BearFan PHX

yup - way too many unforced errors

here's one: With Matt Waldron's firing, and Luke Getsy's firing in Los Vegas, that makes 3 coordinators Flus hired in his short time with a total of 4 firings between them. It doesnt take a genius to see.

If Flus was a smart football mind he'd know to defend the boundary on the second to last play in Washington. He wouldnt have gone into super prevent too early and lost 5 games that we had won over 95%. He wouldn't go for it on 4th down from your own side of the 50 in the 2nd qtr down one score. He's made a LOT of straight up errors. Im not talking about being beaten by a better coach (although theres plenty of that) but straight up just losing games based on bad calls that no one was forcing him to make. Firing Flus after this year is a no brainer.

The thing is, they kind of thrust Eberflus on Poles. He didnt really choose him. And now Eberflus is imploding. This past offseason Poles could have gotten a new coach and bought himself several more years. Hell he could have gotten Harbaugh, but I understand that has some complications. But he CHOSE to keep Eberflus, and now the idea that Flus was pushed on him losing weight. This year Mike Vrabel will be available. An older Bill Belichick too. Deion Sanders, and a bunch of up and coming offensive coordinators (who were available last year for HC too) are also in the market. I'm not saying all these names are good ideas. But there are options to pick from. Choosing to move on from Eberflus now is easy. Any GM would do it. If Poles doesn't they should not only fire him, but he should be prohibited from ever using anything more complicated than a spoon ever again. So I'm not thinking about the Flus decision being the question for Poles. It's the next decision. Who to hire next. And it is critically important to get that right. Everything is on the line with that decision. Caleb's entire NFL career, the defense we've built, the next five or more years all sit on that decision. Is Poles the guy to make it? If we hire a new GM, will they be pushed to make their coaching choice in a week from candidates the McCaskeys have pre-picked? Ian Cunningham is already in the building. *IF* he is who I suspect he is, he's the best GM candidate out there for replacing Poles. And it wouldnt be his first week. If Kevin Warren has a single brain cell, he's already asked Poles to start researching head coaching options for next year. If Poles has one, he's already doing it. And that means Cunningham is doing it too. And there it is. Great point Mongo. If some of us are not sure Poles has been quite bad enough to fire, are you sure he has done enough to get EXTENDED? No way. Fire Flus, promote Cunningham. Get an alpha leader Head Coach in here, and let him make his own staff. Do not try to make an arranged marriage with the current defensive staff. Do not twist this team into pretzels to keep Thomas Brown in some capacity just because he has a bright future and you promised to mentor him. You made that promise to Caleb Williams too, and you have to get this ALL right for him. If the new coach wants to interview current coaches on our staff, great. But it should not be expected or implied that he should choose them for any reason other than he thinks they are the best choice. We have the opportunity right now to get the GM, head coach, and Caleb (albeit a year late) unified into a window. I don't trust Poles making the next coach decision. He does not deserve to be extended at this point. The more I pull it apart, the more certain I am. Fair or not, Poles has to go.

Flus is an HR muppet.

I cant deny that youre right about that, but of course the most likely outcome is that they will win a couple games and not make the playoffs?

we dont need a #1 pick overall this year, we have a QB. I mean dont get me wrong, the "haul" would be fantastic again, but Id rather see us win some games and see Caleb developing than to have a higher pick. Another thing to consider is that if we got a top 4 pick, we'd almost have to use it on a pass rusher, whereas a #8 pick or something would go to OL. There are trade down scenarios too, but QBs and Edge rushers are worth their weight in gold.

Lets go!

Oh and I wanted to say also, lost in all the drama and chaos, Bates had a really good day at guard last week. I watched him on almost every snap. He looked better than anything else out there. Which isnt much of a compliment lol

he was a 3rd round pick in 2023, 4th highest rated center with some project type vibe where he has some talents, and some work he still needs to do. Mostly he had a knee that kept him out of football for the first half of the season. Poles had him in for a top 30 visit in 2023, so he may have been waiting until his knee was healed to give him a look. Smart move, not earth shaking, but still a good move.

I know they are buds, but both of them are expecting Ian to become a GM soon, so theyd be competitors on opposite teams anyway. If Poles gets fired, someone is gonna be the new GM, so I dunno if it's really a problem. It's funny how I preach "don't hang on to something just because it's not terrible, make sure you make the right pick" and I like Cunningham. From what I've seen, he proved himself to be patient and shrewd poker player. Waiting for Odunze to fall to 9, rather than getting panicked and trading up for him with the Giants. To me that was a good, albeit limited, audition. And not just the choice, but how he worked Poles to calm him down and control the direction of the room without negating anyone. That's hard to do. The thing is, I have liked a lot of the moves we've made. We seem to be scouting well. Our pro personnel side has been questionable, but truthfully, free agents are always hit or miss. Every time we sign some new free agent, and I call my Dad all happy about it, he always reminds me "there's a reason the other team didnt keep him" LOL it's like a joke between us. Half the time he's right, and I'm right the other half. For every Davis there is a Sweat. But for sure, missing on free agents is easy for any GM to do - you gotta do it, but it's not the same as drafting good players. So our college scouting seems good. Our draft decisions seem to have been sound. But we've made a few errors in those singular gut call decisions, like keeping Eberflus. You don't get 8 scouts giving you plusses and minusses on that one, with stats and film. I feel like this is where Poles' personality gets in the way, and a more steely eyed Cunningham might be preferable. Anyway, these are just musings. I KNOW Eberflus has to be fired. I suspect Poles should be, but I don't predict it as a certainty at all, and I'm not sure he wont go on to be great for us if we keep him. It's just a gut feeling for me. But I dont NEED the guy gone the way I need Flus gone. If he keeps Flus after this year, then Poles will need to be gone. Also, I'm gonna send a box of dog poop to Trace Armstrong LOL (not really)

Based on almost nothing, I have a hunch that Ian Cunningham is the good one, and Poles is the wrong guy.

LOL I hate this!

Armstrong is a big part of this mess for sure. But Poles' butt is on the line so hopefully he goes beyond that kind of insider loyalty and makes the best possible choice. And that assumes Poles isnt getting fired. I wouldnt necessarily mind replacing him with ian Cunningham based on the little bit of draft room footage I saw. Its too little to be sure, but it looked like Cunningham might be Poles' handler in a way. But yeah, we need a real coach. I dont think Gruden would be OK for this team. I recall the email was something kinda racist. Thats a good way to lose the locker room right away. But I do like Gruden's intensity, so we are on the same page. I like strong coaches, and yellers are ok with me, but Bill Belichick was able to instill fear with a whisper too. So he didnt yell, but he was definitely intense and intimidating. Matt Eberflus is not intimidating at all. And that leads me to... YES. It's freakin' football, not a knitting circle. These modern, corporate, HR approved coaches may be really great neighbors, but it's not what makes a football team win. I can only hope that Kevin Warren is a buffer to the McCaskeys and that he sees this the same way. That we need a tough coach. I also wonder if an intense black coach might be more palatable to the McCaskeys - or harder to reject to Warren. Like you can say "Harbaugh is too much of a personality" but that might be harder for the MCaskeys to say or think, given that they seem interested in DEI and stuff like that. Maybe we can get a Herm Edwards type in here. I'd be all for it. I don't care what color someone is or how it's done but if we can get a disciplinarian in here and the team buys in, I'm for it. On that note, there is a lot of talk that Thomas Brown was being groomed through the ranks as a someday head coach. I remember when we added him in his smaller role that the talk about him was that he would be an excellent head coach some day, but that he was being groomed and learning. Anyway, I heard him speaking on some clip and i gotta say his energy is awesome. I am not saying hes ready to be a head coach or will even be a good OC. I want us to find the best one, and I know next to nothing about him. But I can say that I like his alpha-ness a lot. Maybe that will help some this year. But yeah, let's get an old time football coach in here, and bring back that edge. I want our team to be bullies. Between the whistles of course.

Everyone doesnt keep getting better. Poles is not now some sort of coach hiring genius just because he was terrible at it last time. Hopefully it doesnt take a genius to just pick Johnson, Kingsbury or Kubiak etc. Im not saying I predict that Poles will blow the pick, just that we have to get it right, and keeping Eberflus because Thomas has shown promise as OC is not the way to go.

You can interview Thomas Brown for the job in the offseason if you want, but they cannot give him ANY extra credit points for being friends, or already familiar with Caleb or ANYTHING. You ask yourself, right now, who is better. And when you bring in a new Head Coach you absolutely do NOT push Brown on them. You let them decide who they want. Or else the whole thing is a joke doomed to fail. If Kliff Kingsbury wants to be the HC and offensive playcaller, and WANTS Brown to be his Nagy, then fine. But not as a favor to Poles. Not because the Bears want it. ONLY because Kingsbury thinks hes the best option out there.

This is my fear. he couldnt be worse than Waldron. So he will be better. And everyone will think "oh good we can build on this" and we will miss out on a stellar candidate who isnt available until in the offseason because he is actually doing GOOD things on an NFL team right now. When I was 5, I was a very poor basketball player. By 13, I was mediocre compared to the kids on my block. That trend line, if followed would have made me Michael Jordan by senior year of college. My 13 year old self was SO much better than my 5 year old self. I mean like a LOT better, especially by percentage. That does not mean that any NBA team would even briefly consider me as a player no less a championship winning player. Literally anyone who played high school basketball would be better. ANYONE. Saving the little pieces that aren't that bad from the last iteration is the disease that's brought us here. The arranged marriages. Oh we ran OK last year, so lets force Waldron to keep Morgan. Etc. Or why did we even choose Waldron?! We need to find a real leader. A Ben Johnson or a Kliff Kingsbury or someone of that stature. And we need to let them pick ALL their underlings. They need to bring in their vision, not have to massage the McCaskeys pocketbook and ego along the way. My fear is we beat GB and the Vikings once each, and keep Flus, because Thomas Brown in the new savior. Please no. No no no. Go get a real high value prospect, and then left him do his freakin job.

Like I thought, Thomas Brown was promoted within to be new OC. We'll see if it makes a difference. Also, Stinger, can you share a link to the source that says they gave Williams too much independence?

theyll probably start off with something lame like Waldron is still OC,and makes the gameplan, but Thomas Brown is gonna do the in-game play calling. Like thats gonna make any freakin difference.

yeah, the record isnt really what matters this year - its how we look doing it. and it aint pretty right now.

Hes a rookie with a playcaller who doesnt help him and an OL that has him running for his life. And no matter the reason his development is being stunted so hes not good enough (yet) either. I also had high hopes for the season. I was a little under you at 9 or 10 wins, but it wasnt silly to think that was achievable. The coaching has been horrible.

I agree with all of this. I even agree with "As talented as he is, he is also lost in his emotions and pouty on the sidelines. " - Im not sure it is a bad sign for the future since he obviously cares and is competitive, unlike, say, Jay Cutler's response to adversity. And the chaos he is reacting to is not all of his own making as well. But youre not wrong that Caleb has to play better too, and he is not at all happy right now. But some of this should rightly come on Caleb. Im not giving up on him at all, I still think he is the bright future of our franchise. But everything has to get better on this team, and that includes Caleb.

Yeah I always enjoy watching good teams no matter who they are each year. I can even admit that i thought Brett Favre and Aaron Rogers were great QBs, and I enjoyed watching them as well. But in my heart I am only a Bears fan. To me it's like a long story, and all this trash will just make the super bowl victory of the future (whenever that happens) all the better. In the meanwhile if we had gotten the coach right this offseason, we would probably be already on our way. All is not lost, but Eberflus, Waldron and Morgan suck, and by extension, you gotta question Poles.

Me too. I think we will see some decent games yet this year, and I hope our decision makers are not dumb enough to see it as a reason to keep the coaches. That has to already be clear in their minds no matter what happens next. I seriously dont care if they go on an improbable winning streak and get back into the divisional race. If Flus proves that he is not a 2 and is instead a 6 i dont care! I want a 9 or a 10. I want to try to find a 9 or a 10, and Ill consider keeping that guy if he turns out to be an 8. better than before is not the measure. Greatness is - giving your team an ongoing active edge in winning - not just managing not to step on your own dick 2 weeks in a row.

well he deserves to be gone. It makes sense to make the decision now that hes not back next year - but then you need to figure out what youre going to do between now and the offseason, and Im not sure firing Flus is the answer right now. But yeah, you have to be proceeding as if you will fire him and get a new coach next year. *IF* the new coach buys in on the defensive coaches we already have, then I would be for keeping them *BUT* no more arranged marriages. No pressures. The ehad coach is the head coach and should do whatever they want with their staff. Make it a complete vision for once. THere is nothing that is SO worth saving that is more important than a coach having their entire vision. now if the new coach realizes that we have some really good position coaches on defense and wants to keep them himself, then FINE GREAT but no more arranged marriages!!