BearFan PHX

Yeah ROushar sounds good on paper. Hes a little older, but I dont know the guy, maybe thats fine. I do know that in his prime he has coached up some very good offensive linemen. And did you see the list of pass rushers that have been drafted by teams while Dennis Allen was DC or head coach? WOW.

in our case OL coach is an even more important hire than OC! This offseason is so critical with Caleb already heading into year 2

To both posts: yup. No really strong candidate was going to come here to be in Johnson's shadow, and not call plays. So we got an energetic guy to be Johnson's assistant. He wont be going anywhere anytime soon anyway so cool. Just gotta hope he and QB coach JT Barrett are good in Calebs ear along with Johnson's input.

also announced is Declan Doyle as OC. He is basically Johnson's assistant. We need good OL and DL hires now.

and now Rappaport and Gabriel have it too. COOL. He will be great for us. EDIT: and now Scheffter has it too.

My patreon guys say it is official! Lets see how long until the mainstream media agree

for sure. especially with a new leadership group coming in - you dont need to do something drastic and self harming like cutting him loose to get the players' attention. Youll have it with Al Harris and (hopefully) Dennis Allen. Turn him into an asset and he will love this staff forever and keep himself in check for them.

me too! I want another hit of what I felt in 1985, and all weve had for DECADES is a big zone. We may even get burned a lot, but we have players now, we should let them play. Get a real pass rush in here, and it will be great to see.

right but the comment from Biggs was pretty clear - that he doesnt KNOW anything, but hes heard from insiders that its likely, which I believe. I mean I think Allen is coming here. But the thing is, the article was about Shaw, and the single line about Allen was an add on, it wasnt timely, it could just as easily have said "insiders i spoke to 5 days ago believe Allen is likely to the Bears" so no actual news happened today - Biggs doesnt claim any. Its like the stuff saying Johnson was going to the Raiders. Turns out they werent even in the running. Narratives thrive in vacuums. Watching the echo chamber hum today was a rabbit hole thread unwinding that actually lead nowhere LOL And that said i STILL think Allen will be Bears DC, but nothing happened today that I can discern. Id like to hear when the two other DC candidates actually have their interviews. Has the RR been satisfied? But the activity i saw earlier, which was a ton of articles, were all based on this one line of non news, when I followed all the trails.

Very interesting article (he cites the sources and shows the tweets) about Al Harris already challenging Tyrique Stevenson by having him join Pete Houlihan's sports performance unit. You gotta love seeing this. I feel the urgency already. And you gotta figure a DC is in waiting, nodding approval from the shadows. Hard to say you want to teach a player a certain approach if you dont have the DC yet? https://www.sportsmockery.com/chicago-bears/new-bears-coach-al-harris-is-already-getting-on-tyrique-stevensons-a/

FWIW, private jet N503GQ, which is supposedly the Bears or McCaskeys private plane did in fact fly to New Orleans this afternoon, and then return to Chicago. https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n503qf does anyone know whats in Cincinnati? Where is David Shaw right now? EDIT: It doesnt seem McCaskey has his own plane, these are chartered flights (BJ, McCarthy etc), so who knows who might be on that plane from New Orleans, and the previous and subsequent flights are irrelevant, other clients. When you try to shake out meaning from nothing but noise, you get nothing

OK, this is too funny. Based on a Brad Biggs article in the Tribune today about David Shaw interviewing, which has a single line about mutliple inside sources believing the Bears will sign Allen, which isnt really new, and one poster on some Bears talk type board Ive never heard of, who has tracked the Bears private plane, some posters on that board have decided that this is proof of Allen coming to Chicago. Here's the funny part - based on THAT, someone has changed Dennis Allen's Wikipedia page to reflect him as Defensive Coordinator, and it cites the poster on that board as the source, even though he isnt a reporter and has just requoted Biggs; stale quote hahaha I think they are trolling the guy, but there is it on Wikipedia which is both hilarious and lets you know how much of a trusted source Wiki is (it's not!) From Wiki: "Terry Billingsley has confirmed Allen and the Chicago Bears have agreed to terms to become the defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears." Too funny. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Allen_(American_football)

or the blitz schemes are getting pressure, but yes, the DBs will eat because the defense is not going to sit back, we are going to let the DBs hunt, and try to make the QBs uncomfortable while they do that. We definitely need a serious edge.

on paper they do sound good. Boucher may be getting a little old, but honestly my worries or opinions are worthless next to a professional opinion. And I dont think we've had real professionals in charge for a long time. I would weigh my opinion against Eberflus, Nagy, Pace, Trestman etc. Jason has convinced me of that. THey were so substandard that our opinions were as good or better than theirs. But whether he becomes a legendary coach, or flames out over leadership concerns, I do know right here and now that ben Johnson's opinion on Shaw and Boucher are better than mine will ever be, even if I did massive research. So I am confident, for better or worse, in Johnson's decisions about this coaching staff. Anything he thinks sounds good to me. And so yeah - Shaw and Boucher sound perfect, no matter the narratives around them, because Johnson says so! Now let's get Allen announced and signed!

Looks like it's Allen. A bunch of reports have surfaced in the last hour that he's the choice. It all adds up. I'll await the official announcement, but it looks like we were right about the RR holding back a decision that was already made before we signed Al Harris. He is going to be great to watch - we will get burned by being too aggressive sometimes, but no more sitting back in a zone on 3rd down as a matter of course. Thank goodness. The secondary will be able to eat now.

for sure. Id love that 3rd rounder, but he is too smart and has too good of a future to take that ticket.

There's kind of a golden rule going into the draft every year, and that is you sign a free agent to fill every hole. We get confused thinking that the free agents are the likely starters, when the plan is you hope a bunch of the rookies push them out. But going into the draft with actual holes is a recipe for having to reach and not maximizing your draft value with some amount of BPA. So I expect a ton of new free agents on the OL before the draft, and many of them may be Pryor level players, but hopefully one of them rises up and takes a job. But we will have 5 players on the OL before we go into the draft. And right now we need at least 3 more to even be able to say that much. I dont think Jenkins is coming back.

good point. this will help us on both sides of the ball. we're also going to have to get some free agents, and while I'm tempted to say Poles' luck with free agents isn't great, the truth is free agents are hit and miss for everyone. Teams don't willingly let their best players go, and as my dad always says when Im talking up some new free agent we signed "theres a reason the other team let them go" - true as often as not. Let's hope our new staff have a good eye for linemen!

I disagree, especially if your head coach is a first time HC from the offensive side of the ball, and you're talking about a guy like Dennis Allen. You might be prohibited by the rules for asking "hey were gonna hire this guy is that OK?" but you can always ask him or his agent "we're thinking about signing this guy, what can you tell me about him?" You dont want to hire a passing game coordinator (whatever that is) without the DC wanting that flavor of pass coordination (lol) Then again, Thomas Brown was our passing game coordinator and apparently when he was in that role, he was forbidden to talk to Caleb LOL so who knows what any of it is. Still, I think our future DC probably said OK about Harris. And that really only makes sense if it's Allen. Otherwise, it's a little weird. And the only reason Allen wouldnt already be official is the RR. So I think we are watching this whole dance for no real good reason at all if Allen is the choice and the RR is driving this. And you have to dance well and convincingly and carefully, because Flores is suing the league already! Your lawyers tell you it has to be this certain dance. And that's when it gets ridiculous. If it is Allen and he is announced soon after the two interviews occur, then we will know we were probably right. And if it's someone else, then we are arranging marriages again. My guess is it's Allen.

I think the OL coach is going to be a really important hire

He has turned down other offers before. I suspect he will wait for an opportunity that he really believes in. Of course I cant know what his feelings are about Jacksonville, but it's not an elite destination as you say AZ54. My guess is he sticks around this year. My gut tells me he has been good for us in player evaluation, but i also think having Johnson and his staff around should help alleviate whatever we lose in that way when Cunningham does finally go. That extra 3rd looks like an interior OL or DL to me. Could be a RB, S or TE too.

feels like it. I just hate screwing around while someone else might poach him. Look at Liam Coen, and how he told the Bucs he was taking care of a sick child, having already made an agreement, and suddenly, he's in Jacksonville.

So we just hired Al Harris (not that one!) from the Cowboys to be defensive pass coordinator. Seems to me you wouldnt be hiring assistants until you had your DC in place. Given that no signing has been announced, I think this adds some weight to the idea that Dennis Allen is already decided and agreed, and we are waiting for Rooney Rule fulfillment. otherwise, youd figure if they had chosen a DC it would be announced. No reason not to except the RR, and it's unlikely they are going to saddle and incoming DC with a hire he didnt agree to. Then again, it would be so Bears to do that? Still I think this lends some credence to the idea that Allen will be our DC, especially since we arent hearing hes having more interviews anywhere else?

I agree - I wonder if they mean defensive passing game EDIT: yup, I went and looked on the Vikings website and their TEs coach is also listed as passing game coordinator, so I guess this is defense against the pass, and not a defensive / offense hybrid position?

I agree, and you actually have a coach, Flores, suing the NFL to stop the Rooney rule, well I mean, i think he is suing to say every Rooney Rule interview has to be a real interview, but how can you mandate that or police it? Affirmative action was just discontinued this week, maybe it's time. But yeah, winning is everything, and no one is going to pass over whoever they think the best coach or player is because of race.