adam

For age and cost, the team is going to have to be really careful about overloading one position group with a ton of money. So I assume they are going to try to hit on one major FA acquisition in each position group of need, then fill in the rest with rookies and vet minimum guys. To me it seems like there are 7 starting spots that could use upgrades. OL and DL need the most. Then WR and CB, then maybe LB. If they can go OL/DL/WR in their first 3 picks, that would be great. We just need some high end studs. Fields, Herbert Kmet, FA or Rookie WR1, Mooney, Claypool Jenkins, Whitehair, Jones, FA-OC, Rookie-OT Gipson/Robinson, Jones, FA or Rookie DT, FA or Rookie Edge Morrow/Sanborn, FA or Rookie LB FA-CB, Johnson, Gordon Jackson, Brisker Thoughts on these holes? Any others?

He is not that bad. He just doesn't have an elite trait, but he works hard. His biggest problem is his little juke stutter step. Instead of just hitting the hole fast like Herbert, Monty does a little juke step before he gets going and by then the hole is gone.

???

It would've been much better to sign Taco on Tuesday, a missed opportunity by the Bears.

Now this:

Damn Herbert to IR? I didn't know he was hurt. That's 4 games. I guess it is Monty-Ebner time. I didn

CPat is back and healthy, he is still a threat. London is pretty good as well. I am not worried about scoring. I am worried about the defense. Yeah, Mariota is serviceable, but that's it.

I would like to see more quick passing plays, uptempo and getting Claypool more involved in this one.

Fields only saw a slight increase in his DVOA to a -32.5%, but it is still an improvement. He has 7 more games to continue his development.

Looking at some early stats from other QBs, Fields compares most favorably to Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson than any other QBs at this point in his career. Fields doesn't yet have a 300 yard passing game in 20 starts. Vick only had 2 in his first 70 starts, his first coming on his 16th start and the 2nd one in his 45th start. Jackson only had 1x 300 yard passing game in his first 40 starts. So Fields has time to match or surpass both of these guys in passing. For rushing, Vick had 9x 100 yd rushing games in this 70 starts. His first in his 13th start and his second in his 18th start. Jackson had 5x 100 yd rushing games in his first 20 starts with his first start being one. Fields has 3. Fields had his first 100yd rushing game in his 6th start, his second in his 19th, and 3rd in his 20th. So Fields is ahead of Vick, and very close to Jackson's pace (who won MVP in his 2nd season with 1x 300 yd passing game and 5x 100 yd rushing game).

Houston ain't winning lol. However, the Raiders and Jaguars should win a few.

Not necessarily created, just accelerated. The Bears have $45M in dead cap from those moves this year and another $13M for 2023. So the tradeoff is eating the cap hit this year to free up money next year.

The eye test and the stats weren't matching. Now he is breaking NFL records. With 7 losses already, hopefully that quells any type of playoff aspirations from fans this year, and now everyone can just be excited about Fields development.

This is the perfect game for the Spiderman meme. Bears 32nd Passing Attack, Falcons 30th, Bears 1st Rushing Attack, Falcons 4th. On defense, both teams are near the bottom of the league in pts allowed (Bears 24.7 vs Falcons 25.0) and sacks. This is a Fields homecoming game, but also a Cordarrelle Patterson, Ryan Pace, Germain Ifedi, Abdullah Anderson, Nick Kwiatkoski Revenge Game. Falcons are 3-2 at home. The Falcons have lost their last two with their last game being a loss to PJ Walker and the Panthers by 10. They are somehow 4-6, but are not much better than the Bears, but are only 1GB for 1st place in their division. I feel like this will be very similar to the Lions game, low scoring and close in the first half, then the wheels fall off both defenses in the 2nd making for a high scoring game. Bears 34-31. update: Bears 37-24 (Dome game, Fields will be even faster on turf)

Right now the draft order is HOU, LVR, CAR, NO, JAX, CHI. With SEA (from DEN), DET (from LAR), HOU (from CLE), PIT, and DET all with one less loss. It is pretty crazy to think the Bears have as many wins as DEN, LAR, CLE, and PIT right now. Hopefully those teams start winning. I am surprised by how bad LVR, NO, and JAX are this year. HOU, CAR, and NO are taking QBs for sure. LVR is up in the air. So the Bears could possibly get the 3rd best non-QB off the board. After the Bears pick, DEN, LAR, CLE, and PIT are not taking a QB. So that leaves DET, ATL, WAS, and IND as the next team's looking for a QB. So there may be potential to trade back a few spots and recoup another pick without the risk of losing a top player. Next week feels like a win against ATL (so they don't lose 4 in a row). Then losses to NYJ and GB would have them 4-9 into the bye. After the bye its PHI, BUF, DET, and MIN. 3 easy losses and a possible win against DET. That is 5-12 max, potentially 4-13 which would be a top 4 pick.

Fields has just put a mushroom stamp on the 2021 class. No one drafted in the last two years can sniff his colon, he is that far ahead of everyone else and that is after a brutal first 4 games. Even in another loss, he had a QBR of 73.3, his 4th straight game over 64.0 (50.0=league average). Going back to the MIN game, he has had 5 out of 6 games with a QBR over 64.0. So last year he finished the season with a QBR of 31.4, one of the lowest ever and last in the NFL for qualified starters. This year? Now 11th at 57.2, ahead of Burrow, Herbert, Brady, Lawrence, Cousins, Murray, Rodgers, Wilson, etc. His year group and this year's rookie class: 2. Lawrence 52.1 3. Wilson 49.1 4. Pickett 39.4 5. Lance 35.5 6. Ehlinger 34.3 7. Zappe 33.5 8. Jones 32.6 9. Mills 32.5 10. Willis 3.7 (if qualified, would be the lowest QBR ever) The turn around has been nothing short of spectacular. This may be the new norm for the Bears offense, 200+ yards rushing and 200+ yards passing with Fields accounting for 300+ yards every game.

I am not a fan of Williams or this scheme. Besides the lack of pass rush, the coverage is so soft that any QB can just play pitch and catch all day.

So right now it is Mack for Brisker, Smith for Claypool + worse 2nd rounder. So technically we have 2/3 of the return already on the team and we are still this bad. Outside of the cap savings and a 4th for Quinn, there is no other compensation left outside of a 6th for Mack.

The Bears are now 3-7, but the offense has put up 29+ pts in the last 4 weeks. How much of this is Getsy "unlocking" Fields and how much is it Fields just being superhuman? For as much as I have liked some of what I have seen so far, this is a historically bad passing attack that can't win games. Without literally magician level stuff from Fields, how bad would this offense look right now? How hard is it to scheme players open? The Lions defense was one of the worst in the league and the Bears mustered only 167 yards passing with 50 coming on one play to Kmet. Has anyone seen a quick slant yet? It still feels like something is missing. Too many plays take too long to develop. They got too conservative, then had to take a chance that led to the Fields pick-6. Just seems like they are not using tempo as much as they could be. Also, the Jet Sweep to St. Brown for -2 yds is becoming the new Nagy CPat draw up the middle on 3rd and 1 for a loss. If they are going to Jet Sweep, do it with Pettis, Claypool, or Mooney. St. Brown doesn't have a quick enough cut for that to work without perfect blocking. I have heard media mention that Getsy may be a one and done Coordinator and that he would get interest as a Head Coach this offseason. Who is hiring him with this offense and performance? I just don't see it. Fields had more passing success under Nagy, which is saying a lot. At this point, I was hoping for a little more improvement from the passing game and I just haven't seen it yet.

Even in losses, what Fields is doing is truly extraordinary. Fields now has the two longest rushes in Bears history by a QB, in back to back weeks. He is now 6th in the NFL in rushing and is on pace to crush the single season rushing record for a QB (1206-Lamar Jackson). In his career, Lamar has only one game with more than 125 yards rushing, and Fields has two back to back. Lamar has two games in his entire career with 100+ yards rushing, 100+ yards passing AND 4+ TDs. Fields also has two, in 53 less games.

There are 30+ RBs with production better than him. If you are paying him as a backup, those guys only fetch $2-3M a year.

We are now over halfway through the first Poles season. For the most part, this is what was expected, especially after the trading deadline changes (Quinn, Smith). I know he was always going to get a free pass for the first couple of years, but how many free agent hits and draft hits does he have today? How many of those players are starters next year? If you brought in a league average free agent at a position, which Poles acquisition is starting over them? Brisker is the only one I can think of at this point. The top offensive guys (Fields, Herbert, Mooney, and Kmet) are all Pace guys. On defense, of the only sure fire keepers (Brisker, Jackson, Johnson), only Brisker is a Poles acquisition. Is it too early to be worried? Can we afford another Gordon/Velus Jones draft?

After seeing today's game, Jackson doesn't matter. He needs too many other good players around him to make plays. I would trade him in the offseason and get anything you can for him as draft capital is going to be the Bears best friend as they are going to need as many picks as they can get with this roster.

With Fields now also a runner and the emergence of Herbert in this scheme, it really looks like Montgomery is the odd man out. He has only had one rushing day over 70 yards all season, and since the offense started scoring 30 a game, he has averaged 3.55 yards a carry and 47 yards a game. He is on pace for a career low in attempts, yards, yards per carry, and TDs. His longest rush this year is 28 yards. Obviously he is going to command more than his rookie deal, but I can't see him getting anything like even what Conner or Fournette got (3yr, $21M). What do you think he is worth? Do you think the Bears give him that contract? I say they don't and let him walk. I figure he gets a deal like one of those RBs between $5-7M per year for a few years. Two other RBs drafted near him, Singletary and Henderson are both UFAs too and both have a higher snap count than Monty does. Barkley, Sanders, Jacobs, Mostert, Wilson, Hunt, Pollard, Robinson, Gordon, Penny, Foreman, and Drake are also FA's. A crazy deep class for RBs.

After losing to the Lions, Bears now 3-7 and drafting 6th, but are tied with 3 other teams at 3-7. So right now only LVR at 2-6 and HOU at 1-7-1 have a worse record. That loss is the difference between drafting 6th and 13th.