AZ54

Urlacher had a somewhat public run in with Cutler. Mike GLemon didn’t garner any vote of confidence. Trubisky either. Kyle Orton. Rex Grossman. This is getting depressing

I never thought I’d see this written from a bears fan. I don’t even need to list our decades long QB history.

Should be this weekend for the announcement or very early next week. HC interviews are ongoing and some will be settled by next week. It’s obvious the Bears want their pick of the OC litter.

Ian interviewed with Chargers over the weekend. Harbaugh just interviewed for the coaching job and it "went well". Who knows where that lands. My question is would Cunningham want to be a GM in a place where he didn't get to hire the HC? Especially a HC like Harbaugh who is going to want some control over the roster, if not full control.

You can't watch this and not think we're taking Williams #1 overall. I still question his leadership and that's a huge red flag at the moment for me. He is just 21 and most people grow over time but I don't want a selfish Kyler Murray type on the roster regardless of physical talent. Just like Jalen Carter last year how Williams handles the draft process will determine a lot for me. I also need to see the measurables just for validation. 6' and under starts getting tricky to play QB in the NFL, that's another issue Murray has to deal with. If things don't go his way early can Williams handle the negative press coverage? Boos in the stadium? Plus in Chicago he'd have to win over the locker room and that won't be easy. Can he handle a 4 game losing streak where he played poorly and continue to put the work in and lead the team? This is a weird situation for me because I still think Fields is a top 15 QB in the league and will easily grow into a top 10 QB with the right talent around him. The options are Fields plus a bounty for trading down which could easily net the Bears a few more Pro Bowl caliber players. Assuming Poles continues to draft well, then the trade down scenario gets so much future talent it almost certainly sets this team up long term to be a perennial playoff contender. Draft Williams and trade Fields also gets something but not nearly as high, plus carries risk of Williams flaming out. Williams has to be good enough to offset the talent gap of what we'd lose over the next 2 drafts. Some might say the rookie contract is enough to offset that with FAs. Williams is almost certainly headed to Chicago for a pre-draft visit.

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/caleb-williams-draft-scouting-2024/

I doubt we go with Roman as our new OC as his track record doesn't demonstrate the "fixes" we need as a passing offense. I think he would be a great addition to the offensive staff as an assistant/run game coordinator. Naturally I think the new OC, really all of these interviews involve heavy discussion on Fields. Therefore whoever gets the job I think will have some sway. There is a risk of hiring the guy who gives you the answer you want to hear. Since Fields was here before this staff that could be for or against. Or you better draft one of these top 3 QBs to hedge your bet.

Eagles for me. Dallas always comes up short of expectations every season. The only question mark is how they will do that as each year they seem to find a new way to fail. Likewise you can put the Chargers and all their "top NFL talent - QB, RB, WRs, DEs" in the same mix. I can't be disappointed in Rodgers injury since it took away a high pick from the Packers.

There's no shortage of folks willing to do the same and disregard the all the ethical issues with Harbaugh. This is just a 2023 list. https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2024/1/1/24017858/michigan-rose-bowl-jim-harbaugh-suspension

Why didn't Getsy do what on perimeter blocking? He had Tonyan out there, it wasn't a ton of snaps but that also likely because he's a matador as a blocker.

I put together a post awhile back about elite TEs and what they mean to an offense but I think it got deleted accidentally. So I've been thinking about Bowers for some time. A TE with a 41" vertical leap and runs 4.5 forty (reportedly) is a rare beast. He tracks the ball as well as any receiver, including MHJr. What has a great TE meant to .... Brady? He took Gronk out of retirement to help him win another Superbowl. When he didn't have Gronk over the years due to injuries their entire offense suffered. Purdy has Kittle. Mahomes has Kelce and when Kelce's not on the field that offense looks a lot different. Lamar Jackson has a really good receiving TE too in Andrews. Rivers... Gates Fouts... Winslow. (I'm old) I like Kmet and I'm glad we extended his contract but if Tonyan were any good at all blocking or catching this year would have looked so much better. I don't know how many whiffs Tonyan had on blocks that could have broken big plays. He dropped a couple passes one of which was a TD that could have won us a game. If I put Bowers on those blocks our WR screen or RB screen is out of the gate. His receiving speaks for itself and I think he can be a joker that can elevate the rest of the receivers.

I know there is more to it than he goes over but the trend for Wright across the season was upward. It was really obvious, at least to me, in the repeat games (Detroit, GB, Minn) that he had a much better handle on the players across from him. Now he carries those lessons into a full offseason. OTOH I saw somebody with their 2023 draft grades give him a C because he gave up 7 sacks on the year. A lot of people isolate stats simplistically and that doesn't tell the story across a 17 game season. Nobody puts together a time trend for example, box plots, opponent level of play, supporting talent around them, did they account for the games he played injured and could only block with one arm, etc. You just get assigned a number, or a grade. It's interesting to watch.

Of course. Feeney showed why he was an easy trade midseason. Even without that on individual blocks guys were just getting beat. Nobody looked like they came to play. Saw a lot of that on D too.

I find it hard to believe someone could write all that and yet not name a single person they wanted to thank. This reads like a Hallmark card.

We'll just agree to disagree that was an acceptable Oline performance. Even the run blocking was really poor at times. Watching the Darnell Wright video I posted somewhere .... how do two TEs skip blocking the DE, at least even a chip block on a play leading to a TFL? Yes, things are better at home thanks for asking.

The Oline was impotent. How do all those free rushers escape observation?

We weren't going to do anything of note in the playoffs had we made it. Finishing 8-9 wasn't going to change anything on the coaching decision. I've often wondered if the strategy was to keep it simple in Wk 18. If we win, we win, but maintaining two top 10 picks is not a bad consolation prize. I hate losing to those arrogant pricks but kicking GB down to 19 in the draft (for the moment) doesn't bother me because it's outside the window of the top talent in this draft. Plus Jordan Love will be the same inaccurate QB under pressure he's always been and that 9th pick is prime pass rusher territory in this draft.

you could be right he might drop well into Day 3

Keeping Fields, double trade down first with AZ @ 4 then Tenn @ 7. Lately I tend to prefer Bowers (plus what I get in trade down) vs. MHJr in top 3. I get more value and I think Bowers is more of a unicorn that helps just as much in the running game as the passing game. Bowers can block LBs and DBs in space far better than MHJr. I can usually still add another really good WR2 prospect in this draft late 1st early 2nd. In this case Odunze fell to me at 21 so that's an easy win. I can also add a good WR3 prospect later. I love what Latu brings to the edge both in run game and pass rushing. He plays strong yet has lateral quickness very similar to Aiden Hutchinsen. He can rush from the inside too. Nubin to replace Jackson. Graham Barton is OG prospect but he's played some OC and that's where we move him. Brooks is a solid #2 RB with burst and good contact balance, plus excellent hands. He'll be a legit 3rd down RB for us. Hudson Clark looks like a good depth addition to safety as I'm not too enamored with Hicks. He's aggressive around the LOS and a little bit of a ball hawk in centerfield. He's also played special teams in college so he'll fit right in there to start in the NFL. Arizona's 1st in 2025 to keep the ball rolling.

...and yet nobody said give me more games with Siemian or Peterman because the offense is better.

I hope you are wrong.

SF and GB, plus a bunch of other teams, run offensive puppets behind their HC. Andy Reid did it for a very long time in Philly and KC before finally handing over play calling duties. I don't see complaints from team building experts about that.

I don't know where he got the data or evaluations on these QBs but I found it interesting that release time for Williams and Fields is nearly identical slow. Daniels concern is going to be his frame but other than that he seems like QB1. I don't know how well his shoulder holds up with 300lb DTs landing on it. While I know that's illegal per se but it still happens.

Oline is better in Houston, heck everyone's Oline was better than the Bears. We had one bright spot this year: