BearFan PHX

it feels like it. it boggles the mind.

Lets see how JF responds. We are past the scripted plays now for sure.

Fields threw that long ball to Moore in tempo too.

yeah but the window was SO small and the defender had perfect position. To me it was a really amazing throw.

thats what Im thinking too. The TD pass was special though. Almost impossible. Even in perfect weather. Fields always looks good on the first drive, because he has pre thought it out so the reads come fast. Like that first pass to DJ. We will see what happens when he doesnt have the plays pre-digested. But yeah, if he could play all game like hes played on opening drives the past several weeks, no one would want to trade him. Problem is, the remaining sample size is small, and one could argue the weather is a factor that increases chaos in the data.

Penix is really good. The main knocks on him are that hes 24 and may not have a lot more room to progress like a younger QB, and hes has ACL injuries. Getting him with the 35th pick would be a great value, but he will be gone way before then.

Draftbuzz, who do a pretty good draft ranking and analysis have 5 QBs in the top 19; 2 Williams 5 Maye 8 Daniels 9 Penix 19 Nix I dont see any QBs dropping into the second round or even the last 10 picks of the first round.

it's illegal for him to have part ownership, what a stupid thing to say if you dont have an agent telling you to say it. and they wouldnt be because its illegal. dumbass.

assuming the Bears dont end up with him, after all this shit, and epscially dissing the Bears a couple of times I will be rooting SO hard against him. I haven't had a player to truly hate in a long time. i wanted to hate Rodgers, but he was really good. But I'm gonna HATE Caleb Williams, assuming he is not a Bear of course. God help us.

What if all the GMs secretly agree with us and Maye and Daniels are off the board 1 and 2 - and trading down damns us to Caleb Williams. This is a real inflection point for the next 10 years of this franchise. I cant predict it - Poles needs to get it right. He needs information, vision and some luck too.

Ugh. Here is what Rappaport said on TV "Specifically, Ian Rapoport said, "I would be surprised as of right now if Matt Eberflus was not back for the Chicago Bears. They've looked much better... They certainly seem to be headed in the right direction... I hear nothing but positive vibes from Chicago."’ So the person who "expects it" that makes it "expected" is Rappaport's own guess, and rosy talk from his insiders, as opposed to say... information. So nothingburger.

yes it is. I have heard that the way this works sometimes (not saying this time) is a GM or agent will tell a guy liek Rappaport a rumor, that may not be true. If he tries to trick Rappaport, then Rappaport will never trust him again, so instead he tells Rappaport its a rumor, and tells him that if he publishes the rumor, he will give him the exclusive when the actual story breaks. And then reporters float the rumor. I can only imagine Eberflus' camp doing this tho. No other benefit I can think of other than blowing smoke to cover for new coach negotiations, and thats such a tenuous benefit, that it'd be really crappy to do to Eberflus, and if word got out, coaches would avoid Poles. So Im guessing this didnt come out of Halas Hall. Now, what if Poles is talking to Eberflus' agent about extrending him so he isnt int he last year of his deal, and can get a good OC and draft a QB high - then maybe the agent knows Flus is likely back. But Poles would be telling the agent this was conditional, and not for sure, or else he weakens his position, and so the agent leaks this, telling Rappaport that Poles is asking around the price, and tries to put public pressure on Poles to make the deal. OR... could be a trial balloon from Halas Hall to test public sentiment OR who the hell knows.

I need a raise for posting around here too. Currently I get $0, and I'm asking for a 300% increase.

for sure. but look at the branches of this decision tree. The main branch is that whether it is true or false. If you take the true branch, then Poles asks "do I want this known?" if yes then just announce it yourself, and everyone is 100% sure. But it is leaked instead. So there are these scenarios: Poles has been loose with the info, Eberflus already knows, and someone leaked. That would be really dumb. IF the person who leaked it DOESNT KNOW, or it is Poles choosing a leak over an announcement, then it is a strategic leak. And could mean anything. Not to necessarily be taken at face value. The video of Flus talking up players comes from the Halas Hall media department though. Why would Poles or Halas Hall want that? Maybe hes keeping Eberflus and wants the announcement not to be a shock, but ease us into it? Could that be it? I just think I still dont know.

If its true there is literally no reason to do it this way. If it's smoke, I could imagine a bunch of scenarios, mostly around cooling off the idea that were going to jump ahead of someone to sign a coach, so they dont beat us to it. It also might be to make people think something to help with draft smoke. But Im not selling any of these, disinfo smoke could mean anything. Maybe he wants to see Eberflus fight the last two weeks for a complete evaluation. All my ideas are dumb. But if you wanted this info out there as solid truth, youd just call a press conference and announce it, so theres some other reason, or its not coming from the decision makers. Rappaport has been wrong before, but he's usually not. Again I say... shit.

But if Poles wanted this out, he could just announce it. it has to be rumor or disinfo smoke. Not saying it isnt true tho.

Ian Rappaport, who is pretty well connected said that Eberflus is "expected to return" in 2024. Who it is that is expecting it I dunno. GMs also float false stories with big names like this. If they dont tell them its fake, then they lose the ability to do it again, but supposedly, they call the reporter, tell them its a rumor and if they post it, they will give that reporter the exclusive on the story when the decision is actually made. Now I cant for the life of guess why Poles would want to put that out there and lie. Maybe he wants other teams not to be as worried and try to get to his guys faster? I dunno, but it turns into a giant conspiracy theory pretty quick, so Im not making a guess as to why. If its someone else in the organization, or maybe Flus' agent, then they dont know but theyre manipulating or guessing. Maybe Poles is taking the temperature of the fans to see how much of a hit hes going to take if he keeps or dumps him? Like a trial balloon? All this to say, Rappaport is often right, but I cant understand what it is he could really know. And his words were expected so that makes it even less definitive. Still, it was enough to make me say "shit" out loud.

It's like no one going to Bo Callahan's birthday party in "Draft Day"

I put this on another thread just now too. PFF is random. They told us Charles Leno was the best OT in the league, while we watched him be a turnstyle every week. A lot of times Leno was just plain blocking thew wrong guy. So if the guard and Leno each have a defender in front of them, and the the guard takes his guy, and Leno doubles the guard's guy and leaves his own assignement completely unblocked, and that guy comes in and destroys the QB thats a positive grade on Leno because they guy he made contact with wasnt the one getting the sack. In fact its probably a + play because the doubled defender didnt sniff the QB. Good job Leno! PFF is a total joke. They are random.

PFF is random, especially when it comes to linemen. Remember when they told us Charles Leno was one of the best OTs in the NFL? We were watching him be a turnstyle every week and those PFFers said he was the best. Obviously there are major flaws in their methodology that render their opinions completely unreliable. Like a coin flip, they can be right or wrong at any given moment.

Interesting I had read and heard the opposite, but in a quick google search Im finding nothing. i did read your link and it does look that way. Ill dig more tomorrow.

the team trading for him doesnt have that option. I think the bears have to exercise it, and then the $ is guaranteed, and i think it counts against our cap when we trade? I do know for sure that you cant trade the option to the new team. But maybe you can trigger it and then trade. But then who pays the $25M cap figure?

do you think a team trading for Fields would want the 5th year option in place? i would assume they wouldnt, that would give him year 4 to prove himself and then they sign him to a long term deal during next year? If youre a team taking on Fields after he didnt work out in Chicago, I would think youd be more afraid of the $25 Mil commitment without seeing how he does in your system? I still think that money would count against our cap too but i cant find anything either way on that scenario

yeah that does address my point for sure, but yikes.

Here's Eberflus chatting up the players during warm ups. i have it time stamped at :40 which is where the Fields portion is. Flus says to Fields "You got it 1 - Hey - every play's your play to make right?" and Fields is looking up at him in a positive and glowing way. Then Flus continues... "the simple ones" (and this is where he pounds Fields' chest for emphasis) and then he adds with less enthusiasm "and the amazing ones lets go" and at this point Fields looks embarrassed or disconnecting - not happy. Wanna know what Eberflus thinks of Fields? that says a lot right there. Eberflus: "You make the amazing plays, but just execute the simple ones ok?" Fields: " ah man I know Im so sick of hearing it. arent the amazing plays what this is really all about? dont burden me with this corny small execute the play stuff" I have no doubt others will interpet this all differently, but the moment Flus chooses to touch Fields, the change in Fields face and body language, and the tone and speed of Flus' words are pretty obvious. I fear we will trade Fields and keep Eberflus, joining a THIRD rookie QB's entree into the NFL in a row to the last year of an outgoing coach's tenure. If the timestamp doesnt work, its at 40 seconds