DABEARSDABOMB

My hope is this is due to him not being healthy and an offseason to fully recover gets him back. He is still young. Same with Kyler.

That was insane. Wasn’t pretty but they kept swinging and as bad as the D was in first half they won this game the way they played in 2nd half. Loveland, Caleb, Moore and others they all battled…let’s go - 3 more to go!!!

Incredible win but sucks for TJ and Trapillo. Both suffered significant injuries. Trapillo tore his patellar tendon and Edward’s broke his fibula. Hope they both have full recoveries. Anyone know what long term prognosis is for that type of injury for Trapillo. He had really been ascending. Presume this might mean he misses a chunk of next year too / impacts his ability to train.

Let’s go bears!!!

No chance Poles is leaving or a team is trading for him. They are good friends but Poles isn’t leaving for that. I do think it’s pretty likely Cunningham goes. And no one is trading a 1st round pick for Poles.

I think you can trade next years since it is known you have it…where as you can’t trade a traditional comp pick since you technically don’t officially have it until it is assigned. With that said I’m not entirely sure on the 27 comp pick.

I would think we would get the picks. It isn’t as if Atlanta is saving a pick and the point is to promote and encourage minorities into more high profile front office (or head coach) positions. Whether he is GM or President I would think the Bears would get the 2 picks. To the questions earlier - you can trade the picks and the Bears would get 1 this year and 1 next year.

Those two and I think you see Mike McCarthy get a gig too. I also suspect Flores and Packers DCs get hired as well.

I see the macro view as the offense will take strides to be better and I'd hope the defense would also be better, but I'd also expect turnovers to come back, which might mean as a whole the defense stands par for the course but in a more sustainable way...with an improved defense overall offsetting loss of the ball bouncing there way a few times...than we see a step or two up on the offense and more consistent high end offensive play. Tougher competition too...which might mean....11/12 wins against tougher competition looks similar in record to what we did this year...but as a stronger, better positioned team for the long-run. But that is my last and only post on next year until this season ends...and hopefully that isn't until they are holding the lombardi trophy

Lets just go out and have the Bears play their most complete end to end game yet and decimate the Packers on Saturday night!!! Lets go Bears!!!

Hopefully next year we are saying even nicer things about this past year's draft and also talking nicely about ascending players from the '26 draft - especially on the defensive side. But hopefully Trapillo and Shemar become names we talk about even more (and positively) in '26 while Loveland and Burden continue to shine. Monagai I think is what he is (and that is a good thing) but his ceiling is more limited.

The secondary is also very bad. I think it is important to know what is going on with JJ, Gordon and Stevenson. Those 3 have the traits to be above average players, with JJ being a blue chipper. Stevenson has not been on the field much despite fact that Wright and CJGJ have been getting torched (and don't have the foot speed to keep up with players in the roles being asked). JJ just has no speed right now - no idea if that is because of the injury and he needs an off-season to get right (he's still very young) or if there is something else there. Gordon - well - he has a history of soft tissue, when he plays he's very good, but you clearly can't trust his availability. Brisker and Byard don't have a lot of speed either - so when you combine that with JJ (injured or not the same post-groin injury), Wright, CJGJ, and McCloud...that is a very slow and poor secondary. Combine that with an interior d that struggles to get consistent penetration and that makes for a really really tough job for any D. The ends aren't much better - but Booker and Sweat are solid players and Booker appears to be ascending. Difference makers - no (or not yet) but solid. Interior is just not good and shows poor discipline. But when you add all of those together - that makes is real hard for any DC to do much more than try to figure out a bend but not break type of D. I don't think this is how DA wants to call it, but he's so limited in what he can do. They have a lot of work to overhaul the unit, but it can be done. I'm find sticking with DA as well - but wouldn't bat an eye if they did go a different direction, but I think the failures are not on the DC.

One at a time - let’s go bears!!!

Reality is I hope bears can use this game and learn from it. This whole season was always about growth - but damn it - now I want some playoff wins. Last time they lost 2 straight they won 4 in a row…how about they do that again!!!

Our DBs are worse than I thought. JJ has lost it. He is clearly not the player he was pre injury. Hopefully this is more of a short term thing and he gets his wheels back in the offseason but you can see he is not the same player post injury.

Yep and than bad protection right after. At least they showed some fight but this is a flawed team making progress and playing with house money. Go surprise us and win some playoff games Chicago!!!

He was a db who was moved to safety. He had played both but was slow and as he has aged has only gotten slower. Guy just isn’t good anymore (no knock on him just is what it is). He made some nice plays for the bears in a pinch but he is a trash player at this point - just like McCloud is. As many snaps as they are giving to guy with such poor coverage skills is going to expose you. Wright is a bit better cause he has the length but like McCloud and CJGJ he has zero foot speed and gets torched by quick.

This. I also think given how flawed CJ is - they kind of know what to watch for if he is there so very little exotic he can really do given the personnel he has.

I think he knows he has very little to work with. CJ is awful in coverage and as much as Wright has made plays he has gotten cooked a ton too. Stevenson and JJ are still hampered quite a bit from injuries but trending in right direction and his LB corps has been decimated so almost no depth. And rush defense is a mess too with minimal to no interior penetration. I think he is just trying to make chicken salad out of chicken shit. I’ll go further and say Brisker is a shell of what he was pre injuries too. My hope is JJ trends in right direction and finishes as a top end player and Stevenson trends right way. Even better if Kyler is actually 100 percent. But this is a spectacularly bad defense outside of the turnovers. Like Mel Tucker bad and it isn’t because of coaching (in my opinion).

Let’s go bears!!!

I think a big difference is in college these teams with byes have had multiple weeks off vs just a one week bye. Big difference between fresh and prepared and prepared but rusty.

Packers got him

That is what they have done. Reality is DJ is under contract and Rome, Burden, and Loveland are here a while…even Kmet too. Now they can obviously trade any of them or make a cap play, but do this right and don’t hold onto guys too long and play smart with draft assets and find guys and keep on rolling. You won’t always hit but be smart, let drafts come to you, find the value when you are picking later, trade down and get some future capital again, and when you need to sell on a guy a year early trusting you can reload.

A good oline is critical to being a good team. Fact that Caleb went from 68 sacks to 23 (with one game left) really is the most shocking stat of the season. Huge kudos from the line to coaches to front office and of course Caleb. But it is like night and day in terms of his development.

Browns game is where it looked like he took another jump and it’s continued past two weeks. Hopefully we see that same trend and crazy part is I think he still has quite a bit of upside left which is what is most exciting. And he seems to really be putting in the extra work with Ben and his teammates. Almost feels like that lows of year 1 made him want everything even more and kind of pushed him to push himself like never before and combining that with a coach like BJ….match made!!!