adam

I know, but it's pretty funny considering what Mariota has done his entire career to think that they are equal. I am not claiming Fields is a sure fire HoFer, but he is already better than Mariota.

Fields passing yards high this season is 208, I would like to see 250. I assume he still gets well over 50 yards rushing, so that will always be there. Now we need some statistical improvement with the passing game against a really bad defense. I was listening to a cross over podcast and the Atlanta crew likened Mariota to Fields, saying they are basically the same QB, but Fields is a better runner. They were trying to justify picking Pitts over Fields. They used passing stats from the last 4 games as a comparison tool. I about fell out of my recliner and dropped my PBR all over the shag carpet. Mariota has had 5 games out of his last 7 with less than 150 yards passing. Fields has 1. In those 7 games, Mariota has 50 yards rushing twice, Fields? 6, and his worst game was 47. It is so funny to me when people cherry pick stats.

Oh I know, relative to us for sure. However, just like Seattle and the Legion of Boom. To have that good of a team for that long and to only have 1 SB win to show for it sucks too. Obviously still better than the Bears, but when you have that much potential and lose it sucks. Very similar to the last few good Bears teams. Our last 3 major opportunities were heartbreaking. We lost on a double doink and would've easily made it to at least the NFCC with that team. How about 2010? We rest starters in Week 17, lose to the Packers 10-3, which allows them to make the playoffs. Then they turn around and beat us in the NFCC because Cutler got hurt. Then they end up winning the SB that year, Rodgers only win. Brutal. How about 2006 Super Bowl? Benson gets hurt on his 2nd carry. Grossman throws a Pick-6 and the Bears decide to leave Reggie Wayne uncovered for one play. After the Hester runback to open the game, then intercepting Manning on their first drive, that was a heartbreaking loss. A weird team has been the Chargers. They have had Brees, Rivers, and now Herbert since 2002. In those 20 seasons with a franchise QB, they have only made the playoffs 7 times (once in last 8 years) and only made it to the Conference Championship once (and lost). They also had Tomlinson for a decade of that team.

and only winning 2 SB's in the last 30+ years when you are basically going to the playoffs every year. Now they get stuck with Rodgers for the next 1-2 years with an immoveable contract that will hamstring them from signing any new free agents.

One other note about this game, ATL is 30th in Defensive DVOA (only LVR and CLE are worse). So this will be the easiest defense the Bears have faced all season.

That was a satisfying Packers loss (now 4-7). At home, in Prime Time, Rodgers folds like a wet noodle in the 4th. He ended up with a 5.8 Y/A and most of his throws were quick throws behind the LOS. His QBR is 40.9, which is also laughable. Him and LaFleur sure don't look like juggernauts when they don't have HoF level receivers. The Packers are basically screwed due to Rodgers. His contract is reedonkulous. Dead cap for 2023? 99.7M! LMAO! In 2024? $68M. In 2025? Just 45.4M. So they are stuck with him for at least 2023 and maybe even 2024 (41 yrs old). To make matters worse, they only have $5.3M in cap space for 2023 with only 44 players signed. The have 14 players with dead cap over $5M, so this team will have to lose some key contributors and replace them with rookies, UDFAs, and minimum contract vets. They will be worse in 2023 than they are this year and it is fun to watch. Another hilarious note, the media has been mentioned how the Bears have had the most wins in NFL history forever and that Green Bay is going to pass them, but since then, they just keep losing.

Sanborn should've been a late 4th to 6th rounder. How he went undrafted is beyond me. A sneaky great find for Poles. Poles added to each position group: DE (Robinson), LB (Sanborn), CB (Gordon), and S (Brisker) and can do it again with DT and CB being the focus this upcoming draft.

Man, 2 anytime TDs is easy money right now. A PJ Walker led team scored 25, and they have allowed 25 or more in 3 out of the last 4 weeks (20 in the 4th week). So the Bears will have an opportunity to put up points.

Here is the thing with Jackson, the Bears have all this cap space WITH his cap hit on the books. They already have over $125M for 2023. That is a ton of money. Jackson is $17M against the cap, Whitehair is $14M, Jones is $7.4M, and then Patrick at $5.3M. So unless you can get a better player than Jackson for $7.5M (cap savings), then you might as well stick with him for at least 2023. In 2024, his dead cap goes down to $5.5M which makes it much more appealing for both side (Bears with less dead money, new team with less to pay).

The highest paid Safety in the league makes $19M (Derwin James). If he is looking for that kind of money, then yeah, definitely trade for assets. However, he signed a heavily backloaded contract, but his AAV is $14.6M, which is 7th in the league. He is signed thru 2024 so there are several windows to move on from him. I am just saying for at least next season, there is easily enough cap room to keep his salary on the team (since it is already accounted for). The decision will more than likely come after next season when he has one year left on his deal. There will be several similar Safeties due new contracts before Jackson is due (Bates, Poyer, Hyde, Ward, Amos, Bell), so they will set the market for his age group.

Bears will have over 200 yards rushing, Fields will have over 100 and at least 4 TDs. I think he will end up in the mid 200s for passing yards with 2-3 passing TDs, over 100 rushing yards and 1-2 TDs there. If Monty is healthy, he should have a big day. Kmet gets another TD, Claypool gets one too.

I figured we would settle in around pick 12 and Baltimore around pick 22. Baltimore is going to make the playoffs, but a first round loss would be really nice for our 2nd round pick. 10-12 spots is not that big of a deal outside of the 1st round. If a stud DL, OL, or WR is not there at our first pick, I would love to trade back with the first rounder. Going back 10 spots is worth a second rounder. Going back 20 is 2x 1st rounders.

I just made a comment that the Bears missed a marketing opportunity by not signing Taco Charlton on Tuesday. Ashkum just replied that we signed Weiner on Wednesday as a joke.

Jackson has become the leader of the defense with the loss of Hicks, Mack, Quinn, and Smith. I think they will extend him for a few years to see this thing out. If we can lock him up and Johnson up with extensions, the Bears will have 4 of their 5 secondary starters locked up for 3-4 more years, then they can add one more via FA or the draft. That is very rare to have that type of continuity in any unit. I am not sold on Vildor being anything but a sub. I am fine with our subs and ST players like DHC and Cruikshank.

LeSean McCoy is an idiot. Just a hot take. He was overrated as a player and he is a clown analyst. He doesn't even know the name of plays. Both of Fields' long TDs were on scrambles, not called runs. He is just being super productive on scrambles compared to other QBs getting a few yards. He is breaking off huge runs. Why is he being penalized for that? Should he only go 10 yards and slide, then dink and dunk down the field to score? The goal is to score a TD and win the game. Fields is doing that. Fields also has been the best athlete on the field. The ball needs to be in his hands on most plays. As teams adjust to this scheme, there are going to be a lot of opportunities over the top.

For age and cost, the team is going to have to be really careful about overloading one position group with a ton of money. So I assume they are going to try to hit on one major FA acquisition in each position group of need, then fill in the rest with rookies and vet minimum guys. To me it seems like there are 7 starting spots that could use upgrades. OL and DL need the most. Then WR and CB, then maybe LB. If they can go OL/DL/WR in their first 3 picks, that would be great. We just need some high end studs. Fields, Herbert Kmet, FA or Rookie WR1, Mooney, Claypool Jenkins, Whitehair, Jones, FA-OC, Rookie-OT Gipson/Robinson, Jones, FA or Rookie DT, FA or Rookie Edge Morrow/Sanborn, FA or Rookie LB FA-CB, Johnson, Gordon Jackson, Brisker Thoughts on these holes? Any others?

He is not that bad. He just doesn't have an elite trait, but he works hard. His biggest problem is his little juke stutter step. Instead of just hitting the hole fast like Herbert, Monty does a little juke step before he gets going and by then the hole is gone.

???

It would've been much better to sign Taco on Tuesday, a missed opportunity by the Bears.

Now this:

Damn Herbert to IR? I didn't know he was hurt. That's 4 games. I guess it is Monty-Ebner time. I didn

CPat is back and healthy, he is still a threat. London is pretty good as well. I am not worried about scoring. I am worried about the defense. Yeah, Mariota is serviceable, but that's it.

I would like to see more quick passing plays, uptempo and getting Claypool more involved in this one.

Fields only saw a slight increase in his DVOA to a -32.5%, but it is still an improvement. He has 7 more games to continue his development.

Looking at some early stats from other QBs, Fields compares most favorably to Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson than any other QBs at this point in his career. Fields doesn't yet have a 300 yard passing game in 20 starts. Vick only had 2 in his first 70 starts, his first coming on his 16th start and the 2nd one in his 45th start. Jackson only had 1x 300 yard passing game in his first 40 starts. So Fields has time to match or surpass both of these guys in passing. For rushing, Vick had 9x 100 yd rushing games in this 70 starts. His first in his 13th start and his second in his 18th start. Jackson had 5x 100 yd rushing games in his first 20 starts with his first start being one. Fields has 3. Fields had his first 100yd rushing game in his 6th start, his second in his 19th, and 3rd in his 20th. So Fields is ahead of Vick, and very close to Jackson's pace (who won MVP in his 2nd season with 1x 300 yd passing game and 5x 100 yd rushing game).