BearFan PHX

having a former HC to advise a rookie HC is a great idea. Also I like that he is so aggressive. Im SO sick of sitting back in a zone on 3rd down. We will get burned sometimes too, but at least the players can compete. He also has a rep for getting into QBs heads, and he has been especially successful against Brady, so thats a good sign too. Having to play a more aggressive defense in practice will be good for Caleb too. It wont all be text book zones.

yeah i think we can say that the 17 candidates were in many cases not actual candidates, but intel gathering, coordinator hunting, intel hunting, favors and/opr Rooney rule interviews. Im glad we acted quickly to demonstrate that we werent lost in the wilderness, but just biding time until our guy came available. I hope they picked the right guy. But yes, you're right, the difference here is Caleb. And Johnson + Caleb will in turn help us find better coordinators and position coaches. There is some argument that the Raiders job is not attractive because they have no QB, no picks to get one, and play in the AFC which is harder to succeed in right now. But Caleb is the big sell, I agree. Lets go!

certainly Poles has demonstrated loyalty. I thought too much last year, and I still think so, but youre right, if you have the right guy to be loyal to, its a plus too. I guess you gotta know when to hold them and know when to fold them, and that's the GMs job, but loyalty isnt a negative or a positive inherently, just depends on when it's applied? I just hope Johnson has the right kind of energy to command the locker room. That's my main concern with him now, and I really hope he can do it. And Poles needs to get us at least three new good starters on the OL and get us a top notch pass rusher too. not easy to do in one offseason. But we have cap money, but of course free agency is a bigger crap shoot than the draft too. There are reasons for optimism for sure.

Oh, one other cool thing. According to Jeff Hughes, DaBearsBlog, who has been first with a bunch of info about this search, Ben Johnson asked McCaskey if he and Warren would stay out of football decisions, and leave it to Poles, and McCaskey told him they would. That's a very good sign, but if true, it also puts the failure of not firing Flus last year more on Poles' shoulders?

as long as they werent actually considering 17 candidates, then yes it was smart. If they had let this drag on another week while they had lots of second interviews and mulled their options, then they should have all been fired. But they didnt, so alls well. Also, I head Cunninghim was less involved, so he could go do his GM interviews, and i suppose with the idea that he wouldnt be here next year. Seems like we have him for one more year which I think is a good thing, although that 3rd rounder would make a nice center or guard.

well yes we are all reading tea leaves, none of us KNOW, certainly not me.

the loudmouth is an ahole for sure, but he does excellent film analysis and player analysis pre draft. And he doesnt just give you his opinion, he shows you the film, and of course then we are free to see things the same way or think he is wrong. I find myself agreeing with him a lot. Also youre right, they rarely have inside info. That's not their thing. So when he said what he said about Poles and Warren fighting, it got my attention, especially because it wasnt a headline, but buried deep in a podcast - I got the feeling it was just true that he'd heard that. I do know he has connections in Halas Hall, and Adam Rank and Courtney Cronin both respect him. The McCaskeys know them too, because they are always talking to them at events and stuff, but they dont give them a press pass, because they arent team friendly enough at all. But your feelings about him as a loudmouth are 100% right. He is difficult to listen to - huge ego, extremely defensive and self promoting. BUT, his film analysis is the best I've seen - better than the ex NFL QBs I see on youtube etc. Epecially when it comes to OL analysis, run fits etc. I have learned more from him than anyone. I dont necessarily take his opinion just because it's his, but when he illustrates the film, it is very enlightening. Also, I think you have to pay the $7 a month on patreon to see the analysis stuff. The regular podcasts are long, and half the time he just talks about how smart they are and how they dont follow trends, and that is unpleasant and boring to me too.

I agree. So all the extra interviews were not a clown show, just maximizing small advantages while they bided their time. Good.

right. no team is invincible. our roster has some talent. if we fix the OL, and add a pass rush, and the coaching is as advertised, we should be playoff bound for sure.

yes, locker room culture is important, but that doesnt mean not swearing and being really nice.

yeah, I am sick of always sitting back in a zone on 3rd down. if you have a fearsome front four, that can work, but then again anything works in that case.

well first of all I cant ask my insiders anything, I pay $7 a month and receive their content, I am just another guy in the audience! They did say last year that Warren was yelling at Poles, Warren wanted Flus fired, and Poles defended him. I also agree that it has been widely reported that Kevin Warren rejected Harbaugh, so I think it is true as well, and it makes sense, given their tumultuous big ten relationship. I'm not even sure I blame Poles for hiring Eberflus in the first place, but he definitely deserves blame for not firing him last year. If he was told he wasnt allowed to, and didnt put up a fight asserting his position, then he deserves blame for that. And that seems odd if he was able to hold back Warren's desire to fire him. So I do blame Poles for keeping Flus. So in my mind Poles is not blameless, but neither is he all bad. I can see plusses and minuses and so it all rests on how he fixes the OL, the pass rush, and whether Johnson has the leadership chops to be a successful head coach.

I dont believe the first half. I think Poles deserves blame for keeping Flus. He also deserves credit for what he does right. He went out and got us the most highly sought after coach candidate. He will also deserve the credit or blame depending on how Johnson does. I hope he does well of course. For me Poles is in the middle somewhere. Some big mistakes, some eh moves and some really good moves. If he can put together a real OL this year and improve the pass rush, and Johnson does well Poles will deserve the credit he gets, and Im hoping for that.

it's so funny we are all nervous that it'll fall through. Any other franchise we wouldnt be this way, but the Bears have been SO dysfunctional, it makes concerns like yours valid. Let's hope this is the beginning of a new era where we expect the Bears to do the right thing. Wouldnt that be nice?!

It's not signed sealed or delivered yet, but it sounds like Dennis Allen is our likely DC. He's been a head coach twice, so it's not likely he will get another head coaching job soon. He's an aggressive coach who wont sit back in zone all the time. We will live and die by this, but at least our players will get the chance to compete and dominate. Here's an article about his scheme that goes pretty deep in details. https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-new-orleans-saints-dennis-allen-defense-buccaneers-tom-brady-week-15-2021

hahaha they'd better not pull a Dave McGinnis here. That was so outrageous, it's hard to believe it actually happened, but it did! I have my concerns about Johnson, but i am ALL IN on him now. One thing we know for sure is FINALLY the Bears are going to run the ball effectively.

So now I'm 100% on the ben Johnson bandwagon. I sure hope he has the leadership skills necessary. I'm also hoping for a tough DC, someone like Ron Rivera would be ideal. I am more optimistic about this head coach than any we've had in quite a while. FWIW we could have had this last year and been a year ahead at this point, but Poles kept Flus. I knew that was a mistake at the time. But Caleb did grow this year, and here we are. Lets go!

OK, and now, AFTER my guys said it, Adam Schefter is confirming.

Breaking news from my guys with inside sources, saying Johnson is the guy, and the decision is made. If you see it in mainstream press in the next hour, then that's a pretty good sign my guys do in fact have their sources But yeah, it's real.

yes, that wasnt on Johnson, I agree.

I would choose McCarthy, but I see there is like a 50/50 chance Johnson will be much better, but the other side of that coin is that he is like another Trestman; good on the chalkboard, but not a head coach. But my comment here was about process. If they dont pick the guy I want, that doesnt make them a clown show in my eyes. But if they truly are looking at 15+ candidates seriously, then they are idiots. To give them the benefit of the doubt, I'll hope they have had 3 or 4 guys targeted this whole time, and the rest of the interviews were favors, Rooney rule stuff, gather intel on opponents, making long term connections and/or scouting possible coordinators. But if they are serious, and literally thought 15 guys could be the guy and really just dont have a vision, then they should all be fired. And if they are still screwing around by thursday, we will know they are idiots. Unless we end up with Joe Brady, and then we will know why they waited, with a plan.

so far either 1) the Bears have a clear plan and most of these interviews are fact finding, favors, Rooney rule, or early coordinator activity or 2) the Bears front office are out of their minds and should all be fired. If we dont have a coach by Thursday at noon, then we know it's #2. The only caveat would be if we end up with Joe Brady. Otherwise, it's the clown show we are all hoping it isn't.

all good points. And a ham sandwich would be an improvement vs past cycles LOL especially if it came on some good bread.

I think Kingsbury is tremendously underrated, but that's mostly because I dont think Daniels in more than a one read or run QB. Daniels does a LOT of other things right, including having a rocket for an arm with insane accuracy though. BUT Kingsbury is also considered to be kind of an ahole, and so even though i think he has done a tremendous job with Daniels, I dont know if he is the right head coach for us. I think Johnson is a tremendous offensive mind, and it would be such a relief to have a guy who takes the run game seriously for once in the last several decades. But I think it's a coin flip on his head coaching leadership abilities. If we go that way, i sure hope he works out. McCarthy seems the safest bet to me. The highest floor. He's proven as a leader and a winner. But is he as innovative as Johnson? Probably not.

I dont mean to imply that it was ONLY to satify the Rooney rule, just that it does. Eddie George is a truly incredible person, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him have lots of success. I dont think he is ready for an NFL head coaching job yet, but I wouldnt really know. I havent been following his current team at all.