DABEARSDABOMB

Look at the Saints off-season last year. They, along with the Bears (and Broncos) were the winners of the off-season. How do those moves (similar to the Bears moves) look now? Look at the Saints cap situation (hint: Its awful). I see a lot of red flags. Sure, you interviewed amazing, but what is your track record, your skill-set, etc. Again, I'll trust Ernie but there are some things about Pace that I'm not a fan of. There are other things I like and clearly some strong football people in New Orleans thought the world of him (numerous promotions and a lot of credit and strong recommendations).

In theory, last year he almost essentially was the GM. Don't know if that is good or bad. Saints got a lot of off-season pub for their moves but on the field performance wasn't good. What worries me is his lack of scouting background. He really has been focused on pro scouting for the bulk of his career. I really don't like that. Prove me wrong Pace.

I am now seeing if this same person had any other tidbits. He either went out on a limb and got lucky or really has some good info.

Interesting. At least he comes from an organization that has won recently. I trust Ernie's involvement in this process. Sounds like he really knocked the Bears socks off. Hopefully he truly is the right man for the job. The quotes from the Saints people, including Sean Payton, all sound extremely encouraging.

Who do you propose? DeCosta isn't interested and McGloughan has his own issues. Yes he had a great background (but did have other issues) but that doesn't necessarily make him the right fit for this job. His best role is as an adviser and in reality he took a higher end adviser role as Bruce Allen is still going to be significantly involved in calling the shots in Washington.

Per Jason LaFoncora (NFL Network)

Per Ed Werder

WSCR reporting that Ballard is still in Chicago.

You would think with the Bears done interviewing 4 candidates, that some of the candidates would at least start getting informed that the Bears are going to head in a different direction (and at least than, those groups would start leaking info). I guess the question is, do the Bears think they need 2nd round interviews with certain candidates or did they get to spend enough time with them in 1 interview. How come the Chicago media can't figure out when Bowles is interviewing? I figure something gets leaked prior to his interview.

Word on the street is no one really wants the Jets job. Why, partly because of questionmarks as to how much control they would have, but also because it has turned into a revolving door position where you don't get the time necessary to put your stamp on an organization and prove whether you are worth it. It is why I said that no matter what happens with our next hire, we are pretty much going to have to give them the extreme benefit of the doubt, let them hire a 2nd coach, give them a 4-5 year initial run, etc. If we don't, we will turn into the Raiders / Browns and now Jets where we will relatively consistently only be able to attract substandard talents / guys who have been bridesmaids so much that they are finally desperate enough to take any job with the GM title....and once you get into that slope, it is tough to get out off (and much more dependent on luck...even though all moves are to some extent dependent on some luck).

One sidenote, a lot of people think of Ballard and Toub, but Ballard also has ties to Bevell (Seattle OC) from his Wisconsin days.

There are other rumblings that both candidates will be brought back for interviews today. I'm really amazed at how quiet the news has been from the interviews. Other than who we have brought in, the media hasn't been able to scoop anything.

Saw this on another board. This is from someone who "supposedly" has a close connection to someone within the Bears organization. Take it for what you will, but the individual indicates the Bears will announce they have hired Pace prior to interviewing Bowles.

When you think about Kyle, he was able to get the best years out of RG III (Washington) and Shaub (Houston). Obviously stuff in Cleveland didn't go quite as expected but he got out more out of Hoyer than I would have ever expected.

I like Kyle. Seems like a very bright guy. That is a good combination on the offensive / defensive side of the ball. I think after the Bears meet with Bowles, we'll see them focus closer on Quinn and Toub. I hear Bowle's weakness is that he isn't all that vocal. While that isn't a requisite, I think after the Trestman experience, the Bears are going to want to make sure they have someone who is a vocal leader (Note: This doesn't mean yelling on the sidelines, etc).

On a sidenote, google Pioli and the Chiefs and read about what went on their. While he is a bright guy, he was a worse GM than Emery and a horrific people person. The stories that came out of KC after he left were insane.

I think this was likely more of a favor to the Falcons organization than anything else. Interesting regarding Pace. I am okay with him, although I still love everything I've heard from Ballard. No denying that the Saints have had a lot of talent. All that said, they've had Drew Brees. I like what Ballard and the Chiefs have been able to do without an elite QB.

The above is from Peggy Kosinski or something from CBS (or something like that). Interesting if it is the case.

What the falcons have done would be the equivalent of firing Trestman and promoting Emery and than hiring a GM to work under Emery. Do you realize how pissed we would be had that happened? Now I'm not comparing Dmitri to Emery, he's clearly better, but in the eyes of most Falcon fans, Dmitri should have been ousted. Instead they promoted him and allowed him to bring in a new guy. That really doesn't solve anything. I'll take what the Bears did over what Arthur Blanke is doing.

I don't think the Bears ownership group will force any candidate. I think any roster decision will be made by the GM. I think that is evidenced by the fact that Ballard is even considering this job (since he's turned down jobs where that wouldn't necessarily be the case).

Below were what I found most interesting: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/01/07/dur...-gm-cap-issues/ This is code for...cap is going to go up pretty significantly...see my comments later on Cutler, but really this means we could definitely be in a position to take on Cutler's dead money (now...with the assumption we are building more towards 16 / 17). To be frank, if we aren't going to contend and if we add a young QB to the roster, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. We'd have a young QB on the cheap so really outside of the pick going to QB (when it could go elsewhere) we really aren't any different off financially than we would have been and beginning the following year, you get a potential competitive advantage (a lot of that depends on whether your QB still looks like a potential franchise guy...in which case you can have a relatively cheap QB and spend money elsewhere...see Seahawks). This also would mean that between Jay / Marshall, you pretty much have to move each by early March for it to be as cap friendly as possible (I believe). I still believe we could get a pretty good pick for Jay (e.g., 2nd rounder).

Very very smart, but as I said, I don't want that type of guy running the franchise. It is also why I have zero interest in the Texans guy. The Texans guy didn't have any off the field issues, but the Dolphins signficantly ignored character concerns on their drafts. Marc Ross is a high caliber guy but I just don't get the feel that he's all that gung-ho about leaving the Giants. I really do like the Giants approach to drafting though and just the way the organization goes about its business. If we weren't going to get Ballard, Ross would have to be the guy. Dawson and Gaines just reak of mediocrity. The Saints guy is intriguing though. Given that we haven't interviewed Ross, it better darn well be Ballard, haha.

He stunk too. I don't know what the cap impacts would be but I thought he was a huge part of those big plays and he tended to play like he didn't care. He had a good run with the Bears, but I am okay dumping him (unless it is a major cap hit). Again, Emery sure jacked up things last off-season. I again point to his inability to even evaluate current talent as being extremely flawed, imo. Part of that was probably due to pressures from Bears brass to stick with vets, etc. We need a clean start and I think Ballard will do that (he seems to have confidence that he'll get a job at some point and is ensuring whatever job he takes is going to allow him to do what HE thinks is best). I don't know if it will work but I like everything about him. Where is our resident capologist to tell me the impacts of cutting him.

You are probably right. I think we will take an olineman somewhere in the first three rounds. Otherwise, I expect the rest of the picks to be on the defensive side of the ball. I do think that tackle is our biggest need though and tackle is the toughest position to find outside of the first round and the bulk of the elite ones are taken early in the 1st, which is why I'd be able to justify going OT @ 7.