BearFan PHX

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.

Yeah, maybe cycling in more practice squad guys will keep us from winning while developing some players for the future. I really dont want to win 2 or 3 games now. Even 1 is too many. I NEVER want to feel like this ever again.

I'm worried about winning, Even with our depleted roster, you can feel this team getting stronger. Pretty soon those bad 4th quarter play calls aren't going to be enough to hold back this team and keep them from beating someone. Probably the Lions and/or the Vikings. But with Fields being such a hero, cant you see some kind of miracle against the Eagles or the Bills? I am thrilled at the growth and cant wait to see what Fields and this staff can do with a proper roster. But I want that #2 pick. It means so much more than the #5 in terms of getting Jalen Carter, or some really sweet bundle of first round picks, the kind we used to be on the giving side of. It's hard not to want the team to win. Of course it's because I want them to WIN in the larger context, so it's not disloyal or anything. But still, I am actually worried they are gonna bust out too soon. Four more games and then our future can start. Thoughts?

I hope the coaches keep up this mysterious playcalling problem in the 4th quarter and we dont win another game. I seriously think they may be thinking that they want to win halftime, and the 3rd quarter, but not the game.

lol

I hope theyre using the bye week to get Eislen ready for some action. As long as we are kicking the tires on all these people, let's see Eislen in action. More for Harry & Leatherwood too. I hope we keep losing games 32-31 that would be great. I hope it happens against our DL mostly on the ground, and not too much on the secondary.

I agree, we don't want to fall too far, we need a dominant DL player. There are probably 3 or 4 of them, some better than others. So trades down to #15 are too far for us - I agree. Unless we are targeting the WR from TCU? But I dont think so. However, you can do the math for trading up, and sometimes even having that other team (that you dont want to drop too far in the draft order for) in the bidding still gives you leverage on the price the team you ARE willing to trade with will have to pay. In that sense, having another good QB declare at best is neutral for us, and at worst, affects the value of our pick somewhat? Even worse though, is that the NFL Sunday Ticket is probably moving from DirectTV, their contract is up this year. And whether they keep it or not, there will be a bidding war, probably between Apple and Amazon. That means the salary cap is likely to move up significantly. And unfortunately, that weakens the value of our huge cap dollars vs other teams this offseason. I think the best way to calculate that is to take the current Bears cap space for 2023, and divide it by the total 2023 cap space of all teams together, and you get a percentage. The Bears have 7% of the available cap room, or something like that. Anytime you add more money equally to each teams available cap room, that Bears' percentage (and our leverage in the market) goes down. Teams will be able to resign players they would have had to lose. Also, Poles has something up his sleeve to get us a true #1 WR, but I gotta say, I dont really see it. Who is the player in the draft or Free agency who will be a true #1 WR for 2023? I guess we can see why Poles was willing to go so high for Claypool.

LOL well said. Good QBs are always needed. But then again, We got Fields at 11, and the Chiefs got Mahomes at 10. So teams do wait for QBs to fall in draft years where there are more than 2 good ones available. The draft is always foggy. Im glad we have our QB now.

cuts both ways, if there are more talented QBs available, some teams might prefer to wait for one to drop to them.

Lets Go Baker Mayfield! Drove a team hed been on for two days 98 yards in a minute and a half to win the game. And screw the Lions' pick. Let's GO!