DABEARSDABOMB

I think you brought up some interesting thoughts Re: Pace and how much of his offensive failures are on Nagy, etc. The hard part I have with Pace is, yeah, he missed on Trubisky - we all know it and there are some other misses (including spending the money on Quinn vs. focusing on the oline). But he has drafted Whitehair and Daniels (Both higher end investments) + signed Massie via free agency and given extensions to guys like Long. So he has invested in the position but offensively he has definitely had a number of misses and you can't ignore this oline hasn't been good - but how much is just a bad scheme fit where Nagy doesn't even know what to do. . But on the defensive side of the ball - he has had some massive hits (don't get me wrong - he's had his misses; Floyd never ended up becoming the edge rusher we had hoped, but he was always an underrated linebacker and is having a great season in LA this year) and ultimately has built a pretty darn good defense. And despite Kmet not emerging (at least not yet - also no TE has really done anything this year), this years draft still looks pretty good. He also invested much needed money into facilities and had clout and vision to do that and in my opinion has been pretty honest when it came to admitting his mistakes (was not shy to cut his guys). His record - obviously poor - but he inherited about as crappy of a set-up as possible and instilled Fox, whos shifted the culture and Nagy, who as a HC has done a decent job with culture, etc. He just is a complete turd offensively (I'm sure he has things he's good at - just not owning the whole thing when it comes to offense design). I actually seriously wonder - how much of the offensive failure is on Pace (including some of his higher profile misses like Dion Simms, or Jimmy Graham (too much money - clearly was a need) or even on the oline (never quite figuring it out - they've used finesse guys after Fox had built a power running scheme - but the finesse scheme/oline thing was very much a Nagy concept...probably too focused on getting cute vs. reality). I really wonder - how much did Pace fail because Nagy really didn't know what he want / wasn't able to really provide effective clarity around what he needed. GM's job is to trust coach to some extent and work with them on desired scheme, etc. I think Monty was a guy Nagy wanted and Nagy has always raved about him. I am probably grasping at straws - I just really hate having to completely start over again because I think Pace has some good qualities. To be frank - Nagy does too - but running an offense isn't one of them and well that is a damning failure. Will be really interesting to see what this team does after the bye week. I legit think they need a spark and maybe Mitch can do that. I do think the offense has always liked him and you've seen guys like Cohen almost hint that they need Mitch back (and we know Zach Miller has been saying for weeks more Mitch). Reality is nothing is saving this offense - it just sucks. I legit don't understand why as a Bears fan I've literally never been able to see any offense. I literally can think of one years a kid with Curtis Conway and Jeff Graham, who put it all together for 1 season and than there was a year with Cutler and Martz where the offense was clicking right before Jay hurt himself tackling someone in a blowout win against the Chargers (huge win - followed up by the Caleb Hanie experience). You had the Trestman era where the offensive talent was legit (Marty B, Alshon, BMarshall) but personalities were insane and Trestman couldn't handle it...but that is basically it. Outside of that - pure & utter crap.

You can see it in the wideouts. They have quit; Robinson especially. To be honest, Robinson mailed it in 2 months ago; He's showed up from time to time but you can see him consistently sulking (not that I blame him). The scheme is not working, the play calling is not working, and Nick Foles is bad. I hope his injury isn't serious (because he seems like a nice enough guy) but I was saying before he even went down, if Mitch is at all healthy, this is the last game Foles has played. He can't do anything off script and outside of that makes the same mistakes Mitch did and than some. Mitch needs to be the QB and they need to make that switch immediately (unless he's unable due to the shoulder injury). Nick Foles had 1 quarter against the Falcons but outside of that quarter this offense has been absolutely putrid. Like most inept offense in the 35 years of me being a Bears fan.

We need the blocking to hold up and Bears need to win the turnover battle. Probably need to actually create a few on defense. IF htey do that - I think we win this football game.

100% agree with your assessment. I was hemming and hawing in action at both of those situations.

My asks are simple after this game. Oline needs to be evaluated more...I thought it was actually better than I expected against Saints. Outside of that - I'm tired of how cute Nagy is with his personnel usage. Patterson - Minimize use of entirely Anthony Miller - This is opposite of what I said - but get him on the field more; he is one of your playmakers and can get open, so use him and use him more. He was regularly open yesterday (including a number of times Foles didn't go to him) Graham - If you aren't in the red zone, don't use him; Kmet - Get him on the field a lot more and in lieu of Graham (with only possible exception being red zone area) Remove all gadget plays from Nagy's playbook - I'm tired of all the failed gadget plays out of Nagy. Too many 2nd and 14's or 19's because of some stupid gadget play that worked terribly.

I am also hoping we see Lamar Miller in the backfield in liu of Patterson and also possibly even have him take some of Montgomery's reps too.

I'm kind of curious to see how the team responds. Has Nagy simplified things, what can they do. I expect a pretty tight ball game. Lets bounce back boys!

I'd trade the whole defense and just flat out build to where we can have a stacked run at things. I'd also stop trading future draft capital and instead building reserves, ala the Patriots, which you can use to be creative.

Mahomes is spectacular. I don't know if he would be with Bears or not - but he has generational talent. Watson has flaws but probably just a better will to win than Mitchell. I always though Watson was over-rated and I'd probably put him more as a top 10 QB than a top 5 QB. He is still better than Mitch. Mitch has talent - but lacks quick decision making, that said, right system and better line, I think he could be a borderline top 10 player (like in that 8-12 range). This actually is one of those situations where if you went off raw tools - you probably would have made the right decision. Mahomes > Watson > Trubisky (with Watson/Tru being close - pedigree a lean towards Watson). Hard part is - people knocked Watsons for his decision making/ability to read defenses, but all that experience just made him much better than Mitchell. I do think Mitchell's agent is probably going to play the card, look, Foles came in and didn't do squat either. That offense had zero talent, zero line and a system that wasn't catered to the QB's strengths. Look at Tannehill and what happened between Miami & Tenn and they'll play that card with Mitch.

The big thing is, Bears need him to stay healthy and on the field.

Great post and agree with everything you said.

I actually think he's been worse - mainly because the ground game was actually working with Mitch. Another week like that and I won't be surprised if they switch things up.

Nagy is too focused on out smarting the world and he's failing miserably at it. Put your best players in positions to make plays, period. Instead we get way too much Patterson, way to much Harris and not enough of the playmakers out there. Very damning quote from Griese late in the game stating Foles was talking to him over the weekend and basically stated he gets calls in and knows they won't be able to execute them. Really daming. You saw it a lot tonight - Foles looking over his shoulder at Nagy just pissed. Nagy thinks he's smarter than he is. He may not be a bad head coach, but he's a horrific offensive coordinator. Horrific. And Montgomery - NOT GOOD. Oline - Not good; Skill position - not good enough.

He worked with Castillo in the past. I am 100% on board with taking a flyer on him and this team needs to make a heavy investment in oline this off-season. It sounds like this was more of an internal matter vs. performance based as well. Castillo should have the intelligence and Bears definitely have cap space for this year.

They have a lot they need to do and I think Nagy might be an okay head coach, but he just gets in his own way as a play caller. That said - we are going to learn a lot about this club over the next 3 weeks. I hope we see the defense continue to ascend and offensively we start to see a complete performance. Anthony Miller is a bum (I have to always say that - cause his mental lapses drive me mad every single week).

You are right - he can’t read defenses. I actually think part of that is he just has no swagger so he plays right/slow as a result.

I just hope we see them invest in the line this offseason. Sick and tired of ignoring the oline. By the way good to see you back around Jason! Hope all is well!

I think they said he only got 15 snaps and Nagy said that isn't enough. No matter what, especially with no preseason, I think it made for a bit slower of an integration into the full season. I expect over the next few weeks we are going to start seeing a lot more of Kmet. Additionally - TE's tend to have a bit longer of a development in NFL offenses.

Colts still marched down the field a lot more than we would have liked. I give Defense credit for bending and not breaking - but it still gave up plenty of yards and against one of the most turnover prone QB's in the league the past few years (Rivers).

This is the big thing - elite defenses make plays - this defense has been a good defense, but not elite. Period. It isn't the biggest problem - but with as much money that is being invested in that side of the ball (Mack/Quinn/Ejax/Fuller/etc) - it is still an issue. Doesn't help that the offense is just putrid and I actually quietly wouldn't be surprised if Pace just doesn't value Robinson as much as Robinson does & I don't know that it would be the wrong answer (and this is not a knock on Robinson - he's a professional wideout - he just isn't special in any sense of the imagination). And of the names I listed - Fuller is about the only guy living up to that contract (although I would recognize that he had a lousy game yesterday against the Colts).

Johnson is a total stud - for a 2nd round pick. Exceeded all expectations. But largely agree with what you are saying.

I'm not going to lie - I would trade Mack if I could and take the draft picks. Not denying that Mack isn't a really good player - but his entire career he has failed to really ever be a true difference maker (sans that 1st season with the Bears and even in that season, when push came to shove, he faded down the stretch).

Yeah - they are going back to QB well and if there is one thing that we've learned - the best QB doesn't always go first, so you never know - picking (hopefully) later in the 1st shouldn't necessarily prevent the team from finding an awesome QB. I say - Bears might have been lucky in the sense that they got a clear answer on Mitch vs. the Texans who just paid Watson a massive amount of money.

That td pass to Miller for the win was money. Mitch doenst make that play. Foles took the hit and delivered. Foles had some lousy throws and a bit of luck but he also is just so calm out there.

Yeah - they were really bad - in the end though - crazy fun win. Huge game by Foles and defense awoke in 2nd half. Pass rush was actually good too - which was nice. Too many penalties though. Foles is not a great QB but he is a better QB than Mitch and can read the defense and actually made some downfield plays, which was huge and should open things up a lot for the rushing game etc. Robinson and Miller both need to come down with those TDs.