adam

It does make sense, and it doesn't hurt to sit him. The 5th year option would be the interesting decision if they decided to keep Fields. Do they want to commit to a 5th year (for trade purposes), because if not, he would almost assuredly be moved by the deadline. One consideration in any trade talk, just due to QB salaries, the Bears would more than likely get a 3rd round comp pick for Fields if he left via FA. So I believe the talks start there and go up. My hope was at least a 2nd to recoup the Claypool trade.

He has value, he is still in his 3rd year, a team trading for him gets at least 2 more years on a rookie deal. SF got a 4th for Lance, and the gap between him and Fields is huge. Fields would at least get a 3rd, if not more. The bigger question is does Fields' camp want to play more in this situation? So come back, probably not 100% on a 1-9 team to get beat up some more and put more bad tape out there? There is absolutely no reason to rush back unless this team somehow won 3 or 4 in a row, and if they did that without him, why would they want him back?

Helmet to helmet then hand pushes Fields helmet into the ground. How is that not called?

It's funny because it was a luxury pick. After the 4th, teams are addressing Special Teams and not really going QB that late, because they assume the player will end up as a UDFA. For whatever reason, SF felt like that was a better option, but if they knew he was that good, they would have even drafted him earlier.

I felt it coming. Again I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I really think overall this is going exactly how Poles wanted it to. For publicity sake, they all support Fields, but in reality, he was going to be the scapegoat. They knew his ceiling after last year. Poles said this was a multi-year thing, and Flus is also probably another fall guy in all of this, because there is no way you can keep him after the worst two year stretch in franchise history (and close to the worst in NFL history). Fields has shown enough to be more valuable than Wilson and Lance for sure. I don't know what that's worth, but it would be nice to get a 2nd for him to recoup what you lost for Claypool, even if you have to give a 5th or 6th back to recoup that high of a pick, you do it. Go into 2024 draft with multiple 1st's and 2nd's, address QB, WR, Edge, and Center.

Auto-correct got me on the name. Crazy that this actually happened. Foreshadowing or Mandela Effect?

I am only interested in Bagent to see how a very young QB looks in this system. It was not apples to apples with Peterman or Siemian, one because how bad they were, but also because they were vets and it was hard to compare to Fields in development. However, with Bagent, he now gets a week of prep, he knows he will be QB1, I am sure he will study the Raiders defense more thorough knowing he is the guy, and hopefully Getsy can provide some protection so the Bears can get some tape on Bagent and see how the same plays look when he runs them.

I don't have a warm and fuzzy about it. The fact that they even mentioned surgery probably means it's on the bad side of a Grade 2. As an NFL QB, the risk of reinjury is obviously super high. If he was to hit it on a helmet or to have it swatted by a defender, he could really damage to the point where he would lose strength in it. Just like the throwing shoulder, there is a lot of risk there. You are correct, the best scenario is Fields plays well, because the Bears wouldn't be forced to draft a QB and it would keep his trade value higher. If he doesn't return this year, or does and plays poorly, it forces the Bears to draft a QB AND lowers his trade value considerably.

So if it is closer to a Grade 3, meaning the swelling and pain haven't subsided, they will probably elect surgery and shut him down for the year. The thumb is the primary finger for grip strength, so if that is weaker in any way, there is no way you can throw a football properly. I fear that they are just delaying the inevitable. Any kind of IR stint or surgery with longer term recovery (into the offseason) would obvious impact a ton of decisions, but right now if you had to make a decision on whether to draft a QB or stay with Fields and build more around him, you have to draft a QB. Fields just has not shown enough consistency in Year 3 to risk passing on a QB. Getting the #1 pick is rare, but getting back to back #1s is actually fairly common recently with two teams doing it in the last the last 7 years: 21-22-JAX, 17-18-CLE.

Looks like they are going to wait until the end of the week to determine if it is rehab or surgery. Just the fact that surgery is mentioned means that it is probably a Grade 2. You wouldn't even consider surgery for a Grade 1. If it was Grade 3, it would be auto surgery.

Oh, I am not saying Fields isn't to blame. He is, but Getsy had 10 days to prep with Fields and Co, and that is the shit sandwich they deliver? 3 straight WR screens?

Mahomes has 185 yards rushing, Fields has 237? Hurts has 257. Lamar has 327. Does Fields look off running this year? Last year he had an extra gear and some juice. This year he is running right into defenders, and is getting caught from behind. He just seems different when he is running. His longest run is 20 yards.

Swifty is great for videos, but bad on stats. Mahomes has 1,593 yards.

Getsy has to go, someone needs to be held accountable for this mess. The defense looks serviceable and only allowed 13 pts. The offense was a train wreck again. Getsy has no clue what he is doing. I just don't understand how a team can be so dysfunctional top to bottom regime after regime. I could see if they were doing quantum physics or something, but this is not that hard. There are 11 external variables in a fixed perimeter and enough analytics that there is not enough time in a lifetime to review. There are plays to beat every defensive concept yet the Bears put that crap out there every week. They did it again btw. 3 WR screens in a row. Classic.

The fall of Mac Jones has been odd. His rookie year, he put up 3801 yds, 67.6% comp, 7.3 Y/A, and 22 TDs, for a 92.5 Rating. Those numbers dipped to 2997 yds, 65.2%, 6.8 Y/A, 14 TDs, and a 84.8 rating in 14 games, to now 1208 yds, 64.3%, 6.0 Y/A and a 74.4 Rating in 6 games this year. His per game yard average has dropped year over year: 223, 214, 201, TDs are down and INTs are up. I am really surprised that Bill stuck with him this long.

If he doesn't rebound, or struggles again against better opponents, we have our answer about him as well. The crazy thing is if you watched Mahomes in college, there is no way you would project him to do what he is doing in the NFL. He had a ton of yards, but his teams always lost. He was 13-19 in college and was pretty inconsistent. He threw for 734 yds in a game against Oklahoma to then follow that up with 206 against Texas Christian. Texas Tech didn't even play in a bowl game his junior year. For College QBR, in 2016, Mahomes was 7th, behind Mayfield, Flowers, Darnold, Jackson, Watson, and Trubisky, and a few players after him were Nathan Peterman and Josh Dobbs. 6 out of the top 7 QBs have started significant games in the NFL. How can you deduce that the 7th one is going to turn out to be arguably the best of all-time? In 2020, Mac Jones was near perfect with the highest QBR, followed by Fields, Corral, Wilson, and Trask. Lawrence was 8th, Ridder was 12th, DTR was 13th, Howell was 14th, Purdy was 16th, and Willis was 17th. Of the top 17 players for college QBR from 2020, every player that has left college has been on an NFL team. That seem fairly impressive for players to make the jump, but Purdy i Stroud was #1 in 2021 and 3rd in 2022. This year for QBR, it's McCarthy, Penix, Gabriel, Daniels (LSU), and Weigman,

Too soon! That's my fantasy QB who is continually failing me. QBing seems much harder this year against most teams. Very few QBs are having great games and winning. Some are getting 300 yard games, but are losing by 20. Minshew had 329 but had 3 INTs and lost by 17. Of the top 5 passing yards leaders for this week, only Goff won, and he mainly had to throw when Monty went down with an injury.

Yeah definitely depends on the severity. I messed mine up years ago and to this day, it still pops out of the socket every now and then. With it being on the throwing hand, any loss of grip strength will be an issue. Cutler sprained his thumb in 2016, was expected only to miss 2-3 weeks, missed 5, then came back for 3, was pretty ineffective, then missed the rest of the season. I am not saying Fields is on the same timeline, but with this season lost, they are going to have to consider all options that may be completely unrelated to his health. I can tell you they won't rush him back. There is no point. What to go from 2-15 to 3-14. Fields doesn't move the needle that much when the team is so bad around him. My guess is they won't put him on IR because I don't think you can trade injured players, so they would want to keep that option open if teams start asking about him before the deadline. I doubt that happens, but if he is not put on IR and misses at least 3 weeks, that's why.

Anytime older college players are playing against 18 yr olds, it's really hard to evaluate them in my opinion. It just adds another layer that is not there for other players. He definitely seems like a better prospect than previous older QBs like Weeden (lol), but again, can you justify drafting a QB when his 2nd contract may not come until he is already 30 yrs old?

Zach Wilson 19-33, 57.6%, 186 yds, 5.6 Y/A, 0 TD, 0 INT, 5 sacks, winning QB Mr MVP Jalen Hurts threw 3 INTs and with the lead and just after the 2 minute warning, your throw an INT that gets run back to your own 8 and on the next play the Jets score the go ahead TD. Then you have 1:46 and a TO left, with Brown and Smith as your WR, Goedert as your TE, and you go 4 and out to end the game. and just like that, there are no more unbeaten teams.

Now that would be absolutely insane. Getting the #1 pick to draft a QB, trading down to where you can still get MHJ AND another 1st rounder to get an Edge or OL or DL would be incredible. I also like that they still have CAR's 2025 2nd rounder, which by all accounts should be a great pick as well. I am curious at CAR's rebuild strategy though. How exactly are they going to improve their team without high draft picks? Like in 2024, without a 1st rounder, how are they going to catch up with any team in their division who are already ahead of them AND the other teams still have their 1st rounders. I get that they needed to go up and get a QB, but honestly, I didn't think Young was good enough to make that trade. Now you have to rebuild with essentially one hand behind your back and by the time your roster has newer draft picks, Young is coming out of his rookie deal anyway.

I read that he wanted to go back into the game but couldn't grip the ball. So as long as there is nothing on the MRI, he may not miss that much time, if any.

One other thing. I can just walk away and go about my day. I have no vested interest in the Bears when they are this bad. I can't imagine being on the Bears beat or media covering this team. It has been so bad for so long, they write hype articles or for them to look like clowns themselves. What sucks is very few of them gave us a proper perspective on this team before the season. Most were optimistic and had the Bears winning 7-9 games. At this rate, 3-14 is the highest probable outcome (wins against CAR and ARI), and even those games, other teams feel like they have a shot at beating the Bears.

I would love to trade back and still get MHJ, but if you pulled that off, you started with #1 and #2 and flipped #2 to maybe back to #4 or #5. I don't think he gets out of the top 5. Probably 2 QBs, Olu, MHJ, and an Edge.

Williams did struggle, but he definitely throws way more anticipatory throws than Fields ever has. What will be interesting to see how Williams plays for the remainder of the year. His supporting cast is not that good.