rd picks for Simmons. They’ll be happy to have them needing to rebuild and we’ll get our man for our playoff run without paying the bonus money, and have cap flexibility in future years on his contract if we need it. George Halas smiles from above.

I remember when we added Peppers and thought wow that was expensive. Then after he played a few games for us and I watched film I realized how much he controlled his side of the field. Literally. It made everyone else’s job on defense easier Then we traded for Mack and it was expensive too. I watched the film and realized how much he controlled his side of the field. The only problem with the Mack trade is that we didn’t have the offense we thought we had. This time we know we have the QB and the rest of the offense. Simmons can absolutely control his part of the field. This is a DT who commands a double team and can still win the play. Plus you can’t really double him briefly and then go up to block a LB as we like to do. So that right there means a free LB on every running play. Then there is pass rush because you have to double him t there too. That opens a gap in the interior for a blitz. Effectively where we used to need to rush 6 to get a free gap we can now get that with 5. Which puts one more player into coverage.

Things I’ve never seen in my life https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-qb-rankings-index-week-8-2026-nfl-season

He’s a stud. Grady is a good player, used to be very good, but he’s always been more hustle than physical talent. the only reason Simmons isn’t more of a household name is because of the team he’s on. He is the kind of centerpiece you build a defense around.

Braxton is the most logical trade IMO. We don’t need 3 LTs. The IR issue doesn’t help. I think he’s only earning 5m so perhaps frees up 2m.

I watched Seattle and KC tonight. Their run defense is very good but they gave plenty of opportunities for open receivers. Mahomes just looked really bad and missed quite a few open receivers. When they did catch the ball it was often low or behind them. We will need to be better. Darnold is still the same and gets nervous under pressure. He will make bad throws. Jaxson is insane and can’t be stopped. Their Australian punter is better than ours.

There’s a lot of noise that Poles is making calls. It does appear we’re going to do something before the deadline. Most of the rumors are centered on Mack returning. There is also a fair amount of smoke around DeForest Buckner.

All based on the assumption the past predicts the future. It doesn’t fit an ascending player.

At a minimum it is on film so now it changes what DTs and LBs (since I believe OG is their first read) think about if they see Thuney or Jackson start to pull right there near the goal line. Ultimately it was a LB who saw it and tackled Thuney. So if you’re at the goal line and you can get them to hesitate just bit that might be enough to squeeze someone in for a TD.

First off: The Patriots did go to the Superbowl last year so they are not a bad team. The Patriots blitzed Caleb on 60% of the pass plays and he put up 300+ yds and 30pts against it. We don’t hit the quick short slants because our Oline is good and was picking up the blitz giving guys like Burden time to get 15 yards downfield and exploit the wide open gaps in coverage. If Caleb can pull it off, I’ll take the chunk plays against a blitz over the 5 yd slants all day. We were doing that all game long. We don’t have Monangai and Swift is fighting through some injuries so the passing game had to carry the day unlike how we handled the Eagles with running game sprinkled in with some passes by Keenum. Roschon is just pedestrian. Enter Caleb. IMO the difference between our offense and the Patriots, and between the QBs as well, couldn’t be more clear and I really like what I saw from the Bears and Caleb. Early on Maye couldn’t figure out our coverage and pressure packages. Then they shifted to a lateral offense with simple WR screens and other simple short-game stuff. Later they started running all WRs deep to take the coverage shell with them and dumping off to an outlet (TE or RB) who was initially held in blocking. It worked well because we have no elite pass rush threats on the Dline. It was also incredibly easy to read stuff for Maye. But we did adapt to that on defense and late in the game you saw one of our defenders peel off with the TE or RB. That also confused or bothered Maye a bit because he started becoming more erratic with his passes. Meanwhile through out the entire game Caleb was just slinging it all over the field against their pressure and coverages. He also had WRs with several big drops in the game : Raymond, Loveland 2x, Rome that would have moved his comp% from 66% to 78%. Casual stats reviewers will look at the overall numbers and say Maye and Caleb played about the same. But they didn’t. Maye picked up about 100 yards passing in garbage time against prevent defense. At least 50 was on the play before the half the rest came late when we were making sure they got no TDs over the top which worked because we forced them into burning clock and taking a FG, giving us the onside kick. Whereas Caleb never had the opportunity to throw against that. Years ago I used to look at Trubisky’s or Fields’ stats after games like that where we were trying to come from behind late and the other team was giving us easy underneath stuff. They’d end up with 250-300yds but it was just lipstick on a pig. Think about what type of offense you will need to succeed in the playoffs. Our defense is good, not bad, but it’s not great. Smart coaches will find a way to get some plays in. I can’t see where the strategy for what Maye did against us being successful against a really good playoff defense. I can definitely see where the stuff Caleb was doing translates very well. It’s also why heads around the league and media are turning in our direction. We’re 5-2 and we got there with 3 different QBs. Our defense is playing well enough to keep most teams around 20-25pts. That won’t be enough against Caleb and Ben. p.s. The D needs a couple players to be more consistent. I don’t think we’ll be able to find a DT and CB, or rather fit both in. I don’t see a CB out there who can make a difference. Then again we should have Bryant back later in the year which will no doubt help a lot versus what Cam Lewis offers. I really like the idea of adding Deforest Buckner. We’d immediately have a good front. Jarrett is playing well this year. Sweat is still a strong DE. Booker and Turner appear to be capable of giving good snaps in rotation and FWIW Dayo will return later in the year. From the AI: "If the Chicago Bears were to trade for DeForest Buckner immediately, they would take on approximately $8.67 million in salary cap hit for the remainder of the 2026 season. "

Speaking of blitz rate i just heard the Patriots blitzed on 60% of the plays tonight.

I think it was just that one s series. 7 plays IIRC.

Unc and Ocho are ripping on Cam Lewis because on the last play of the first half he owned the RB. Instead he decided to get greedy and blitz. They said he knew he messed up and that’s why he was chasing him all the way down the field. I remember seeing him doing that. Still doesn’t excuse Jaylon’s weak effort.

Or make a trade this year.