adam

The eval is not yet, but at the same time, do the Bears want to evaluate what they got in Bagent? You can only eval one of them. If the Bears beat LAC on SNF, and he plays like he did against the Raiders, he will have 2 wins in 2 starts while Fields has 2 wins in his last 15 starts with the same team. It is a tough spot, Flus and Getsy are coaching for their lives at this point. I would say anything less than 7 wins and they are gone. If they come out on top on SNF at 3-5, there is an outside chance they can get to 5-5 after playing CAR. Thought would mean they only have to go 2-5 the rest of the way to get to 7 wins. The risk is you go back to Fields, and he plays bad and they lose a few more games, because if they go back to Bagent at that point, Fields, Flus, and Getsy are done.

It depends. If you trade at the deadline, you basically get an extra 1/2 of season worth of use and eval. If some team thinks he is the guy, you don't wait to get him. If teams believe the Bears will draft a QB, Fields value near the draft would be at its lowest in my opinion, but I could be wrong.

I don't know what Fields' trade value is but we at least have a floor (a 4th rounder for Lance). I doubt he gets a first, so it seems to be a 2nd - 3rd rounder. If you are talking professional player swaps, it is possible, but that traded player would have to be worth a 2nd or 3rd rounder as well.

Health has been a bigger issue for the Bears than people (even me) have considered. It is tough to win when you have that many injuries to the same position group. The secondary is getting healthy and even without Jackson, looked great regardless of the pressure. The O-Line has been in shambles, but for some reason, the combo of Whitehair-Patrick-Jenkins worked. Again, the Bears are literally 2 plays away from being 4-3.

That is the optimal week to bring him back, however, he may feel rushed to get back earlier, and with an injury like that, once the swelling is gone, he could just tell them he is not in pain. It would be a mistake, but after seeing that win without him, I feel like he will feel like he needs to play.

Check out this comparison: Fields vs LVR (3rd start): 12-20, 60%, 111 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT, 91.9 Rating, 2 sacks, 5.55 Y/A, 3-4 rushing Bagent vs LVR (1st start): 21-29, 72.4%, 162 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT, 97.2 Rating, 1 sack, 5.6 Y/A, 3-24 rushing Right now we are comparing a D2 UDFA in his first start with a 3rd year QB. Bagent is already ahead of Fields at the same time in their careers. Bagent can basically only get better, but we may have seen Fields' ceiling, that is concerning. Not that Bagent is the guy. His comp is probably a solid backup/spot starter, but with the right situation could be much better. Fields comp now is more Jameis Winston than Jalen Hurts. He still has time to change that, but the same problems that plagued him to this point are still there.

The Bears defense has allowed 12 pts in back to back games, and 20 against WAS. So 14 pts per game the last 3 games is a pretty good sample size for a defense. They allowed a ton the first 4 weeks, so it has skewed the averages a little. Now GB plays MIN next weekend. Then they play LAR, PIT, LAC, DET, and KC. There season is over.

Bagent did it, his game was impressive for a rookie. He looked like he knew what he was doing, wasn't surprised by pressure, made protections changes, and audibled a few times. Besides for the distance of the throws, I thought he played a very solid game, and light years ahead of any other D2 QBs have in the past.

They have to win a few in a row, even just 2, to get rid of that narrative. The way some teams are looking, now even the Chargers look beatable. The Lions got destroyed. They don't play PHI, MIA, or SF, which seem like the only elite teams (already lost to KC so I didn't count them).

Fields has several traits that are off the charts in terms of athleticism, but that can only get you so far, and the biggest thing that doesn't get talked about enough is that defenses can take away Fields' strengths, and force him into doing things he is uncomfortable doing. For how athletic Fields is, he negates that with some bad pocket presence and internal clock. For someone who is slower processing things post snap, his only options are getting the ball there late, or not throwing when a player is open, which Fields does quite a bit. My fear is that people will think Fields is magically going to improve in areas that he has shown little improvement in over the last 2.5 years. If anything, Fields is going to come back after injury and look worse due to the thumb. I would stick with Bagent until Fields is 100% which is at least a few more weeks. Rushing him back is not going to help anyone.

Yeah this class looks much better than most recent ones. If you grouped the last few years together, outside of Lawrence, most of the guys coming out next spring would be rated higher.

You may want to add McCarthy. In a potential scenario is Harbaugh and McCarthy coming in, maybe with Marvin Harrison Jr, but if the Bears start winning, they will only have one great pick (thanks CAR).

Williams have given off some bad bust vibes. His attitudes sucks too. He does have a bit of Mahomes in him, but if you watch tape on both, Williams is nowhere near Mahomes. After Week 6 Sunday games: 1. CAR 0-6 BYE 2. ARZ 1-6 3. CHI 2-5 4. DEN 2-5 5. NYG 2-5 6. NE 2-5 7. GB 2-4 8. MIN 2-4 (MNF) 9. LAC 2-4 10. TEN 2-4 BYE The Denver win over GB was huge. I don't know if ARZ will win another game. The scary part is the Bears could fall all the way to 10th with a win next week.

They looked great for 3 quarters against Denver, then for a full game against Washington, and now a full game against the Raiders. So a bad game against Minnesota tucked in there, but that game was winnable and you could tell the defense was starting to figure things out. The defense extended that into this game. Bagent did enough not to lose, he was not needed to win the game. Fields has been in too many games where he has to win it singlehandedly. If the defense plays like they have for the rest of the season, the O-Line gets healthier, the QB won't be as important to win games. What absolutely sucks is the stupid loss to Denver and the game against MIN, with wins in those games this team is 4-3, which is hard to believe, but a total of 3 total plays are the difference between 2-5 and 4-3.

Edmunds with another INT off a tipped pass, and the Bears actually capitalize and score another TD, Foreman's 2nd TD run. Bears up 14-0 early. Bagent looks comfortable, and offense is moving.

1st quarter is over, Bears up 7-0. Outside of a drop by Foreman, a few soft coverages by Stevenson on Adams, the entire team looks competent, which is shocking considering how they looked recently. The offense is moving the ball, and plays do not look as predictable. Also, Bagent is really selling some of the play action and RPOs with his back to the LOS. The cameraman got faked out twice already on those. Nothing crazy over the top, but for a D2 rookie in his first start, it is hard to not be impressed.

Ok then, Bagent looks solid, doesn't look confused. Offense playing inspired, Foreman running hard. Bears 7-0 early.

It seems like a ton of QBs are struggling this year. Lawrence won last night, but passed for 204 yards. Carr lost, but passed for 301. However, Carr was terrible and all he did was check down to Kamara (14 targets).

Injuries would be a simple excuse for Flus and Co if last year didn't happen. However, I don't know any team that plays well when half of their starters are out. We have not seen our expected 22 starters in the same game all season, someone was always out. At times half a starting unit on offense or defense was out. Most teams would be 1-5 under those conditions. This is what makes evaluations so difficult.

No surgery for Fields, so it is a mild Grade 2 sprain. That is great news. At most that is probably 2 weeks.

Athlete and runner are not required traits for a QB. Saying Williams makes bad reads is pretty comical, that is subjective. We need to let the season play out for both of them to see how they end up. Right now Williams has had 2-3 bad games in his college career. Fields has 20+ bad ones in the NFL. Williams may flame out and not even be the first pick. Right now he still is, but another bad game and he is probably no longer a consensus.

I love your confidence, I am changing my prediction, Bears by 7! O/U on Bagent passing yards? 200?

This guy had a film breakdown with Bagent before the draft. I have seen other QBs in the "Film Room" shows and Bagent's responses are about as good as they get for understanding what he defense is showing/doing and what route is the best answer to situation.

I know you don't win games from a press conference, but I have to say, I was impressed at Bagent's composure and his answers for his first presser as QB1. Very few cookie cutter answers, and the moment didn't seem to big for him. Kudos to him. He said he told the coaches that they didn't need to shrink the playbook, that he knew all the plays, which if true, would be very impressive, especially when you are not getting reps with those plays.

No lol, it was sarcasm, I should've made it green, will edit. It was more of a rhetorical question. Phrasing Adam, Phrasing.