DABEARSDABOMB

Him and Mahomes only two players in FCS history with 10 games with at least 5tds.

Large survey out there of nfl scouts and front office people - pretty much unanimous he is the #1 pick. Bears either trade or will take him. Very clear where he fits.

Caleb officially enters the draft. For the record Stroud waited until final day last year and I think I read Justin Fields also announced on final day a couple years back.

Because better options are out there. I guess I go back to - poles made a choice. He also traded for Claypool and thankfully he said this isn’t working and adjusted his plan. With Flus, if a major upgrade is there - you go get it. That is how you build greatness.

It bugs me that Harbaugh is interested in going to NFL and Bears didn’t roll up the brinx trick for him.

Maybe that Packers loss wasn’t as bad as I originally thought. Love does a great job taking the easy play. You can see his comfort in the offense and ability to go through reads. He isn’t crazy talented - but good talent and he is comfortable. Sitting him clearly benefited him. Allows him to not create/have to overcome bad habits from being rushed.

Or Stroud made those guys better than they were. Mooney and Moore and Kmet are the 3 most productive players career wise (along with Robert Woods). Stroud is legit and made his guys better. Not knocking his guys either. And I would be first to say Bears need to upgrade receiver room.

This I agree with. Warren was talking so much about Minny and Rams where they stuck it out. I actually wondered whether opposite was true - Poles wanted to move on and Warren thought stay the course. Warren seemed pretty pro stability.

I think when Poles decided to keep Flus, he attached himself to Flus. I wouldn’t have done it but I hope he is right. If flus sucks next year and bears stink - Poles is gone and won’t get a chance to hire a 2nd coach. All that said - I really don’t think they will stink, but I do expect some challenges as I expect a rookie qb.

Everflus is good at calling plays. He did say in press conference he might give it back up - but I think he is looking for someone to help game plan and get the gig and maybe over time they call the plays. The defense did nothing but improve week in / week out once Flus took over and he was excellent calling plays for years with Colts. As long as he finds a legit OC who than brings in quality teachers, that works. I think the defense will be just fine as long as we draft well and work on upgrading dline. Flus has shown an ability to develop and call plays.

Did they let him go? Or is he leaving for another opportunity?

I don’t think highly of Olsen or Cohen. Olsen is kind of a loser OC…long track record and solid coach but nothing special and has gotten a short run any time he has been an oc.

Waldron, Reich or Kubiak for me. I still think Reich is kind of a no brainer, Waldron is solid, Kubiak is the upside hire but I think there is more downside/risk there.

Hillarious - great story and great neighbor.

The inverse is - did Cunningham release any intel on the Bears thought(s). Could go both ways.

You mention Joe Burrow - I think we sometimes have revisionist history of drafts. Joe Burrow had legitimate concerns coming out. He basically had 1 explosive year in the pro's. He took a massive jump forward from his Jr. season to Sr. season. Doubled passing stats, etc. In some ways -the more comparable player to Burrow is Daniels (coincidentally from the same school). Only difference is Daniels couldn't overcome just how bad his team defense was.

If this is true this will just upset me like no other. However, I don't think any reputable reporter has reported it. I have no idea who this Steinberg guy is? Caleb has said he was debating going pro or not. There are also a number of tweets of him liking tweets talking about him being paired up with DJ Moore, etc, and how he'd like good in Chicago. Tweet(s) are tweets.

I think the reality is - make reads and executing the offense in rhythm, that isn't what makes a QB great. But you have to have a basic level of doing it. Drew Brees and Tom Brady were the guys who were so masterful that they made it that. However, you have to be proficient at it - but what makes you great in today's NFL seems to be - being proficient at it while being able to make plays where plays aren't there. Josh Allen - He is solid on script and in pocket - but he is lethal at making something out of nothing and going big game hunting. You give him extended time on the occasional play - he'll make you pay - including when you think you got him. Multiplier. Mahomes - Again - he's become pretty good in the pocket - and he was always solid - but again, when he gets extended time - he makes teams pay. Multiplier.

I think I said last year QB's would go early and often too. I guarantee the same will happen this year. You might get some misinformation, but closer and closer to the draft - QB will be at the top and barring some significant injury - it is pretty clear there are 3 that stand above all and a possibility a 4th jumps into that mix. I do agree there could be some people who put up ridiculous combines or something else and jump there way into the back end of the top 10 - but this is a really strong draft and a number of these guys have been hyped for a long time (in particular Maye & Williams). They have the fortune or unfortune of being assessed for forever. Like Peyton Manning did (NOT SAYING THEY ARE THEM), but people forget all the chatter, do you take Ryan Leaf over Peyton, etc. It's happened with everyone. Andrew Luck's final year wasn't as good....Deshaun Watson people I think discounted him for how good he was (and again - he went off the rails - but his first few years were really really good).

Let me put stats out there: Bagent's sack percentage on drop-backs: 3.4% Fields sack percentage on drop-backs: 10.6%

I think Wright & Jenkins are above average. I think Davis is average and Jones is average / okay. Center is awful. Caveat being Wright is a rookie so he'll have his misse(s). So I don't think the Bears oline is a dumpster fire. Moore & Kmet are both good players at their position. Mooney was a 1K receiver with 3 straight good years in Chicago (not saying he played great this year by the way). How do I think about the fact that the Bears back-up QB's have produced a lot less sacks. Or look at his time at OSU - the QB's book-ended around him all got sacked a heck of a lot less.

Caleb has never said that he won't play with the Bears. In fact, he has liked numerous quotes about how dangerous he would be with DJ Moore. I think any QB has bad games, look at Drake Maye's bad games or go back and look at some games Jayden had over the years. I have watched a ton of Caleb on the west coast - he has had to know he needs to score 45 points to win for the past two years. His oline hasn't been good, this past year his receiver(s) weren't great, and he still was pretty spectacular. Did his numbers take a small step back, sure. But he played hard. Now if the deep intel says he is a primadonna and a poor leader - I don't care what his football skills say, I'm not taking them. Also remember - information gets put out for a reason. I guarantee Washington or another team is going to be planting all kinds of negative noise to see if any of it can create a miniscule chance that it impacts the Bears decision.

I agree. I go back to - Caleb's film makes him a clear cut #1 in my opinion. He has his warts - he is a big game hunter, but he can throw guys open, etc, and he can make quick reads and target middle of the field, etc. He can also use his feet to create big game passing plays or be efficient in a scramble...but at all times his focus is on using his arm as a weapon and those eyes are everywhere. Sometimes that means he gets a little reckless and gives up on an easy play to go big game hunting - but he is manipulating people with his eyes and making reads (that is where Fields goes bust). He also will fumble too much - but I fully believe with NFL coaching and more focus, you can help coach the ball security and being more in rhythm, but you also can't ignore the fact that you will get plenty of good that will go with some of the bad (ala Mahomes or Favre or Josh Allen). His ability to make wtf plays with his arm (and in this case - incredible wtf plays) is also stellar. The only reason I'm not drafting Caleb - is if through deep interviews - there are concerns of who is his, whether work ethic, leadership, etc. If that is a problem - than that is a major red flag for QB. But on the field - yeah - he's as no brainer as it gets in my mind.

Draft Strategy: Bears know they need to develop a real offense to be sustainable. Poles know(s) it takes special talent to get there. He can see that as strong of a leader as Field(s) is - that his issues are deeper than just having a lousy QB and knows this is a once in a generation chance in front of him. 1st Round: Draft Caleb @ 1 Draft Odunze @ 9 Commentary: I should give back drop that I expect the top 3 picks to be QB's (Caleb/Maye/Daniels - in whatever order they appear). When I look at the picks from 4-8, I think Poles will want to add another multiplier to the offense with the next pick. When I look at best available talent - I think you have 3 legitimate top 10 wideouts (MHJ, Rome Odunze, Naybors) and I think you have 2 top 10 LT's (ND & PSU guy). On the Defensive front - as of now - there are 2 borderline top 10 guys, but no slam dunk guy (Verse / Turner). My hope is with Poles addressing QB -> he uses other pick on offense, whether LT or WR. My impression is he's happy with where Jones is, so I think he would prefer to address wideout in the draft vs. taking an LT. This is not to say he won't address interior line in the draft (or free agency), I suspect he will. So when I break this down - my view is for the Bears to have a chance at one of the 3 wideouts - you need 3 QB's to go off the board before pick 9 (a 4th going would be even better - but I don't see 4 going in Top 10 - unless Atlanta falls in love with JJ McCarthy or Penix). They will need the 2 LT's to be drafted, 2 WR's I see for sure being gone, and you need at least one defensive player selected (Verse or Dallas Turner or a surprise). I think worse case scenario for the Bears is - you take your QB at the top, all 3 WR's are of the board, & both LT's are off the board - leaving you looking at taking the best edge player at 9. I say that in the sense that this doesn't seem like a year where you have a no brainer edge player, not that the Bears don't have a need at this spot. But if this works out - this could be where the Bears actually slide back down a few slides - move into the mid teens.

PFF Data (I get it - PFF) - Sorted for Fields: Starting on Right Side: Basically - both our QB and Oline are pretty-bad. So Non-QB pressure we rate poorly, but he is also really poor and creates his own "pressure". Basically 7th worse in the league (is where Fields is) where as the oline is 9th worse. yet the % that is OL responsibility is very favorable (how does that add up with being really bad at Non QB pressures). The bright side is our LG (Jenkins) and RT (Wright) are good...the LT and RG are mediocre and center is bad (passes my eye test). The % other responsibility is pretty massive - does that mean our RB's are terrible blockers or is that like not being set-up appropriately? Looking at the Left: Fields is good at maximizing time on the scramble - the next question is how effective is he actually making plays on the scramble (relative to expectation). Clearly in side the pocket he is bad and this also highlights he does not throw into tight coverage. On one hand - that should be good - fewer picks, downfall is, to win in this league you got to throw guys open and have conviction making tight window throws. Fields clearly doesn't have it. And from an expected completion percentage - he flat out executes poorly. Ranking 45th of QB's which is clearly AWFUL. Overall: I won't pretend to understand these metrics and have plenty of questions as outlined above. But most of this data backs my eye test and tells me Fields just isn't a good QB (when I say QB - I'm not saying scrambler and athlete), I am saying good QB. Those things are nice - but 3 years in the league and the things that differentiate you most as a QB he is poor at. It is pretty evident in my mind Bears are headed down a path where they are taking a QB with one of their 1st picks.