DABEARSDABOMB

Kyle Pitts went for 1000+ yards his rookie year. One of the most dominant seasons a rookie TE has ever had. With that said - last year he had a down year, but he also hasn't had anyone to throw him the ball the past couple of years. Pitts is really good.

I could see the Bears signing Hunter as well. I think it would be a good use of cap space and between Hunter and Sweat that would give you two good difference makers and quality leaders on the line. Hunter can't be franchised so unless Vikings can sign him between now and than, he is likeley to hit the market. This allows you to use draft picks on QB, more weapons for the QB (at cost controlled) and more help on the line. In meantime - in another year or two you can hopefully than shift some allocation and use a pick or two in your first round on Dline. And if Bears go with a rookie QB - that allocation at end from a financial perspective should NOT be a material concern.

I really think this is the off-season where we see the Bears go after Harbaugh hard and I think this is the year Harbaugh leaves for the NFL. My question is - normally you wait until the end of the season - but is there a scenario where Michigan is out of National Title contention and in December Bears proactively make the move and hire him than.

I am glad they are keeping Jaylon. That makes me happy. Pay him and Sweat - let’s see Stevenson and Gordon keep growing, plus smith has been solid. And than let’s hope Brisker can stay healthy going forward and that is a nice secondary. Hicks is solid plus add a safety in draft and I like it. Hopefully young dts develop and at some point add some more de help.

This is a fair point. The floor in Yoing given his injury issues is lower than with Sweat. I’m not arguing Sweat isn’t a good player, he is and very all around. I think he is a slightly better Alex Brown. That is a good player and an upgrade no doubt. He is also a very complete end. But a high 2nd rounder is a done - it affords you a shot at a good player at a cheap cost for a few years.

Wtf - Chase Young for 3rd rounder. I know injury issues - he is younger and more explosive. Wow. Big whiff by Poles.

Wow - chase young going for mid round pick to Niners. What a whiff by Poles.

It would be interesting - but I don't like moving JJ (now if they got a 2nd rounder back - fine). He's a really young player who is ascending and plays a premium position. With all that said - as much as I HATE giving up a 2nd rounder for Sweat, he plays a premium position, haven't heard any lockeroom issues with him, and clealry FITS a major position of need. And they have cap space to do it. It sure beats what they gave up for Khalil Mack at least.

I don’t love this - they better pay the man. He is at least a premium position player though and very good. Doesn’t seem like he has the issues Claypool did either.

I agree coaching matters and I do think they made adjustments, to your point, maybe too late. But Herbert lit us up and he is an awfully good QB. Awfully QB's are going to in general destroy teams that can't get to the QB (or teams that have to blitz all over the place - remember both opening day starting safeties were out).

The tackling was pretty horrendous (after a few weeks of excellent tackling). There was no pressure to be had - but this team is 32nd in the NFL in sacks. It is that way for a reason - severe lack of talent on the Dline. Herbert is a very good QB and they have Austin Eckler who is a machine on the dump off.

I'll just state from my vantage point in the stadium - there were some plays that Bagent didn't see. I felt like I was watching the All-22 cam from my seats up a top. But on the play to Jones - yes, Jones should have caught it, but it was SEVERELY underthrown. Like a dead wobbling duck throw. There were a few others like that, where you just wonder and go hmmm....this arm is not consistent. The Mooney throw was perfect, but there were definitely plays to be had. Doesn't help how many negative plays / penalties the team had, especially in the first half. Can't overcome that with a backup QB in - especially not when you are running a largely check-down offense. I also didn't see Bagent use the middle of the field a ton - maybe by design. Not a horrible performance by Bagent - especially not when you consider 2nd NFL start. I go back to - he's clearly an NFL back-up (as a floor).

If its a 3rd round pick - no problem. But I don't think Washington only gets that and as much as Bears desperately need it - now is not the time to give up that sort of draft capital. I do agree they need a massive infusion in the line. They are by far and away the worse pass rushing team in the NFL. I think they are last with 10 sacks - next closet team has like 15.

In fairness - the Chargers have an elite pass rush and they have had an incredibly difficult schedule, so I think there defense metrics are not necessarily reflect of their actual skill level. I would love to see Bears pull it out driven by Bagent and the offense playing great and defense continuing to play well.

Mooney is the only one I debate on. I like Mooney a lot, but it all depends on what he wants to get paid, because if the Bears have a young QB, I would almost prefer just spending money on another elite wideout (Higgins or whatever) and than having those 2, Scott and draft another guy and than add a TE. You can afford it during that window. I don't love paying Mooney 12M per season given what we have seen (and I'm a HUGE Mooney fan). Johnson - if he shows he can stay healthy - I think he's worth it. And Billings is playing good and shouldn't cost a ton so extending him a couple years makes total sense. Just a solid glue guy.

My son and I will be there. Will be our 2nd game of the season (after no games in a few years). Got to take my kids for a quick last minute trip to Chicago for the Bears vs. Broncos game (was a great experience and I had forgotten just how beautiful the city was). My wife decided that she wanted my kids first football game to be at Soldier Field (to which a few hours later I said - guess what, Southwest has a special and I booked us all a flight :). Hoping at the very least we see some real good offensive play and would be great to see a continued trend of strong and improving defense. In particular - they just seem hungry and fast to the ball, despite lacking talent on the line, in particular the edges. But I have loved the growth since Eberflus has taken over. I go back to - I like Flus a TON as a DC.

Lets not forget Alex Smith was the #1 overall draft pick. The dude was an extremely talented athlete. But all that aside - I would love if it Bagent turned into that. If he did - than on the rookie deal you could really put a lot of talent around him and be really good. I'm on record as stating I want to draft a QB next year (unless one of Bagent / Fields goes off). But I'm also on record as stating I want real competition. I don't want the rookie being handed the job. I want him having to battle and beat out Fields and Bagent. That is going to push him and make him better. Quite frankly I think it will make the entire QB room better and in the long-run my gut is it allows the rookie QB to get pushed and actually get time to develop, it probably also allows one of Fields / Bagent to show value to others and buy us an asset. Likely means Fields is traded, Bagent stays as a very good back-up and the rookie eventually takes the job and you are in a great spot cap wise.

My hope is that Fields maybe benefits from watching Bagent a bit and learns from him. Fields is such a special talent, would be stellar to see him improve in his tempo / quick reads.

That was Pace.

I would hope he missed no more than 4 weeks, ideally 2-3 weeks. That would allow you to ultimately get 13-14 games (*fingers crossed*) and ideally he is healthy in those games. I actually want to see - how does having 2 real good games, than the partial game, followed by 2-3 weeks off to just watch from the sideline, how do you than respond when you come back in and go through the final 7-8 games. Whatever they do - don't rush him back - get it to where you are confident in his ability to go out and showcase himself to the best extent he can. Worse case hopefully November 19th vs. the Lions is when he is back. That would have him missing 4 games - including the Thursday night game against the Panthers. You than have the long week to get back into it against the Lions.

If you go rookie contract - than I think paying Tee Higgins and an Edge (and potentially a Center) would be wise choices. Than you go QB, grab another TE (maybe even a generational type of talent in Brockers), Oline and more edge / safety help.

If we have a top 2 pick - they need to pick a QB (unless one of Bagent/Fields balls out). With that said - I don't want to just ship out our existing QB's. I think competition is good and I also think if they are going to move on from Eberflus, it would be the time to go get a big name coach. Whether Harbaugh or Riley or Day from college or going out and making a push for a very strong offensive mind to partner. I prefer someone with the credibility because I really want to see the Bears for once try to put more pressure and create a real competition for the QB's. I think Fields would benefit from it as would the young QB. And I think they have enough chips to make the rest of the team good. Than see what happens from there. But I really think the competition and all of those things would be very good and I don't mind having the top pick sit a bit and actually have to go out and earn it. Brady has talked a lot about how he didn't know if he would have been the same player had he not had to go earn and win the job.

I don't think you pick up the option. He plays next year without the option and than you either franchise him or extend him. Franchise and trade is the right way vs. locking yourself into the 5th year option out of the gate. Very few scenarios at this point (unfortunately) where I could see the Bears electing that 5th year option (given that you have to do it this off-season and it seems likely he won't have shown enough on tape this year, in particular due to injury for you to make that bet). Reality is Giants made massive mistake NOT electing franchise option with Daniel Jones just so they could get one more year of data before making a big guaranteed money decision.

Some rumblings Fields played his last game as a bear. Hoping this isn’t true cause he showed enough flashes that I wanted to see whether we saw real progress over remainder of season. I still say - if Fields missed year, draft a qb but make that guy win the job from Fields. Don’t just hand it to the new guy - let him sit, learn and compete for the job. See what Fields does and than see if you can turn it into a Brees / Rivers situation.

I think Riley is headed to nfl after this year. Harbaugh too. I think this is the year both of them make the jump.