BearFan PHX

*IF* Poles' job is on the line, I think the Bears should consider promoting Ian Cunningham.

the roster is trending up. the coaching is holding us back. with a new coaching staff and some more linemen in the trenches there is real reason for hope next year. I freakin knew it with Eberflus though. Saw all of this coming a mile away. The guy has no leadership skills you can see it in his body language.

yup - another great way to measure the way Eberflus actually hurts the team. And the currency of this one is wins, so hopefully it helps with Stingers point about wins. I went the other way, and proposed other metrics, but if we want to do it on wins, how many is Eberflus personally responsible for losing?

then the gauntlet of divisional games will clarify all of this. we will know exactly where we are. Poles BLEW this year with his decision to stay with Eberflus. I said it at the time, and a lot agreed with me. The guy is too loyal, and as a result he doesnt make the moves he should to hold the organizational weaknesses accountable. The Justin hug was an example of what I feared. Just for the record, Ive really only gone to bat against the flow early here for four things: Charles Leno sucks Justin Fields sucks Matt Eberflus sucks Poles is too loyal I know I was early, and got labelled a hater or whatever, but I think time is proving me out. I am not, for example, calling for Caleb's head, or even Moore's. I'm not even saying we should trade Stevenson. Fix the head coach and OC, get some OL in here, and let's see where we are. I still say this season has two goals: 1) Caleb learns to read NFL defenses and get used to the speed of the game. 2) The team gets punched in the mouth and realizes that they arent entitled any wins so theyre hungry. We are on schedule. Too bad we couldnt be ahead of schedule and get some playoff experience this year, but all the things that are on fire will help clarify things and set us up to be better int he future. Also, no good head coach wanted this job when Eberflus took it - to captain the teardown. We will have better suitors next year. We could have had them this year, but the Bears dont pay off coaches two years early. Dumb, but it is what it is. This year is gonna SUCK from here on out. But we still have Caleb Williams and a deep defensive roster. The future is not dead, it just doesnt have Eberflus in it, a year later than it should have is all.

YES. I saw this back in training camp. I said that Allen and Odunze were being besties with Caleb and I was worried DJ was feeling left out. DJ is always a "sit by yourself" kind of guy anyway. Hes been a talented receiver, and I have to assume that his emotions are an outward symptom of the failed culture in the lockerroom. You can suspend him or whatever, but at this point its not like you have this rock solid culture and this guy is off the reservation. I think at this point, you look at the coach, and the OC and you wonder what Moore will be like next year with a new situation. So yeah, trade Moore. Trade him to the 2025 Bears who have a different coach for a new start for him.

its more than wins. Its HOW you win. If you win 10 games, but the team won 4 more that you blew at the end with horrible calls, you shouldnt be coach. You have to look at all the decisions he's made and ask yourself if he gives you an active edge in winning. Right now, it is pretty easy to make the case that he actually costs you games and makes it harder to win. But he sure isnt adding value, so he should be gone. He should have been gone last year to be honest. And not because of his record, we all knew what the problems were that werent his fault. But for the errors HE made, unforced errors that any pee wee coach knows better than to do. That's inexcusable. pro coaches dont make those mistakes, and they sure dont make them over and over.

Yeah, if you could keep 200 players, then yeah, anyone that can play is good for depth at least. But you cant. They take up a roster slot and salary cap room. And remember, bad players have no trade value, only good ones do. When you look at the teams with good rosters, you see them trading away good sometimes great players when they know they arent going to resign them to richer deals. Sure you lose them for a season (or a half a season) but you get something for them leaving instead of nothing, and that helps replace the talent thats going, The real recipe to success in the NFL is to draft well, and trade good players you arent going to pay big before the last year of their current deal. When youre seeing good players go, thats when you know you have a good roster.

lol it'd be funnier if it wasnt so true 😢

yup, absolutelty! and when your offense isnt making first downs, you dont run enough total plays to get everyone their targets either. Thats not meant to be an excuse, because Kmet deserves his % of targets no matter how few you have to spread around, but more of an indictment about how bad this all is, and how not running enough on first down is killing EVERYTHING.

I don't see evidence of Caleb big play hunting? He's been making short and intermediate reads mostly? This is just a leftover narrative from college, but the film doesnt show it? What I see is TERRIBLE first down playcalling without enough runs, and that puts us in 2nd and 12 or 3rd and 10 too often, and thats when Caleb has to make magic happen. And he often does, but you cant make a living going downfield with consecutive magic plays on 3rd down. Its not sustainable, and inevitably we punt (or go for it when we shouldnt). But weve gotten away from the run, and we have too many presnap penalties. And all that goes to coaching. Waldron calls the offense like it's Madden - all passes, and people arent getting open, and the OL cant protect Caleb. Given what he's done in Washington, does anyone doubt a Kliff Kingsbury run offense this year would have been better for Caleb? Im not even saying thats the guy, Im just saying lesser QBs are doing more with better coaches. And we need more on the OL. More talent, and more teaching.

There is a lot of frustration on this team, but before we trade everyone away, lets see what a new coaching staff can do with them. I also felt like DJ Moore was being kind of ignored during all the offseason love for Allen and Odunze. And this after we extended him for all those years. I doubt we can even afford to trade him right now with the cap hit. I also think these guys would be OK if they werent so frustrated. Also, if you watch the whole film i linked to above, you see Caleb was doing everything he could do. Not perfectly of course, but well.

I generally like DJ Moore, but did you see him leave the field in the middle of the play while Caleb was still scrambling around?? go to 6:53

well said. and lack of discipline puts us behind the chains too often, and may contribute to Caleb's big play hunting too. Even something as simple as staying with the running game would help too. 2nd and 7 is really different than 2nd and 12 and the habits that causes are a problem.

it really is. let's hope it's pissing off Poles because he spent so much effort putting together the roster.

I agree with all of this. Like I said before, Tony Dungy would have won this game 17 - 13

all true. we really missed Sweat, but it would have been nice to see some pride, especially from our D tackles all day long. For a while their all their running plays looked like perfect video game examples of perfect blocking. Like it was on a chalkboard. We need to be more disruptive. And at some level, that's a pride thing.

yeah, and I havent watched the all 22 yet, but it didnt look like anyone was open. But the big question - why get away from the run game? It was working pretty well for us. Instead, we were behind the chains the whole game.

coaching is a huge part of winning, and the only way to beat the better teams. Of course you need players too. i think our roster is actually pretty good right now. The OL is a disaster, but we are doing pretty well in a bunch of areas.

Caleb has a way to go for sure. Hes young, and just learning, even in this circus, but even last week, as awful as everything was, he found a way to drive in the 4th quarter to win the game for us TWICE.

The roster is actually pretty good.

CW is just getting started and has already shown more in this circus than any Bears QB in a long time. Just like we gave both Fields and Eberflus 3 years, Caleb should surely get more time. I still think he can be one of the best NFL QBs ever.

Well I think Eberflus shouldnt be here next year, but as far as finishing out this year, I dont care as much. If we think a new coach could still save the season, then thats an argument for sure, Im not sure i can see that? Oh now Im reading further and youre being sarcastic. Why?

its seems glaringly obvious now. I really thought he needed to go before this season, but maybe the Bears just wont pay two coaches for 2 years. Hopefully theyll eat his deal next year to get someone else in here.

why did we abandon the run (again?) it was working pretty well early. Tony Dungy would have won this game. 17-13 as for going for it on the 4th and 11, I said outloud to my GF before the snap "I dont disagree with this one, as much as Ive hated all the 2nd qtr choices" We really missed Sweat today, Murray had all day back there. But most of all, beside abandoning the run, our WRs were never open. Waldron sucks. Maybe new coaches could help?

OK so this provides some perspective. He didnt "leave practice" as in left for the day, he just went to the locker room to collect himself and then returned. I like players that care. If he got emotional and needed a minute I am all for it. Unfortunately it will become a narrative that he left, and that puts more pressure on Eberflus, looking in the media narrative like he has lost the team. In this case, unfairly.