AZ54

It's Secret Bagent week. Let's go!

Right now I'd guess he hedges his bet with 2 QB options. I don't know if that's Fields/Bagent Fields/Williams or Maye. or Bagent/Williams or Maye.

For those thinking of best case scenario for the Bears it's this: Bagent show's he's a legit starter. https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2023/10/18/23921311/a-scouts-take-what-the-chicago-bears-need-to-see-from-tyson-bagent-justin-fields-nfl-draft We can then trade Fields in the offseason. He'll garner at least a 3rd Rd pick, maybe as high as a 2nd Rd. Trade back from Carolina's 1st overall pick for another king's ransom. We then have 2 more seasons with Bagent on a cheap deal, if we choose. https://overthecap.com/player/tyson-bagent/11238 Do I think this is likely? My history as a Bears fan says not in the least. Coming off the best defensive performance of the season it does make things more interesting.

That injury looks bad for Fields.

The speaking with a helmet earlier was illegal too

I think that was one of Fields best drives as a Bear. We only got aFG but he was under constant pressure and still finding guys quickly and avoided the big mistake. With all that he still looked calm.

Looks like he’ll play. How many snaps is unknown. https://www.chicagobears.com/news/roster-move-bears-activate-kyler-gordon-off-ir

With ESB now on Injured Reserve we're going to have to see what the speed options look like in Velus Jones Jr. and Tyler Scott. That comes with a lot of question marks but it also comes with a lot of big play potential against a defense that likes to blitz. One missed tackle and those two are off to the races. It likely also requires Fields to hit quick slants more than we've seen him do so far this year.

More than rushing yards I'm worried about the pass protection aspect. From a Vikings point of view that only invites the blitz more often. What would I do if I were Getsy? More rollouts? That can be risky as we've seen before with wide-9 type pressure. More sets with two TEs, maybe even all 3 TEs on a few? I like that. More screens? Might catch them a few times but the LOS will be too crowded IMO to do that often. There's a bunch of options but the one I like best is to just run the ball right at them with D'onta Foreman. Then just work off play action for the chunk plays.

DRob doesn't have any burst and so he can only win via pass rush moves, or scheme, or the QB gets flushed his way. Lack of burst requires winning the rep via strength and he's stronger this year. That helps him hold up better on run downs to contain the play (set edge smaller gap) but he still doesn't have enough strength to get off blocks to make a tackle. I wouldn't count him out long term just yet but the clock is ticking faster. If we had a normal decent Dline he'd still be on the practice squad. He'll need to make another similar step up in bulk and strength next year. However, the Bears have their little mass machine and know exactly how much he can bulk up.

Ton of work, lots of permutations. Toss in the variables of college football injuries and it gets crazier. For me after we play Carolina in Wk 10 we'll have an idea of just how bad they are and what is realistic for them in the draft. By then we'll also have a sense if we pick top 10, or top 20.

Yeah, after I mentioned him I went and looked him up out of curiosity. I was also surprissed to see his numbers were good. A game against a bad Bears defense certainly helped.

Over at Pro Football Reference they have Field with the highest TD% in the league. On the flip side he’s bottom 10 on INT%.

And yet they shall remain nameless. I have a sneaky suspicion it’s not Russell Wilson.

Absolutely not. He’s got nothing more to give than Dom Rob so might as well let the younger player try to improve. Or at least save the money.

Not only the shorter stature he has a bit of a sidearm throwing motion which means the ball is coming out low. I know he goes flat out sidearm intentionally on some throws but there are many quick releases where the arm drops. IMO he's a better prospect than any QB was in 2022. However, if Justin continues to develop toward top 10 QB performance there is no way I'm drafting Williams. At that point Fields has enough talent to win with and because of (meaning he'll win you some games on his own). Cap space means nothing, I want wins, playoff wins, and I'm not taking a chance on another rookie if I don't have to. I also like Fields' leadership in the locker room and his work ethic. I think those are very important traits to have in a QB. That can make a team where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. If Fields struggles or is inconsistent then bring on Williams. I agree this game against Minn will tell us quite a bit.

Yes but subtracting Mustipher is a net gain. Even if we started the season with Patrick.

What is your source because everywhere I look I find them with a high blitz rate? Here they say 58% rate based off PFF data. Maybe everyone is using this PFF stat. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/why-vikings-blitz-heavy-approach-could-backfire-against-chiefs-and-patrick-mahomes/ “The Vikings are blitzing 58% of the time in four games this season, the highest by any team in a season since 2017 when PFF began tracking blitzes. It's also the highest blitz rate by any team in any four-game span since the Ravens in 2019. “

Winning felt good. I want another victory.

It's all blind squirrel theory. PFF is going to find a nut now and then. It's ok for us to congratulate them when they get one right.

Wow. At least Dexter and Wright have passed the eye test (mine) that they had a good game. I haven't seen enough of Terell Smith but maybe I'll go back and watch some the game I recorded. Relying on rookies is painful early in the season but if you have the right players it builds the core of the team faster. The second half of this season could be interesting. ..edit: forgot to say my usual I don't like PFF... too subjective. That's why I want to go back and look closer at what Smith did.

I was only able to catch the last 4 min but they were good minutes. Love's INT to Watson in the endzone saw a flailing Watson complaining that he was pushed off. He wasn't, he was just too weak to come back and fight for the ball that was underthrown by several yards. Then Green Bay's revamped D couldn't stop the run and allowed too much time to run off the clock as they gave up 2 or 3 first downs.

I was able to watch some of the Vikings-Chiefs game. Their defense will be the biggest challenge as the new DC Flores loves to bring pressure. Adam can likely jump in here with some stats but IIRC the announcers were saying they are one of the top teams to bring pressure in the NFL so far this year. There is no doubt they'll bring lots of pressure against us as it's either a run blitz or an extra guy to get after Fields and contain him from running. The flip side to any team choosing that approach is the big play potential with the right play calls and execution. The screen game takes a hit with Herbert out. The Vikings haven't been good against the pass so if he gets protection Fields should be able to find players open for quick passes. Can he pull the trigger? The Vikings offense feasts on the pass so certainly losing Jefferson impacts them but they were still able to move the ball against KC. We're also the worst pass defense in the NFL. As with any game against Cousins the key is pressure. We don't even need sacks just get him off his spot and make him uncomfortable. Maybe some home field noise can help with the rush. We're going to need another big game out of the offense to win this one and likely need to win the time of possession battle.

He's starting to read some plays too. Caught a couple screens. Long way to go but for just his 5th week in the NFL he was impacting quite a few plays on the pass rush.

First off I like Coach Hoke and think he'll do good things with the DBs. It's hard to know much with so many depth players seeing time on the field already this season. With new pieces everywhere on a scheme extremely reliant on assignment discipline. I see people asking for more variety in scheme in coverages too but again, how much of that can you do effectively with a practice squad guy and two rookies out there? Dline... Dexter has clearly improved from his college tape yet is nowhere near where I think he can get to. Pickens has much to learn and with less physical talent than Dexter will take longer to show up consistently. Justin Jones continue to play at a backup level and he's not going to be any different ever at this point in his career. Billings has looked good. Edge... DRob is playing better and setting the edge far better than he did last year. He's not getting anywhere on pass rush so that's either going to take another offseason or he plateaus this year. We still have to remember he's a oonverted WR still learning his new position. At least his trend is upward. Ngakoue is doing what he has always done but he's been a little stouter against the run than I expected. He's still a player who often needs help from inside pressure to get his sacks. LBs... I'm not worried about long term. Each week there are more splash plays, some of that as the Dline comes together, some no doubt from time in the scheme. Washington totally abandoned the run to feast on our poor coverage and lack of pass rush. Of course the score had a lot to do with that but giving up 29yd rushing is good even if it's for one half. Oline... better this year is Carter who wasn't good enough to get snaps last year. Borom has made a big improvement. He's still limited in his agility but he's clearly better. Jenkins was moved inside and developed into a really good OG. In his half game against Wash he was pretty good against some Pro Bowl DTs. Using his injury history against his development history is comparing apples to oranges. At LT Jones developed quickly from a 5th Rd pick to starter level player. He's better this year than last year too and is one of the better run blocking LTs in the league. Darnell Wright continues to get better each week. WR... still waiting but if there were one guy who has gotten better here I'd say it's ESB. TE... Kmet has clearly improved the last 2 seasons. QB... Hard to say Justin isn't getting better. I don't like the long drawn out approach to the breakdowns but they did a good job highlighting Wright's performance. I was willing to spend big $ for Daron Payne, Wright controlled him and even made him look like Justin Jones on some plays. He's still learning but experience against different styles of pass rushers over the course of the season will help him.