adam

That would suck, but I don't think they have the cap to make it work. Interestingly enough, the Bears are one of only a few teams that could take on his salary. He has a $25M cap hit next year, then $21M the next 2. Without any changes, only 9 teams have $25M in cap space right now in 2023, and only 4 have over $50M (CHI - $106M, ATL - $56M, NE - $54M, and NYG - $54M). CAR won't trade in the DIV, so ATL is out. I doubt NE would trade for someone like that, they normally go for value or older vets. NYG might be an option, but are they willing to spend without having a real QB? It feels like CHI is the perfect spot. CAR could get a high 2nd rounder and maybe another pick, and unload some salary. The dead caps for CMC and Anderson are $28M for next season putting them $3M over the cap. Moving Moore to the Bears would save them at least $10M (maybe more). Moore is 25, and was a former 1st round pick. This is the exact type of player and WR the Bears need.

Getting someone like Moore would be huge.

SF has cute since 2016 with the whole trade back with the Bears. Look at CMC and who he is ultimately replacing in Wilson. They are literally the same RB in terms of rushing. CMC does have the edge as a receiver, but that would take more away from Deebo than anyone else. Also, CMC hasn't made it thru a season in 3 years. To me, this makes Montgomery super valuable to a team who needs a lead back.

Those losses were with Jones and Hoyer. Zappe is much different. He takes deeper shots and has a higher comp% without somehow less INTs, but takes more sacks and fumbles more.

It was all doom and gloom for Dallas when Prescott went down, and now they are actually playing solid all around. When Prescott plays, it is almost like everyone sits back and makes him do all the work. Zappe over Jones is going to be interesting, like Brady over Bledsoe. The Pats can't strike gold again, can they? I was hoping for them to have Jones and average offense for the next 10 years. Zappe actually makes their offense more explosive because he can actually throw the ball down the field.

I was using Overthecap: https://overthecap.com/salary-cap/chicago-bears Doing a post June 1 trade this year leaves us with $4.2M in dead money and any new team would incur the remaining $8.4M. It may be different but that is what OTC is saying.

This one could be another stinker. NE is actually the top defense the Bears will have faced yet. Then next week, the Bears get a better defense to play against in DAL. So Fields may be out or injured by Week 9 unless they fix this O-Line and protection. The Bears are known for making unknown QBs look good, so I expect a 300-yd, 2 TD game from Bailey Zappe while Fields stays on average for 190 yds passing on 15-24 passing, 1 TD, 1 INT, 5 sacks, 1 fumble, 55 rushing yards. The Patriots have a QB controversy. So far, Zappe has looked better than Jones, 4-1 TD-INT to 2-5 TD-INT for Jones. The big thing for Zappe is he is prone to fumbles with 3 already in only 70 pass attempts. In their last two games, they beat DET 29-0 and CLE 38-15. Both sides of the ball are on a roll. The Bears have to play error free football which is a rarity nowadays. Zero turnovers while forcing 2 is the only way I see the Bears winning this one. I am going to call this one a loss: Patriots 27-16

It looks like there would be $8.4M in dead money with 2 years left on his deal. Not a lot, but with cap hits of $18M and $17M, it would be a hard sell for a buyer. The Bears could gain $14M on next year's cap (even with the dead money) by moving Quinn this year. However, they can have the same exact cap relief by designating him as a post-June 1 cut this upcoming offseason. So ultimately they have 2 outs, trade at deadline, or post June 1 cut. Obviously the first one would be better because the Bears would get something in return for him, but financially they are the same ($4.2M in dead money in 2023). If they try to trade him in the offseason, they would incur $8.4M on the cap, which may make it easier to trade him, but cost more against the cap.

We are currently 11th after the entire week's games, as the 2nd best 2-4 team.

Yeah, if he was traded before the next game, it would be around $8.2M for the remainder of the season and dropping 750K per game. There is $4.2M in dead money that the Bears would eat. I believe they can elect to take on more of his remaining salary, but there are only a few teams with CLE, PHI, CAR, LVR, ATL, DEN, DAL, PIT, and IND with over $7M.

Special Teams.

A pretty crazy weekend. Giants too? That would've turned out to be a big win for the Bears. Interesting that for how bad they have played, it has basically been unforced errors costing them games. Velus -2, ESM -1 (you can't just let a defender rip the ball out of your hands while you are running).

Wilson threw for 110 yds and ran for 1 yd with 0 TDs and a total of 10 completions. This is the media headlines: "Zach Wilson and the Jets soar to victory over the Packers" - FOX Sports "Zach Wilson won in Lambeau against his idol, Aaron Rodgers" - Yahoo Sports 'Student' Zach Wilson Shows 'Teacher' Aaron Rodgers a Few Tricks in Jets' Win - from team website - hilarious!

Very true, are the part of the new "core". If not, just keep bringing in vets on prove it deals.

Funny how other QBs, especially young ones can have a low volume game, but it is only a big deal with Fields does it: Zach Wilson 1st Half: 6-12, 28 yds passing, 2 sacks Trevor Lawrence 1st Half: 7-8, 45 yds passing, 4 sacks Kenny Pickett 1st Half: 11-16, 68 yds, 1 TD, 1 sack

This mini bye may allow them to make some necessary changes that they were unable to do the first 6 weeks. Hopefully Patrick can slide to C and Mustipher can get off the field. Leatherwood at LG will be interesting. I am excited to see Harry on the field. Watching his college videos, he reminds me of Alshon and looks like he has a higher pedigree than any other Bears WR. One weird thing I keep seeing. Fields can't throw inside the tackles within 10 yds of the LOS. Either he doesn't when someone is open, or he gets it batted down, or throws it right at a helmet. Smaller guys like Russell and Brees didn't have that issue and were smaller than Fields. Is he shorter than advertised, because that doesnt make sense. Also, that may be why we don't see any quick slants or in routes. However, when you look at next gen stats, that is one of the spots where he excels?

After the TNF clown show, the Bears are currently picking 6th. Due to the SoS, pretty much any 2-3 team will hop in front of the Bears with a loss this weekend (10 teams), and no 1-4 team that wins will drop past the Bears. With 3 games that have 2-3 teams playing against each other, this week's current draft pick slot range will be 9th-13th with the potential to have as many as 9 teams tied at 2-4. Interestingly enough, the 14 teams with a winning record are the 14 current playoff teams, and the best non-WC team is IND at 2-2-1. So it seems that the league playoff picture is taking shape pretty early this year. If I am Poles, not only am I shopping pretty much everyone, I would be looking for some WRs, OL, and DT help from teams looking to sell. CAR, HOU, and surprisingly PIT and LVR are in that boat right now. - EDIT FOR WEEK 15 - Bears currently drafting 2nd at 3-11.

The Bears are 28th in DVOA, and that was before the WAS game. WAS was 30th. I am sure Bears will drop. HOU is 29th. DET (24th) is the only team left on the schedule with a DVOA even close to the Bears, and they only have 1 win. That is about the only games they have a chance in (only game they are still favorites in, by 1.5). All others, they will come in as underdogs. DVOA does a good job of grouping teams. The Bears are basically IND, CAR, WAS, and HOU. Those are the teams that they could beat, but also lose to. All other teams, it is going to be an actual upset to beat them, even the Jets and Falcons. I figure they split with DET, and beat either ATL or NYJ. That is 4-13. Oh and I don't know if anyone noticed, but that easy schedule we were supposed to have sure changed quickly. The Bears now have the 2nd hardest SoS in the league behind only WAS for the full year's schedule.

Fields and Allen is definitely an interesting comparison. BUF's top 2 WRs were John Brown and Cole Beasley. No other WR/TE/RB had over 30 receptions. The RBs were Singletary and Gore. For O-Lines, BUF was 23rd in Pass Pro, the Bears are currently 32nd. However, that BUF team went 10-6. It is a much different development environment when you are losing.

The injury thing is such a high possibility with that O-Line and him holding onto the ball too long. He already got hit low at the knees a few times. I don't know how many more of those he can take. It just looks like he is in a no-win situation.

One overarching concern is, can you actually fix the offense with a defensive head coach (nowadays)? Every game it seems to show that most of the capital was put into the defense (top 2 picks), top 4 of 5 cap hits on defense, etc, etc. Fields is the top paid offensive player, and he is on his rookie deal. Santos, a kicker, makes more than any other offensive player. Montgomery is next, on his rookie deal. Then the next offensive player is Riley Reiff who has barely played, if at all yet. You need someone, anyone, on offense. Every player is replaceable on offense. I understand Poles was in a tough spot with little cap or draft picks, but it just seems like he could've put a little more emphasis on offense to help Fields out. Since that was what this season was all about, his development. So it is easy to be critical because Poles basically did nothing to address the O-Line or WR Corps. I am still skeptical this is going to work as we have been thru this before many times. There were red flags with basically every hire since Lovie and Angelo. Pace got 2 HCs, but even with him, he kept trading up and wasting picks (Trubisky, Miller, etc). Emery was just terrible from the beginning. Trestman started out 3-0, then lost 3 of the next 4 and never played over .500 ball again. Fox started 2-3, then to 4-5, then won only 9 of his next 39 games. For some reason, he got a 3rd year. Every since the double doink, Nagy played sub .500 ball. It just feels very similar, we always have high hopes, but things are pointed out early, and unfortunately, a lot of them are playing out right now. One theory is that Poles/Flus/Getsy are not in on Fields, and they will go firesale at the deadline (Monty, Quinn, Smith Jackson, and Whitehair). Then they will move on from Fields this offseason, which would be bold, but they did move Mack, which was pretty bold at the time.

Fair enough, I will give them this year as a freebie, but man, this feels eerily similar to the Emery/Trestman era.

thanks, i will take a look.

2-15 is a real possibility. Underdogs in every remaining game. Then what? Would that change your outlook on Poles, Flus, Getsy, Fields? For me it would. I know they are not all equal, but man, 2 wins and what could be 14 straight losses to end the season? I doubt that happens, they will probably luck into a win or two and go 3-14 or 4-13, but 5 wins is really a success now, which is disappointing given the start. The craziest part is this team is literally 3-4 plays away from 5-1. Then if you go the other way, they could also easily be 0-6. So I have mixed feelings. I just have a feeling (after 6 games) that Poles is not it. Velus pick was bad and looks worse now. Gordon has shown nothing in 6 games while WRs are flashing (Pierce, Pickens). Jones is great for a 5th rounder, but he should not be your starter. What free agent is doing anything, Morrow? Jones? Maybe. Muhammad has been subpar. The top guys on defense are from Pace: Smith, Johnson, Jackson, and Gipson. The top guys on offense: Fields, Herbert, Monty, and Whitehair are from Pace. To put this season in perspective, the two worst seasons in franchise history were a 1-13 1969 (yeah baby), and a 3-13 2016. A 3-14 season becomes the 2nd worst in franchise history. 4-13 slightly edges 2016 and would be the 3rd worst. So unless there is a miracle turnaround, this season is projected to be either the 2nd or 3rd worst ever.

3 losses and 6 upcoming losses before the loss to the Packers. What a great way to go into the buy, with a lot of momentum (down).