Alaskan Grizzly

So in theory he’ll become a FA? And could come to camp and ‘try out’. No harm, no foul (?)

“Tossing salads with spatulas”. That are pretending to be shoe horns? ???? Just...wow!

“What do you guys think? I also like ketchup on my pizza and drink coffee from a straw.” That was truly intellectual. Lol!! But the part about not having Trubisky play QB is indeed a wise suggestion.

At the risk of sounding political...who are you really? LOL!!! Yeah my post wishing GB well as they watch from their couch (like us) was also lost....oh well.

Absolutely. In fact, in order to be able to trust your QB he should be able to read the defense as he sets the offense at the line. That way he can call an audible (or timeout) if he thinks something better than the called play will work. Trubusky hasn’t quite gotten that down yet (but improving). Cutler never did.

Similar to the hiring of Lazor, I wasn't too keen on the hire of DeFlip. I remember last season (2018) when he was hired as the OC for Minnesota then promptly fired a few weeks before the end of the season. Since reading up on that I found that Zimmer got rid of him to give his team a chance at a wild card spot as they were, for all intents and purposes, still in control of their destiny. As most of you recall, that was not a particularly good year for Cousins (when measured to how well Keenum did the year prior and how well this most recent version of Cousins did - and both under different OC's not named DeFillipo). Then before he made his way to Minnesota he was the QB coach for Philly. And a story I read about that said something regarding Coach Pedersen reluctant in him coming back after he was let go by Minnesota (I didn't see why that was but in full disclosure saw that Philly was looking at him before Chicago snatched him up). Then there is the abrupt hiring this year from Jacksonville. It seems all the bad trends with DeFlip have to do with him as an OC, not necessarily as a QB coach. So maybe he'll be better back as a QB coach with Chicago. One knock on him that we need to know going ahead is that he is an Air Coryell type guy (one reason he didn't stick in other places) and didn't like the run as much - where have we heard that before? But again, if he's solely focused on making Trubisky better as a QB ok, maybe it'll work. One thing is for certain, IF the hiring of all these guys is to make Trubisky better and he doesn't get better...he'll have run out of excuses.

WHY ARE YOU YELLING?!?!?! (LOLOLOLOL). That's too funny... And definitely congrats to two more Bears making it to the HOF. Just continuing the tradition of having one of the richest teams in the league with all the HOF'ers that have come from it. That is AWESOME!!!

Based on what we saw last year and probably the best way to fix it is; the offense will be good enough for another 8-8 season. At the interest of Pace trying to keep his job, Nagy may or may not get fired before the season is over. At which point Pagano will take over because he’ll be able to somehow get the defense to play as good or better than it did this last year. The change, if midseason, will spark enough from both sides of the ball that the team will close our strong and get 10 maybe 11 wins. But despite this and because of spotty QB play the team will either just miss the playoffs or go out in the first round. Pagano wanting to keep the job as HC beyond next season will attempt to summon Luck out of retirement. And Pace wanting to stick around for at least one more ‘do or die’ year, will desperately throw whatever he can (mostly money) to make that happen. Or Trubisky will somehow and inexplicably become the QB he’s supposed to be and not only win league MVP but Super Bowl MVP too.

Amazing how a change of scenery can do that to someone. Maybe there is something to bringing Dalton in? Or Mariota? Give them a try.... see what they do?

Word!!!! Lol!!! Thats the kind of ‘leveler of Wood’ I like to see. Especially from a Safety.

Here’s the kind of safety the Bears need next year (Jacoby Stevens - LSU):

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001096543/article/bears-hiring-exbengals-oc-bill-lazor-as-their-oc Fired from the Bengals two seasons ago?(WTF?!?!). First read tells me Nagy has no intent on giving up control of the offense and is looking for another patsy. Who the hell is this guy?

Meh. Looking back at some of the pre-draft boards yes he was #1 but not all. Some had Watson where another I saw had Kizer. All the more reason we should rarely listen to the alleged ‘know it alls’. And if memory serves, Nagy said the Chiefs were looking at Mahomes early on. They must’ve seen something they liked. Hindsight being what it is AND we knew Trubiskys track record in college (minimal) it would have been nice to bank on someone a bit more solid.

Yet...here we are watching him (Watson) play in the second round of the playoffs. Against Mahomes. Both of which were picked after Trubisky.

And now they’re about to go ahead just before the half. If the Bears would been down 24 that would be the losing score. It’s good we have a GM that is a former scout and knows how to mine good players from D2 like Cohen, Jordan Morgan and Shaheen. And trade for solid Franchise players like Trubiksy.

Being a former Navy man, I salute you. Yeah, imagine if we’d have been stuck with Mahomes or Watson where we’d be today.

I see Kyle was chosen as a Pro Bowl alternate. Good for him. Still good to see Bear representation. https://www.chicagobears.com/news/kyle-fuller-added-to-nfc-pro-bowl-roster

Well first off Bill, keep the questions and comments coming. That's the nice thing about the site, "Talking" about Bears football is in the title. Wrong, right or indifferent we're all entitled an opinion. Lord knows I've had plenty of opportunities to shut it ... and I haven't. I won't pretend to be a football expert nor do I really know what the differences between Pagano and Fangio's style of defense. So far what I do know is that both are good at what they do. Sure they do things a little different but they get results. I think it safe to say that with the loss of Amos we saw how nice his style of SS play complimented Jackson at FS. Versus how does HHCD. HHCD is very similar in his style of play where he's more a sideline to sideline cover safety versus 'in the box' tacking type like Amos. Jackson is more like HHCD ... AND... they're both not great at tackling. Jackson has the edge of takeaway-ability over HHCD. Generally speaking in a man-man style defense you like to have the hard-hitting SS to help in run support or short/intermediate pass coverage where they can stop the play in an instant. Whereas in a zone alignment you might need more safety coverage over the top to aid in that coverage (something that isn't really Amos' forte). Having one of each style of player (rangy ball hawking FS and solid thumping SS) for all four downs makes it easier for the defense to adjust to whatever down situation they're facing. With two Safeties like Jackson and HHCD playing together, you leave the short and middle a bit more open.

Speaking of Kyle, his brother Corey (currently a CB with KC) will become an UFA this coming season. Any interest in him? I ask only because I saw somewhere else that question being asked. From the little I understand about contracts I don’t think he’d be a big money burden but looks to be a good depth player? Maybe if Tolliver, Shelly or potential draft pick were not to work out?

That's the case many here have been making, especially when Nagy thought he needed to pass more than he did (like in the first game against GB). Unfortunately the team didn't have the personnel (on the oline) to support a better run game or change of pace with the passing game to rely on it more.

What is his "normal play level"? Can't say that I would agree if you go with the 'body of work' from his three seasons as a Pro and one season as a college level starter. Unless you qualify it by saying his 'normal play level...the last 3-4 games of the season. Even then he wasn't completely solid, just better than his 'normal'. I think it safe to say that all the teams came in ready to play for the Wildcard weekend. That's to include all the players they had on both offense and defense. Poor Philadelphia came in with half their starters on the bench then lost Wentz a few plays into the game. Even with all this Philadelphia was still in it until the very end with an injured McCown at QB.

Got no real issue with it. Sure he dropped a little in production but I don’t think he looked any worse. I can’t remember any plays where I saw him get burnt. Ive seen a few others comment that he would be better served complimented by a true SS. HHCD seems more similar than not and not as good a tackler as I’d hoped. Im guessing this was also done to help the team somehow with its salary cap while it prepares to look for new players elsewhere. Or did it just eat up all that cap space Fullers restructure made yesterday?

Speaking of speculation; saw someone suggest Zach Miller could be a good TE coach. They are without one currently right?

Alex Smith was a running QB? I don’t recall that ever being a huge piece of his game. But if Teddy Bridgewater can return from the “gruesome” leg injury he had then possibly so too could Smith. Yeah I’m not sure on the contract piece other than the speculation of it not costing a lot for the Bears to absorb. I think one scenario I saw had them trading Smith for Trubisky. And as much as I like Rivera, I have to believe Dan Snyder is the same as Jerry Jones in that what he says goes. Wasn’t there something about former Skins coach Gruden not wanting to draft Haskins? If Snyder wants Haskins as the starter then he will. And besides that, isn’t it possible Haskins reminds Rivera of a young Newton? What’s to say he doesn’t try to make a deal for Newton to Washington as a mentor to Haskins? Sure a lot of speculation but that’s what the off-season is all about.

Saw on another site a guy wondering if Alex Smith might not be a bad option to bring in for next year? Says his contract isn’t too awfully bad and would be something the Bears could absorb . Might be the perfect option as a veteran challenger to Trubiksy given his understanding of the system. That is provided his leg is healed. There are a few articles on it too. https://heavy.com/sports/2019/12/chicago-bears-alex-smith-2020/ https://www.bleachernation.com/bears/2019/12/30/if-perfectly-healthy-alex-smith-is-a-fantastic-short-term-fit-for-the-bears/