BearFan2000

I would resign Massie as long as it is a reasonable team friendly deal, he's serviceable and has played decent, but it wouldn't hurt to look for a long term upgrade. Whether that's Coward, Sowell, or someone we draft or sign in FA. We do need to address RG largely due to Long's injury history. Witzman played ok in his absence. I like the progress we've gotten from Daniels and Whitehair. It's always good to look for upgrades and depth at O-line. I feel like overall our line play got better as this season went on. You can never have enough talent in the trenches. If you can't control the line of scrimmage you'll struggle elsewhere. Getting Mark back as O-line coach has helped that unit improve this season. Haven't looked ahead much at the 2019 draft to see what O-line prospects will be there to target.

Didn't Yeldon have some character issues? Talent wise he'd be a good fit. I do feel like Howard got more involved and looked more like himself in the second half of the season. If he can keep that up he's still a good tandem with Cohen. Now I wouldn't mind replacing Mizzell and Cunningham with a 3rd starter quality back. I do feel our bigger need in this offseason is OL, CB, Safety, Backup QB, Kicker, and TE.

I'd be good with Donatelli or a quality outside hire. We have loads of talent on the D and they finished the reg season as the top D in many categories. This is a place that should attract a high quality coordinator. Don would be the most seamless transition. But this is a great situation for either a top tier guy or an up and coming coach. Like Stinger said this kind of thing comes with having a successful team. Other teams will look to poach our staff. Happened with Gase. I also have to think that this hasn't totally caught Pace by surprise. Vic's been on teams radars in the past. I have a feeling he and Nagy keep an eye on the landscape in case a coordinator or position coach does need to be replaced. Our defensive talent offers a lot of potential for a coach to come in here and run with it. This isn't like when Rod left and we brought in Tucker and the inmates started to run the asylum. That's what I don't want to see. I don't want someone to come in and be afraid to make changes, or do things differently, or put his stamp on the D. Even Donatelli would likely do some things differently but the overall philosophy would likely remain in tact. It is an opportunity to bring someone in that might get more out of the talent we have possibly more aggressive in getting pressure.

Vic's D plays both 3-4 and 4-3 concepts. I feel like it's not a true 3-4 where it may be rooted in a 3-4 its' a versatile defense. I feel like we have versatile players. Hopefully we can find someone that runs a similar system. I have faith that we'll find someone who will be a better transition than when we went from Rod Marinelli to Mell Sucker. Either way we need someone who can run a system that gets the most out of our guys. No need to reinvent the wheel . Was hoping he'd stay but happy for him to get his shot at a head coaching gig. He's earned a shot.

My silver lining is that I have more positive to take away from this season than negatives. The negatives are pretty obvious. So I'll stick with the positives. Trubisky's second year, first full season and one could argue that this is more like a rookie season as 2017 was a partial season in an offense that made John Shoop look creative. Overall I feel he showed a lot of promise and you could see his progress week to week for the most part. He's got that it factor the game doesn't seem too big for him and I look forward to seeing how he does with a full offseason going into year 2 of this offense along with the new receivers in A-Rob, Gabriel, Burton, Miller, etc. There were definitely growing pains but in the big moments down the stretch he stepped up and made plays. That last drive to put us in position was clutch. Contrast that to the start of the season when we were trying to combat a crazy GB comeback and he looked overwhelmed. He's grown a lot this year and still has room to grow but his arrow is pointing up. Naggy for sure coach of the year to do what he did this season both in taking a team from worst to first and winning 12 games in his first year is impressive. He's created a culture of winning, unity, enthusiasm, and never quit attitude. This team was beyond dead under Trestman, there was initial excitement under Fox, and they were far more competitive and the locker room had improved, but, Nagy brought a real swagger to this team and an energy and enthusiasm that became contagious. This is by all accounts the most unified locker room and tight knit team I've seen in a long time. They would run through a brick wall for Nagy or each other. That is a winning culture we are creating here. Mack's impact on the D will continue, we went from a solid top 10 D to one of if not the best D in the league this season. They dominated teams and some weeks and won games for us when the pressure was on. I hope Vic stays but if he doesn't there is a lot of talent on this team that if we get the right coordinator to replace him this thing can keep rolling. Pace... what more can I say but thank you. He's made some mistakes as all GM's do, but he has put his stamp on this team and seeing him come into his own as a GM has been refreshing. He took over an absolute dumpster fire. Four seasons later we went 12-4 earned the #3 seed in the playoffs (had a chance at the #2 seed) and the future looks bright. His drafts have gotten better and he has made some brilliant moves in FA (some duds as well - looking at you Parkey). He's developed his identity as GM. When he wants something or has strong conviction he goes after it. The Trubisky trade, the Mack trade, Nagy's hiring, etc. His gut isn't always right but more often than not it is. He's transformed the Bears into a young contending team that is built for the long term. It's a good time to be a Bears fan. In past years after a loss like we had this past Sunday I'd still be devastated because my Bears typically underwhelm and once in a while have a surprise season so when you do get a bite at the apple it feels like it's all or nothing like we caught lightning in a bottle. I can move on from the Eagles loss because I believe we will be back stronger next year.

how about hiring Miller to be TE coach or be involved in coaching the TE's. He was a very talented and successful TE when healthy. And a good guy all around, it'd be nice to have him as part of the staff in some way. I do think Parkey will still be here in the offseason and up through mini-camps and maybe even training camp but agree that we'd be foolish not to bring in competition. There may even be some undrafted FA's that we could try out. I'd like us to make an offer to Gould I have a feeling he'd be open to coming back. I would be surprised if we didn't bring back RRH he's made too much of an impact to let him walk.

I'd forgotten about the National Championship game being last night. As a ND fan I pretty much lost interest last week other than rooting for Clemson to beat Bama. Wish I'd have watched it. Alabama getting stomped always brings a smile to my face. Assuming by the comment there was some goal post hitting going on in the kicking game last night?

I didn't realize he ended up close to 1000 yards this year it sure didn't seem like it during the season. He was more involved later in the season and perhaps that was in part due to a heavier focus on installing the passing game early on. I would listen to trade offers but I feel like a 4th rounder is too low. If we could pick up a late 2nd to early/mid 3rd I'd seriously consider taking it. But given the improvement's he's made catching the ball and in overall play once he got more opportunity I wouldn't mind us keeping him and with Cohen add another playmaker to the backfield more in the mold of a Hunt. To give us three quality RB's and let go of Mizzell and Cunningham. Outside of Hunt and Bell(neither of which I'd like to bring in), what's going to be out there and are there any interesting RB prospects that might be there when we pick.

Agree on NO. I have a good feeling that Philly's reality check will finally cash out next week. If we'd have put up more offense we'd have won and it wouldn't have come to a last sec kick. The Saints have offense in spades and their house is a tough place to play at. Their D is pretty decent as well. I'm rooting for a Saints vs Colts Super Bowl. What's interesting is this weekend all but one of the lower seeded teams won their matchups. Both #6 seeds beat the #3 seeds, Chargers at #5 beat the #4 Ravens. Cowboys were the only higher seed to win their matchup by beating the Seahawks.

I'd like to see Gould back. He's said that his getting cut woke him up and he has played much better. He looked like he'd lost his way before we cut him. He could continue his career with the Bears. I'd say he has some productive years left. Look at Vinatieri who's like 100 years old and still getting the job done in Indy.

Replacing a kicker mid season isn't as easy as it sounds, finding dependable kicker off the street or possibly someone's practice squad isn't a given. However, the refusal to bring in kickers to compete or try to find a better option when your kicker is clearly struggling and costing you games. I know you gave him a lot of money but why not kick the tires on some other options.

It was a great season. This was the Bears welcome back to the NFL season thankfully the Bears are built for the future and have a foundation to build on next year. It's disappointing because this team has raised the bar for what Bears fans expect losing in the first round feels like a gut punch. The Eagles were simply the better team that day though I feel the Bears are still the better team in general. This offseason should be interesting to see who we end up keeping, who we end up picking up, and who we get in the draft. Hopefully Vic stays here that would be a huge loss. I feel like the Bears are beginning to find their identity and this is a tight knit team that play for each other and care about each other. Perfect example is after the FG miss they consoled Parkey. The team has come a long way and I still feel the arrow is pointing up next year and beyond.

This is who I'd like us to resign. We have a few that will command more money but also quite a few that we should be able to resign for reasonable contracts. Unrestricted FA's Massie, Callahan, O'Donnell (at the right price), Amos. Possibly also Lynch and (I can't believe I'm typing this) Bellamy. Bellamy has been an asset on special teams and has been a serviceable WR this year. Restricted FA's Scales, Roy Robertson Harris, DeAndre Houston Carson. ERFA Isaiah Erving and Coward.

I chose not to post last night in the heat of the moment. My thought as the game wound down was this is my worst nightmare it's going to come down to a FG to win it and he's going to blow it. I was beyond mad at Parkey and yelled CUT HIM NOW! Even told my wife they should have tied him to the upright... I wanted to post so bad but chose instead to watch some The Office on Netflix as I needed to watch something silly and pointless. My other idea was to load up COD and go on a rampage lol. Now that I've had time to calm and reflect. It's easy to point the finger at Parkey and some of that is pent up frustration of seeing him miss a lot of kicks this season and this isn't the first game winner he's missed. We now know the kick was tipped. It also should not have come to that. We held the Eagles offense to 3 points in the first half and walked into halftime having only put up 6 points ourselves. One of our FG's was off a short field on a turnover if I recall correctly. The first half was our shot at putting the Eagles in a hole and we didn't do that. Opportunity missed. We come out in the second half and the D gives up a TD aided by 3 big penalties that gave them big chunks of yards. On the TD we only had 10 players on the field. We come back and score our own TD, but rather than run a conventional 2 pt conversion to make it a 7 point game we get cute and throw in a backfield of defensive guys and fail. Late in the 4th we have the ball and the 5 point lead and fail to move the ball and at the worst time Pat has a horrible punt and they get the ball with half the field to go for a go ahead TD. The D had several opportunities to stop them but they kept converting and manage to score on 4th and goal from a couple yards out. They failed on their 2 pt conversion. Cohen gets a huge return and Mitch guides the offense down the field with less than a min to go and gets us within Parkey's range only to have the attempt partly blocked. We could have played much better in all three phases of this game to where it wouldn't have come down to a FG to win it. What I don't want to listen to is another week of how great Foles is. The media worship of him this past week has been almost on the level of Favre, Rodgers, Brady butt kissing. There are a few level headed Eagles fans that realize they are playing with house money. The rest are obnoxious. While this loss stings because we know our team is talented enough to hang with best of them. We expected more from this game namely a win. The Bears exceeded my expectations for them this year I like many of us felt we were a year away from making serious noise. I'm closing to look at the positives from this season and this game. We went 12-4 with a new head coach, new offense, many new pieces on offense, a QB in his first full season under a new offense. We went from a top 10 D to one that really came into it's own this season. We have a really good front 7 and a playmaking secondary on the back end. We are a young team and unlike Bears past playoff experiences it's not a one off or surprise season. We aren't going away and are built to compete for the foreseeable future.

Agree and as AZ pointed out it feels like we had an exceptional year at staying healthy partly because we have had season after season of mash unit football. Perhaps we have a better training staff in house now that's helping our guys stay on the field better. Either way Injuries are one of the variables that you can't always control.

Both of those guys not being on the field hurt us. It is part of the story that flies a little under the radar. Great point AZ having practiced all week the game plan was set for the most part. Trey is a big dependable target. There were passes to Shaheen that he dropped that Trey likely catches. And the times when Adam just needs a yard or 2 for a first and does something dumb and ends up short where Burton is better at fighting for that yardage. Shaheen is still stuck at the P word potential, but has a lot to learn about being a TE in the NFL. He's not ready for prime time yet. Not having Jackson back there showed. He truly is the MVP of that secondary. If there is a silver lining he can now focus on getting 100% healthy without trying to hurry that process up for playoff games. The Bears need to make keeping him around a priority. He's the one that makes that secondary work and allows the Kyle and Prince to be more aggressive in jumping routes knowing He's back there.

We might see more screen passes and quick hitting plays in the pass game and a commitment to the run to slow down their pass rush. But your right the biggest key is how well we command the line of scrimmage on offense. If we can keep Mitch relatively clean he should be able to pick apart that secondary. Mitch running the ball is also something that can give the Eagles fits as they have struggled against mobile QBs who can take off. I expect a competitive close game but one that I feel good about our chances to win. The Eagles have played better of late but they aren't the same team that had the #1 seed last year and had home field throughout.

Nice to see there are some Packers or Vikings fans giving props. To be honest I don't know if I could root for either the Packers or Vikings were the roles reversed. I can respect good football outside of our team but there are some teams I just can't bring my self to wish well of.

Good sign, but I’m sure they will be cautious and not rush him back. We’ll need him beyond the first round.

This should be a good game. I think they are over hyping the Foles, narrative and talk like the Eagles are this team of destiny, and we can't beat them because of Foles magic. I do believe this will be a competitive close game. I like that the Bears are getting dismissed by the "experts" at large. That's motivation and a chip on our shoulder. They are discounting the facts. Eagles needed help (specifically ours) to even get to the post season as the #6 seed. Sure they have been on a roll, but looking at their last 5 games they beat a JV squad twice, barely beat the Texans, beat the Rams by 7, and lost to the Cowboys. This is not the same Eagles team that dominated last year and had home field in the playoffs. It's also a drastically different Bears team than the one they stomped last year in Philly. This game is at Soldier Field that will be rocking and cold. They will be facing a D like they haven't seen yet this year with a QB dealing with bruised ribs (hope he brings extra padding and pain killers). I respect the Eagles for turning their season around and being in the playoffs. But ultimately I think the Bears are just too much for them. Keys to the game Run the Ball and stick to it. Shorten's the game and will wear down their D. Mitch needs to play like he has of late. Not necessarily game manger but make the key throws needed to keep sustaining drives. Ball security don't give them anything. Take shots when they are there but don't force anything or try to do too much. Defensively get after Foles make him uncomfortable from the start. He is a pocket passer make him run for his life. He may say he's fine but bruised ribs are painful and he's not going to be 100%, put stress on his body, through pressure, hits, sacks, etc. Don't give up big plays. We know Jeffery can make big plays, don't give up huge chunks. Make them earn every inch and work to sustain drives. Stop the run, their run game hasn't been productive so we should have no problem making them 1 dimensional. Keep an eye on Sprolls he's elusive just like Cohen is. Bears 24 Eagles 13

Pundits putting their faith in Foles gold. They can doubt us all the way to the SB.

that was so funny to watch. Kirk showed more fire and passion arguing with his receivers on the sidelines than he did playing the game.

Way to finish strong. 12-4, Division Champ, #3 seed. 5-1 in our division, knocked Packers and vikings out of the playoffs. First time winning at Minny since 2011 after notching our first win over the Packers at Soldier Field since 2010. We were literally a play away from sweeping all three division teams this year after being dead last. I think Nagy did a good job balancing playing to win in the second half while also filtering in backups. Great team win. Ending the season winning 9 of our last 10 games. We are carrying momentum into the playoffs. I liked that we committed to the run it went a long way to shortening the game. Loved watching Cousins and his WR's arguing on the sidelines at the end of the half. There is a lot of dysfunction on that team. Cousins sure doesn't look like an 84 million dollar "missing piece". Was annoyed that the refs helped the Vikings get their only TD of the game with key 3rd down bail out calls. Thankfully that didn't continue throughout the second half. I didn't get to tune in till the second quarter. didn't see what happened to Miller was it serious/long term or is it something minor and we could still have him for the playoffs? Taylor Gabriel's injury? Trying to get a feel for injuries. I am glad we knocked the Vikings out of the playoffs. Playing them again next week would be tough, but, we have handled them this year. They are losing their minds over in the land of Purple and it is a beautiful thing. Purple tears are almost as satisfying as Green tears. How bout the Pack getting shut out at GB 31-0. I think we can handle the Eagles at home next week. We don't know if it will be Foles, Went, or the backup that finished the game today. We shouldn't take them lightly, they've been hot. But we've been hot as well. Since starting out 3-3 we've only lost once since. Should be a good game. Win and we travel to LA. That will be a tough but winnable game. This season has already exceeded my expectations why not win the whole thing?

It’s possible that with the level of unity and the way this team cares and looks out for each other. Captain may be an unnecessary title. We’ve heard it from multiple players and coaches that this team has a unique bond. You hear words like special, brotherhood, and how they have each other’s back. Quite a contrast to the sheer disfuntion under Dr. Doom. What Pace and Fox started, and Nagy has done in changing the culture here is nothing short of amazing.

I’m with you all and I believe so is Nagy. We need to keep playing hard and play to win. IMHO as long as we play to our ability no one truly scares me. And I don’t believe the Bears are intimidated by anyone either. We’ve been on a roll and our guys are building the confidence that we will find a way to win. If we lose either this week or in the playoffs I don’t feel it will have been a matter of facing a team we “can’t beat,” but rather we didn’t play to the level we’re capable of. So I say keep doing what we’ve done. Play to win. Focus on one game at a time and focus on beating who’s in front of you. Stay in your routine ad do what got you here. Now’s not the time to get in the habit of letting up or letting off the gas. Finish the season strong and take that with you into the playoffs.