DABEARSDABOMB

Was that Greg Gabriel?

And I'm not one to suggest hiring former Bear players as coaches, but if the Bears were to go down the path of hiring an offensive minded head coach (or for that matter Toub), I would be very interested in bringing Frazier in as our DC. I figure it is a relatively realistic option as well (vs. say Rex Ryan, who clearly would be a dream but probably not happening). Anyone else have particular people in mind for the DC position?

I am a Bowles / Toub / Shanny fine with me kind of guy. I kind of prefer Bowles / Toub but Shanny has something about him as well. I just don't want Jay thinking we are catering to him, etc. That said, Shanny was about the only guy to make Jake the Snake and RG III look good so it isn't as if he only had success with Elway. Yeah, his superbowls came with him, but he made the playoffs with a few other QB's as well. I also think the idea of having Shanny and Kubiak on the offensive side is great, but the question is, could we lure Rex Ryan to be our DC? What a man can dream. If that was the lineup of the staff, I'd be all for Shanny haha.

It is great and I think it is a similar situation (with a couple twists). I think for one hand, the familiarity Ballard has with our ownership group and structure is huge. The known is typically better than the fear of unknown. On the flipside, I also think the Bears position probably offers the most personell control. He can pick his coach and have full say where as in Philly Chip Kelly has greater control and it appears the Jets are headed down a similar path with Maronne.

PS: I don't believe for a second we have offered the position. I think we have told him he is our preferred candidate, potentially or that has been leaked but offered, I doubt it. I do think, if the interview goes as planned (and it is probably more of a, we meet with others and we want to hear your thoughts...when it really is, we met with others and you are our guy). We will offer him the job tonight / tomorrow and the new GM will be in place very fast. To be frank, if this does happen, this is different than pretty much every other positional search I remember the Bears taking. Historically, we have been the anti-nimble organization when it comes to these things.

Ernie job was to also tell them what they didn't know and what they didn't consider. Ballard is largely regarded as the top candidate out there. There are 3 GM positions available and he appears most interested in ours. I think that is fantastic. I also think this reports are a little premature. I think Ernie and the Bears brass talked, Ernie knows all of this candidates pretty much (and has interviewed most of them in the past so has a good idea either way). Probably said, I lean towards Ballard but I want you guys to meet these other guys, after we meet with everyone, we can finalize the decision. Happens all the time (both in the NFL and Business) and it isn't a bad thing to do.

Fantastic. Their is a rumor that we have offered Ballard the job. I find it BS, unless of course we have interviewed him. Very clear that he's our top choice and that we are his top choice. I am excited but want to hold back that excitement till it is confirmed, haha.

Yet if you follow Vegas odds, JJ Watt doesn't have near the factor on the line than an elite QB. It isn't even close. It is something like 2-3 points. Even guys like Gronk in his prime, wasn't more than a couple points where as a Peyton Manning might be a 14 point impact on a line.

Wasn't that more the Bears can't think they have someone until he has accepted our offer. Didn't we do something like schedule a press conference prior to his acceptance and that rubbed him the wrong way so he passed and than we moved on to Jauron?

It very well might be that he has concerns over certain structural matters in New York. It isn't like he has the job in Chicago yet. He can think he has it but bottom line, until the process is over and he is extended an offer, he doesn't have the job.

Greene and SMC won't even be on the team next year and Bostic has been pretty questionable as well. Jones is about the only thing I'd project and even than we are talking about a guy who was undrafted. Our LB corps is pathetic.

By and large, I don't like the idea of Bama DB's. Saban has a knack for scheming around them to put them at their very best. He knows their weaknesses incredibly well and can typically limit their exposure in the collegiate game. That isn't the case in the NFL where you are going against far more talented players. Too high of a bust rate, imo, out of Bama DB's for this very reason. That isn't to say there aren't good ones their, its just harder to identify through film the good ones from the not so good ones.

I guarantee they interview him and they clearly have a comfort level (which is so key in the grand scheme of things). I still think Bowles is a guy they'll put the press on, but it will probably be too late and it will take a heck of a sell job by Ballard, imo. I think Bowles is pretty much signed, sealed and delivered to the Falcons. I think once Ballard is in, we'll see him potentially branch out to some other guys who he might be comfortable with as well (on top of the existing list). I expect that it will be at that time, that you might see some experienced coaches brought in. Right now i think the Bears are focused on the hot assistants and at least having connections with them as timing is a little more critical in their regards, especially for teams still in the playoffs. Accorsi and Polian are both very high on Ballard. I also think the most interesting part of these young coaching candidates is who they have tabbed to be their coordinators.

Take it for what it is worth. Clearly the Bears and Ballard are interested. I think the Bears are lined up to meet with Ballard on Wednesday and are meeting with some other GM candidates today / tomorrow. My guess is by Friday Bears will introduce their new GM, if not sooner.

I think the issue is, as Dilfer / Steve Young have pointed out, by all accounts, he's smart and doing everything right Monday - Saturday. However, in game situations, he doesn't display the in-game smarts. I think it is more that his quick-twitch reflex decision is not smart where as his film decision is smart. By all accounts the last two years he has really changed how he has handled his business (prior to that he didn't do what it took on Monday - Saturday and relied more on his pure skills)...however, the results on the field haven't necessarily translated. Could it...certainly, but I think the better question is, whether we are comfortable with Jay in the lockeroom and who he is and are okay managing him. If you do that, I think you have a guy that on the right team is a top 5-10 QB. If you don't, than sure, he could spiral out and be a 15-20 QB. How the Bears handled him this past year and what happened with Trestman was just an utter disaster though. I've heard numerous people talk about how you could call every play the Bears would run from the press box, based upon the formation, distance, and downs. That is truly pathetic and that is 1000% on our coaches. I also think the crappy oline played a part but I also think we ruined Jay by not investing in his protection early in his career. By the time we did it, he had already been ruined by years of running for his life (kind of like how the Texans ruined David Carr).

I agree; Lovie had a lot of the right skills as a HC, however, one skill that he seriously lacked was the ability to spot / hire the right guy on the offensive side of the ball. I think part of this might have been situations he essentially put himself in (whether it was short leashes with certain coordinators / situations he was in because he was viewed as a lame duck, etc). Bottom line, he had a long time and whiffed on a lot of OC's. I also think the reason we consistently saw the offensive side of the ball ignored was because Lovie had significant say in terms of who we drafted / signed, basically to the point where he had final say on roster decisions (despite having a GM on board). That might have ultimately been what did Lovie in because with the right investment in an oline, Jay / Martz might have ended up working out.

I wouldn't want him as a GM, but involving him in the front office is a brilliant idea and would be a great move.

He'd be more than solid. He'd be phenomenal. I think Rex can be a good HC, he just needs to get a Gary Kubiak or someone of that ilk as his OC to come with him. Bottom line he needs to be able to hire the right guy who he can trust and have a front office who will help ensure that coordinator / assistant HC gets paid.

Runner up a half dozen or so times. I don't know how much it was more on him not having time to prepare for his interviews or what. He's extremely bright and has a great background. The laziness rumors that were out there (Hub was original source I believe), pertained to his preparation for interviews and how focused he was on the next job (not on how he handles his current position). Basically, he's so focused on what he does day to day, that he doesn't spend near the time preparing himself for other opportunities, which I can understand (I worked in a profession for a long time that took 80+ hours a week of work, etc, and when clients needed something you jumped...it was always hard to make time to look at other opportunities because the second you focused a bit on yourself, your performance in your current role could take a hit, etc). Note: Hub Arkush was on the radio last week and commented that the Ross reports were misinterpreted to mean he was lazy on the job, instead of him not necessarily being very proactive in terms of the interview preparation / interview process. Evidently he is very comfortable in New York.

I thought he did a good job in Buffalo but I don't like the way he ultimately exited and don't think he's anyone that you run and jump at. I think there are better candidates out there. Let him go to the Jets.

I think we will interview Ryan before making a decision, but agree with you, that it won't be until we have a GM. We are focusing on the guys who you kind of have to line up to first.

If we don't meet with these guys now, than we pretty much have no shot with them. If we meet with them now and they make it to the superbowl, we can than meet with them again during the bye week (with our hired GM there). If not, you have to wait until after the superbowl. It really makes total sense.

The real question is, how much does it happen with other teams too. And I agree with you that he is in that next tier and you can win with him if you have a good team around him. I also think it is absurd to take a QB who is more turnover prone and ask him to drop back 50 times a game while rarely handing the football off. That was just absurd and put the QB in even worse position.

I think it turns out on the field. He just isn't a born leader and the combination of him and a head coach who wasn't, along with some difficult personalities, made for a horrific combination.

The question I have is who are these miscommunications on? Are they all because of inept coaching? Or are they also because of a QB who can't get on the same page with his players, etc. I think we were very undisciplined and a lot of that fell on Trestman but you can't ignore your leader. Poor coaching or not, I don't see near the miscommunications from a lot of the other QB's in the league. Yes, they have had more experience with systems, etc, but after so many years of seeing it, I wonder how much of this is on Jay. That is a rhetorical question as none of us know that answer. We aren't observing the practices and ultimately we don't know what the play call was and what the read was, either. We just don't have that sort of information. I was a Jay apologist for years and I still think all of the points were valid during that time. However, with as large of a sample size that is out there, I think if he had more "upstairs", we wouldn't see these issues. As Dilfer has said, some of the mistakes Jay makes, a high school QB would have been able to figure out.