DABEARSDABOMB

Oh, I never said I didn't like the pick. I'm just saying I don't think that 2nd round pick fits the bill of a guaranteed success, so I can't not give credit to the coaches. I absolutely loved the Jeffrey pick and still do (but I can also think of all the time some guy was falling draft boards who I thought was a stud who ended up busting too). I think there was even a year where most everyone thought the Browns had the best draft in the league (might have been the year they got Quinn plus someone else)....boy was the planet wrong than. Either way, I hope Jeffrey is back and I hope White proves to be very legit. Would be huge for this offense to have those two weapons outside. You are right though, very rarely is a whole board aligned on who we should pick. I think the other case where most everyone liked a pick was when we grabbed Carimi. Geeze was that a failure. Even when you and I get the olinemen, the Bears miss the boat (until Long of course).

In addition, Bears met with Louisville DT Sheldon Rankins, Oklahoma's OLB Eric Striker, Baylor OL Spencer Drango, and UGA LB Jake Ganus. RosterWatch ‏@RosterWatch 3h3 hours ago #Bears are meeting with @UofLFootball DL Sheldon Rankins and holy cow does he look like a beast in person. RosterWatch ‏@RosterWatch 3h3 hours ago #Bears scouts going IN-DEPTH w/ #Sooners OLB Eric Striker - having him diagram defenses and stuff beyond the normal scope of these meetings. RosterWatch ‏@RosterWatch 55m55 minutes ago #Bears and #Panthers met with #Baylor OL Spencer Drango last night. RosterWatch ‏@RosterWatch 2h2 hours ago #Bears going off for meeting with #UGA LB Jake Ganus.

Bears interested in Garnett (Below is the tweet and a link to his bio). Big, physical guard. I'm always down with more olinemen https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&a...5d5RMwH_VSF7Ipw

Bears met with Braxton Miller yesterday. An interesting prospect. I'd be interested in the later rounds. I've seen where he is projected in the 4th round, which is probably earlier than I'd like to target a wideout. https://mobile.twitter.com/RosterWat...0676326400?p=v

Alshon was a 2nd round pick who turned into one of the better wideouts in the NFL. If everyone thought he was great, he'd have been picked higher. Groh has done a good job with this club, now I do agree with you that Marshall clearly served as a valuable mentor to Alshon as well (and could get just as much, if not more credit to be frank). Groh is leaving for a promotion, so clearly the Rams so a lot in him and Fox didn't want to get in his way of a promotion (probably a reason why Fox is able to typically get good assistants is that he is also okay with promoting them and tends to not block them from advancement).

One of those two falls and I'm happy. And I've mentioned Wentz before.

I don't think Long getting selected at this point had anything to do with a popularity contest. Wasn't this a coaching decision? And I'm pretty sure whomever picked him has no legitimate reason to do anything to "make the Bears coaches look good". And I think we need to define who "most" were. Are we talking about posters here or actual football experts / analyst. Outside of some struggles late in the season (when he was battling injuries), the consistent message I heard was how he kept getting better and was doing a good job. In fact, for most of the season, the general impression from game calls to commentary from football people was overall being very impressed with what Long was able to do with such little experience / practice leading up to it. I think everyone would admit the final couple games of the season were poor, but the overall body of work was probably better than I could have ever expected given how last minute a shift it was. And I don't think the Bears coaches are doing this as a smoke screen and if they were, I'm pretty sure you'd be the first to complain about how they keep screwing with Long. Reality is, they reached a decision very quickly on where "they" thought long was best fit for the franchise and communicated it to him so he can put in all the work necessary to take the next step to being an above average / all pro player at the tackle position (which is his goal and the Bears clearly have made it clear they think he's fully capable of it).

I avoid Bama defensive players (and RB's) like the plague when it comes to the draft. Saban does such a great job scheming them out of their weaknesses. Masks a lot of their issues (great for Saban) but for teams who draft guys realizing their is a reason you didn't get film on X player doing Y. 1st two picks are awful, but if you want to cut Marty, you pretty much have to go TE early (or spend money on a TE via FA so for those of you who want to cut Bennett, just realize, that means we spend cap money on the position via FA or use a high draft pick on the position). Signing Miller to be the #1 ain't happening (signing him to be a top notch #2 is happening).

How do you factor / adjust for the fact that when Bennett was playing, often times, he was the only weapon on the field (Jeffrey, etc were out). That risk also was their for Miller a bit as well, but teams were far more focused on Bennett early in the season than they ever were on Miller. They were all over him, especially when early in the season the Bears had a total cast of unknowns at wideout. If the Bears are moving Bennett, they need to get a starter elsewhere (or someone like Allen from the Colts who has the talent to be a starter). I have said it a million times, but I am not okay with the Bears handing Miller a starting position. I am absolutely on board with resigning Miller though and having a part of this offense.

I hope Loggains can do a good job. He's young and has worked with some good coaches. That said, last time we tried to keep a system the same, we had Tucker and our defense and it turned into a disaster. However, Fox is not Trestman and he has a strong track-record of identifying the right candidates and getting the most of out his candidates. Clearly he was impressed with Loggains in the past year and thought it made sense to reward him with the position. If he wasn't impressed, Fox has the clout to get someone else. He clearly thought Loggains was the best man for the job. If for some reason it doesn't work out, well, I'm sure Fox will resolve the matter, but given his track record, I put my support behind the move (and agree that the path to consistency makes sense). I also can't blame Loggains for the Titans. They had garbage talent, yet he got massive stats from Chris Johnson.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/colle...0112-story.html

Dave Ragone, former Louisville stud QB, is one names that has been mentioned. He was with the Skins this year (not sure what role, but Cousins took some steps forward).

Real question is will we hire a QB coach and if so, who. I certainly hope we do.

The conundrum in this is, you are building to get better, so your pick will only get worse. It is rare to have these types of lower D1 talent available, who might truly be undervalued. I argue while the risk is their, the impacts make sense and now actually makes more sense than using a QB on a pick 2 years from now...at that point, you know you are in for some growing pains with the young QB and you just finished developing your team (while Jay is getting older). I say, if the right QB is their, you take him now and its even easier to do in a year where you get White back plus have massive cap room and luckily the FA market has a lot of available options at the critical positions. By the way, I think if you go with Wentz, it is likely a trade down and you are looking at late teens vs. 11. Lynch probably ends up moving all the way up to #1 overall.

I realize this is a total left field comment, but these are two QB's, who some top NFL people (Greg Gabriel being one of) have raved about. Lynch is probably off the board, but Wentz is another guy who gets high marks. Both of these guys have a ton of talent and would benefit from an organization who has a stability in the coaching ranks and ideally the ability to be patient (as they need to develop). Given that we are getting a 2nd 1st round pick this year (i.e., White's return) and have a ton of money available to make free agent signings (including the ability to poach two young players from Denver's top D where Fox has an existing connection), would this actually be the best time to pick the QB (when we don't really need it...this presumes that Pace, Fox & company all think highly of whomever the QB is)? Two good write-ups from Greg Gabriel (former Bear front office guy...and we can gripe about him, but he has a pretty long history of success). I'd rank him significantly higher than any of the other "draftnicks" including Kiper, etc. This guy lived and breathed it over a long, successful career. http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/breaki...b-carson-wentz/ http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/breaki...k-paxton-lynch/

It sounds like he has at least one offer already, possibly two. Last year I thought he interviewed quite a few places (wasn't just San Fran).

If you look at what the Bucs did, they put absolutely zero focus on their defense. The drafts were to build up their offense and it appeared their plan was to now focus on the defense this draft and off-season.

Cutler appears extremely comfortable with Loggains. It almost seems as if the Bears went into this situation knowing Gase was here to help groom Loggains for the successorship. I do wonder if we bring in a new QB coach though. It also sounds like whatever scheme we run, will be consistent, although Loggains does bring with him a bit more west coast style than Gase, that said, as Fox has alluded to a couple times, the system is not Gase's and it doesn't go with him. We have a system and we will continue to run it. Obviously Gase is sharp and he's a loss, but I have a lot of faith in Fox and if he and Jay are in on Loggains than I'm on board with that. Hard to evaluate him from his time with the Titans when he had garbage QB's.

Philly is a really good organization, so I see no reason why I wouldn't take that job. Stable ownership group, history of patience with its coaches (yes Chip was ousted but their were other circumstances there). Good place to be. That said, existing talent is low (especially lack of an impact QB). I thought Gase was also going to be interviewing for Giants. While I agree Miami ownership / front office has issues, they do have a QB who at least has talent (not sure if I buy into him but it is better than a lot of franchises). I had heard Miami was leaning towards Mora Jr but not sure if Mora would take it. Do agree with your points on the front office though and it worked in the Bears favor. I wonder if the Giants end up giving Lovie a call.

Fairly certain Lovie will get another job. He got royally screwed in Tampa.

Absurd move by the Bucs. I presume Gase would be extremely interested in the gig (although the fact that ownership canned Lovie, who didn't deserve it, that quickly, would make you nervous). That said, getting to work with Winston and building around him would be very attractive to any potential head coach. His players were pretty pissed off (based upon NFL network reports last night).

We will never agree on this or Forte. It makes zero sense to take Miller, who is coming off of his first ever non injury plagued season (and is older than Marty) and than use a pick on an actual starter when we have a million needs. TE is a strength and we have a ton of weaknesses. Why should the Bears end up moving Marty (for what will probably be a pick which would not allow us to draft a player as good as Marty, in most all scenarios) and than create a need now to use a 2nd rounder on a TE. It is an absolute no brainer to me that we need to find a way to mend the relationship and have Marty & Miller and actually have a strength. It also ensures we can focus our draft picks and FA signings on actual areas of need (and their are plenty of them on this roster). If the Bears dump Marty, our Te position is absolutely weak. You would be ignorant to ignore Miller's consistent history of injuries. All probabilities point to a scenario with Miller as our starter resulting in Khari Lee as our starting TE for the majority of the season, which would be a disaster (or we spend money on a FA or use an early pick on a TE and in this day and age, early picks are going to TE's, so that is what it would take if we are looking at a probable TE who has a shot at being a dynamic player).

Or Carey and Langford and invest Forte's money in the oline or defense? That is the reality of the question. We have a solid backup in Carey and a guy who did nothing but look like a starter in Langford (and a potential above average one in that) and both of whom are young and cost effective. Frank Gore was a stud...what good did that deal do for the Colts? I would like Forte back, but reality is, very unlikely the economics make sense for the Bears. If I'm a contending team, who struggles at RB, I can justify that price, but the Bears have a lot of other holes and they can actually have pieces who look like quality backs on the roster. I can't see how or why the Bears would pay him similarly than someone like the Pats. By the way, I agree that Forte isn't even in the same league as anyone on that list except Charles (who is way better than Forte). Gore is the only other one who was close, imo.

Also I think Pace knows that the more people think their is an issue, the lower his trade value gets (if he does intend to test his market). Personally, I know that Marty is one of the best TE's in the league and still young and capable. We have a lot of other needs and we don't have some young up and coming TE on the books. I would be very happy if we were able to give Marty a fair extension while also bringing Miller back to be the back-up (and than continuing to develop Lee or whomever else behind that for more depth). Gives you quality weapons at the TE spot.

Forte was a running back about to be a FA and the Bears had a guy who was at the top of their draft board, having limited perspective on Carey. Remember, at some point last year, people thought Carey was going to get cut. Between Forte being an impending free agent and very long in his tooth, I have absolutely no reason to see why the Bears would invest in back that they thought highly of. And I'm thrilled they did. Langford is going to be a very good football player and a total bargain given where he was picked. We have to look at the landscape of the league and history of the RB position...very few RB's are successful past 30. I hope Forte comes back at a fair price, but if he wants another big contract, I hope the Bears aren't the ones foolish to give it to him. This is the NFL and age matters a ton and guys drop off pretty quick (especially at RB).