AZ54

When Emery came on board, and then when Lovie was fired, we saw some of our best talents leave the organization. Ballard was promoted then decided to leave a year later because he reportedly wanted to work with someone else. Marinelli was offered the DC job and after a week or so he chose to leave town for a lesser job with the Cowboys. Toub had our special teams at the top of the league year after year and when Lovie was gone he was offered a job to stick around. After a week or so he left town to take the same job in another city. Clearly something with Emery and Trestman made some good coaches and talent evaluators leave town. Now we have rumors of Ballard being our next GM and just as suddenly there are reports from several media outlets that Toub could be a our next HC. It's hard for me to have much of an opinion on any GM candidate unless they are experience because their work is behind the scenes and we only hear reports of their successes (i.e. drafted Tillman). If Toub ends up our new HC I'm ok with that. He always had discipline and good schemes on his special teams. I think he'd demand the same from an entire roster.

When I watched the press conference with George McCaskey and Ted Phillips I was surprised at how nervous Phillips looked. His behaviors as George spoke looked to me like that of man that just got smacked down. No words have been spoken but I sense Phillips has either been given a very short leash or more likely (since he's still there) he knows his role will be reduced once the new GM gets to town. Pure speculation on my part. Video is at the link. If you hit the link take a look at the photo and how George McCaskey is looking at Phillips. It doesn't appear to me that George wants to hand the car keys over to Ted. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...68-a96e96a1d0d7 If that's true the Bears would not and should not act like Kromer and go public with that announcement but rather just make it clear to your candidates what their level of responsibility will be and where Ted fits in the picture. I said before I don't care if Phillips manages the concession contracts, parking and sponsorship stuff, and the overall accounting for the organization. I agree with the rest here that he doesn't need to be involved in football decisions.

When I watched Petty thump my Cyclones I wasn't that impressed but I was also depressed. So I watched his game against SMU and while they scored a lot of points there is nothing on this video that says to me this is the future Bears QB. I realize that was his first game on the 2014 schedule and most teams don't look sharp in game 1. Ok, go look at the 3rd game on the schedule against mighty Buffalo. I see the same things. QB with little arm strength, inaccurate all over the field except on the short throws. Some of his throws end up in the dirt, some are over the head of his receiver. Quite a few throws off his back foot but we all know announcers only call that out when it's Jay Cutler doing it. Petty's best attribute is a quick release and that works great with all those track stars he is throwing to. When I see him play I see David Fales with one exception…Fales is very accurate on his ball placement and despite limited arm strength can fit the ball into tight windows on short routes. Unless we have Crowton as our OC again I don't want Petty. In any case we already have Fales on the roster if we go back to a college spread offense. http://draftbreakdown.com/video/bryce-petty-vs-smu-2014/ http://draftbreakdown.com/video/bryce-petty-vs-buffalo-2014/

When I watched Petty thump my Cyclones I wasn't that impressed but I was also depressed. So I watched his game against SMU and while they scored a lot of points there is nothing on this video that says to me this is the future Bears QB. I realize that was his first game on the 2014 schedule and most teams don't look sharp in game 1. Ok, go look at the 3rd game on the schedule against mighty Buffalo. I see the same things. QB with little arm strength, inaccurate all over the field except on the short throws. Some of his throws end up in the dirt, some are over the head of his receiver. Quite a few throws off his back foot but we all know announcers only call that out when it's Jay Cutler doing it. Petty's best attribute is a quick release and that works great with all those track stars he is throwing to. When I see him play I see David Fales with one exception…Fales is very accurate on his ball placement and despite limited arm strength can fit the ball into tight windows on short routes. Unless we have Crowton as our OC again I don't want Petty. In any case we already have Fales on the roster if we go back to a college spread offense. http://draftbreakdown.com/video/bryce-petty-vs-smu-2014/ http://draftbreakdown.com/video/bryce-petty-vs-buffalo-2014/

I liked Sean Mannion in the one game I watched mid-season. He looked like he had the arm strength needed to hit the out routes and was accurate in short to mid-range. Not sure about his long passes and since I only saw one game I don't know about his consistency which scouting reports say is a problem. I'd say he reminds me of Jim Miller.

That's not quite true. Lovie would trade down twice and with 4 picks in the 3rd Rd two of them would be safeties. The others would be DE and DT.

I'm pretty sure that only pertains to coaches.

I was impressed with what he did in Buffalo this year. Beat every team in the NFC North. Did it with a bad QB, and got that defense to improve as the season went along.

I don't think Bostic fits MLB. He can play there but he doesn't have the leadership or instincts to standout there.

Very smart to at least get on the list of both these candidates. We all know the GM needs to be in place first but reaching out early and letting them know we are interested is smart IMO. In years past we'd have sat back and waited until after we hired a GM before making any contact like this.

Put DE at the top of the list. We need someone fast off the edge. Washington started to show flashes before he was injured but not enough to count on going into next year.

Drafting a LT may be the best option for us at #7. I don't see Cutler going anywhere but they might find a trade partner. With, or without, Cutler the best path for offensive success on this team is improving the running game. Drafting a top LT would go a long way toward doing just that.

I think Allen stays. Houston and Young both coming off injuries leaves us with Bass, Washington and ….? Houston I think will be back too. At this point there is no value in the discussion because we don't know what scheme our new coach is going to use. If we go 3-4 on D then what value does Jared Allen have? Houston OTOH can play DE. Stay 4-3 and the opposite is true. I do agree that Jared Allen is not a full-time player. He'd be more effective with less snaps and his leadership will be needed on a young roster this offseason. Not worth the contract we signed him to but we still have to field a team and I believe veterans like Allen help a young team compete much quicker than you will see under a full rebuilding project. I don't care to see Peanut back. I think his body is done. DJ Wiliam's body is done with football too. Nobody knows when SMC is on the field so nobody will know if SMC leaves. Now that Bostic and Jones seem to have learned how to play we need to get a proper MLB on the roster and fix both safety positions and the D is ok. Greatness will never come until we get a pass rush and I think that is 2-3 years away.

Yes but can they get off the bus running?

I finally got a chance to see the press conference. His statement went beyond "she's pissed off." He clarified that "she is fed up with mediocrity and she expects and demands better." Add in that George or Ted said that "they didn't look at this from the money standpoint…just what is the right thing to do." This sure feels like a different message being sent throughout the organization right now than what I've seen or heard over the last couple decades. The owners not only want to win they want the Bears toughness and pride back. Separate from the press conference thoughts …. organizations often move in the opposite direction from where they've been. For example: Detroit under Jim Schwartz was tough, cocky, undisciplined let's go fight approach. They go get Jim Caldwell who has the opposite approach. We are a soft team. The comments from George, and his comments from what Virginia said, tells me we are going after a coach who wants a physical team both on offense and defense.

We have assistant coaches I like. Hoke, who I liked back when he was with Lovie. I think Reggie Herring has done a good job coaching LBs with improvement from Bostic and especially Jones. Even SMC, while not making enough plays improved during the season. Pasqualoni kept our Dline competent with two rookies, a guy off the street in Dunn filling in for Ratliff, Paea's best season by far, improvement in Washington, and Willie Young had his best season ever too. I'm not going to lose sleep if those guys leave but I think it's a decision the next HC should make.

He shot himself so badly he'll be taking on water for years. Still I liked what he did with fixing the Oline. Time to move on.

I agree there. Probably most decisive moves the ownership has made in three decades. If you are old like me you remember what happened in the early 1980s. Emery was George's first hire and it didn't go well. Let's hope his 3 years running things have helped him gain perspective on what we need in the next GM.

NFL Network reported it too. Looks like Phillips is staying. Gotta believe Trestman and company are gone now too. Can't make the same mistake forcing a new GM to keep existing coaching staff.

I believe he has earned the opportunity to compete for a starting position. We're a bad team and nothing should get handed to anyone. I like his chances to win that competition and it looks like long term he'll end up being a stud LB for us.

I felt the same…maybe not the pick itself but he mandated the position we drafted for.

The biggest issue, and really the only issue listed in that article is that Phillips made a deal with the City of Chicago to keep the Bears in Soldier Field. I live in Arizona and don't much care if the Bears had left the city to play in the suburbs but I do like the nostalgia of the team still playing in the city at that venue. Jerry Jones was way ahead of the entire league when he got his own Pepsi and other sponsorships. Jerry Jones also struggled a lot (his words) trying to find the money to fund his palace and I'm suspicious of the "profit" they list in that article for the stadium. Let's take Forbes at their word and give Jerry $12mil in profit each year on his $1B investment for a rate of 1.2%. That is a horrible return on your investment. Much of that profit comes from parking fees where Jones also leads the league at $60-$75 per game, maybe that's $5mil in parking fees for the season. I'm not certain but Soldier parking appears to be roughly half of that ( I took a cab to last game two years ago). Are we asking the Bears to raise parking prices to make more profit? Fans here are already boycotting games. Raise ticket prices? IMO the article is woefully short of details on the financial side but they are right on one thing. If we build a consistent winner the franchise value will increase significantly the same way it happened in New England.

I never get the dislike for Ted Philips. The guy runs franchise for the owners but has no day-to-day football operations oversight. I really don't care who he gets to run the concessions at Soldier Field, or what he charges for parking, or who advertises with the team. If it's hate because he signed Emery as GM after Angelo? I guess I get that but we weren't always a horrible team under JA and Lovie. We did got to a Superbowl. Then again, I'm not as down on Emery as everyone else is. I see him bringing in two Pro Bowl WRs when we hadn't had one in a decade. Pro Bowl OG. Re-signing a Pro Bowl RB. First draft sucked but the last two I see starters (Fuller, Long, Bostic, Mills?); future starters or at least solid rotation players (Ferguson, Sutton, Wilson); and a few that look like they'll be decent backups (Greene, Carey, and Washington, and maybe Leno). Don't see much from Fales or Vereen down the road. In the last two drafts I think our depth has improved but it's all very young and inexperienced. Free Agency hasn't been all bad either: Slausson, Bushrod, Young, Martellus, McCown, DLP, Ola, UDFAs -- Al Louis-Jean and Christian Jones. Houston is not looking so good right now, neither is Allen but Allen has played well just not great and not up to the contract we signed him to. So, as I see it, all roads of hatred lead back to Cutler and his contract. Philips approved it (I don't think he was involved other than to say how much cash on hand we had). Emery devised it. Trestman supported it. Trestman and coaches went behind Cutler's back to complain about him and here we are today. There is a clear disconnect though between GM and coaches regarding Cutler so something, or everything, is going to give. I'm patiently waiting for the show to begin and I agree, it could reach all levels. I'm on board with Rex Ryan as HC. If nothing else I'll get to smile when I watch his press conferences. I'd be very interested in who he wants to bring in as OC. He has the clout to bring in a big name too IMO. I still like Todd Bowles too. I'm not sure he's ready but word is he's going to get a few phone calls this offseason so it's probably this year or next he gets a shot at HC.

If it's a cash deal with no or little bonus I don't care. We could always cut him. At this point it's insurance for what someone said is not a strong a draft for OC. IIRC with his years in the league there is a significant cap hit reduction so the 1.5mil is not what the cap hit is. That'll show up next week on some sites. Let him compete for the job don't hand it to him like we did with Briggs this past season. I have no issues with competition. Now bring in some competition.

Interesting thoughts thanks for posting it. As far as Trestman knowing offense like crazy: We still gotta call running plays. That softness just carries over to the game plans. I'm not missing Peppers at all. Allen has replaced his lack of edge rush equally well for about $5mil less (this is not a compliment). That at least brought in Willie Young and Ratliff who were the best FA pickups on defense.