adam

It boggles my mind that you would do any play fake with an unblocked defender on Caleb's blind side. Easy sack, loss of 10, forces a long 3rd down and punt. Great.

No false starts yet, but two motion penalties. Bears finally get a penalty go their way after Williams is pushed after he was out of bounds.

Wow, a throw over the middle to Odunze for a huge gain. Amazing how that works.

Bates already got shaken up and is in the medical tent for the 2nd drive. Bates heading to the locker room already, lovely.

Yeah, you can't use Pryor for that, put the TE in motion, don't pull a huge RG to block an Edge player sprinting straight into the backfield.

Bears defense actually forces a punt, Bears get the ball back at their own 5. Sanborn made a great play on 2nd down stuffing Jacobs for a 1 yard loss. He brings some juice.

Bears get a FG after only 2 positive plays, a first down scramble by Caleb and a WR screen to Moore that actually got positive yards. Down 7-3.

Great response by the defense to only allow 7 pts on the opening drive with little to no resistance.

Stevenson is so bad. They really need to start someone else across from Johnson. He gives up 10 yards of cushion on every route.

Caleb is on pace for 3,371 passing yards, 17 TD, 9 INT, 446 rushing yards, and the scary part is 72 sacks. That would tie Randall Cunningham for 2nd all-time.

Yeah, we have been doing this league for over a decade here, I took over as GM a few years ago, but never had anyone not pay by the deadline, then extended the deadline, no response, still actively playing. I just don't want them to play it out thinking they can pay "if they place" yet assuming they wouldn't pay if they didn't win, screwing everyone else over. It is just an honor system thing, no way to force anyone to pay. First time this happened with me as GM. Like I said above, I can kick them and then auto fill their roster, let them play it out, but they are not eligible for the winnings (even if they pay - it would be refunded), or remove the team altogether and adjust everything accordingly.

This is the current projections based on the records, plus or minus 2 slots: 4-13 (Pick #5) 5-12 (Pick #7) 6-11 (Pick #11) 7-10 (Pick #13) 8-9 (Pick #16)

Oh for sure. Defense is going to keep most games close and winnable. It will come down to if the offense can score 2-3 TDs per game. I really hope we see more in breaking routes, quick slants, hot routes, and even dump offs to the RBs in the flat. No more WR screen to Moore, no more all verts with no outlet. The game is not rocket science. They are making it way more complicated than it needs to be.

The more I look at the schedule, 3 wins is the absolute max with a 7-10 record. However, something like 6-11 seems the most likely. That would give the Bears the 11th pick (+/- 2) which would also be Pick #43 in the 2nd. CAR's remaining games are KC, TB, @PHI, DAL, ARZ, @TB, and @ATL. DAL and potentially one of the TB games seem like the only winnable games for CAR. So at best they are a 5-12 team. That would be Pick #7 in the first, so Pick #39 would go to the Bears. That would give the Bears #11, #39, and #43 in the first 2 rounds, and PIck #75 in the 3rd (4 picks in the top 75). The Bears almost have to go OL, OL, DT, Edge at this point (in any order). Preferably BPA but OL and DT have to be addressed. Without a 4th rounder, those are probably the only starters they are going to get from this draft. With a bunch of teams needing a QB, a trade back from #11 would be amazing, then they can still get a top Edge or DT while potentially adding an extra 2nd or 3rd rounder (use on a Safety).

We are just past the halfway point in the season and based on preseason projections, these are the 5 biggest surprising teams and 5 biggest disappointments so far: Surprises: 1. MIN 7-2 2. PIT 7-2 3. ARZ 6-4 4. LAC 6-3 5. WSH 7-4 Disappointments: 1. MIA 3-6 2. DAL 3-6 3. CHI 4-5 4. CIN 4-6 5. NYJ 3-7 At this point, you can almost swap one team per Division (MIN > CHI, PIT > CIN, WSH > DAL) on the projections. You would expect all the HCs on the disappointing teams are on the hot seat and some may still be fired before the end of the season if those teams keep losing.

Gents, any recommendations for a GM that has not paid? How have we handled this in the past? See my post above for some options.

It really doesn't make sense. They said that they had not had an entire "unit" meeting? So they just met in their individual position groups and never had a offensive unit meeting where they are all in it together? No wonder they are all disjointed. I can't imagine not having a full unit meeting at least once or twice a week. Wild.

Flus may be good at coaching/scheming a defense, but that seems where his skill tails off. Personnel and talent management? Not so much. Leadership? Seems very meh. His post game rah rah speeches should just be "words fellas, lots of words"

How does the Passing Game Coordinator not talk to the QB though? Like aren't those the scouted routes that are drawn up by Brown that they are executing? What am I missing about the Passing Game Coordinator? How does that guy not sit in meetings with Caleb, Waldron, and Joseph?

If Brown magically turns around this offense and they win 4 more, that would look even worse on Flus and Waldron for the 4-5 start.

Max of 2, 1 random win, then possibly Week 18 when GB rests all their starters.

Another Poles whiff. That was not only a roster spot, but a good chunk of the cap wasted on Davis in 2023 and 2024. Ugh. His signing prevented the Bears from drafting in the interior because there were not enough roster spots to go around. So it was a double negative signing. Now the Bears have to eat the cap while they burn thru Williams rookie deal. This, like the Waldron firing feels late. Like why wait? How did those extra few weeks matter? They could've possibly traded for another Guard before the deadline, but couldn't with Davis sucking up a roster spot. Here are the negative impacts to the 2025 season from Poles moves that already occurred: 1. Claypool trade - Lost the 32nd pick in the 2023 draft, would be a starter in his 3rd year in 2025. 2. Davis/Velus dead money in 2025 - $2.4M 3. Allen trade - Lost 2025 4th-rounder 4. Scott pick - Waste of a 4th round pick in 2023, 2025 is 3rd year

His only game with 270+ passing yards is against the Bears which included the 52-yard HM. Since then, in his last 3 games, he has averaged 201 passing yards, 3 TD, 1 INT, with a good chunk coming in garbage time. On the season, he averages 213 Passing yards, 29 rushing yards (242 Total Yards), and 0.9 Passing TDs per game. Caleb is at 198, 26 (224 Total Yards), and 1.0 Passing TDs per game. Nix is at 197, 29 (226 total yards), and 1.0 Passing TD per game. So the top 3 rookie QBs are within 18 total yards (Passing+Rushing) and 0.1 Passing TDs per game. However, only one is getting MVP consideration, solely due to the team's record. The context of the stats is huge. Caleb has attempted 197 passing attempts when trailing to only 63 with the lead. Daniels has attempted 108 when trailing and 133 when leading (literally the exact opposite). Nix is right in the middle with 148 when trailing, and 113 in the lead. With the lead: Daniels, 133 (55%), Nix 113 (43%), Caleb 63 (24%) Trailing: Caleb 197, Nix 148, Daniels 108 The difference is huge. Caleb had a 76.2% Comp, 5 TD, 1 INT, 121.0 QB Rating and only 4 sacks when leading while throwing for 8.5 YA. Those numbers fall off a cliff when trailing. He drops to 56.9% Comp, 4 TD, 3 INT, 72.8 QB Rating with 27 sacks with his Y/A down to 5.5. If Caleb had the same % of passes when leading than Daniels does, Caleb would have at least 240+ more passing yards, 3 more TD, and 1 less INT (at a minimum) on the season. Probably more.

The Bears have better odds for the #1 pick than they do making the playoffs. They may not win another game.

I don't know if Brown calling the offense is going to make a big difference. This still looks like an ugly matchup at the worst possible time. The Bears will probably lose by 20 and nothing will change.