AZ54

I lean this way as well... we're closer than we think we are. Not Superbowl close but this isn't a total rebuild. Looking at our season so far I think competent coaching changes at least 2 games our way, maybe 3, with the same roster. With Fields on board finding a WR1 isn't mandatory IMO. We can do what the Rams have done and go with several competent WR2. Newsome may yet be one of them, we need to see him play before the year is out. Get rid of Nagy's pet players. He wants the speed/trick play guys (Byrd, Cohen, Patterson, etc.) but never knows how to fit them into the offense. It's not that I don't want to have one of these type of players on the roster but as far as I'm concerned our PR/KR Grant can fill that role. TE is good with Kmet, James (re-sign ), and can anyone explain why we aren't using Horsted more on offense? He is exactly what Fields needs as a compliment to Kmet's inline play. Instead Nagy sticks with Graham. If we let Horsted go we're going to regret it. I'm good with Holtz too in his current role. Oline I usually defer to those with more insight but while we know Jenkins is a big question mark right now it's quite possible he and Borom are our bookend OTs. We're ok at OG IMO. So if we need to fix the center position that's not a sky-is-falling proposition. More or less for offense we need to fix a couple WR spots and OC plus scheme/play caller. Dline isn't all bad either. I'm good with Goldman as he is starting to round into form. IMO he's getting back to the player he used to be. The missing piece has been Hicks and he just can't stay healthy at this point in his career. I'd re-sign him to a very team friendly deal but he's backup/part-time material and should be paid accordingly. We need to find his replacement. If Tonga can improve it might be as simple as moving Goldman out to DE. Nichols won't cost much we need to keep him around. Draft an interior pass rusher. OLB: I'm keeping Mack unless a team gives us those two picks someone mentioned earlier. He's still a force against both run and pass even if not an elite edge rusher anymore. Quinn will be ok next year and I expect Trevis Gipson to be improved. It's just not a position we need to break and rebuild when we have other issues. If we can get improved interior rush the edges will be more productive. ILB: Roquan is going to get paid. He's everywhere and sometimes looks like he's doing everyone else's job. We can find a complimentary piece to play next to him for a reasonable price. CB: Gotta fix this spot opposite Jaylon Johnson but when you consider finding the CB1 in Johnson is the more difficult challenge we should be able to correct this. S: This is our biggest issue on defense and it's such a huge hole it makes all others look bad. Eddie Jackson will be gone. He has $5mil guaranteed and there's no reason to throw even more money than that his way. Expect him to be a late cut to spread out the hit. Tayshaun Gipson is just always late to the party, we need replacements at both spots. I'd even consider using our 2nd Rd pick to fix this position but scanning draft boards the talent isn't there. I haven't done much scouting but I like Lewis Cine out of Georgia as a mid-rd pick.

That is the most depressing rumor I've ever heard. If it comes to pass I will continue to honor his request as I am the "customer" he said he's glad to lose, and I'll find a new team.

Thanks. While I'm busy with the family you and everyone else here are keeping me up to date on all things Bears. Plus your perspectives on how our players and team compare to others around the league is always a nice read.

Never would have thought of that but it makes sense.

Jackson is an elite runner, he's so quick in his cuts but tonight he appeared to be less mobile. Instead of running away from pass rushers he more often hurried his throwing motion to get rid of the ball often with poor results.

Thank you. She is back home now but has a long road to recovery. So far she's off to a good start and is already able to stand and walk a little bit.

The stats are great and I love his effort have but it would be nice to see a safety supporting the run and pass better so Roquan didn't have to make plays everywhere.

I watched most games this year and only missed games due to being with my wife while she was hospitalized for 2 weeks. Couldn't tell you a thing about last year because I only caught a few quarters of actions here and there.

If I had watched any football last year I might agree.

Just making sure we are talking about this Kyle Fuller? https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/10/22/after-high-profile-signing-broncos-have-benched-kyle-fuller/

At this point it no longer matters because they are about to change the definition of vaccinated for the 2nd time in 6 months so that nobody in the US is vaccinated against COVID. He does understand the risk factors quite well but whatever decision he made he should have stood by it publicly and followed the rules. That's a real lack of character but it's not surprising to see from him.

I"m 100% with you on this. I saw Adam's post on the NYG having the 8th pick in the draft. That won't hold but even if it does I don't care because we have Justin Fields and I feel pretty good about that right now.

For the money we're paying him and his part-time status of 50-75% of defensive snaps, Ogletree has been good. He has 27 solo tackles vs. 26 for Jackson. He also has 3 passes defensed vs. 0 for Jackson.

I'm smiling just thinking about it.

I never expected anyone to offer much if anything for ARob. Since we aren't likely to make much use of freeing up his cap space any offer would have to be at least equal to what we expect we'll get in a comp pick, keeping in mind of course that there's a year and a round difference between the comp pick vs. 2022. I don't see a reason to give him away when our most important project this season, developing Fields, is helped by keeping ARob.

Mahomes still has elite arm talent but I said before that draft in college he had some very Cutler-esque games with multiple INTs. It's in his nature to do all things possible to make the play. Of course those plays can end up on highlight reels for both offense and defense. This was my biggest question with him... how would he handle things when the talent around him isn't as good. He was brought into a perfect situation and made the most of it. I've seen him play in a couple games this year and it's definitely interesting watching how he handles adversity, even some of his emotional outbursts towards his teammates.

I'm amazed how quickly he recovered from that injury. I wonder if they'll give him a week of practice before getting him into contact but seeing him back at full speed alongside Herbert is going to give teams headaches. This comes at a time when Fields is beginning to get comfortable in the offense and they are now moving him around too.

Missed the game for the 2nd week in a row and only saw a few highlights. That defensive performance was pitiful and in an odd twist of fate on Saturday I got to see Mel Tucker's Mich State team beat Jim Harbaugh. Life is odd at times but I should have known something wicked this way comes. I wish I had seen Fields performance, maybe I'll be able to catch a replay on NFL network later in the week. Anyone who has even only played backyard football knows how ridiculously difficult it is for a right handed QB running to his left to throw that pin-point pass to Jesse James in the end zone.

Ah memories of the Al Davis phone calls to the sideline demanding they go deep.

I'm ok if they got a deal for ARob. As far as I'm concerned we can replace him by going with more 3 TE sets with Jesper. Foles, Jackson are obvious yes but Jackson's contract means nobody is going to be interested unless we're giving them something they really want like a draft pick. Graham... given our horrible pass offense we can't go by anybody's stats or we'd be getting rid of every TE and WR. I wouldn't mind trading him but I'm not sure anyone needs him for their playoff run, and could fit his contract in their cap space. TE is a position that gets injured a lot and his cost is sunk for this season. We're not going to get much in return for a 3 month rental (trade) by another team and we're not likely to use his cap space. Unless it's a can't refuse type of deal we might as well keep him around as insurance and he's helping Jesper and Kmet too. Train your replacements! Trevathan I feel the same as Graham. We won't get much in return, if anything, so we might as well keep the depth/insurance policy. Dalton I'd trade, but agree not both him and Foles. We've committed to the future. Williams I'm keeping. There's no reason to short change the running game now while Fields is still at the beginning of the learning curve. Gipson: Never really saw him do much so if someone wanted him for some strange reason (like they never watched his game tape) then sure send him their way.

I'm all in on extending Montgomery and keeping a solid 2-man RB rotation for the next 3 years while Fields is settling in. We're going to unload Dalton and Foles so with Fields on his rookie deal use the spare QB budget to fit in Montgomery. As mentioned, this is also a position with high injury rates so having a good backup is critical for Fields. Plus both of these RBs have proven they can be successful running behind a less-than-ideal Oline too. In the future if Fields blossoms sooner than later, or meets the highest expectations, and we need cap space or a trade to shore up another position we can look at moving Montgomery if he has enough value. Add in the fact that we have Mooney and the "question marks" at WR and maintaining a good running game for the next two seasons is mandatory IMO.

When players add a significant amount of muscle/strength it usually comes at the expense of losing some quickness. If a loss of quickness is what ails Mustipher he might recover from it but it will likely have to be done in the next offseason.

You make me miss having the subscription to the All-22 or coaches film. We just ran for 100yds against TB. You're saying not once did we call the same running play?

I'm perfectly good with Fields being our starter. It's not like this is a Superbowl contending roster being held back solely by the QB. He's learning and he's improving. Let it continue.

Riddick I like as an talent evaluator. GM is a different role I'm not sure he's ready for. I'd certainly interview him to see how well he's thought out his "organization" and how he'd run it. Florio? It is so much easier in life to have a job where all you have to do is criticize the work of other people. Never seen anything from him that says he can evaluate talent in coaches. He only seems to be a talking head who regurgitates what everyone else is saying.