Alaskan Grizzly

Heck if Shea McClellin can end up with the Patriots (and get a Super Bowl ring) Kwit can certainly find work as a serviceable LB.

Were you asking me? Lol... sorry my childish side couldn’t resist. But...I like the odds especially when you consider this (from AZs post regarding a Hoge article from last week): “As I reporter, I never complain about good storylines, so how’s this: the Bears return to Miami, the site of their last Super Bowl appearance, and play the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV on February 2, 2020. Matt Nagy vs Andy Reid. Mitchell Trubisky vs Patrick Mahomes. Nagy’s 18th wedding anniversary. George Halas’ birthday. The NFL’s 100th season. The Bears’ 100th season. I mean, the story writes itself.” This is the same article where it was noted that Nagy had a bit of a man-crush on Mahomes before he came to KC. And went out of his way to convince most of the KC coaching staff (to include Reid) that getting Mahomes was the right move. Hoge also speculated that the NFL will or should consider letting the Bears and Packers play the first game of the season, vice traditionally where they let the previous years Super Bowl teams have a redux. I feel good about this next year so ‘yes’ I like those odds.

So I got this wild hair the other day after watching the Super Bowl and thought ‘how much longer can this last?’ ‘This’ being the current Patriot dynasty. That which involves no matter the circumstances the Patriots will almost always make it to the Super Bowl and have a better than 50% chance of winning it. So to answer my question in a convoluted way I thought who has the better coaching tree; Belichek or Reid? (I partly asked that because Nagy is a product of the Reid tree and well...I like Reid). Anyhow, without really putting much thought into it I started thinking about all of the coaches that have come from either camp and how successful they’ve been. Interestingly enough, even with his now 6 championships, Belichecks group doesn’t fare as well as Andy’s does. I started looking around for articles on the subject and found quite a few. This particular one is right on target with what I was looking for: https://sports.yahoo.com/bill-belichick-vs-andy-reid-whos-got-better-coaching-tree-002924400.html So after all that you may ask ‘what was the moral of your babble’? Simply this, the Patriot reign will come to an end sooner than later. And more than likely whomever picks up after Bill won’t have the same success as he did. They certainly won’t have Brady to help them. But those that have learned from the tutelage of Reid more than likely will succeed, regardless of where they end up. Which puts our team in a great spot from here on out.

Yeah. Especially liked the part where he said his favorite thing to see after a road win was Virginia’s smile. That was total class and right in line with his ‘family’ theme. He talks the talk AND walks the walk. He’s now in my top 3 fav coaches for the Bears. Officially passed up Lovie. Lol!!! Go Bears and long live Coach Nagy and Virgina!!!!

Not sure if anyone has caught on to this but former Bears WR Earl Bennett hosts a podcast (I guess you call it that on YouTube) called ProStyle Podcast. He recently had an ‘episode’ where he interviewed Robbie Gould and talked about various things to include he being from Chicago and encouraging him to return to the Bears. Good watch if you have the interest or time. Link here: Anyhow, Earl posted something interesting on Twitter today regarding this same subject . https://mobile.twitter.com/EarlBBennett/status/1091087651703279618?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet

Was looking at a list of potential Safety FAs for next year and found this one from Walterfootball.com: http://walterfootball.com/freeagents2019S.php Its encouraging to see Amos ranked as high as he is (similar to other sites). And like you would really prefer him over anyone else due to the consistentcy factor. A few more things on this list in his favor are his age (26) and (so far) lack of injury history. I suppose if his price became too high or it got contentious in the negotiations, I’d totally be good with either Collins or Clinton-Dix joining the team. Clinton-Dix and Jackson being reunited in the backfield would be an awesome combination (although I think Collins is more a SS than Dix). Apparently they also have a history as friends dating back a few years. (Disclaimer: sorry for using a Packers website?) https://www.packers.com/news/eddie-jackson-grateful-for-friendship-with-ha-ha-clinton-dix-18616799

You know it’s funny one of ‘our’ former NBs was key in the Playoff game. Remember Cre’von LeBlanc who now plays for the Eagles? But yeah when they have to make choices about the defensive backfield, it isnt always cut and dry.

So...trying to make sense of why many think Amos will be gone. I had a discussion with someone here not all that long ago about ‘core’ players and whether he was considered one of them. I could certainly see where he qualifies as one. But perhaps the pessimism on his return is more ‘end of contract’ and money related more than anything? Belief that he think he’s worth more than his actual value? Etc...

Was reading this article last night which talks about a few potential ‘adds’ to the team for next year. Among them OT Isaiah Prince from Ohio State. The article calls it a long shot at the Bears first pick buried in the third round but still food for thought. https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-bears-robbie-gould-kareem-hunt-20190117-story.html At any rate, the reason I read the article was more about the interest in Hunt; which personally I don’t get. Sure I understand the whole NFL player ability and the exciting offensive dimension he brings to the team but at what cost to our team’s reputation? One that many here have lauded not only for Nagy’s keen ability at building up but also for Fox in establishing the groundwork in solid high character veterans and rookie players alike. The charge that Hunt faces from the ‘altercation’ probably was not a DV related charge but more along the lines of a ‘simple assault or battery’. DV would more apply if the young lady involved was a co-habitant or long term girlfriend/wife etc. A true DV case would be one of more recency involving Reuben Foster. A player many of you here wanted nothing to do with because of his assaultive history and character. But I digress. One other thing to remember from this incident was when Hunt originally was confronted by KC staff about it he either outright lied or was very deceitful; according to earlier reports. Legally a few things appear to need be worked out. Although he was not originally charged in this event it doesn’t mean he won’t. According to this article Ohio law allows a two year statute of limitation on misdemeanor charges and six on felonies. https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/11/30/kansas-city-chiefs-kareem-hunt-hotel-video-released-key-legal-points Another compelling thing about it (and raised by the article) was how did the NFL not have the video evidence that TMZ eventually ended up with? Sometimes you have to wonder what kind of operation Roger Goodell is running. It has a lot of flaws with him behind the wheel. In recent history Hunt has as many as three incidents involving assaultive history counting this one and going back to June of last year. There is no ‘speculation’ as to whether these things happened because Hunt has admitted to some and apologized for others. He also has sought alcohol and anger management help as a result of some of these things. https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2018/11/30/18120089/kareem-hunt-chiefs-hotel-assault-nfl-suspension-released-updates Is it enough that Hunt has owned up to his recent mistakes that we give him a pass at the expense of our team wanting to get to and win a Super Bowl? And HOPE he doesn’t make a ‘mistake’ and hurt someone or worse? For me the answer is ‘no’. I think a player as talented could be found elsewhere either in the draft or hidden in someone’s practice roster.

Yeah have to agree to some extent. I’d say a fairer comparison (right now) of Trubiksy is between he and Wentz or even Mariota. Yes both of these other guys have battled injuries (so too has Watson for that matter) but they were essentially thrust into starting roles their rookie years. And they just so happen to be the 2nd pick of their respective draft classes. The one difference between the three, so far, is that both Wentz and Mariota have done well coming out of the gate and since fallen off, right now Trubisky appears to be in an upward trend...however slight. But the aforementioned injuries also play into this where the previous two have been hampered by it where Trubisky, so far, has not. And to expand upon the Mahomes phenomenon; I suspect that in the coming years DC wizards like Fangio will figure out how to corral and blunt his productivity. After getting a year or two of tape on how he plays, I don’t expect he’ll be doing as well as he did this year . Sure he may play at a higher level but not nearly to what he’s done so far.

Was thinking about this and can’t say I agree. How often have we heard that the NFL is a ‘game of inches’? Where you hear Al Pacino infamously give that very speech in “Any Given Sunday”? Where we’re to a point where Refs look at Surface Pros to determine whether a finger or an inch of forearm skin touched a deflected punt return (NE vs KC). Whether we like it or not this is the NFL we find ourselves in. Sure it’s great to think that teams should be like Alabama where they constantly blow out their competition (until they meet a determined Clemson team) but that’s not the way it is these days. Playoff games especially. The games yesterday were exactly what we as fans want; close and OT games. Really...anyone can win in these instances. Our team had that chance but lost, as Cris Collingsworth said, on a double doink. That ball goes one inch right or bounced the ‘right’ way over the crossbar who knows how far our team would have gone? As far as that call yesterday in the NO/LA game; sorry but that’s what shouldn’t happen.

So it looks like they went with another former DB in Deshea Townsend as the new DB coach. Used to play for the Steelers and according to his bio has had a hand in a few players’ success as a coach in recent years. I personally was more interested in seeing how Ed Reed would’ve done but oh well. https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2019/1/18/18188869/chicago-bears-hire-deshea-townsend-defensive-backs-coach-ronell-williams-defensive-quality-control

This falls into the category of SITREP but just heard on Bears news that Mack has an injured knee and won’t be participating in the Pro Bowl. Story about it below. Appears to be of the sprain category so hopefully all he’ll need is a nice restful offseason to get back to form. Explains why he looked a little slow in the game against Philly. https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/football/news/bears-khalil-mack-drops-out-of-pro-bowl/

In the spirit of free agency (coaches in this instance); I was reading about a few potential asst. defensive coaches Pagano could try to bring to Chicago. One is former Safety Ed Reed (who played for Pagano while in Baltimore) and Rob Ryan (yes one of the two sons of Buddy - wouldn’t that be interesting?). I’m not personally a fan of Ryan’s but in another article I read they say he’s been really successful with LB development; a crappy overall coordinator but a good position coach. https://dawindycity.com/2019/01/14/chicago-bears-reed-ryan/

Two things to remember; Howard very nearly got 950 yards rushing despite an extremely slow start. He also developed his catching skills to a respectable level. I would think if Trubisky should be given an opportunity to flourish in the offense so to should Howard. I’m struggling to get the ‘why’ of the value for trading away Howard. And secondly, last I checked Nall is still on the team’s roster. He looked pretty damn good in the preseason. I’m as stumped as some of you as to why Mizzel got as much playing time as he did but there must have been some knowledge Nagy had that he decided to go that route.

Yeah and for most of the games I’ve been watching this weekend it stings even more when all the other kickers makes theirs. Viniatiari excluded.

Yeah I see he’s had some pretty good success on the D side of things. Similar to Fangio. Never really knew him to be defensive oriented but yeah he is revered by his guys. Should meld good with Nagy.

https://www.chicagobears.com/news/bears-hire-pagano-as-defensive-coordinator https://mobile.twitter.com/ChicagoBears?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author What do we think? Interesting angle.

Ha! Us ‘Deck Apes’ didn’t talk to anyone because we had difficultly formulating complete sentences. Of course I did eventually learn to talk and wander into the world of MA. You’re right about the future. Kinda cool to think about. No doubt we have the personnel in place; just curious who will be managing them.

Man I wish you were right but just saw the announcement. I was thinking the same thing about the chemistry of Elway and Vic. To me it didn’t make sense and can’t see Vic wanting to put up with it but... here we are...looking for a new DC. Gosh I hope this doesn’t screw up the team.

Well I would have suggested Mel Tucker as an option but it looks like he got the job as HC of Colorado if you can believe that. I certainly didn’t when I read it. https://www.ajc.com/sports/college/who-will-smart-hire-replace-tucker-defensive-coordinator/Fhjj8E1N8agUrNEVDcJeOO/ I of course kid due to him being a hot mess when he was in Chicago before. Although he did turn out some pretty stout defenses while as DC in Georgia and produced players like Smith and Floyd so maybe he’s reformed? I digress... Id think maybe an assistant like Pires or Donatell might be convinced to stick around? At least they have some of the institutional knowledge already in place. Or I had thought before that Steve Wilks could be a possibility. He’s used 3-4 base defenses in other places he’s been and been a Chicago assistant coach in the past. I think it was Stinger that made the point now that Chicago is where they are, there will be good people who want to be a part of its growth so we may even see someone who were not considering ourselves. But really...deep down in my heart I’m hoping Vic says ‘nah thanks, I like where I’m at.’ Here’s to dreaming...

Second that. I’d even make a case that Nall showed enough this preseason to give a look for depth purposes. And Mizzel to simply mix things up in spot duty...should they need.

I would not. I would equate it to all the talk we've been hearing of Gruden's willingness to part with Mack for a couple 1st round picks. Mack being a 'generational player' that you can only hope to duplicate in another draft. Yes he ended up with two 1st round picks in the deal so his chances are better but I can't help think of the 'bird in the hand vs two in the bush' prophecy. Same with Jordan. We know his capabilities. He started with back to back 1,000 yard seasons and much to my surprise and despite a slow start to this season, closed out this season with 935 yards rushing. AND he noticeably became a better receiver out of the backfield during games. Trading him to hopefully find his replacement to me would be foolhardy.

I thought I'd throw a shout out to the veterans in the room with the title of this thread, although I know I'm mixing terminologies with the Hot Wash and SITREP meaning essentially the same thing. What can you expect from a Navy guy? Anyhow, I wanted to start a thread on overall post-season thoughts (sadly yes that's where we are) and most notably something I'm sincerely concerned about; where will Fangio end up next? I can only hope back in Chicago... I still love watching football and although the beloved are no longer in the mix as a fan of the sport, I'll still watch and cheer for a team (or two) that I think are deserving. For now my pick for this years Championship will be New Orleans versus Kansas City. Why KC? Well for one, I can't bear the thought of seeing NE in another Super Bowl...they've had enough. And the other, I'm really believing Andy Reid is due. Yes I know he's been there before but the guy is due a championship at least once. If for nothing else his 'coaching tree' has proven more successful, so far, than even Bill Belichek's. I mean if you include Reid, until last night there were four coaches (Reid, Nagy, Pederson and Reich) from the Reid School of Coaching. That's pretty damn impressive. And based on what I've seen with Nagy and heard about Reid, he's a damn good human being (besides being a solid coach). On the other side and sticking with the 'human' factor, how can you not pull for Drew Brees? This guy has done it all with relatively low recognition. Won a Super Bowl AND been chosen as the NFL Man of the Year without ever getting an MVP for the season or Super Bowl. The guy is a true legend in not just his play but his relation to his team, his community and his fellow man. Someone you really encourage young players to emulate. Good luck KC and NO.

Yeah can’t help but think the combo of Amos and Jackson is perfect. Jackson is a true FS in his rangy ball hawking abilities and usually Amos is a true SS that isn’t afraid to anchor the back end and lay wood when appropriate.