DABEARSDABOMB

I said I'd trade him for a 1st round pick +, but what we were talking about in this thread was a complete diservice, imo, to the value that Alshon provides.

I still think we should be able to trade him for something (as long as he plays reasonably well). Now if he really regresses, then nope, we won't get anything for him (and in that case, well, we'll just cut him anyway). Totally time to move on. I was fine moving on from him this year (in fact I was one of the biggest proponents on this site to trade him this off-season because I feel we need to remove the bandaid and rebuild and that means we need to get that QB. I do like Jimmy G too though and am perfectly fine moving a high pick for him.

I don't like the idea of trading Alshon and think we should sign him to a long-term deal or trade him for at least a 1st round pick (in the off-season). We don't know whether he can prove that he can stay on the field or not, but what we do know, is when he is on the field, he is a game changing wideout and one of the best wideouts in the league. Dude makes plays and is still very young and should remain an extremely productive player over the next few years (including years where I hope we are back in contention and rebuilt). I see no logic to dump Jeffrey (a young, talented wideout), when we have lots of cap space and are talent deprived. Dumping him means instead of using draft picks on other needs / voids to fill, instead we have to use said picks to address another void (that we created by dumping Alshon).

Agree. And while they haven't directly stated it (and you don't necessarily want to cause that gives different notions to the players, especially in a league where turnarounds can happen faster then say baseball), their moves have certainly stated it. They moved away from guys who would have helped us in the next year or two, to create opportunities for guys who can help us 3-5 years from now. My timeline is that if next year we don't start seeing signs of a turnaround (recognizing we'll probably have a new QB, so the record might not reflect it, but I'd hope we'd start seeing more core type players emerging and a general positive direction).

Yes - I supported Cutler. I've long said you can win with him and I believe that to this day. I don't think we will have the talent needed to win with him until he is really old. Please note, I'm not saying we will win because of Jay, but that we can/could win with him.

Said another way, the reason we weren't doing it, is because we thought (mistakenly) that we were still contending. Bottom line, we didn't start rebuilding until year one of John Fox and it was the first time we had rebuilt since the beginning of the Lovie Smith era.

No they haven't. They weren't rebuilding during the Lovie Smith era and they certainly weren't rebuilding when they hired Trestman. Lovie was fired because they thought they were a playoff team and so did the fans and we didn't play to that level. We have been trying to contend for the last 10+ years (with the exception of last year). Expectations were very high during the Trestman era and during the vast majority of the Lovie Smith era.

My view is, let Fox and Pace build the thing up, then when you need to, you can always move away from Fox (as he is getting older) and groom the eventual replacement. That said, we are a ways from that discussion as this thing is going to take time.

Fox has a history of developing talent. Look at all the defensive talent he developed in Denver. This is a new front office and coaching staff and they inhereted a real mess. I would hope that next year, we start to see the arrow move upwards (albeit slowly), but I think this team was so decimated (especially in the sense that it had so few young, home grown players whose arrows were pointed up), that it meant the rebuild was going to be a much longer process then usual (we tried to be mediocre for so long, that it put us in a spot where we forced mediocrity through veterans and that means you don't get the picks to get the top talent, and then we whiffed on later round talent under Emery / Trestman) so we really were in an awful spot. The defensive coaching staff is pretty damn proven so they have a track record to trust, however, offensively, I think there are real questions with Loggains. I do think that stability in general is a good thing and when you look at the better franchises they seem to be more patient in general vs. less and wonder if that actually leads to some of the success (vs. just the underlying individuals running the ship). I.e., look at the Browns, restructuring every 2-3 years essentially means you never are able to see a strategy through and thus it is almost impossible to successfully rebuild.

All while generating zero pass rush (and we knew we were going to enter the season that way and we knew Floyd wasn't going to start his career as a dynamic QB crusher). The key is we do have some young players on this defense who could become playmakers, most noteably Goldman & Floyd. Unfortunately, Goldman is injured now and Floyd, well we know he was going to be a little bit of a project in some sense. We also have Bullard that I'd probably highlight as a younger player with potential up arrow and Amos (who has been hurt). Trevathan is now hurt, but looks solid and can still be part of a core a couple years from now and Freeman looks like a fantastic move, albeit, how he will hold up with age, who knows. Secondary is still weak and pass rush still needs to be enhanced, but we know those things. When they were showing the lineups it is extremely noticeable how much turnover we've had between this year and last year (both on the offense and defense) and I think it takes time to adjust to that, but we also need to know some of that turnover involved a move to younger players and with that there will be growing pains. We absolutely need to address QB long-term (and I've been saying that) and I don't know what the Bears plans are here.

Why would I want Gabbert. He's a bum. I'd give up a lot for Jimmy G.

Front offices need time, they need at least 4 years, imo. You just can't whack that quickly twice with a front office. We need to stick to the plan and acquire talent an develop young players.

One thing I want the Bears to do, not overreact. This is going to be a long process and we need to stick true to that process. We need to recognize we were totally devoid of talent and it takes time to fix it. We need to show some patience. This includes being patient and hoping that Jay comes back from his surgery (by the way, he injured his hand vs. the Texans apparently) on his thumb and can prop up his trade value a bit.

Texans looked really good again in week 2. We'll see what happens tonight, but it should at least give people a little better hope entering tonight's game (and more longer term), given how much the Texans D got after Alex Smith and the Chiefs.

Jimmy Garapalol (or however you spell it).

Zero interest. Want to see what the young guys can do. We were literally so devoid of talent last year (especially young emerging talent), that I essentially view this as year 1 of the rebuild.

Yes. I think we need to get a QB of the future and he's looked good and I say why not. I'd have traded Cutler to the Vikings though because I don't think we can truly start rebuilding without trying to move forward on a QB (and this is coming from someone who has no issue with Cutler). I just think by the time our defense has the playmakers we need, Jay will be too old, and we'll then be trying to hit reset on a QB. I say, why not pull the bandaid off sooner.

I agree with you. I'm not judging to any permanent conclusions based upon the preseason.

Clowney has supposed looked really really good this preseason so we might be regretting this statement.

I agree with you, there are some items popping up that are concerning. Similar to Emery, he started out like roses and then we started to see major kinks in the armor. I'm not there yet with Pace, but there have been some moves done that leave me scratching my head (then again, Ted Thompson in GB does things that have you scratch your head too). I am committed to giving these guys time, but I think all of your appoints above are extremely fair Alaska.

I think we got worse in Barth. Last year Gould was better than Garth. Flat out and he did it in our stadium and has been here for ever. I'm all for cutting players when the time has come, but you do for because you have a better player in mind or have someone who you think can develop into the better player longer term. This just doesn't fit that bill and I'm not worried about the cap space much because we won't use all of it we have this year. Bottom line, if we didn't think Gould was good enough, we should have moved on from him in the off-season not right now. Nothing has really changed since the off-season when it comes to a guy like Robbie. We are getting a guy who was worse a year ago and hasn't dealt with the winds at Soldier Field (not an easy place to kick).

Echo these sentiments. He has hit some huge kicks for us in the past and was really very good (especially given how tough it is to kick at Soldier field). I hope Barth is good, but I think we are actually going to regret this move (not for cutting Gould but for not being more pragmatic and finding a better long-term fit if we were going to go down this path). By the way, Gould had a higher kicking percentage then Barth lats year, hit more kicks over 50 yards and more kicks over 40 yards too. In fact, Gould hit more kicks from 50+ yards then Barth hit from 40+ yards last year.

I presume it had more to do with the severity of the bone spurs and the fact that probably based upon our medical evaluation he was going to need surgery and miss substantial time (vs. his claim that he could potentially play through and have off-season surgery). I know there was an interesting dynamic between him and the Browns and whether he could play / couldn't play.

Sounds like it was really bad. Some reports that Viking players were throwing up at how gruesome the injury was.

Agree. Plus, Dline is one of our deeper positions. If we wanted Potroast, we'd have signed him during the previous FA periods.