Alaskan Grizzly

I think given the right circumstances 'yes' he could help us win a Super Bowl. Do you believe if Brock Purdy played for anyone else he'd be where he is right now? Yes he hasn't won a Super Bowl but something tells me he could (and may) for the team he's playing for right now. Kaepernick was able get to a Super Bowl with a coach like Harbaugh and nearly won it after putting up 302 yards in the air (1 TD / 1 INT) and another 62 yards rushing with another TD. I only used Harbaugh as an example and am with you on the Warren relationship concern. Especially with the most recent scandal hanging over his (Harbaugh's) head I agree we probably won't see him Chicago anytime soon.

Except for the 2020 Super Bowl.

But...what about the games where he had a 21 point lead (Denver), a 26-14 lead against Detroit in their first meeting or even yesterday? An argument could be made that his "heroics" or 'domination' are what kept the Bears in those games too, even though they were losses. The observations you make of not juking when he should've, or put his hand down to gain that extra yard are ticky-tack superhero expectations when failing players like Mooney and Tonyan aren't catching passes, the coach isn't going for a FG to get points and the O-line looks like a sieve should all equally account (if not more) for the disastrous fall we saw yesterday.

Ha! My how time changes everything! lol and I couldn’t agree with you more. I saw I don’t know how many times Jones being pushed backwards at the snap of the ball right into Justin as he was about to throw. A couple of times it messed up the trajectory of the pass. We saw the same thing the week before against Detroit. Jones is not a starting LT. For a guy who ‘has to learn to play as a pocket passer’ I’d argue Justin first needs a pocket to work from.

Tell me unequivocally who the Bears will draft that will play better than Justin has been. Stop using the ‘I can’t predict the future’ smoke cover and provide some stats like Adam does or support your opposing viewpoint with some numbers. Who in this upcoming draft class has a better WINNING record than does Justin at the same point in his career? What are you seeing from the play of Williams, Maye or any of the ‘top tier’ QBs that makes you sure they can do it? And if they can’t, why are we going to draft them knowing they too could/would fail? And if you qualify it with ‘well Flus and Getsy’ will be gone so they new guy will have a better chance because of it’, then I’d counter with ‘what’s to say Justin couldn’t of given the same circumstances’? “What if” (for example) they hire Harbaugh and he decides he can make it work for Justin with the caveat he’d want them to draft McCarthy as his potential heir apparent? Harbaugh knew he could make it work for Krapernick and he did…Justin is unquestionably more talented. And Harbaugh couldn’t beat him in college.

Matt Ryan had a similar dream when he played in the Super Bowl in 2017. So did Justin this year against Denver and Detroit (game 1).

I would agree to some of this. There's no question that the coaching came into question in all three but Justin not being able to put it away...not so much.

I laugh to myself when I come to read our collective reactions here and other places that Bears fans reside. Last week we were all elated, talking about making the playoff, maybe Eberflus isn’t such a bad coach and maybe Justin is figuring it out. Then after we lose like we did yesterday, it’s back to the drawing board (aka ‘burn it all down’) draft a QB with the first pick and flush half the players and coaches. I admit my frustration gets the best of me too and hesitate on reactive response because had I done this 24 hours ago it would’ve been a whole different response. At any rate, if you consider some of the things you mentioned; Tonyans flub, Mooney’s play (or lack thereof), Flus’ questionable call about not going for a FG at the end of the half and a few other things were really not as bad as we feel we are. As you said, this was against the #1 ranked defense (at home) and despite some key flubs by some of our offensive players, we had them on the ropes. We just couldn’t close out. Three times it’s happened this year and oddly all for different reasons.

Yeah that’s the kinda thing that makes you wonder whether Flus stays as HC. Dumb.

FWIW Hurts has fumbled 8 times this year and lost 5. Justin had 7 fumbles and lost 4. What’s also interesting is that Hurts has been sacked 33 times and Justin 32 times. I think it safe to assume Hurts can get a team to the Super Bowl. ?

Yea he does. Thanks to Montez! ?

I think I’ve figured out what the problem is. The Bears need to get rid of anything former GB. Except maybe Lewis. I swear they’re purposefully sabotaging the Bears offensive efforts.

If you keep him for the fifth year and pay it’ll be just north of $23 million for that year ($32 million if he makes the Pro Bowl). The first figure puts him about 19th-20th in QB salary (between Love and Jimmy G). And about 16th for option 2. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/2023/quarterback/average/ Because I’m not smart about contract stuff, why would they have to commit to 2 years and a hit of $30 milllion if they stick with him for year five?

DJ had an ankle issue pop up this week. In an seperate interview with Kay Adams he said he’d play this weekend. Worth monitoring.

I’d say comparing their collegiate careers would be a huge factor. Where Williams has a Heisman and three postseason appearances (1-2 in those games and none in 2023) Fields has six playoff and conference championship appearances and a winning record against the SEC. If the roles were reversed, it would be a whole different discussion.

I miss Vic Fangio a little less.

Was just going to say, if the Bears make the playoffs you’ll get your wish to analyze how he does against better competition. ??

I heard somewhere recently that he was ‘playing with one arm’ but he hasn’t shown up on any injury reports. I saw that he took a ‘rest day’ a few days ago at practice (for what that’s worth). Zadarius Smith is currently listed as playing opposite him and can get streaky. DC Jim Schwartz is known for an aggressive defense and likes to maintain pressure. We know Justin will have to be on his toes.

In the 9 games he's played in this season he's gone over 200 in six of them. The three he did not were against the Chiefs (99), Vikings - game #1 (58 yds) and Lions - game #1 (169 yds). *As an aside, it appears adjustments were made in the second game with the same opponents and both times Justin (and the team) did better... Anyhow, of the remaining six games where he threw for more than 200 yds he threw for 335 against Denver (and lost) and 282 against Washington the following week and won. To me that mark of '201 yards per game' isn't impossible to attain and so far this season he's been able to do that more than he hasn't.

The “eye test” told me Ngakoue wasn’t as productive all year as I’d hoped. I had hoped with the addition of Sweat we’d see a significant uptick in his play. We did, but very minimal. Your stats solidify that. I wonder now whether we should have kept Terrel Lewis or Trevis Gipson in reserve. I haven’t seen much from Robinson to think he’d be a better option than either of those two. With Lewis you have a former first rounder (assuming he has some talent who has at least played his whole career in the position) and Gipson is somewhat familiar with the scheme and also has played DE his whole career. Robinson is a converted WR?

Well…dang.

Couple more Fields nuggets:

I think you’re right. I was gonna say if the Bears beat the Browns this next week while in Cleveland…they’re in. But yours is less a “hot take” and more likely.

Funny you say this. Was listening to LeBetard and Stugotz this morning and they were going off about the Miami-Tennessee game from last night. I should preface that since their show is based in Miami, they are self-professed "Miami Homers". But they were talking about after this loss they've lost some faith in their team because THEY GAVE UP A 13 POINT LEAD in less than 3-4 minutes. And because of that their offense was exposed for not being as good as they all thought. They even were banging on Tua because, they said, once he's out of the pocket (aka broken plays) he's nothing like some of the other "GREAT" QBs and they listed Mahomes, Allen, Hurts etc. (but not . Only a week (or more) before they were excited about the Dolphins being able to seal up the 1 seed and quite possibly the AFC East. (Of course these two things are still in play). But man if they only knew how many times things like this have happened to us Bears fans...just this year alone. We've given up two significant leads (Denver and Detriot - game 1) but have seen how good our QB can be if rushed outside the pocket. It seemed hilarious to me to have fans like those for the Dolphins who were so confident until a loss like last night that helped bring them back to earth.

Flacco is having a Dobbs-like resurgence. He apparently did something no Browns QB had done since 1981 and that was throw three TDs in one game that was at least 30 yards. Considering it was against the Jags and their 30th ranked pass defense it makes sense. Two of those were to Ngokue so he’ll need someone to stick with him. Flacco is statue like so if we can get pressure on him all day that will make a huge difference. Browns D is no slouch. Ranked #1 overall, #1 against the pass and #14 against the run. This will be a huge test for Justin and the O. I suspect a fair amount of running (by Justin too) and a few pass plays here and there. Hopefully not 15 screens in a row though.