DABEARSDABOMB

This is basically a 5th rounder - given how good Eagles have been. I am glad they made the move - but was hoping they might get a little more (say a late 3rd or a 4th and a future 4th). That said - can't argue the logic. Bears now have $125M in cap space next year.

2nd drive was pretty.

I kind of think about it as - this off-season has to be about getting the roster better and starting to find young talent (and hopefully adding it with talent on this roster that emerges, including current draft picks + other guys). But they probably won't address QB this off-season (unless Fields is a total disaster) because they have so many holes that they have to basically give Fields one more year and begin the better part. If Fields isn't it - than after next year, they will still have a high draft pick and can figure out what to do at QB, but at that point - hopefully the cupboard is far more full than empty. So this year is really about growth for Fields, with the limitations (ideally he surprises us and has some wow games, even with limited personal by the end of the year and his lows & high's both keep getting better). But the rest of this year is long - and I'm really interested in seeing how he performs in the back half of the season

They are horrid.

Patrick and Mustipher are god awful.

This is awesome. In general - yesterday was a win. Best game all season from Fields and 2nd straight game of progress. Let’s see a 3rd straight game of positive momentum on Thursday!

My only knock was they should have moved Roquan and Quinn at peak value or at least Quinn. Roquan I can live with - but still would have preferred dealing with the right offer.

Fields was a lot better against Giants than the first 3 games. More accurate, more decisive and better progressions. Lot of stuff in this game on others - whether the line or the poor seperation from wideouts etc. One thing I had to remind myself - go look up St Brown and Pettis career stats. They are horrendous. These are #5 wideouts being put into #2 and #3 situations and our #1 is a very good #2. The weapons Fields has outside of Mooney and his running backs are just downright trash. Kmet is ok too.

I don’t get why they aren’t looking at one or schofield or Borom at guard while getting Patrick at center. If Borom was at guard - you flip Riley out to RT.

They definitely planned on taking bumps (or at least I hope that is the case). If they mis-evaluated the talent this bad, than that doesn't say much. Now the question is - how off were they on Fields and have they literally given him so little that they set himself up for failure. To me that was the fine line they were balancing and it was why I never liked the move to prioritize defense early in the draft, over offensive playmaker. I felt like on paper - the playmakers at wideout and TE were legit awful and if you combine it with a not very good oline - you put a QB in a really bad place. It is one thing if you have time to throw and digest for sub-par weapons to get open - but when you ask them to get open with a weak oline where they literally have to beat their DB's regularly out of the gate on 1:1's - yeah not going to work. Now in Poles defense - I don't think he saw the explosion on the WR market coming. I think he figured he was going to replace Arob with a free agent (or even Cooper who I think they were waiting to get cut; the problem I kept saying at the time was - why not just lock him in for next 2 years at controlled cost, even if slightly high, because the draft pick traded was so low and you created certainty in the equation (and there is value in it). When the wideout FA market went haywire - it also than depleted the pool of wideouts that would be available with the Bears picks. Which meant they basically had Pickens (who is a 1st round talent - but had some other red flags) but none of there other guys available (whomever they might be). Maybe Velus Jones gets healthy and integrated and shows something - but reality is - higher probability he closer to a special teams guy vs. a potential pro bowl, to above average wideout (which is what Pickens upside is). Maybe I am wrong - and we are about to see some semblance of progress on offensive side of the ball. We'll see the younger linemen continue to make strides, get back the 2 headed monster in Montgomery / Herber, and have Fields start to get more comfortable...all while at some point they get a few more wideouts back (even if they aren't good)...in particular having Pringle and Velus Jones healthy at least gives them some guys with speed. But man - it isn't pretty on offense.

Exactly.

There is no wide out core worse than this one. But your points remain.

I am curious if we see the guy we picked up for the Vikings start to get some snaps. He was young and quite frankly seems better than our already pretty junky wideout options. The guy from Iowa (forget his name).

He looks so bad cause he is trying to read so much and just so indecisive. It impacts timing and mechanics which throw off accuracy. He has to focus on playing fast and I liked his quote from this weak on focusing on getting the ball out. Little thing but if he becomes checkdown QB for a week or two and is decisive - I think we will see it followed up with way more chunk plays because it is just what is in his nature - but he has to get those quick wins and play with speed and tempo.

This - the receiving corps for the bears is no better than a team of corpses at this point.

When did this come out? I read yesterday they were still waiting on more but they didn’t think it was serious and he might be day to day.

My view is - the 1st quarter of the season is about Fields getting used to the new system and to kind of test himself. Than the middle 2 quarters of the season are about growth - and showing true growth. The final quarter of the season is where you see whether that growth (or hopeful) growth is sustainable and you have an idea that you have a dude or by that point you have a clear indication that he isn't the guy and now you know. The one thing I will note is today Fields was horribly inaccurate - which I do not think I've ever really said about him in the past. For me his make it or not factor is about whether he can adjust to the speed of the game. He hasn't yet - the game is still too fast for him. And if I were a glass half full guy - I'd say that he is someone who relied on pure athleticism at the collegiate level for so long that he never really got hit back hard enough where he really had to truly adjust. Now - in the NFL - no matter how elite his athleticism is - the reality is the game is way faster and the defense is too good to rely on that alone and it is going to force him to either adjust (or not). He has to pick up the speed and quit thinking so much and start reacting. He has to play fast. If he does that - he's going to have a long and successful career. If he keeps thinking and hesitating (which he does so much) - he will struggle. It will mess with his mechanics and consistency and just allow too many incompletes / negative plays. The guy has to learn to play with speed and take the quick wins when the defense gives him to him and learn to take play after play and than when you get the kill shots - when you have done that - I have no doubt he'll crush it. Whether he can adjust or not - no idea. It has been ugly, but seeing Tua grow this year after almost 2 years of lousy play gives me some hope as does the fact that he is someone who could rely on skill for so long that it doesn't shock me that now that he's hit this rock it is tougher (cause it will take more for him to get through this), but he does seem to have the work ethic and I was glad to see him smiling at the very end of the game and how he owned things. Part of this is - he wants it so bad - I think he's thinking too much out there and he's just gotta relax and play ball.

He hasn’t really regressed. It is more he didn’t get any better through an offseason (at least not yet). He was absolute trash last year - like real real bad. He is playing just like he did last year (so far).

Yes - semien does nothing and they are rebuilding. You need to test Fields and see how he learns or doesn’t learn under this regime. He is the starter all season.

Roquan had himself a game.

This season is the sample. Put up or shut up time for him.

He is making it easy on the decision makers which is what I want (I prefer he made it easy and showed he was something though). But I don’t want to drag this out - find out if he is the guy or not. So far he looks like the exact same player as last year - which tells it all cause he was statically awful last year and had been very much the same this year. Literally looks scared - indecisive / unable to read and react and play with speed and take the play there. If somehow one of these games things slow down - great - they may have their guy - but if they don’t than they are back looking for a qb.

I am more upset at Fields than the play calling but I want to see a huge 2nd half from the offense. No excuses just put up.

Pickens looks the part and he is doing it as the 3rd option on a team with Trubisky. Ignoring Gordon as DB was a need - I still say I would have taken the wideout. That said I wanted Amari Cooper in a trade and that would have been a huge difference and at an extremely fair price (since he was acquired right before the wideout market blew up). None of that is revisionist history either - cause I said it than and it still irks me fuse Fields offense looks a lot different with that one move in locking up Amari and quite frankly it wouldn’t have prevented anything else the Bears did this offseason (including Gordon).

Really am rooting for him.