BearFan2000

Let's not put them in the HOF yet

agree, even if a smart pick is a consensus, logical, even a predictable one. if it's a smart pick it's still a smart pick. Far better than a pick that makes pretty much everyone say Whaaaaa? And the pick requires your GM to have to sell the pick after the fact. I'll take the former every day of the week and twice on Sundays. The point is to add talent to build your team with not just make waves on the clock.

Although a vet skipping offseason stuff on a team he's been a part of is different than a FA Vet doing the same before signing to a new team. For a vet who's been with a team and knows the system the impact of missing is less. Though with us getting a whole new staff those offseason workouts are valuable especially when the staff starts installing concepts for their system.

For a young first time GM I think Pace did very well, his enthusiasm and passion shows in his pressers very refreshing from the old nerd who talked down to people and drafted like he though was the smartest guy in the room. We've come a long way from last years collapse and dumpster fire of a season. We have a new GM who has passion, enthusiasm, well organized, and hard working, a new coaching staff that knows what success looks like and how to coach success. It's almost like the scene at the end of Terminator 2 when Sarah is saying for the first time she looks at the future with hope. For the past several seasons we've expectedly watched in horror as our "braintrust" crapped draft after draft down their legs. And had to be overactive in FA to cover for their drafting ineptitude. This has been such a refreshing offseason, and we as fans approached the the draft with a sense of hope. No draft is perfect, and no draft will suit every fan's expectation on every pick. But I feel like overall I'm pleased with this draft and feel like there is a lot of potential in this group as well as some of the UDFA signings. For once it's nice to walk away from the draft with optimism vs disappointment, confusion, and hope that somehow something good comes out of it. It's too early to tell how this draft will look in the next few years but I for one definitely walked away more hopeful about this years class than I have in many years. Could the tide be finally turning for us long suffering Bears fans. Time will tell.

I agree, yes ideally you want as many of your picks to contribute early, but we don't know what we have this year how good we'll be, or how far we have to go to be a contender. Some positions would be more likely to be expected to start or contribute right away. Others like QB we know will sit behind Jay and battle for backup spot this year and possibly next. I'm on the fence about Mariotta, do not want Winston at all. I'd rather trade down and get more picks but if the Bears go with Mariotta at #7 I can live with it because it is taking a chance on the future. I don't think we should not draft guys just because they don't start this year, if they can be a part of the teams future. We may very well struggle to be a 500 team this coming season. I don't like throwing a season away, but we need to draft with the future in mind as well as trying to find as many guys who can contribute now. There are too many holes to expect them all to be fixed or patched this offseason. It's going to take consecutive good offseason in the draft and FA to right the ship.

A loss of a great guy on and off the field. Win or lose I always looked forward to the Doug & OB post game. His passion as a player and after his career as a commentator was hard to miss and will be greatly missed. An extremely classy guy, who wore his heart on his sleeve and always called it like he saw it. A true representative of the Chicago Bears.

Exactly, especially GB week 1 in our house. There will be no tape on us other than what little would be shown during preseason. So that will give us an advantage in game planning, since we are well aware of what the Packers do on both sides of the ball. Will that tip the balance for an early season battle, who knows. But early division wins will be huge for us. And we have Detroit in week 6 as well. Also only 2 of the first 6 games are against AFC opponents so it's a chance to get some conference wins and some good tests early to see how we stack up.

that would be awesome to have a guy like that fall to us at 7. About time we catch some breaks and get a really good draft this year. We've suffered bad drafts long enough. For once it would be nice to walk away from the draft feeling excited rather than the usual. "Man, I hope this works out" and have to google some of our picks cause no one knows who the hell they are.

Do we ever get to host the third preseason game? Seems like it's away every freakin year.

at 7 we should go best available whoever that is. Your high picks especially a top 10 should be targeting future stars on your team that you can build around. You need anchors and as many as you can get. We've all talked for years about our past drafts and how sad it is that only a few guys over the years can fit that description. The majority of the guys we've signed this offseason are of the "let's see" variety, some may stick I'd guess most don't. But a transition year it's smart to bring in plenty of bodies that could potentially work out. We have a lot of unknowns when it comes to our current guys, so I like that we are bringing in low risk guys that if it doesn't work it doesn't kill us.

Sad that we've become so used to evaluating players from the perspective of knowing they will be coached by idiots. Having real professional coaches changes how we look at potential players. It's a brave new world for us Bears fans.

Exactly and the draft is in someways like a final exam, you don't know what questions may arise but you want to be prepared so you don't get blindsided and have to "guess" or wing it. You run through as many scenarios as you can so when things don't go exactly to plan your not caught with your pants down. You want to play a high stakes poker game and not tip your hand. It does help us that Pace is a first time GM, the team is in a retooling/rebuilding mode and they haven't committed to much so they are playing things close to the vest. May as well use the ambiguity to our benefit.

Wouldn't be surprised if Tillman also winds up there. Maybe he'll take Jay LOL

I agree, and have noticed over the past three seasons he has leaned less and less on Marshall. Partly due to adding new targets, but also developing a report with them as well. Just adding a new target however you do so doesn't instantly translate into more spreading the ball around but it does start the trend as QB and WR or TE get more familiar with more practice and in game reps. When Marshall got here he had chemistry with him having played together before so it was natural to lock in on him, and 37% is a high percentage and defenses knew that if Marshall wasn't the first option on a play Jay would still quickly look his way. As Jeffery got more acclimated and Bennet got more reps with him the ball went around more. Also think with Trestman's system a lot of balls went Forte's way too especially last year. At the end of the day the deal is done and he's not here now. All we can do is speculate based on what we've seen personally and what's been reported. The situation isn't new for Brandon, there is a trend of him wearing out his welcome with a team.

I agree that it's likely Tillman's gone wouldn't be surprised if he ends up with the Tampa Bears along with Briggs. Cutler though I highly doubt we will find a trade partner with the albatross that is his contract. It's going to hurt us to cut him, and hurt us to keep him financially, so you might as well let him play in 2015. I would be shocked if he was cut or traded this offseason. Not saying it can't happen, just doubt it will. Forte, I don't really see the the need to cut/trade him. He is getting up their in years and milage, but he's got one year left on his contract and is still playing at a high level and has been pretty darn durable considering the milage on his body. We might start to see more of a 50/50 split with him and Carey in 2015, or if we draft or pick up a FA RB. As the team figures out who will take over for Forte when he's done here whether it be Carey or a draft pick or FA. I expected the Marshall trade and was on the fence as to wanting him back, I think there were pros and cons to both keeping him and getting rid of him. Definitely does feel like a house cleaning that started with the firing of Emery and Trestman. It's not unusual for a new GM and coaching staff to evaluate and clear out guys that don't fit their philosophy or their vision for the team. Angelo did the same thing when he arrived, clearing out what he felt was dead weight. I don't think we are in total rebuild mode but I think we are in a transition stage as Pace and Fox work to reshape the roster to their liking.

Could be the kind of key pickups in FA that my not be splashes but it's about adding pieces that make the team better and if you can find the right bargains it would sure help in narrowing our draft priority. Something Pace mentioned about adding FA that allow you to draft BPA and give you more freedom in that regard. look at NE they constantly seem to be able to find guys who were virtual no names or guys who had limited exposure that filled crucial roles on their team. Wether it be starters, depth, rotation type guys who also add talent to your special teams by having a solid bottom end of the roster.

Perhaps we have passed the torch to SF for league laughing stock. Regardless of how things went down they happened and I'm thrilled they happened. We finally have a professional level coaching staff, it's now up to the players to play at a pro level. As Adam mentioned the offense under performed, the D was just bad, and it's hard to really tell if there's usable pieces or how many usable pieces are there it was that big of a mess. We could be close to fielding a competent D or we may be a long way off from that. That said if true it proves what we know about forcing a coach on a potential head coach or GM or whatever. Any HC or GM worth is salt will want to have his pick of who he wants to build his staff. If he wants to keep the guy you like great but let him make that call not have that call taken from him. You severely limit your options and in many cases put yourself out of the running for some of the best candidates out there. The Tomsula thing is more or less the York family wanting a puppet who's just a yes man. He's essentially an unwitting pawn who seems to have no awareness of just how in over his head he is. It's mind boggling to think that they went from Harbaugh to this dolt. A team that was making a serious run at the title recently may now be plunged into new lows.

He also played behind a solid and healthy offensive line. Unlike last year where it was musical chairs.

I've said before the environment was not helpful. When the locker room is in anarchy cause the man in charge is spinless and clueless, that's not the ideal situation for someone like him, it's like taking a former alcoholic to a binge party. Not that it makes his behavior right. But the players walked all over Dr.Death like a throw rug. If we're going to get rid of him get something for him, I don't expect he'll bring a lot given his age, his recent injury history, and his history of issues along with this past year or so.

I find I'm looking forward to the Draft and FA this offseason with a renewed sense of hope, not hope we don't royally screw things up yet again, and hope that with dumb luck things get better. I have hope that the Bears are moving forward with a unified plan, a goal to build through the draft, a goal to bring in winning draft classes rather than classes that have more wtf picks than ones that make sense. A new look at FA to actually smartly add pieces that can help the team to supplement rather than bandaid. Then after the draft/FA looking forward to a real professional coaching staff getting their hands on this team and putting them in a position to succeed.

No to Manzel, why trade crap for crap?

poor clock management made that even worse. Twice they had to burn time outs because the play clock was ready to expire. By the time they got to the one they had one time out, had they not had to burn them the would have been able to make multiple run attempts. But even with that you still had one time out and should have run it. if you get in you win, if you don't you call the time out or hurry up and run it twice then burn a time out. But to call that play at the 1 with compressed routes made no sense. If your going to throw it, do play action or read option after you run it at least once more. Really did look like our type of play call. Then even after you blow it you give up an offsides and basically make their job easy to just kneel. Then you start a fight when the game is over. Going into this game I couldn't decide really who I disliked more and who to root for. But to blow the game and then pick a fight in the Super Bowl of all games. Real classy Seattle, but then again consider their coach.

is hard to pick one when you don't like either. My hatred for the pats outweighs my hatred of the seahags. Plus the Seahags knocked the team I hate most out of the playoffs. first quarter was boring second quarter more interesting. Gotta say gutsy call with 6 seconds left to take one crack at the End zone rather than just send out the kicking team. Paid off with a TD. with around 30 seconds left in the half I liked (and was jealous of the aggressiveness. Having watched my Bears have the ball with over a min left several times and always content to let the time run out.

we can argue in circles about this the entire offseason and still end up in the same place. We can discuss the numbers as much as we want. But at the end of the day it's up to Fox and Pace to decide if they think we can win with Jay, if we should cut him and when to do so, or seek trade offers. My guess is they are looking at all the possibilities. And will decide which one is the best for the team now and future. In a lot of ways Jay is what he is. I don't think there's much growth potential for a 32 year old 10 year vet. His issues, and limitations are known and at this point winning with him involves an offensive scheme that plays to his strengths rather than asking him to be what he isn't. I think Trestman's system asked him to be what he isn't. How many of us watched the offense the last two years and wondered why we don't do more roll outs, bootlegs, etc to use his mobility. An offense that asks Jay to be a pure pocket passer or statue does not play to his strengths but rather exposes his weakness. A pass happy offense doesn't help either. In the past I think we've coaches that were either stuck on their system or didn't have a clue how to organize an NFL system and tried to fit the players to their scheme whether they fit or not and some players were of the square peg/round hole ilk. I feel for the first time in a long long time we have a real professional NFL staff here. So I trust their Judgement. I also feel that this staff will tailer their schemes to what we have on the roster and who we draft or bring in during FA. The ultimate goal is to build for the long term and if we happen to win now or turn things around quickly while doing so great, but I don't see us mortgaging the future to win now. I'm content to sit back and let Fox, Pace, and Gase decide Jay's future. I do feel in the right setting/offense we can win with Jay by playing to his strengths rather than ask him to be something he's not.

I would be for Tillman returning at the right price and if is fully healthy. He definitely seems excited and this team could use some enthusiasm and energy. Briggs... I'm split on this, I would lay down specific points that need to be met for him to come back. He has been an ass in the past but last year he was even more so and possibly the leading one on the team. He's had a brilliant career here, but his durability has become an issue, his commitment to the team has become an issue, and these are all fair concerns for bringing him back. I would on'y consider it if 1. He is all in and committed. That means he works his ass off to get himself in the best possible shape and arrives at camp ready to get to work. 2. He agrees to play for a fair price for the Bears. 3. He keeps his attitude in line and doesn't pull the crap he pulled last year. I would keep him but on a very short leash with an incentive laden contract that will not hurt the Bears to cut him if he doesn't shape up and stay in line. At the end of the day both these guys futures here are up to Fox and Pace, if they feel the risk is worth it and feel like they can get a good year or two out of these guys, I'll trust their judgement. Fox won't put up with the crap Trestman allowed. So the culture is different this year than last two years.