DABEARSDABOMB

So Fields record is awful - is he really one you win with? I do agree the lockeroom likes him - I also imagine at least a few players know what they say but they respect him enough not to actually say it.

Also - for the Bo Nix / Penix Jr people on here - let's not forget Fields is within a year of them in age. I'll roll with Fields before I take a 1st rounder on either of them. Jaden Daniel's is 23 too - but not as old as Nix/Penix Jr. Those are men playing against boys and it makes a difference. Meanwhile Maye is 21 and Caleb just turned 22. McCarthy is about to turn 21. McCarthy and Harbaugh is my absolute favorite - but in general I would be giddy to get Harbaugh. There is a balancing act in all of this - because McCarthy has so few snaps the bust rate on guys that raw is huge (and quite frankly McCarthy would probably benefit significantly from sitting a season - but Harbaugh loves the guy and refers to him on same level as Andrew Luck).

Meanwhile - in 3 NFL seasons - Justin Fields consistently makes routine throws look difficult. We talk about his downfield passing attack - yet the Bears rank 27th in downfield passing advanced stats (despite having Moore). And we can knock Mooney but Fields has consistently missed Mooney down the field. Point blank - Fields has shown one thing - he is a mediocre to poor NFL passer, a hard working dude, and a stellar physical athlete at the position. Unfortunately the poor NFL passer hinders everything else and you really can't win consistently without making massive strides. Oh and by the way - this is the same knock he had coming out of college and why he fell in the draft (as teams worried how Fields couldn't show the progression progress in his final season at OSU). Why we as Bears fans like to make excuses for Fields and not hold him accountable is beyond me. But reality is - this is a guy who outside of a few games has consistently looked like a poor passing NFL QB with elite athleticism. If it weren't for the elite athleticism he would have been benched a year ago and been talked about like Zach Wilson (who is a historic bust). Him and Lance are why I would never go early on a small school QB. If you listened to Mark Sanchez the last 2 weeks - you could hear it in his announcing. He toes the line and I get it, its Mark Sanchez, but lets not forget that he knows a heck of a lot more than us. Sanchez was consistently showing Fields being off rhythm and off timing. And no - I don't think Getsy is a very good OC - but I think a really good QB can make a mediocre OC look good more so than a really bad OC can make a top notch QB look bad. Read that a few times - I think a good OC can absolutely help - but Fields has flat out looked BAD as a passer for 3 years. I think at best a good OC could make him look decent - is decent really what we are striving for. And I get it - if I were the Falcons or someone else - I might take a shot and see what could happen and design an entire offense around him, but with the Bears being where they are - they don't have to take a Hail Mary at Fields, they have a ton of options.

You guys are nuts - Williams is going top 3 unless he suffers some serious injury or says he doesn’t want to play. He has elite arm talent and athleticism and has put up outstanding stats at two programs. Oh in a bowl game the backup threw for 6 tds against a lousy Louisville team with a bad defense where Lincoln Riley had a month to prepare. Watch the highlights a few of those tds were not good passes just 50 / 50 balls. Great story by Miller but had no bearing on how good Williams is.

Unless Arizona trades out - but this is actually really interesting. Because that is a scenario where if you are Bears and 2 qbs rate similarly and you have confidence Az isn’t trading out - you can move to 3 - get a future 1st plus maybe Washington 2nd this year and next year or maybe a very good player instead of the 2nd? I think I would be a-ok with that.

I just don’t like Flus not succeeding and Bears ending up with yet another head coach not tied to the qb. If it weren’t for that I think Flus had earned a 3rd year. I give him credit for the defense development and in general how the team handled adversity. I like his calmness and demeanor and I think his players respect him. I think a great HC doesn’t have to be the smartest guy in the room - but he has to get the guys bought in together. I don’t undersell Flus contributions to that.

This is interesting - let’s say Bears could trade #1 pick to say #5 and got a bunch more assets, I suppose that lowers the risk of taking best qb on board at 5? Basically Poles acknowledging it’s a crap shoot so let’s move down - keep stocking up on assets and than take a qb than. Maybe even stick with Fields too and go with competition. Remmeber Poles comes from an org that traded Alex Smith after putting up 4k yards. It’s also an org that sat Mahomes for one year before trading Smith. Would bears move down - get more assets - take a qb still - and let Fields play one more year. Crazier things have happened. I just can’t see them sticking with Fields and not taking a qb early.

Flus is interesting scenario. At this point I personally would be shocked if Fields is back. He just hasn’t produced enough in 3 seasons to keep him when you are sitting with a top 3 pick. Unless Bears have another plan at QB. Ignoring the excuses around Fields - can anyone say he has shown enough to say you would put a > 50 percent chance on him becoming a top 7 qb? This is a guy who right now is statistically around #20 (some spots have him slightly better - most have him slightly worse). I don’t care about Nagy and Getsy - if he was good enough he would have shown more and reality is final few weeks he has NOT been very good.

Williams is deadly on slants and can do a ton in rhythm. It’s not always consistent cause he big game hunts…but his slant is excellent and he uses whole field.

I hope if we get number one we take Caleb. Dude can fling it.

I suppose I can live with it if you get a good 1st rounder next year than I guess it could be one more year of punting on qb and seeing if that much talent makes it better. But almost zero chance that future 1st ends up a #1 pick.

I just assume - if a guy is rating that high - multiple teams will be in on them. Doesn’t mean the teams won’t be right and one of the secondary picks end up better - but you take the guy you think is best and if you think he is that good you are taking them at 1. I don’t see a team going - you know - we are going to pass on the first 3 and than try the 4th guy to be our starter? Now if you are picking at 11 and all you have is a pick at the 4th/5th guy - fine. But I’m probably sticking with Fields vs taking 3rd or 4th qb off the board.

I don’t think any of those guys are worth a pick at 7 or 15. Certainly not Penix and I don’t think Daniels either. Dude was mediocre until this year. Williams or Maye or McCarthy…or take whomever drops in the 2nd round. But if I’m taking the qb - and you have the 1 - don’t get cute - take the guy you think is the best - unless you really think 2 are great but even than you can only move down 1 spot which is kind of hard to do.

I am like you - I am terrified they end up with 3rd pick.

I figure Beli wants to win cause he won’t be there so he has zero incentive to tank. Really only team in on tanking of the bottom 3 is Cardinals. Panthers don’t care since they don’t have the pick and Pats coach is a goner so what does he care (ala Lovie last year).

I agree. Bears are going to have one high end pick (top 3 locked up) and another top 15. Whether 7 or 15 doesn’t matter if it is because young players are flashing and the young dbs and defense as a whole is flashing.

Cards are still just a win off the top pick right? And Panthers are going to have an easy game in final week as Bucs likely are playing for nothing.

Well said

I like fields a lot as an individual - but I don’t see any stat that would say he is a franchise guy. Does he have tools - sure, but this was a bad d and he could have done more. They won though and I am happy for him for that. I do like that throw he just made to ice the game to Moore. His wideouts had an awful game today. Moore due to injuries probably, no one else did a damn thing. Kmet and Herbert were good

Getsy is bad. I almost want them to just lose this to put any excuse out the door. Sad that I am thinking that.

From the Poles perspective - after year 1, I erred on patience, now almost through the 2nd year - I am getting excited. When I think about what he's done in the 2 years: The positive: Brought in 10 new starters - bulk of which are young and ascending (Via Draft = Gordon / Brisker / Braxton Jones / Wright / Sanborn / Stevenson / Dexter; Via Free Agency or Trade = TJ Edwards / Montez Sweat / Edmunds). These were +10 in terms of new starters; The only guys headed out that were impactful were Mack & Roquan. So in my mind +8 in terms of net roster upgrades. - Acquired DJ Moore & Extra Top 3 Pick (+ Future 2nd Rounder) - Turned Khalil Mack into Jaquan Brisker (plus helped future cap space) - Turned Roquan Smith into Edmunds, Edwards, and Dexter (who is starting to trend up) - '22 Draft: No first round pick - but found 3 starters - Gordon, Brisker, and Braxton Jones; Identified 4th starter via UDFA (Jack Sanborn). Hicks & Carter emerging at very least as quality depth pieces. Trenton Gill is a starting punter - but I am not going to focus much on that. - '23 Draft: On track for 3 starters with all 3 currently ascending: Wright (Looking good), Stevenson (Ascending), Dexter (Ascending). Later round picks show potential to emerge as contributors (Scott / Roschon Johnson / Pickens / Terrell Smith). Meh: - Ed Davis signing (flashes of good - but family stuff and injuries have impacted ability to assess on field performance) - A number of FA dline signings (all have been pretty meh to date) - Traded Robert Quinn for Terrell Smith - I saw meh because it was a solid move, Smith shows upside for a 5th rounder - so if that hits - than we are in business. But concept was still good - move aging player who didn't fit the contention window for an asset. Misses: - Velus Jones (if you can call a pick that late a miss) - Chase Claypool - Lucas Patrick / '23 Center Fiasco - Had some misses on short-term deals in free agency, especially in year 1; But nothing that set the franchise back.

If we took Pickens - I think he would have quit on anyone. Jalen, I don't know - I am going to guess he would have been fine. I get the sense that the players respect Flus. I do think Poles has done a good job in terms of how he has built the lockeroom as well.

We really do need to find stability, because constant turnover makes LT success so hard. When you change schemes / systems / front offices - you end up turning over the roster more and essentially punting on talent. You do it multiple times and it is multiple resets - so getting it right becomes so much harder cause you are constantly starting in a hole. Sometimes I wonder - is the actual answer forward that teams should be MORE patient vs. less (the recent trend has been less) when it comes to coaches, especially first time coaches. Just because they don't win out of the gate - doesn't mean they are a bad coach. How is the underlying process they are following working or not working. With that said - all of it gets hard - because culture is so impacted by win(s) and loss(es). The more you looser - the harder over time to maintain it. By all accounts - the Bears have a pretty good lockeroom, despite the losses. This may benefit from them being such a young team - so guys just get along and hang out a bit more than if you were a more veteran laden team. But it seems evident by all the quotes from players - the team generally seems to get along well and you have guys wanting to be here. Now if you can't keep momentum forward - that will change. If next year this team post a losing record under Flus - I think at that point - the players would be turning. If they keep improving though - than you actually start to have a culture and identity.

If Fields stays - I could see a scenario where Flus is here and Getsy goes. I know people have said - why would anyone take that job. I go back to - this is not taking an OC job where you are working with an unskilled QB or a QB who has attitude issues. You are also taking a job on a team that actually has talent and weapon(s). So if you are able to step in and turn momentum favorable - the ability for that OC to go onto bigger and better things is huge. For example - Bienemy comes here and Fields makes instant growth - that is huge for him. I'm not saying the list of potential OC candidates will be LONG - but I think for an OC looking to make a jump to a HC rank - than there would be some intrigue to this OC job. Now if you are an OC looking to make a name as an OC - might be harder to find that person unless it is through a strong connection. Because why not align yourself to one of the many open positions where you likely have a few years.

Very true.