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Ive been thinking about this. How do you lose games to gain a draft pick while simultaneously evaluating your players fairly AND keeping them wanting to play hard and stay in the game? The answer is you call plays that isolate the players. You put Leatherwood one on one with their best pass rusher without a double team. Ditto Kmet. You blitz through one gap and leave the other one open. You tell the players "its on your shoulders, youre on an island, go win" and they probably love that. And you find out who your studs are, and you lose games. I think we will see a very different approach next year. Also, this has been Field's best game as a pocket passer. Again. He gets better every week.

Hurts is a good QB and Fields is still growing as a passer, but I dont want to hear any more comparisons about Hurts and Fields both being running QBs. Fields is a far superior runner.

yeah, hes been playing really well all day. And Fields has been looking good as a passer too.

totally. great to see. Imagine this team with a scary D line and more on OL.

sending positive thoughts to Jenkins. on another thought - I just saw Sanborn chase down Hurts from behind. I take back anything I said about him being too slow. He knows how to play football and hes in the right place. If hes a tenth of a second too slow in his forty, he makes decisions two tenths of a second faster than anyone else. Nice.

neck. yikes. he had back surgery last year, too. I sure hope he doesnt have nerve damage, and is mobile. The way the whole bench came on the field and stood with somber body language tells me it was something concerning. Hope he's OK.

On the one replay they showed, it seemed like nothing happened. And he spent a long time on the ground. It did look like when he was on the cart they had an air cast or something on his leg, but it was very hard to see, people were in the way in the shot. You may well be right, but it could have been a heart attack or anything. They sure got away from it fast.

took Jenkins a long time to get up and the whole sideline came on the field. The TV coverage was very light - I saw both shots, but what happened? Why only one replay?

I think we are agreeing. 1) We do not have a true blue chip WR#1 on the roster 2) There does not appear to be a true blue chip WR#1 that will be available in free agency 3) There does not appear to be a true blue chip WR#1 available in the draft 4) The retreads we are working with haven't improved much this year with the current coaching. so, I guess maybe you try to find a genius WR position coach?

I dont disagree. What Im saying is that I dont believe there is a premium top 10 pick blue chip NFL WR#1 in the draft or free agency as its looking today. And if we cant get one this year, we will need to coach up the guys we have, and I agree with adam above that the WRs we do have havent looked terribly sharp, so maybe a change at WR coach is warranted?

exactly. we've been coasting on weak schedule 9-7 playoff berths every few years thinking we were getting somewhere. it's pathetic and angering. Even Lovie's Superbowl, we didnt have a chance. Hell, Hester even spotted us 7 points at the start, but we didnt deserve to be there. And the double doink team was going nowhere too. It's smoke and mirrors. But a few organizations manage to be competitive every year. It requires discipline, and it requires knowing when to sacrifice for the greater good. That can be trading a really good first contract player before his next deal comes up because he isnt worth the money even if he is playing very well. The Patriots did that all the time. And finally, we had the nuts to make the right decision on Mack, Hicks, Quinn and Roquan. It surely cost us some games, but we did it anyway to get to that next place where we can sustain without mortgaging the future just to go 9-8 and lose a wild card game. Of course the obvious next point is getting a high draft pick, and I'll leave that for the other thread LOL The main point here is that Poles is doing things right. Of course his biggest challenge will not be the players he traded, thats pretty easy, but the ones he and his staff select to build around. I am optimistic, but that is still yet to come. Flus will have an eye for defensive players too. We dont need hollow job-saving victories at the cot of the future. Cutting the dead weight was the right thing to do. I really really hope the days of limping along with a Jauron, Nagy, Trestman and making excuses because every second or third year we got a merchandise-selling playoff appearance are over. That isn't dominance. It isn't sustainable. Bring on the good teams, the tough schedules - all of it. GO BEARS

Once you have a team (hopefully us next year!) then playing a tough scehdule can be a blessing as far as tempering your steel against top competition ahead of the playoffs. Weve seen many years where there is that two year cycle: year one - easy schedule flirt with or go to the playoffs, lose early. year two - middle to low draft pick, tough schedule, 5 wins repeat the good teams play good competition all year and then win playoff games that they are ready for, having played tough teams all year. now, you know this year Im hoping for that #2 or #3 pick overall. but this is the last year I want it. I dont envy the Browns yearly top picks. I want to get our DT, and never pick in the top 10 again, or if we do, its because of a pick we traded for and not our finish. This parity stuff moves the middle third teams around in a constant circle. I want to be in the top 10 every year, and sustain that over a long period of time. It will mean trading or cutting GOOD players in the last year of their deals, like New England has for a long time, but the good teams know how to do it. Id like to be one of them.

I totally agree. If you cant go get a true #1 WR then you need a hell of a coach to get the best out of what you have!

This is 100% true. There is no player fighting for a job that is gonna help us tank to get a draft pick to replace them next year! That's why this playing for a draft pick is a delicate and difficult operation, if the coaches are even doing that. I think they are, but a fair argument can be made that they arent too.

with the Free Agency and Draft WR pickings so slim, Claypool's value increased dramatically. Now if he does no more than he's done, then yes, this is a ridiculous bust. But if they coach him up, he may yet become a really good WR for us. It sounds to me like hes been slow to learn the playbook. That can come with time.

well said

ty adam, I didnt know

Keep in mind that when the bidding starts for NFL Sunday Ticket 2023+, teams could get as much as $20 Million (or more) more salary cap room than they currently project to. Apparently Apple and Amazon are interested, so that will drive the price way up. We need someone at WR #1 tho, and the pickings looks tough this year.

excellent news!

so clearly true. It'd be malpractice not to. Looking forward to meeting Flus' actual defense, and Fields having more than 1 second to find receivers.

Hey Mongo, I totally agree. If there is a stud WR out there, a real blue chipper, we need him. Unfortunately, there doesnt seem to be one coming in Free Agency or the draft. I think this is why Claypools value went up so high, and we were willing to pay it. I think this offseason will be mostly for OL and Defense. You gotta figure with a defensive head coach, and all the removal of talent from that side of the ball, this offseason is gonna be a lot for the D. Cant wait to see it!

I dunno it sounds like a lot of heroic statements. its easy to say that you should always want to win. But it's shortsighted. I want to win a Super Bowl, not beat the Lions this year.

I dont think there is a culture of losing on this team right now. I think we see people buying into the HITS philosophy. We are definitely playing harder than Ive seen us play in a while, and yet we somehow manage to barely lose and keep that high pick alive. Whatever that formula is, i like it. And I hope to NEVER be here again in the future.

I think 99.9% of the time, losing on purpose is a bad thing to do to your culture. But in year #1 with a new crew that only has half a salary cap and no first rounder to work with, in an obvious rebuild, I think it's OK. Look at what the Cubs did to win a world series. For several seasons, they spent their money on big name free agents, and then traded them for draft picks mid season. Once theyd amassed enough draft picks they had the youngest team in the league and won the world series. That was by design. I am 100% sure Justin Fields understands the situation this year.

I dont agree that Justin's will to win will be broken by more losses this season. I do tho totally understand how gross it is to want to lose games. i NEVER want to feel like this again. But of course it's not that i dont care, or like losing, it's that i want to win, consistently going forward in a sustainable way. It's easy to call out someone who is saying they dont want to win (and you were very careful not to do that, so I appreciate the respect!) but there is a difference between a player who only wants a paycheck - we both agree you get rid of that guy immediately - and wanting to win strategically, even if it means some tactical losses. Anyway, I respect your point of view. Losing sucks. I dont ever want to be here again. But I don't think Fields' fire is at risk here. I am sure Fields understands exactly what is going on, and wants to win super bowls more than he cares if we win 3 games or 4 games this year. Otherwise, youd already have lost him by making the big trades on defense. But whatever the case, we all want the Bears to be a dominant team and win a lot of games.