Alaskan Grizzly

Ha, was just getting ready to post. Several stories confirming same including this: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2822780-jordan-howard-traded-from-bears-to-eagles-for-2020-draft-pick Personally not a fan especially since it seems they got a steal for a 6th round pick next year. I see the Davis acquisition making more sense but still concerned since he has no track record where Jordan does. But oh well, here we go.

Looks like he’s agreed to go to the Colts. Must’ve been about the money... Oh well having Mack on the team is a definite consolation prize! Lol https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2019/3/21/18276276/report-justin-houston-has-signed-with-the-indianapolis-colts

Apparently he’s narrowed his search to “three teams”. None mentioned by name but speculation is among four teams, one of which are the Bears. https://nflmocks.com/2019/03/18/justin-houston-finally-narrowing-choices-new-teams/

So perhaps my ignorance is pretty apparent but I have no idea how Twitter works. Is the original tweet suggesting that Houston could be the next signing or any of the 15 on the attached list? As much as I’d like to see Houston in Chicago (sends chills down my spine) it looks like Pittsburgh, Baltimore and possibly Indy would love him too. Question is; does Justin want money or a near guarantee that he’ll have been in a Super Bowl by this time next year?

Would absolutley love to see Houston join the team. He’d be a great situational/rotational player. I think he has enough in the tank that he could significantly contribute. And I can’t imagine he’d be too awfully expensive. And I just read this; played college ball at Georgia. Could talk Bulldog ball with Floyd and Smith. Gostowski would certainly be a great option. Something tells me he’d be pricey though. Bears are probably starting to run low on extra scratch.

Sorry but my immature side couldn’t resist: “I’d rather have Dix for the consistency”. But serioisly, just saw that the Bears signed him to a one year deal! Yippeeee!!! Details: 1 year $3.5 million. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001022687/article/bears-signing-ha-ha-clintondix-to-oneyear-deal

I see the article you cite mentions ‘what about Eric Berry’? I personally would hope Clinton-Dix is the one they go with but if for some reason it doesn’t work out, why not give Berry a go? Yes he’s fragile but if you’re proposing a one year deal anyhow, why not? And probably not for a $6 million deal. We know he’s got big play potential and there is some familiarity with Nagy. You could draft a later round Safety this year and work them in slowly rather than wait a year. Or see if one of the other former Pace draftees in Houston-Carson or Bush can contribute.

Yeah I get that’ll. Although I don’t think he’s that elusive he can be counted on to overly worry the D. With the way they make D players nowadays? He looks a lot different than he did when he played for Minny (he looks bigger). But my recollection from his play with the Vikings was Kevin White like. I saw a point made (from you I think) that he essentially replaces Bellamy, which I can live with. Except Patterson’s getting more money for the same job/position on the team. Yes I get Patterson has the potential to be more effective at least on ST but was it worth ~$2 million a year more?

I’ll be the odd man out and say I don’t like the Patterson add. Can’t quite put my finger on it but something about him makes me not trust him. The best he’s done at receiving was 469 yds and 4 TDs his rookie year. Just for reference Hester has done better than that (yards wise) four times in his career; three of which were with Chicago. Similarly though Patterson has made his mark as a return man. It’s also intriguing to remember that as a return man last year, he committed a crucial fumble during a return against our Bears.

I’m with Connor on this. On the one hand yes I hate that Amos had to choose and go to the Packers for more money . But last year we very nearly saw Fuller leave to the Packers. Had the Bears not been able to designate him an RFA (or whatever) and have the scratch to match the Packers offer, that’s what would have happened. Difference here is Amos was an UFA and the Bears dont have as much ‘free money’ to play with so he goes to the highest bidder. I’m hoping Pagano is ok with this because from my understanding of his style is that Amos meets his more ‘in the box’ style Safety . That being said perhaps this opens the door for someone like Clinton-Dix to come over. Collins (who is more physical) went to the Redskins. So my hope for a Bama defensive backfield is diminishing.

For me I like to see some of the ‘old D numbers’ make a successful reemergence like 95 (RRH - Dent - and Spice), 91 (Goldman - Harris) and 99 (Lynch - Hampton). My personal favorite is 58 which was the number I wore when I played due in part because of Marshall. I was a HUGE fan as a kid! Great to see it on an awesome player and person who’s only just begun.

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/