BearFan PHX

2-2 doesnt suck if we learn something.

Ive been watching the all 22 films, and I can tell you that Williams is getting better every week, and also hes doing all kinds of things right. Daniels is being spoon fed a "read half of the field" kind of thing. Hes a one read and the run kind of guy. we have the right QB, its just gonna take a little time. But there is a lot wrong with the offense, so it's harder to see, so I understand where youre coming from. Caleb is probably the brightest spot on the offense.

This just came to mind, so Ill add it: Do we see any evidence from the OL that the HITS principle is in play? Hustle? Intensity? (turnovers) & Smart? The OL has not been smart, intense or hustling. Xs and Os aside, in terms of motivating people, is Eberflus only a defense whisperer? Is he checked out and leaving it to Waldron? Is he really just a DC in disguise?

yeah thats fair too I have been cynical about Eberflus for a while now, so I probably won't change my mind on a dime, but i have also said before that i think there is enough talent on this team to win despite what I think of Eberflus. But now that I see the problems on offense, and I'm hearing from players now that the coaching is too friendly and not tough enough, and thats been kind of an ongoing thing Ive been talking about for a while from Poles on down, I do feel somewhat like my read was right? Now all of these guys are certainly professionals. I dont think Waldron doesnt know vanilla blocking assignments, I assume they all know this stuff. My worry is that they are trying to be too tricky, and that kind of Nagy-esque cuteness rarely fools the other professional staff of opposing teams. because they are professionals too. Tom Waddle said today something like "stop being fancy, and do simple things well" and when it comes to the running game and the blocking scheme, that means guys winning their matchups. And a lot of that is about "Want to" - weve seen Davis's level of effort, and if the team didnt come down on him, then what are other players supposed to think? Players have said that they were more afraid of Bill Parcells than their opponent. Thats one way to motivate, but certainly not the only way. But however it's done it has to include real accountability, or it's fake. How do you get more out of a player than that players knows they have to give? being nice alone aint gonna do it.

no Im not at a decision point at all. I just think you cant fix things until you see and admit the problem. Thats why accountability is important. Am I cynical about the current coaching staffs ability to fix it? probably, but if I see signs of change, ill note them too. Im not fixed to a particular outcome, Im just calling it as I see it? But Mercedes Lewis tells us Waldron wasnt feeling comfortable to call players out and bring accountability. And that is definitely a problem. Kumbaya coaching doesnt win superbowls. Its just that corporate mindset, and i dont think it works in football. Certainly I hope they change and start doing the right things. But I dont have a ton of faith in them either - is that fair?

so it's not just 1-2 thats causing this reaction. If you watch the film, you see how insane a lot of it has been. Morgan is a disaster, Waldreon is floundering and Eberflus continues to make ridiculous unforced errors. It's not just the W/L record, its HOW we got there. And if what lewis says is correct, then that is a real problem for a coach. Without accountability, all you have is a social event.

so true. even if McCaskeys arent making the decisions any more, they chose people who also have that grey corporate thing. I want a motivator who gets the best out of his players. And who knows how to scheme.

you're absolutely right. but it is all about winning too, so anything that happens happens in the context of winning or losing. I do hope they can learn and adapt, and if they do, I'll be at the head of the parade. Like you said, all I want is to win, and eventually to dominate. I dont like or dislike these guys personally, in fact, Eberflus seems like a REALLY nice guy. He'd be a great friend or neighbor. So if we win, I'm gonna love the guy. But if we keep laying eggs like we have, burning timeouts, going for it on 4th and 1 when we shouldnt, getting a delay of game after a timeout, calling a 1 point conversion, and then switching your mind to get a delay penalty etc etc and you couple that with losing, then of course we want their heads. And if they win again, they we will love them again. And I think one of the biggest drawbacks of having Eberflus is that you dont have someone else who could potentially give you an edge in winning. But lets see what they do when Bates is back, and how they handle these next couple weeks. Winning fixes a lot, and losing with awful coaching stinks. It's really not a hater or a fanboy thing at all with me, it's just how bad it's looked. It's in their own hands to fix or not.

Modern day passing teams still also run the ball. When they do, they use blocking schemes that have names. When we do it, we ask players to make blocks by scheme that are pretty much impossible. If you watch the all 22 film after the game, and look at the blocking assignments, some of them are CRAZY. It's yet another example of the "smartest guy in the room" - we are reinventing football, when what we really need to do is just play football. Also, our coaching staff seems to pay no attention to personnel groupings, and we end up asking the wrong players to do the wrong things. Kennan Allen is not a speed clearout guy. Deandre Carter cannot hold the edge against a DE. Cole Kmet cannot pull across the entire line and make it to the point of attack on the other side. So far the overall offensive scheme has been a joke.

I think he could take a little more accountability in the press conferences, but I think in general hes a positive guy, but he failed to motivate Davis, and Waldron is still making the same mistakes. I do see some beginnings of changes, but I just dont see the OL playing with any fire. We have no identity on offense, and that is right in the lap of the motivation aspects of the head coach. FLus has made other serious errors too, but Ill keep this post just to the question of motivation and accountability.

I think you're making a false choice. Even modern passing offenses have a running game. Ours has been terrible. It needs to get better. Our pass protection too needs to get better and the playcalling needs to get better. Im saying Waldron is over his head, and I hope Caleb can take some control of the mess and bring it into focus from his part of the collaboration as the QB. SOme lead, some follow. I suspect Caleb will be more of a leader than, say, Justin was to Getsy. Now, to characterising my statement here as "harping" I dont get it. We just disagree, theres nothing weird about my position, you just dont agree with it - cool. But it isnt unacceptably flawed or anything, it's just my opinion. As for Flus, I dont see for sure how accountable he is really making them. He came into the press conference and wanted to talk about the good things. Listening to Flus talk, I dont hear a lot of accountability. Caleb on the other hand, takes good personal accountability, and he also calls out the entire team. It doesnt need to be a temper tantrum, just "we really need to do that better, you cant win games this way" rather than the rosy upbeat professional corporate "quality comes first, please hold" What I was saying, was that when I was "harping" before about wishing we had a harder nosed leader like a Harbaugh or similar motivator, that i was giving Eberflus some slack saying, maybe that hard nosed voice will come from our QB, and Eberflus can keep being a sunshine guy.

of course, but there are levels. Our staff babysat Trubisky, and Brady tells his coach what to do. Bruce Arians said Brady was co-Head Coach in Tamp Bay. And of course every level in between. Im just saying that Waldron is screwing up and i think Caleb knows football, and the balance of power may be shifting as Caleb grows, and I was just mentioning that this would happen, but I didnt expect it so soon. THe article is just a small thing, but it's an evolution that will happen, and honestly I think Caleb is more of a winner than Waldron is. So if the voice of accountability comes from our QB instead of a hot head head coach, that can work.

On Sunday, I said And here's the first hint of it https://www.bleachernation.com/bears/2024/09/25/caleb-williams-speaks-2/ I wanted a tough coach like Harbaugh to bring accountability. Doesnt need to be a yeller, but needs to hold people accountable, and raise the level of commitment, focus and performance. And the offense sure looks like it needs it. But there is nothing wrong with that kind of leadership coming from your QB. I said something about this a few months back too, about keeping Eberflus when that got announced. Maybe Caleb will just drag this team kicking and screaming into relevance despite the coaches. Maybe having Williams have a voice in picking the next head coach or OC will make a difference in getting the right plan in place for our team if it comes to that. Forget this the team needs to save the QB stuff, how about a hero QB saves the team?

very well said. I agree that Caleb has been progressing each half of football. We have a real QB, even if we don't have a functioning offense. It's not like with JF when people pointed to JFs disfunction and said that it wasnt his fault, in this case Caleb IS doing the things we wanted JF to do. We just arent able to sustain a drive or run the football, but play to play, Im glad youre seeing what Im seeing too - which is Caleb doing a lot of good things in the pocket. The goal if this season was to bring Caleb along to a good NFL QB. That is still happening despite all the chaos. The true window surely opens next year. We were all hoping it'd happen this year - maybe it will, but if it doesnt we are still on schedule. As for Poles, in my mind Ill give him one more year. He's addressed a number of position groups very well. It's obvious that the OL is lacking. He's made moves there, but hasn't spent a ton of draft capital there yet. He should get credit for taking Wright over Skoronski, and for finding Braxton Jones. I dont know how to judge him for Ryan Bates at center yet, but we will see that too in time. If Kiran Amagadjie plays his way into the lineup, then suddenly Poles is gonna be looking like he fixed half the line. Next year's picks will almost certainly go to the OL and D line, perhaps to build more depth at CB when contract times comes year after next. On the downside, I think keeping Eberflus was a mistake, keeping Morgan was weird, and Waldron doesn't seem to be the right choice either. If I could play this like Madden, Id keep the defensive staff intact, get a new head coach and let him do what he wants to do about the offense. Poles has made many missteps, but he's also managed to build a pretty solid roster at the same time. No poker player wins ever hand, but the good ones keep showing up at the final table. How Poles handles this next offseason is going to set my opinion of him. It should be said that the reason Poles is in hot water is precisely because he has done such a good job of building the roster that now our expectations are higher. Let's see who is starting on the OL in 4 weeks.

Im not happy with the OL either, and when the roster is looking this full, the weaknesses are glaring. I think he deserves next offseason to put it all together. Said another way, when was the last time you could point to one position group as the problem? usually it was a lot more than that. Poles has been disciplined, and didnt overpay for players or reach for players and get 4 year deals with older players to win now. Hes got a long term plan, and it's going pretty well. That said, keeping Eberflus wasnt the best move. Keeping Morgan is a disaster. Shane Waldron has been awful. And a handful of players have been misses too. Mostly free agents. Recent draft picks seem to be OK. Poles said he wasnt through with the rebuild. I assume he is talking about the OL and depth. The goal for this season is for Caleb to learn to be an NFL QB. He is going to need more protection for that this year, and moves are coming, like Pryor, Bates and maybe even Kiran Amagonnalearnyourelastnamewhenyoublocksomeone. We will tinker with RBs too. But next year is the actual beginning of dominance, and with the right additions on OL I can see it. But this is the year we learn how, even if we are inconsistent. Obviously it has to get better than it has been or it will all implode. But I think we can learn our lessons this year, and make some progress. But yeah we need a bunch of bodies on the OL. I sure hope Ian Cunningham isnt the reason for all the good stuff.

I dont think Flus would know hwat to do if he was OC. I really dont. And that is not Ok for a HC.

I said something pretty close too. I have to admit Ive liked a lot of what our front office has done. But theyve made some big mistakes too. I think I give Poles next years offseason to sort out the OL, and I wouldny mind if it was a whole new offensive set of coaches and head coach. I would keep the defensive coaches, with the blessing of the new HC of course. If he has something else in mind, he IS the HC, and we dont need to Bear him with an arranged marriage

Yeah, Im overreacting, thats why I called it a hot take. It seemed funny to me. But if we could trade Swift for a good OL Id do it in a heartbeat. Call me a Roschon Johnson fan. Ive liked him since training camp last year. I thought he'd be the starter for sure. But yes, if our OL opened holes for Swift, Im sure id like him better. Once he gets to the second level Swift is pretty dangerous, but until we open holes, Johnson is the better pounder at the first level, and if you can bull/fall forward for 4 yards a carry, thats all we really need.

Swift's running style is based on speed. He needs holes to get through, but he has quick change of direction. So here's a hot take: Velus Jones Jr gives you (only) that at RB too. They are both possible home run hitters, and neither is a grinder or a guy to in tough yards up the middle. Does anyone want to trade a Center for Swift?

this is how I see it too - well said.

I think there is an upside to team chemistry, but i also think Poles places too much value on nice guys, especially on the OL. I think Poles personal relationships with the players is clouding his judgement? This is what i was trying to say about the hugging Justin. I am VERY glad it didnt stop him from trading Justin, but i still think he needs to be more of an authority figure and less one of the guys. I also worry that Ian Cunningham is the brains. Im not ready to turn on poles yet, I think he's done a lot of very good things for us. But he is not infallible by any means.

I also think that when Caleb gets a little more cred (which could be very soon) he will start telling Waldron which plays he likes and which ones he doesnt. That may be the "outside voice" we need And if you doubt that Caleb would have that kind of power, consider that although it should never come to this, if Caleb and Waldron cant get along, it will be Waldron who gets fired.

and with all that production, the coaches were only able to cobble 16 points out of it.

I like the way youre thinking.

The Rams have a coach.