adam

Vildor is literally responsible for 3 losses for the Bears. And on queue makes a PI penalty in the end zone.

God that was embarrassing. Roquan has been such a polarizing player on and off the field. On the field, he has great games, followed by terrible stinkers. Then off the field, great with the community, then does wild things with his contracts. If we can just get some consistency from our LBs with some better gap integrity and pass defense, the defense overall may actually be better.

If feels like the Bears have the right players when healthy to have a decent line, they just haven't found that one combination that is the best. If they can add one more high end player in the draft or via FA this offseason, I feel like the line could be set for a few years. If they can get Center locked down (Eiselen/Kramer, etc), then the next upgrade is needed at RT. Schofield has played considerably better than I expected so far, and even Reiff has played better than I expected.

The 2 Super Bowl favorite teams have mobile QBs that run a lot. The Bears are probably a year or two away, but I can see them morphing into PHI/BUF-like squad in the next 2 years as long as Fields continues to develop.

Future draft picks are supposedly worth a round less. So a 3rd rounder this year is worth a 2nd rounder next year, or something close to that. Mainly because you are getting a year's worth of use out of them before the other player is even picked. I don't know how much that gets used, but for the trade, even if the Bears draft 8th, and pick between 38-42 in the 2nd (which goes to PIT). To the Bears, that is basically a half round just to have Claypool for the remainder of this year, making the pick more equivalent to #54-58, which is near the end of the 2nd. Also, Claypool is cheap this year, and next year. So it is a super low risk signing if he doesn't work out. However, I always felt like his game (routes that he is good at) were perfect for Fields and will compliment Mooney. If Harry can take on the A-Rob possession WR role, those 3 are a very solid top 3, not great, but solid.

Can you imagine Vildor trying to defend Hill or Waddle? McDaniels clearly saw what Dallas did. Throw and run at Vildor all day. Nothing else will matter. I feel like Vildor will be good for at least 4 TDs against. I am figuring this will be a high 30s to low 20s scoring game, 38-22 due to a failed 2pt conversion. Claypool is too new to really contribute outside of some Go routes, but it will be nice to see him out there. The line of +4.5 for the Bears is surprising. Compared to recent lines and the loss of Quinn and Smith, I figured the line would be closer to 6 or 7. EDIT: I really thought Miami was dominating teams, but their biggest win was opening week with a 13 pt win against NE. In their last 5, they are 2-3 with losses to CIN (by 12), NYJ (by 23), and MIN (by 8), then wins against PIT (by 6) and DET (by 4). So with that knowledge, I think it will be more like 31-27 or something like that.

As good as Roquan was some games, others he would disappear. You can't pay someone $20M who doesn't show up every week. Roquan had at least 2 stinkers this year. It is going to be interesting to see how the Ravens handle it and what he gets. Remember they still have to deal with Lamar Jackson, and neither have an agent.

We also have another WR that is great at jet sweeps and has thrown a TD pass. Something to consider, the 2023 FA WR class is terrible, a bunch got extended this offseson. If Claypool was an FA, he would get Christian Kirk money, so this is pretty fair compensation.

Woo hoo. I always felt Pace reached for Kmet instead of staying with the board and drafting Claypool. Claypool may be the best WR the Bears have now. I believe he is still younger than Velus too.

Nice cutback by Herbert and blocking up front. Failed 2pt but now 28-23. Hopefully we see the Bears usual 2nd half defense, because that would make this a game. The defense has to step up.

Getsy gets too cute (Nagy flashbacks) on what should be an easy conversion. Why do a direct snap to Monty? What is that doing? It just draws all the defenders to him. Which is exactly what happened. Such and odd call and play design on that one.

If they don't help Vildor or replace him, it is going to be a long game. Literally 75% of their first downs, receptions, and runs were at him. The rest of the defense is playing good enough. Jackson with a huge INT there. Cowboys were getting cocky there. A TD to open the 2nd half would make it a 4 pt game, which is insane to think if you look at the Dallas offensive stats. Even if they lose, I just want to see Fields make some more plays with his arm. Mooney and Kmet are still way too silent for me. Velus drops what should've been a long catch. Fields needs some help.

Yeah, not a good look. Vildor forgot how to play apparently. They targeted him early and often and he got burned every time. 28 pts before the half? The Cowboys plays are so predictable too. Offense at least needs to put up some pts, but this game is over. The Pats game was the fluke, these are the Bears.

Yeah, not a good look. Vildor forgot how to play apparently. They targeted him early and often and he got burned every time. Bears already down 7-0

Even after what seemed like better games for Fields, he still is dead last in the NFL in DVOA (35th) at -49.9% which is worse than last year and would be one of the worst seasons for a QB in NFL history. Only Baker Mayfield is even close to him, then a huge gap between him and recently benched Matt INT Ryan. Maybe the only saving grace is his QBR is up to 37.3 (28th) and right behind Aaron Rodgers. Hopefully this new formula will open things up more for him, and seemed like the recipe everyone was asking for since Day 1. At this point, I just want to continue to see development and some consistency in his performances. Even breaking 200 yds passing with a positive TD to INT ratio with a decent Comp% would be an improvement at this point. The bar is still extremely low. The Bears O-Line has not helped, they are ranked 32nd in Pass Pro (DVOA) but are one of the best in run blocking.

After Mustipher, Borom has been the weak link on the O-Line. So it is not like Reiff can play any worse than Borom has recently. Leatherwood is also activated. If the Bears can beat Dallas, which would be an even bigger upset than NE, then that last win was no fluke. However, a loss would make any playoff chance extremely unlikely as Dallas is currently one of those Wild Card teams (Giants too) and the Bears will have lost both head to heads with those teams killing any tie breakers. So the last wild card spot would come down to competing with GB, the non-Division winner in the west (so SF, ARZ, and LAR right now). Just based on shear numbers competing for the same spot, at 3-5, there is no point even discussing playoffs. It would take a 6-2 finish after 3-5 to even have a chance to make the playoffs. At 4-4, 5-3 might be good enough. I am still thinking 6-7 wins is probably where this team ends up getting 3-4 wins after a loss to Dallas (going 4-5 or 3-6 after starting 3-5).

The Cowboys are technically the toughest opponent the Bears will have faced to date. They are 3rd in DVOA, have the #18 offense and #2 defense. So another huge challenge for Fields and the offense. It looks like the Cowboys will be without Elliott, but have Prescott back. I never liked this matchup and it still looks pretty bad. The line is heavily in the the Cowboys favor. It will depend on which teams show up. If the Bears team that played the Pats shows up, the Bears can actually win this game, but if any other team shows up, it could be a long day against that defense. I figure this one will be a little bit lower scoring. Dallas only scored 24 against the Lions, but only allowed 6. They have allowed only 17 or under in every win, and 19 and over in every loss. So that seems like the sweet spot. The Bears will need probably 24+ to win. I am going: Cowboys 27-17

Kramer? I know they liked him before the injury. Definitely need an upgrade at RT.

A 4th is good considering his contract over the next 2 years. Von Miller netted a 2nd and 3rd.

I just hated Pace's attitude, smartest guy in the room. He did that with the Trubisky pick instead of using the normal logic with Watson and Mahomes. He got cute with Shaheen. Mike Glennon's contract? He had a lot of head scratchers.

I wonder if he broke a toe? Normally you can tape those up.

Yeah, these rankings used to be fairly accurate. Now, it is all to get clicks. Even with recentcy bias, the Bears have been in every game and basically lost 3 due to late game fumbles. So even then, they should at least be ahead of every 2 win team at this point.

Oh wow, that is surprising. I was figuring low 20s.

The Bears are 3-4, beat SF and NE, and were in every game. ESPN has them at #28: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34830163/nfl-week-8-power-rankings-1-32-poll-2022-season-stats DEN, NO, CLE, JAX, LVR, IND, WAS, ARZ, ATL and NE are all ahead of the Bears. These things are such a joke.

I really like Poles. Night and day compared to Pace. I am so glad Pace is gone.