adam

Ebner did not look good. Trevor is a vet, he will do vet things, and he has a lot more experience than Fields. I figure the passing game will be better but with more interceptions and the running game will be worse.

He does, it looks like he regressed. It looks like he is trying to appear calm by not playing fast. It's ok to take a 3 or 5 step drop and just fling it.

I am less impressed with Getsy today than I was last week. Predictable play calls and what the hell was that last drive, trailing with an injured QB, you run him twice? Close to a fireable offense. GB Coaches and Coordinators are a combined 10-22 this year between GB, DEN, and CHI. Maybe their formula is tied to the fact that they had a HOF QB in his prime with a HOF WR? Once that was broken up, none of the coaches look like superstars.

I think they bring in 3, one Center, one OT, and then either a 2nd OT to replace Jones or OG to replace Whitehair. Then let the best 5 earn the starting roles. Borom needs to be the Swing Tackle and not a starter.

Here are two recent trades with the 3rd pick involved. If the Bears have an opportunity like this, they have to trade down. To move down 9 spots, the Dolphins got 2 additional 1st round picks and a 3rd rounder. 4 years ago, the Colts only moved down 3 slots and got 3 second rounders. With 2 of those picks, they got 2x Pro Bowl OLinemen.

At this point, I would rest Fields until after the bye. That would be 3 weeks to get other guys like Leatherwood and Claypool up to speed. Then you get Jenkins, Herbert, and Patrick back as well. There is no way this team is winning more than 5 games, which should guarantee a top 7 pick. With 3 QBs going in the top 10, the Bears should be able to get a blue chip player. Hopefully they don't decide to trade up one spot again if they do pick 3rd.

It is at least 6 and is actually somewhat concerning.

Bears now picking 3rd, but man, are other teams not helping out. Due to other teams byes, the Bears can drop all the way to 9th once their bye week hits due to tie breakers. HOU and CAR are ahead of the Bears, but LVR, DEN, LAR, CLE, PIT, and JAX are behind them. Since the Bears have the toughest SoS, they get the worst pick in a tie. At this point, it has to be Jalen Carter. If not, you have to consider trading back to recoup some picks.

The defense actually played much better. They only allowed 20 and ATL was gifted a TD vs a FG (4pt swing) on the Gordon Roughing the Passer penalty when he touched Mariota's foot. So only 16 pts on the road is pretty good for a defense. That was a week after 24 against Detroit (they scored 7 on a pick-6). It is wild to me how the Bears have lost 5-6 games that have come down to one play/penalty. The Gordon penalty was on a 3rd Down incompletion. If ATL kicks a FG instead of getting a TD, the Bears win 24-23. How about the no calls on Fields? Slide, gets hit, no call. Runs out of bounds, pushed, no call (Goff got the same call last week), gets sacked, on one knee, then gets hit again and defender lands on top of him, no call. I have no clue about Getsy's play calling, especially on the last drive. Fields is hurting, you have 1:47 left, and you run Fields TWICE. He gets hit and hurts his shoulder on the first play, then you call a QB Draw on the 2nd play? Come on dude. They are playing prevent. You can dink and dunk down the field at that point. I am still not sold on Getsy as a play caller. The O-Line was terrible, but the play calls are not helping. If the O-Line is playing that bad, why are you not getting the ball out instantly? You have Kmet and Claypool, both can make contested catches. Throw them the ball. The only good thing is the draft position, but now the Bears are giving up the 33rd pick for Claypool, which is much worse now than it was when they made the trade.

Bears by 20!

I know, but it's pretty funny considering what Mariota has done his entire career to think that they are equal. I am not claiming Fields is a sure fire HoFer, but he is already better than Mariota.

Fields passing yards high this season is 208, I would like to see 250. I assume he still gets well over 50 yards rushing, so that will always be there. Now we need some statistical improvement with the passing game against a really bad defense. I was listening to a cross over podcast and the Atlanta crew likened Mariota to Fields, saying they are basically the same QB, but Fields is a better runner. They were trying to justify picking Pitts over Fields. They used passing stats from the last 4 games as a comparison tool. I about fell out of my recliner and dropped my PBR all over the shag carpet. Mariota has had 5 games out of his last 7 with less than 150 yards passing. Fields has 1. In those 7 games, Mariota has 50 yards rushing twice, Fields? 6, and his worst game was 47. It is so funny to me when people cherry pick stats.

Oh I know, relative to us for sure. However, just like Seattle and the Legion of Boom. To have that good of a team for that long and to only have 1 SB win to show for it sucks too. Obviously still better than the Bears, but when you have that much potential and lose it sucks. Very similar to the last few good Bears teams. Our last 3 major opportunities were heartbreaking. We lost on a double doink and would've easily made it to at least the NFCC with that team. How about 2010? We rest starters in Week 17, lose to the Packers 10-3, which allows them to make the playoffs. Then they turn around and beat us in the NFCC because Cutler got hurt. Then they end up winning the SB that year, Rodgers only win. Brutal. How about 2006 Super Bowl? Benson gets hurt on his 2nd carry. Grossman throws a Pick-6 and the Bears decide to leave Reggie Wayne uncovered for one play. After the Hester runback to open the game, then intercepting Manning on their first drive, that was a heartbreaking loss. A weird team has been the Chargers. They have had Brees, Rivers, and now Herbert since 2002. In those 20 seasons with a franchise QB, they have only made the playoffs 7 times (once in last 8 years) and only made it to the Conference Championship once (and lost). They also had Tomlinson for a decade of that team.

and only winning 2 SB's in the last 30+ years when you are basically going to the playoffs every year. Now they get stuck with Rodgers for the next 1-2 years with an immoveable contract that will hamstring them from signing any new free agents.

One other note about this game, ATL is 30th in Defensive DVOA (only LVR and CLE are worse). So this will be the easiest defense the Bears have faced all season.

That was a satisfying Packers loss (now 4-7). At home, in Prime Time, Rodgers folds like a wet noodle in the 4th. He ended up with a 5.8 Y/A and most of his throws were quick throws behind the LOS. His QBR is 40.9, which is also laughable. Him and LaFleur sure don't look like juggernauts when they don't have HoF level receivers. The Packers are basically screwed due to Rodgers. His contract is reedonkulous. Dead cap for 2023? 99.7M! LMAO! In 2024? $68M. In 2025? Just 45.4M. So they are stuck with him for at least 2023 and maybe even 2024 (41 yrs old). To make matters worse, they only have $5.3M in cap space for 2023 with only 44 players signed. The have 14 players with dead cap over $5M, so this team will have to lose some key contributors and replace them with rookies, UDFAs, and minimum contract vets. They will be worse in 2023 than they are this year and it is fun to watch. Another hilarious note, the media has been mentioned how the Bears have had the most wins in NFL history forever and that Green Bay is going to pass them, but since then, they just keep losing.

Sanborn should've been a late 4th to 6th rounder. How he went undrafted is beyond me. A sneaky great find for Poles. Poles added to each position group: DE (Robinson), LB (Sanborn), CB (Gordon), and S (Brisker) and can do it again with DT and CB being the focus this upcoming draft.

Man, 2 anytime TDs is easy money right now. A PJ Walker led team scored 25, and they have allowed 25 or more in 3 out of the last 4 weeks (20 in the 4th week). So the Bears will have an opportunity to put up points.

Here is the thing with Jackson, the Bears have all this cap space WITH his cap hit on the books. They already have over $125M for 2023. That is a ton of money. Jackson is $17M against the cap, Whitehair is $14M, Jones is $7.4M, and then Patrick at $5.3M. So unless you can get a better player than Jackson for $7.5M (cap savings), then you might as well stick with him for at least 2023. In 2024, his dead cap goes down to $5.5M which makes it much more appealing for both side (Bears with less dead money, new team with less to pay).

The highest paid Safety in the league makes $19M (Derwin James). If he is looking for that kind of money, then yeah, definitely trade for assets. However, he signed a heavily backloaded contract, but his AAV is $14.6M, which is 7th in the league. He is signed thru 2024 so there are several windows to move on from him. I am just saying for at least next season, there is easily enough cap room to keep his salary on the team (since it is already accounted for). The decision will more than likely come after next season when he has one year left on his deal. There will be several similar Safeties due new contracts before Jackson is due (Bates, Poyer, Hyde, Ward, Amos, Bell), so they will set the market for his age group.

Bears will have over 200 yards rushing, Fields will have over 100 and at least 4 TDs. I think he will end up in the mid 200s for passing yards with 2-3 passing TDs, over 100 rushing yards and 1-2 TDs there. If Monty is healthy, he should have a big day. Kmet gets another TD, Claypool gets one too.

I figured we would settle in around pick 12 and Baltimore around pick 22. Baltimore is going to make the playoffs, but a first round loss would be really nice for our 2nd round pick. 10-12 spots is not that big of a deal outside of the 1st round. If a stud DL, OL, or WR is not there at our first pick, I would love to trade back with the first rounder. Going back 10 spots is worth a second rounder. Going back 20 is 2x 1st rounders.

I just made a comment that the Bears missed a marketing opportunity by not signing Taco Charlton on Tuesday. Ashkum just replied that we signed Weiner on Wednesday as a joke.

Jackson has become the leader of the defense with the loss of Hicks, Mack, Quinn, and Smith. I think they will extend him for a few years to see this thing out. If we can lock him up and Johnson up with extensions, the Bears will have 4 of their 5 secondary starters locked up for 3-4 more years, then they can add one more via FA or the draft. That is very rare to have that type of continuity in any unit. I am not sold on Vildor being anything but a sub. I am fine with our subs and ST players like DHC and Cruikshank.

LeSean McCoy is an idiot. Just a hot take. He was overrated as a player and he is a clown analyst. He doesn't even know the name of plays. Both of Fields' long TDs were on scrambles, not called runs. He is just being super productive on scrambles compared to other QBs getting a few yards. He is breaking off huge runs. Why is he being penalized for that? Should he only go 10 yards and slide, then dink and dunk down the field to score? The goal is to score a TD and win the game. Fields is doing that. Fields also has been the best athlete on the field. The ball needs to be in his hands on most plays. As teams adjust to this scheme, there are going to be a lot of opportunities over the top.