DABEARSDABOMB

So he was one of the biggest reasons i ripped Pace last year. This year he has been spectacular and it turns out that whole drop foot/injury he had was real. His bend is elite and he has a special ability to get to QB and is playing good on the run. Dude is dominant and dare I say it, presuming he stays healthy this year, if Bears wanted to he would be a dynamic trade asset or just a really good player opposite Mack in next years D (yes Quinn is old - but pass rushers, especially guys with that bend, have an ability to have pretty long and effective careers).

The Stafford dael was a gross overpay at the time and still is. Rams have mortgaged everything. Best thing that could happen is McVay depends out and comes to Chicago with a fresh restart

I actually think 4-2 might work, presuming both wins are against Minnesota. The Steelers, Niners, and Ravens games were just brutal losses - they should have won all 3 (quite frankly) but at a minimum 2 of those 3 games. We would actually be 50/50 at this point. That said - I am focused on development right now, most notably Fields but really want to see Borom, Jenkins, Mooney, Johnson, Kmet, Gipson and the other young guys development as those players arrows pointing up and showing real growth is way more important to the franchise being closer to the promise land than a true rebuilding mode. If in that path they make it interesting from a playoff perspective - great, but development is most important and I do want to temper my expectations given how many injuries the D has had.

I tend to agree with you. I think Matt Nagy will get another shot and be successful in future, having grown from his experience as previous HC and some more OC type of work. I think highly of Nagy's ability to be more of a CEO - but he didn't have enough experience leading/play calling and doing some of those other things and I think he'll learn from that. But there are many plus(es) I tie to Nagy too, even how professionally he handled such a tough week and being put in a situation no HC should be (in terms of that press conference where he had to deny the report that he was gone - really so strange). I like Frazier - as long as he has some good ties to some offensive minds. I kind of like going with a more defensive coach who can be a CEO and really entrust the offense to a good coaching staff. The reason being - I think new HC's who also handle all the offense just have a TON to be asked of. There is only one Sean McVay. I like Daboll from Bills a ton - but I wonder - how much can he truly learn to be the CEO and do that job while trying to build up and develop a rookie QB. If he does - he needs a super savvy/experienced DC.

I get it - but I don't like it. I still think Fields would have benefited from a bit more time on the bench - but I get how Dalton's injury forced the timeline to accelerate and I also get the point that McCaskey wants to see some of Fields, but its a long season and they could have accomplished that in a different manner. That said - I think FIelds has the right mentality to manage through lumps / early struggles and game action is still most critical to development.

Jones can read D's. He has special accuracy and throws guys open. I've seen enough to know Mac is going to be good - whether he'll be very good/elite, no idea, but he's got a high floor and its why I liked him a ton coming out of the draft. I also really liked Fields. Mac was the surer thing, from a downside perspective, Fields has ability to be elite if he can learn to process D quickly and clean up some of those items that quite frankly will be learning efforts given what he was asked, or more notably, wasn't asked to do at Ohio State (OSU was a 1/2 read offense - but Fields ran it much better/with more complexity than others). I've also seen Fields shown an ability to get through progressions better than Mitch did at early stages of his career. So that gives me optimism.

Stats are heavily impacted by 2 horrific games though and quite frankly - rookie QB's largely are meh, especially early. How do they trend, those things matter a lot, and what is going on between the room.

Justin has flashed special athleticism at times and an ability to throw the ball into tight windows down field. That said - he holds onto it way too long and for him to take things next level things have to speed up and he has to be able to decision faster. I don't think we can come to that conclusion this year - as he needs to go through these lumps, learn, have an off-season and than we see how he emerges after next year at handling those. The good news is - his elite athleticism means he never has to be amazing in his ability to read the D to be great, he just has to be okay. If he is better - great. Haskin's issue was more I think how he put in the work and other items, or more how he didn't do any of those things. I think people forget that there was some optimism about Haskins early in his career - before his off the field/work ethic issues really got in the way and made things worse. Haskins also struggled from fact that OSU requires no real reading of the D - but he didn't have the elite athleticism to buy time, nor did he show the character, leadership, work ethic that gave Washington the hope that he could grow into those things. Fields doesn't have anywhere near those issues - other than, like most rookies (not named Matt Jones), it takes time to show whether you can/can't process the speed of the game. Worse part for Fields is the offense often times asks Fields to dissect an entire Field vs. making the reads more rookie QB friendly.

Wishing everyone a great thanksgiving and Bearfan - hope your dad continues to have a stronger recovery and congrats for the soon to be addition to your family!

100% - it seems like this is true and Bears just had an awful leak. Nagy even said they haven't spoken so it seems like something is going to go down shortly and the only part wrong with the source was that the team quietly informed him it was it.

Bears handling this really poorly - no one got in front of this and Tabor/Nagy ended up on the hot seat. Fact that no one in org has denied this other than the HC is just poor. Either go out and say what it is or get out and deny it so the HC & ST coordinator don't have to.

Report on Nag

As always - well said and I agree with most everything. I don't agree Dazz will be a guy at wideout - but i do agree with your point, which is let him get his shot. Same with Rodney Adams, give them reps. See if you have anything. At this point, not a lot of downside. Byrd isn't doing jack. On Horstead - we see eye to eye. Whenever he is in, he makes plays and clearly should be used more than Graham at this point.

I don't get why they would have him coach Thursday if it is true.

Mark Konkol - who evidently is a old school reporter is indicating Nagy will coach his final game against the Lions. Will be fired after the game regardless of outcome. I can't believe this is true and if it is the case - you just do it (short week or not)...but if true, only the Bears could botch relieving its head coach this poorly.

Writing is on wall. Lazor or someone else will coach final 1-2 games of season. Only question at this point is if they will have a new GM or not.

This - he is going to be gone in season. Writing is on the wall and more and more reports from media on players unhappy. That said I think it is 50/50 on Pace and my guess is if Fields looks the part and grows plus Borom and Jenkins look okay - we will see Pace get new life.

Will root for Andy. Dude is a great guy and a great backup. Hopefully Fields will benefit from watching before being back the following week. Still wish somehow Fields was miraculously back to 100 percent because selfishly he is the season at this point.

Per some NFL insiders - too short of a turnaround. Dalton will start. Not surprised but still bummed. Was hoping Fields would crush Lions and make my thanksgiving extra exciting as I get delusional over prospects of next season with a real qb entering his 2nd year in the league ready to ascend!!!

Chark would be a good guy to take a chance on - presuming his medicals work.

Sutton would have been my #1 - but he just signed a 4yr 60M extension (totally reasonable price too).

Gallup gets me excited - as a 3rd option with Mooney & someone else. Like that move quite a bit.

A few things - the young core needs a WR 1 and a legit additional wideout, plus a better system. The oline is a ?, absolutely need to invest in an additional lineman and you probably wait a year to evaluate both tackles (so center is the logical place to invest). The big reason the offense is sputtering is playcalling and the fact we have a young QB who is developing, so yeah, I like a lot of the young pieces and potential presuming the QB, plus better system, can help take things to next level. Defensively - they are aging, but still have some solid young building blocks and Pace if anything has shown a good job at finding defensive players. I ripped him for dumping Fuller but Fuller hasn't been good in Denver and Quinn looked awful but this years Quinn is exactly what they paid for and than some. Cap wise - They are not in a bad spot this off-season, could it be better sure, but they have cap space and in 2 years they can be in a position where they have massive cap space. So I actually think pretty firmly about how quickly this thing can turn around.

I actually think the opposite - we are much closer than we think we are. There are actually a lot of pieces/potential pieces on the offensive side of the equation - the biggest question being Jenkins and Fields, but there are quality running backs, one good wideout, a solid TE, and obviously a QB who has upside and two potentially solid young tackles. Defensively - you have a solid young CB and Roquan Smith and some other young players looks solid enough on the line (Gipson, etc). Mack will either be traded (and he still has value - maybe no 2 1st round pick value but at the minimum I believe you can get 2 2nd's for him). Quinn may have some value too now. Again - not 1st round value and in his case probably not 2nd round value, but 3rd round value. He also has value remaining because you can't just dump everyone. But despite the record - this team has basically blown 3 completely winnable games (Steelers / Niners / Ravens). Quite frankly the Steelers game was the one they probably shouldn't have won give the punt block. But this should be a near .500 team that is in the middle of transitioning into a new QB who while no guarantee has certainly flashed. By the way - all of this is under the assumption we have at a minimum, a brand new coaching staff - which is a total given.

Yep - what Connor said - get him healthy for next year or trade a healthy version of him in offseason.