AZ54

One thing Chip Kelly had that made his offense good in Philly was a very good Oline. He said as much that it was their ability to run the ball that made the passing game so effective. I don't think we can rule out OT in the first, much less OLB. I'm still ok if we go OLB/OT in Rd1 and 2. When we get to the WRs I suspect they will be prioritizing speed and the Alshon Jeffrey types won't be what they are looking for. Maybe there was some good fortune in him leaving so we have the roster flexibility to bring in what Nagy wants. Plus we do have Meredith who can fit that role on the outside. That might exclude Jarvis Landry as well although I wouldn't want to pay him anywhere close to what he's asking for.

This is a very interesting hire and I'm not sure if this is good or bad. Too many people are talking about the college spread offenses as the wave of the future but Chip Kelly proved that it isn't. Actually he proved that when his teams kept getting shutdown in the big bowl games, much less a championship game. Mixing in a piece or two here and there is one thing but I much prefer Reid's offense as the base for what we do. Hopefully that is where Nagy is headed and Helfrich is ready to come in and learn how it's done. Do these two have some history together? How does Nagy go completetly outside the NFL for his OC? -------- These guys are really fast on updates... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Helfrich...rican_football)

I agree and the fact this rumor is out there (in many places) indicates Nagy agrees too. He has a successful defense no need start over from scratch on that side too.

Some interesting quotes from Brad Childress on Nagy's decision to coach the Bears. Indy never made him an offer but by the way Nagy spoke about his conversation with Ballard you get the sense he was in strong contention for their job too. http://www.espn.com/blog/indianapolis-colt...ears-than-colts It will be interesting to see how this works out for the two franchises over the next few years. Meanwhile Josh McDaniels is still on the clock and Indy is expanding their search to included Steve Wilks and just interviewed the HC from Baylor. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/c...ort/1022932001/ ....and I might have been wrong. Matt Patricia might be headed to the NY Giants but it still seems clear he's the top candidate the Lions want to hire. Of course he could be using the Giants to ratchet up the offer from the Lions.

This should ease your mind: https://twitter.com/PatrickMannelly/status/...src=twsrc%5Etfw

If you scroll around on that twitter feed you'll see PFF snapshot of JimmyG's grades. It looks like SF has their new Alex Smith on the roster. https://twitter.com/PFF Scroll further down and you'll see Adrian Amos as their All Pro Safety with a grade of 92. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DTBsCb7W0AMEdMI.jpg:large

This is interesting. At a minimum it will generate the usual comments about how PFF scores don't always match performance. Nonetheless there is Trubisky sitting right alongside Watson and Mahomes (in a very small sample size) not far above. https://twitter.com/PFF/status/950778207325...com%2Fnfl-draft Myles Garrett will be stud. QB is still the more valuable position. The geniuses in SF can't possibly be happy with Solomon Thomas. I still think he'll be a good player and as a fan of his in the draft expected better play from him. That's close to being a bust in the top 5. Reuben Foster makes up for it late in the 1st Rd. Jabril Peppers played poorly. Eh, not surprised. I still prefer Tarik Cohen in the 4th Rd over Christian McCaffrey #8 overall. I think that comparison will really be tested next year with Nagy calling plays. OJ Howard might be the biggest shock as he seemed to be one of the safest picks in the draft.

Trying to get the timeline down: Jet lands, shortly afterward Fangio meets with, or at least talks with, Nagy and Ryan Pace. Within hours of those conversations the Packers hired Pettine and then shortly afterward Gus Bradley agreed to a new contract with the Chargers. The timing of all this is supposed to be coincidental? I think not. According to ESPN the Packers fired Capers because he hasn't had a top 10 Defense in years so you have to think the idea of plucking Fangio, who has a top 10 D in Chicago with ZERO Pro Bowl players, was very appealing. All things being equal among the top DCs available if you take Fangio away from Chicago you at least force them to adapt to a new system which takes time but also affects personnel. ------------------------------------ http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2201773...ive-coordinator McCarthy fired Capers after the Packers finished 7-9 and ranked 22nd in total defense. That's the fourth time it has finished in the bottom third of the NFL in the past seven years, including a dead-last ranking in 2011. Capers had not finished with a top-10 defense since the Packers' Super Bowl season of 2010, when it ranked fifth. The Packers have finished outside the top 15 in the defensive rankings six of the past seven years. ------------------------------------ Now we have a blitz happy DC in Green Bay. If our HC is what we think he is, and with Trubisky having already seen every blitz known to man, then we're going to take advantage of those blitzes. For Gus Bradley he had to know he was on the radar for Chicago's new coach and at a minimum would use that as leverage to get a better deal from the Chargers. Pettine was going to accept whatever was offered to him first. I have to believe Vic decided to stay here and the rest of this time was just working out contract details. He'll sign a new deal with Chicago today. John Fox's ego will take a big hit immediately afterward. I do like this. Of course I like Fangio and the work he's done but I feel it's akin to Pace bringing in Fox when he started. A young GM had an experienced head coach to help him turn things around. I still think that was a good decision given the other coaching candidates that were available at that time. Now with a foundation in place and experience in his role Pace gets his man for the future. For Nagy, he'll be able to learn a new role while allowing Fangio to take full ownership of the defense. It will be a tremendous help for him in his first year as HC and will allow him to devote his energy into fixing what is most in need of repair: The offense.

I wasn't looking at catches, I was looking at how he handled the tight coverage from a player who will lining up opposite him in the NFL. In the end zone throws can he win well enough to go up and get after the ball (even if it was a bad throw)? He also wasn't as fast as I hoped he'd be. He's still a very good WR prospect who should be on our radar but not worth a top 15 pick IMO.

I wasn't looking at catches, I was looking at how he handled the tight coverage from a player who will lining up opposite him in the NFL. In the end zone throws can he win well enough to go up and get after the ball (even if it was a bad throw)? He also wasn't as fast as I hoped he'd be. He's still a very good WR prospect who should be on our radar but not worth a top 15 pick IMO.

Exactly and the Chiefs #1 was Kelce. The rest was scheme.

There has been chatter the Bears could take Ridley in the top 10. While I still like him as a prospect what I saw tonight was a #2 WR in the NFL. There is no need to draft that skillset early in Rd 1. In Rd 2 maybe but I think he'll be gone by then. Even at that, there are other WR prospects who offer similar skillsets in the 2nd Rd. For me Rd 1 remains on target for OT or OLB.

Who are the Chiefs WRs? I'll give you some help because I needed it. http://www.chiefs.com/team/depth-chart.html Take note of the RBs too because while Kareem Hunt had a great year, if you watched him play you know he's not a great RB. In fact I like our tandem of Howard/Cohen far better. I don't see any Chiefs Oline players in the Pro Bowl either, not in the last few years. Eric Fisher at LT has often been called a bust although he improved recently. http://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansa...e190660859.html With those resources KC had the 5th ranked offense in the league in yds/gm and 6th in pts/gm. Of course they had Travis Kelce and he's an outstanding player. One outstanding player does not make a great offense unless perhaps it's the QB. Nobody around the league is pounding the table to bring in Alex Smith to turn their franchise around. If Nagy was able to illustrate why their offense worked so well without elite talent and how he schemes against defenses, as opposed to this all coming from Andy Reid, then it is pretty clear why he is our new HC.

A report from Kansas City http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-colum...e193551879.html

It is interesting because the Bears went outside the box when they brought in Pace. Now the young GM is bringing in his young HC who is relatively inexperienced calling plays, one year after we traded up to draft a young relatively inexperienced QB at #2 overall. In my decades as a fan we're in uncharted waters. There is no safe route now. Either we are built for success the next 10-15 years or it will all go down in flames. I love it.

I like that we moved quickly. I'm a little bit surprised it was Nagy but I like the fact we brought in a young coach up and coming coach. It would be nice to see us find someone that can stick around for a decade or more paired up with our QB. It's a stability we've never really seen in the modern era. That all depends on wins and losses but it's clear this is Pace's intention. Most importantly, I think the Andy Reid style of West Coast offense is an excellent fit for Trubisky's skills.

Based on his statement about wanting to stay here it is safe to assume Fangio likes working with Pace and feels confident he'll bring in the talent he wants/needs. Green Bay's front office is in transition so he has no idea how that will play out. I too think Fangio would stick with the top 10 defense he just built with almost all young talent.

There are a lot of breadcrumbs on the trail. Here's a couple... https://sportsnaut.com/2018/01/report-matt-...ad-coach-lions/ https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/01/06/matt-patr...lions-coach-job https://www.profootballrumors.com/2018/01/l...icia-head-coach The other thing you look for is that his name cools off regarding other head coaching searches. With Matt Patricia you have to add in that Teryl Austin was in the HC running but today he's reportedly in contract negotiations with the Bengals to be their new DC. Which also means some new HC doesn't want him as the DC.

There is also the professional courtesy of Pace helping Fangio. If Fangio doesn't want anything to do with Marvin Lewis and the Bengals then Pace helps him out by denying the interview request. That doesn't put Fangio in the uncomfortable spot of declining an interview just a few days before he might be a FA.

The rumor mill will suffice. No announcement was made but the NFL world knows the Lions are working on deal to make Matt Patricia their new HC.

The interviews are done. I don't think we're waiting around as we've done in years past. http://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bears/whe...lippo-Ryan-Pace I think Mullin is right. Pace dragged Ted and George all over the country so he wouldn't have to bring people in for a second interview to get ownership approval. I realize this made lots of folks very unhappy but ownership has a say in who represents them so I have no problem with them meeting these candidates. If I owned a football team I'd want to protect my $1B-$2B investment and know which HC will become the face of my franchise. I hope they weren't involved in the entire interview process, just a portion of it, and that their involvement is more to say Nay vs. Yay. Meaning they might rule out a candidate like McDaniels if they still feel he's going to act like a schmuck again. Despite all the criticisms of them, the McCaskey's, especially Virginia, want to know that people in the organization are being treated right. We've had multiple posts on this board expressing similar reservations about McDaniels. The back story here is that Pace really wants Fangio to stay. He's made that clear both through interviewing him for the HC job, despite no other teams having him on their radar, and by refusing to the let the Bengals interview him for their DC opening. That last part is interesting because Fangio is a FA on Tue. This all makes me think that if Fangio fits with the new HC, Pace will pay him big money to stay. That means a HC decision could be made tonight. A phone call/offer made tomorrow morning to the candidate he selects. That gives the new HC time to interview Fangio and see if they can work together. They can't force Fangio to stay since he can leave on Tue so most likely both parties (Pace/Fangio) have spoken about this openly. Keep in mind back in Nov Fangio said he really wanted to stay with the organization. He didn't say he wanted Fox and Co. to stay. All is playing out this way especially with the heavy focus on offense-oriented coaches. Who is our new Head Coach?

LOL, yes I did.

I'm not that high on DeFilippo. A guy who hasn't done much more than QB coach making a jump all the way to HC scares me a bit. Shurmur OTOH has been there done that and likely can improve. I also think he'll want little to do with the defense and prefer a veteran DC, possibly even Vic, to handle things on that side. With Flip I'd be most interested in hearing what he'd do differently with the Eagles. What could make Wentz even better? I feel much the same way about Nagy. Hasn't really held that much responsibility. Can he handle the organizing the entire team' structure? McDaniels is the outsider. He's not my first candidate but he could well end up as Pace's. ----------------------------------- Among who we're interviewing I prefer Shurmur with DeFilippo as his OC. I expect Shurmur has someone else in mind for OC. With that out there, I also want to say that I prefer to become like the Steelers. They always find a good HC who is young and can stay with them for 10-15years. That's not likely Shurmer.

THE Philip Daniels returning to Chicago?

You should question DeFilippo. Carson Wentz only has a 60% completion rate, Foles at 56.4%. There is nothing elite about any of that. This is with the #1a WR Alshon Jeffrey on board. The difference you see in the two in terms of game performance is that Wentz can run and it bails out the offense quite a bit. I like that about Trubisky too. In contrast under Shurmur Case Keenum has a 67.6% rate with his weak arm, Bradford had a 74.4% rate in his small sample size. I like what DeFilippo says when he details the Eagles' plays but what I'm more interested in is the guy who knows which plays to call and when against a defense. From the outside looking in it appears that Shurmur, McDaniels, and possibly Nagy would all have an advantage over DeFilippo.