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This article really nails it, I think. And they don't mention the game week he didn't show up for still undisclosed reasons. Or his rookie holdout. But most damning are these lines : "Truth be told, he is closer to Briggs than Urlacher at this stage of his career — more of a highly potent tackle machine than a destructive game-changing Hall of Fame[r]." and "Smith had every reason to think he should be the highest-paid inside linebacker in football —he’s accomplished and still young. And Poles has a case for not splurging on an off-the-ball linebacker who — even if he is the best inside linebacker in football — is not a dominant, destructive, $20 million-a-year force." $20 Million a year players are game changers. Whatever Roquan is, and it's a lot, it isn't that. And in the end, that's what matters at that price, or you've overpaid. https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/2022/10/31/23433861/bears-never-fell-in-love-with-roquan-smith

We have so many holes to fill. Even next year, with a huge infusion of talent, we are still going to have to roll with 5 or 6 of these guys. We need to identify which ones those are, and that means giving younger guys more reps. That's the hidden gem in losing the two best players on this years defensive team. You gotta give Poles credit for having balls. He's tripled down on his ability to win the offseason. If he does it, we will be on the way to being a team that's competitive every year. And we really deserve that. If they can get a 2nd for Ejax, I'd take it. Montgomery is a tougher call because I am a huge fan of his, so Im biased. I just try to imagine wearing a wristband that says WWBBD (what would Bill Belichick do?). lol

interesting. I was thinking they might like what they have with EJax, but he is still not the player he was, and if you can get a 2nd rounder for him, do it. At that point next years cap would be insane. The problem then would be that there simply wont be enough blue chip free agents in one year to be worth all that money. And you dont want to make long term deals with players who dont warrant their cap number. Poles is being bold. If he really is a superior talent evaluator, then we are going to be a much different team than weve been in decades. If not, this could be a tough ride. A lot is riding on Poles, you cant say it isnt his team next year.

for sure. you can afford to build around Fields, and if for some reason he dies in the offseason between 2023 and 2024 in a bizarre gardening accident, youre still in perfect shape to draft a new QB and have a team with depth.

I am very happy with this. Id hoped for a first rounder, and we might have gotten that for Quinn and Smith before the season started, but I know they wanted to see what they had in these players. We saw. Good move. I love David Montgomery, but he has to be wondering if he is next right now. He has to wait 26 hours to find out.

100% right

I think in part this is a test of Roquan's leadership skills - can he lead in Quinn's absence? $20 Mil has to buy more than just a player on defense, but it has to buy a leader too. Roquan has been a head case. I think it's hard to say what his cap worth really is exactly.

Exactly right. They arent a disaster, they just dont have enough talent. But they stood tall against a far superior team, and put 29 points up.

This is the old Tampa - Tony Dungy style - the tree Eberflus comes from. You run the ball, throw off of play action, play bend but dont break defense, and go ahead 17-13 in the 4th quarter. And when our offense opens up and puts up 34 points, it'll be hard for any but really good teams to beat. Right now, if we play within ourselves, and let our conditioning help us in the 4th quarter, we can win games. But where we are going is much more dynamic. It looks like we have a bright future ahead, and we should be in most games until then. Play without mistakes, and we will win our share.

yeah that's fair. I just wish we had a wall of pro bowlers protecting him and opening holes for the run game. In fact, Id like pro bowlers at every position LOL Football is SO interesting and frustrating because you are only as good as your weakest link, and you cant have great players at every position. its always about making compromises. that said, our roster should be much better in 2023 and 2024

Im not even sure having Fields carry 10 times a game on scripted QB runs is a good idea. Obviously it's a great idea for the offense, but you might him killed out there. In the long run, we are going to need a MUCH better OL and learn to play regular football better!

this is how I see it too.

it depends on the timetable for the rebuild. you dont want to become pace and pick not-as-great players in order to fill a roster quickly. if there is a superstar that can be the core of your team available, you pick him, and if that means limping along at another position with a free agent until you can draft again next year, thats certainly not wrong either. it all depends how the board falls at the time.

salary goes with the player, and disappears if you cut or void him. in this case, the bears agreed to pay most of his remaining salary this year, but thats it. guaranteed upfront money is spread over the life of the deal unless you cut or trade him, then the team that paid that money has to eat it all that year (or over two years if post june 1st designation) basically, the bears pay Quinn thru this year, take an extra cap hit this year to remove him from their books entirely, and are off the hook for any more money going forward, and receive a 4th rounder in return.

Yes. So far poles has been executing the smart plan. But now he has to spend that money on players. He hasnt proven much yet, but he made some good draft choices. I cant wait to see how his talent evaluation skills play into all of this.

$125 Million in cap room right now. 1 x 1st round pick, 1 x 2nd round pick, 1 x 3rd round pick, 2 x 4th round picks, 1 x 5th round pick and 1 x 7th round pick so far.

it would have been closer to that if we'd traded him before the season started. And the Eagles are looking like they are going deep into the playoff this year, so it'll be a late 4th. But for a guy we weren't going to re-sign, this is the right move, and the 4th is a welcome pick. Someone offer a 1st and a 3rd for Roquan, and I'll throw in a VHS copy of the 85 Superbowl

It's hard to say if the Bears will keep him. We might be tempted to franchise tag him, but his hold out this past year makes that seem inherently messy. Perhaps that was a big part of why he did it. I suspect Roquan won't be on the 2024 Bears team. We have lots of money now, but we need more high draft picks. If we got a first and something else for Roquan, Id take it. Also, this trade probably makes our 2023 picks a little higher up - maybe an extra loss or two without Quinn up front.

all we have to do is a win a few more games.

Or Nagy and the scouts did, and he allowed it. The whole thing seemed out of control - it's hard to say who was in control, and that alone is a failure at GM. In a way, it's not Nagy's fault he's not a good coach. If Pace had chosen a 10 year old child to be head coach it wouldnt be the child's fault. It would be Pace's. And yet you never really saw him lead, he was always showing togetherness with everyone. Seriously, if someone Im thinking of hiring to be an NFL head coach tells me that he writes "Be You" on his call sheet to remember something, (I dont know what), Id show him the door immediately. And on that same thought, McCaskey and Phillips allowed it, and allowed them to spend future value to try to hide their ineptitude. If its Pace's fault, then it's McCaskey and Phillips' fault. Gosh it's been a long time since we were a professional football team.

Pace was a flexible and loyal team player, which is awesome at most positions, but not at GM, especially when you have a fraud as head coach who needs firing and reigning in, not enabling! Add in a consistent multi year threat from ownership that you're about to lose your job each year, plus ownership also allowing you to spend future salary cap and draft capital in inefficient ways to try to save your job and you get a disaster that takes several years to dig out of. Frankly, we're lucky that Poles and Flus wanted this job. We dont know yet if Poles will have the golden eye for talent in the draft. So far he's done very well. The coach is doing an excellent job installing a culture, and preparing his team to play hard and grow. It all looks really good on paper right now, and last night was tangible proof of where this is headed. Nothings for sure yet, but we are definitely making progress.

I think it depends on how much recent-past-averaging they use for each algorithm. if the question is "who are the Bears right at the moment last night's game ended" then yes, 28 is a joke. But if the question is "rank these teams based on recent performances, weighting the last 3 games most heavily" then 28 might still be right. But hopefully, not for long. We all get upset that the media dumps on us, but I think the media is just dumb and amplifies whatever common wisdom is. If youre not that good, then youre terrible, if youre pretty good, then youre amazing etc. The Bears get the short stick on that because weve been on the bad side of the middle. But if we start winning, the media will be al to happy to crown us the next new thing. So thats OK, the media is silly, but we earn our own way - we just have to strong a bunch of these performances together.

absolutely. It shows where we are headed, but we still dont have the horses to beat the good teams yet. But this shows that we will once we improve the roster around Fields.

Ha! Eat THAT Rodgers!

It really shows how much of a team game football is. A great player looks bad on another team, and vice versa. until you have enough pieces in place, it's hard for anyone to look too good. And that comes back to the trouble of evaluating Fields with this team around him. Another draft and $100 Million in cap space should help!