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So lemme get this straight. The entire left side of the OL is missing its starters. The secondary is missing 40% of its starters. Our Defensive Coordinator is missing and being raided by the FBI as well as our team headquarters. Our QB is gonna start to freelance more. We've got the Chiefs this week. What could go wrong?

I'm hearing that Williams' house was raided after the week 1 game, and that today authorities raided Halas Hall as well in connection to Williams. I'm also hearing that Eberflus cried when he heard what the charges were. Only a few things fit. All are ugly. This isn't good at all. In a football sense it probably won't hurt us much. But it's gonna be a big scandal it seems.

Oh no. Apparently Braxton Jones is going to IR. This is a huge blow to an already decimated offensive line. This really screws us. https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2023/9/20/23882436/bears-braxton-jones-injured-reserve-put-neck-injury-buccaneers-chiefs-left-tackle-matt-eberflus-nfl

Yup, and it's all he has left anyway. I'm glad he sees it and is willing to act on it. That's leadership. Theres a great story about a Lawrence Taylor and a play in which he was supposed to drop into coverage like a zone blitz. Parcells called the play, and LT ignored his responsibility, and rushed in to sack the QB. On the sidelines, Parcells chewed him out. Told him that he needs to follow his assignments on plays. Later in the game Parcells calls is again, and again LT rushes the QB and gets a sack. On the sidelines Parcells is going crazy. He says "what the hell are you doing out there?! We dont even have that play in the playbook!!" and LT says "well we got two sacks, maybe we should add it in" No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. All the presnap reads and progressions in the world can fail once the defense starts to move. You have to be able to improvise and find open receivers, even if they arent next in the progressions, even if they werent eligible receivers on the play. Glad to see Justin will finally get back to playing football. It's his only chance now anyway.

A very interesting press conference from Fields today, with a lot of points. In a nutshell, Fields said that he's being coached too much, and needs to play from his instincts more. At first this sounded like making excuses, or throwing the coaches under the bus. Don't be surprised if that's the narrative that sports writers take from this press conference, and it blows up into a media thing. But if you listen closely, especially as he clarifies what he means, he's saying that he himself is thinking too much and trying too hard to do everything the way the coaches want him to. And it's not so much that they're wrong, as that when the reality of the play happens, sometimes you cant execute perfectly the way they taught you. And I think this is a very important point. One example would be the play we all saw where Roschon was wide open, and so were other players and Fields pump fakes, but doesn't throw the ball. JT OSullivan's QB school struggles to understand it, and eventually he guesses that maybe Fields is reading Kmet on the wheel and then the outlet receiver, and neither is open. But the RB and WR Scott are wide open for big gains, DJ Moore is open on the backside too. But Kmet is covered. Scott fails to clear out the space for Kmet underneath, but in doing so, Scott found himself wide open. And Roschon is tragically an obvious touchdown, both ignored. Now, in the real world, I don't care what the read is. If you see a wide open player for a TD, you pull the trigger. Period. But what if you're being told that you're a too much of a freelancing athlete that needs to learn to play disciplined pocket QB instead. And you think about this and work on it all off season. What if you trust your coaches and try to do everything they way they tell you - robotically. Because you trust them, and you are willing to do whatever they tell you to succeed. Even if it feels constraining. I think this is what he was trying to say. That he's been trying SO hard to run the plays exactly the way he's told, that he's stifled his creativity and closed off possibilities. And that all adds up to the slower tempo of his drops, the hesitancy to throw the ball - everything. I was done with Fields. 100%. I was talking to my Dad about it, and we were saying that he just looks like hes unsure and thinking too much. JT OSullivan says the same based on the slow speed of his drops. You can see him locked into receivers - probably correctly in order - but he's not reading the routes simultaneously. It's like the difference between tossing one ball in your hand and juggling. If you're juggling, you cant really think about or lock into any one of the balls or you'll drop the others. It's more like the combination of balls in the air becomes one thing - one gesture. In the same way, routes are happening at the same time and affect each other. If you lock into each receiver in order of your read, individually, without feeling the rest, and the way they all affect each other, you're going to look slow, unsure and robotic. I think that's what's been wrong with Fields. I think we all know Fields is on his last legs in Chicago, I think now is the time to stop trying to take all the coaching points and just go play the game to win. If a WR is open, throw him the ball, whether you were supposed to be reading that guy or not. This is good news. This (to me) is the only path left that could bear fruit for Fields. So ignore the coming media misinterpretations that Fields isn't taking responsibility and throwing the coaches under the bus. He didn't actually do that. He said he himself is thinking too much and trying to be perfectly coached, and it's not working. This is excellent news. And it is Fields' last chance really to save himself and the season. I'm not saying it's going to work, but I am saying that this is the only move he has left to take that next step. And I'm glad to see him see it, and hopefully attempt it.

Amen. PFF is a joke. I an sure they are well meaning, but something about their analysis protocol or the algorithms they use to correlate the data is deeply broken. The output is basically random. I dont hate them, I just think they are silly.

I agree with this. Keeping Fields this year to see what he is was the right thing to do especially with the options at QB in the 23 draft. The 24 draft looks much better, and we will be bringing a QB into a team that already has some structure around him to help him.

I dunno, I think of famous press conferecnes of high motivational coaches and they are angry after a loss like that - especially in week one. Your point about not airing dirty laundry is a fair one, but i sure hope he is angry with them in the locker room. Cuz this effort is not "HITS"

that stat is shocking. both because he has a legitimate shot at something accomplished like that, and because it takes so little to get there. our franchise has been snake bit for a long time at QB.

But what if we win 6 games, and use Carolina's #1 overall? And then get a pass rusher with our #7 pick? I really dont think Eberflus is a positive difference maker. he might be "fine" or "professional" but like I said, there are probably thousands of coaches like that at all different levels. We need to find winners, difference makers, people who add to our winningness. I dont think Eberflus is that guy. If we tank, youre probably right, but i dont want him hanging around after 6 or 7 wins.

The problem with Eberflus, is he preaches HITS, but then in the press conferences, he's not angry. Hes conciliatory. He looks for the positive things. That's great in a grade school art teacher. But it is absolutely 100% in opposition to HITS. Imagine what Deion Sanders, Jim Harbaugh, Bill Belichick, Mike Ditka or any number of famous coaches from disciplined teams would say. And I still think Eberflus unmasked himself with that 4th and 1 call last week. That was fire-able in and of itself. Its OK to lose. Its not great to suck, but OK. You can fail and learn. But when you make basic errors that any high school coach would know not to to make - that says something. There must be thousands of competent coaches, but only a handful can give you an edge. Eberflu may be competent in general, but he will never give us an edge. We can possibly win with him, but we will not win because of him. I say Poles should clean house. But in reality, they probably wont fire a HC after 2 years. So we draft a Caleb Williams. You want this guy developing him? Can we get out of this Groundhogs day repeating loop, and bring in the right guy for the new QB?

JF is not the guy. I dont know if I have the heart to start cheering for a tankathon yet. I guess id like to see Fields grow and prove me wrong, but Im at like 90% sure right now, and if the Jets offered us a 2nd rounder for him, Id take it right now.

They should run the ball over the Davis Wright side all season cuz theyre good

Ugh! Too soon - but youre right

True and also the reason we passed on Carter isnt because we thought Dexter was the better player, it's because Carter is (potentially) a character problem, a suspension risk, a cancer in the locker room etc. And that doesn't come out in week 1 tape. Also, even if Philly does manage to keep him in a good place, it is because they have so many talented veteran DL who can provide leadership. It doesnt mean he wouldnt have run roughshod over these coaches and been a real problem. Hell I still dont even know what happened with Davis all offseason. So I still think we made the right choice passing on him no matter how well he plays in Philadelphia.

One of the best calls the Packers made last week was on a formation where the running back was the outside receiver, and that pulled Edmunds over to cover him, and left the middle open for someone else. We cant always play zone, but when we do, I hope to see Edmunds prowling the middle. Of course there are other ways to challenge nickels without playing the middle of the field, but that does take away a big part of that game for sure.

can I ask, who's stat was that? was it PFF?

I'm still watching tape,. but I've only seen Nate Davis screw up on one play. I was ready to hate on him for all the preseason time he missed, but honestly, the right side of the OL did OK in everything I've seen so far. Maybe they break down later in the game, but so far, Nate screwed up one play and Wright has been solid. Fields on the other hand is a disaster. DJ Moore was open all over the place.

PFF, at best, is completely random. Time and time again they pronounce things are true that anyone watching the game can see are not even close to being true. I want to see us succeed this year. I have hope that we can turn things around, but whether we are great or terrible, PFF is random.

I just want to add that i was assuming that Davis played a bad game at RG because id read that, but ive been watching some of the film, and he hasnt looked bad at all so far. Maybe I havent seen the bad plays yet - Ill keep watching, but for now, Im keeping an open mind on him.

I saw some limited tape - could be misleading, but he sure looked like he understands zone blocking - giving a bump to help a neighbor and then hunting out a linebacker etc. cant be much worse than Patrick.

unless Davis is a true turd and they know it.

I think the whole thing went to sh*t when Eberflus went for it on 4th and 1 - what a totally idiotic move. Its SO bad, that I'm calling it strike one. Not every error will be a strike, but that one absolutely was. I could argue hes made others too, but lets call that one. learn from it, get better stop hiding the offense and trying to be so cute, establish an identity on offense, and things will be OK. But that's strike one.

We were all so focused on Jenkins' and Whitehair's injuries, it didnt occur to anyone (or at least to me) that maybe we got Feeney as insurance against Davis who's been playing retiring games all offseason? Maybe that's what all the absences were? Anyway this is a disaster, and if Davis is really doing that to us, then F*ck him.

no one ever said Carter isnt physically talented. Based on that alone, he should have been a top three pick. The reason we didnt touch him is character. We will see in a couple of years whether this was the right move, but his success on the field early doesnt address the reason people were concerned about him.