adam

The entire offseason there was a theme preached with HITS, and I think we expected a little more consistency, but not in that way. How many times did the backside defender bite on a Jones play action? Why though, that defender never contributed to the tackle when Barkley actually ran? It took them 2 quarters to figure that out and by then they had 2 easy TDs. Our O-Line cannot handle the blitz. On two of them, there were 2 free runners on one side and 2 OLinemen looking for work on the other side. That has to be fixed. They have to move some of the protection to account for those guys. Mustipher allowed half of all pressures. We really need Patrick at OC and Jenkins permanently at RG. Now with Whitehair possibly out some time, it may be Patrick-Mustipher-Jenkins which is still weak with Mustipher in there. About the play calling, has there been any quick slants or quick in routes? Also, why are we not running into the massive gap on the right side on those rollouts. Fake the roll out, hand it off, but then have the RB go counter into the gigantic hole. Cutback! Kmet's disappearance is mind boggling. Everyone said he looked great in the offseason and he is a ghost, and he is either holding or blocking terrible. There is no way this current team wins more than 5 games. Look at the schedule, they won't win any games in the division. WAS is the only game they may be favored in after the MIN loss next week. So they will go into that game 2-3 on TNF. After that potential win, they will have losses to NE, DAL, MIA, DET, ATL, NYJ, GB, PHI, BUF, DET, and MIN. I figure they can easily lose 11 straight to end the season at 3-14. That is definitely possible if you watched any of the other games. Figure they get lucky and win 2 of them. That is 5-12. Either way, is that a success? To me, anything less than 7 wins with a 2-1 start and playing NYG is a huge failure. If they only win 5 games, Fields is obviously not the guy (again). You also have to question everyone, are they really any better than the last regime if you can only win 5 games with the schedule they have. The only bright spot is 5-12 will be a top 5 pick this year. HOU is the only team without a win, so 5 wins should lock in a top 5 pick.

Crazy comparison, but for those old enough to remember McNown drafted in 1999 with the 12th pick. This is basically what he did over a 2 year span. After an injury in Year 2, they never went back to him: Cade McNown 8-17, 281-515, 54.6%, 3111 yds, 16 TD, 19 INT, 45 sacks Justin Fields 4-10, 193-337, 57.3%, 2341 yds, 9 TD, 14 INT, 52 sacks Fields already has been sacked more times than McNown, and is projected to have less TDs and more INTs in the same amount of attempts. Fields trajectory is not good. Nothing is clicking. This is now his second offense and there are no signs of improvement. It looks like he will get a year, but man, if there are no signs of improvement, it is going to be a long season. He has a chance to surpass the times sacked record, especially with a 17th game (if he makes it that far). Carr was sacked 76 times, Fields on pace for 68.

It is never all on one player, but there are worse O-Lines, worse WR corps, etc, etc, and guys still look competent. Fields is super athletic, smart, etc, but how many games does a guy need to even show that he is at least a serviceable QB? He has had 2x games in his career where he has thrown for over 225 yards. He has passed for 2 TDs in a game once. At some point, it is on him.

Yep, I agree. Fields is not the guy. Just look at the Pats/Packers game. Bailey Zappe, 3rd String Rookie, 4th Round pick out of Western Kentucky was thrown into the game after Hoyer got hurt. He is currently 9-13, 93 yds, and a TD with 11 mins left. He has more TDs than Justin Fields has in the last 3 games. Zappe is also outplaying Rodgers who is 10-19, with a Pick-6.

So wow, a lot to unpack already this year. So starting from the top, this team could easily be 0-3-1 right now and that is how it feels. In 4 weeks, there have been so few bright spots, it is incredible that this team is so how 2-2. I can't tell if there are halftime adjustments or the other team's get conservative and allow the Bears to run the ball more AND the also play more conservative and score less - or the defense is actually playing better in the second half. The entire offense is hot mess. In every passing week, it just seems more and more like either Fields is not the guy, or the team doesn't trust him and are not planning for him to be the long-term solution at QB after this year. Both can be true. That is 4 straight starts with 10 or fewer completions. I just don't think more reps are going to fix this. Every snap feels like he was just tossed into the game without a clue. Every part of his game has gotten worse, even his scrambling. I get that the O-Line is bad, but they are not the sole reason why he is struggling and not improving. It is 4 games now, it at least seems like Getsy is not a good play caller. Where is the "scheming guys open?" There is always a risk with taking coaches from teams with great QBs (look at DEN). It is also easy to run when the defense is giving you that when you are down. This game had some of the worst play calls I have seen and we just had Nagy. Getsy is way too predictable (already) and there is zero innovation in what he is doing. The Giants were literally had a free runner on every play and the Bears rarely, if ever, capitalized on it. Flus is ok, but man, he coaches to not lose (even when losing), and how many times do the Bears need to get beat on the play action bootleg before they address it? Jones had a better rushing day than any other player on the field with 6-68 yards and 2 TDs. Then Tyrod comes in and gets 30 more before getting concussed. Jones only had 8 completions and Gordon still looked bad out there in coverage. Poles drafted Gordon with his first pick. He has been the worst DB in the league using ANY metric, any. He could've taken George Pickens, a WR, who had 6 receptions for 102 yards today with 2 different QBs. To compensate, he drafted the oldest rookie who contributed to the loss today with a muffed punt with no one within 10 yards of him. 2 out of his top 3 picks are not looking good. Jones has been out 3 weeks and is still not part of the offense. So we drafted a "special" teamer with the 3rd round pick? Great. This regime is going to get a free pass on this year because of Fields, but they shouldn't. We just got beat by a team with a new Coach, GM, AND Daniel Jones at QB! This would've looked like rock bottom if they came into the game at 0-2-1. However, if they play like this every week, they will not win a single game in the Division and may eek out 2-3 wins against other teams if they are lucky. Not counting Week 1, the defense has allowed 20+ pts 3 times. In those 3 games the offense did not have a passing TD (12 straight quarters w/o a passing TD) and scored more than 13 once. If the Bears are going to play like this, they need to consider the fire sale by the deadline. Any vet over 28 consider moving, even Roquan and Monty. They aren't going to win much with them, so they might as well reset with some decent draft capital and start over. Are we in football purgatory or what? What did we do to deserve this misery?

Which Cooper, the one that had 4-26 yds combined in Week 1 and 4, or the one that had 16-202 yds, 2 TD in Weeks 3 and 4?

Gordon is arguably the worst starter on any NFL roster. Wow has he been terrible. We could've had Pickens, or even Goedeke or Raimann for the O-Line. I would even take David Bell who has barely played. Romeo Doubs looking pretty good for a 4th right now. Poles really messed this up. At the quarter point of the season, this looks ugly and it doesn't look like it is going to get any better any time soon.

You can't. He has been the worst starting QB since last season and nothing has changed, if anything, he has regressed. Receivers are open, he just doesn't throw the ball. He runs into sacks, doesn't react to blitzes (not seeing them). It is going to be a long season playing like this. As much as they said last year's draft class was great, I am not so sure. Fields 11-22, 174 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT, 6 Sacks, 1 FL Lawrence 11-23, 174 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT, 4 Sacks, 4 FL but then: Hurts 16-25, 204 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT Jackson 20-29, 144 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT This might be the saddest one: Dalton (vs MIN) - 20-28, 71.4%, 236 yds, 8.4 Y/A, 1 TD, 0 INT

4th and 2, down 8 with 4 minutes to go and you punt. I could care less that the defense forced a 3 and out inside the Giants 10. Coaching scared, not trusting Fields. If you can't beat the Giants without a QB and a WR corps, who can you beat? This team should be 0-4.

It's only been one half, but if Fields doesn't turn it around in the 2nd half, I really don't think he is magically going to figure it out with just more reps. 5 completions, 5 sacks, and a fumble lost. He is either not seeing the open guy or scrambles too early when the first read is there if just throws the ball. It is the same thing every game, like Ground Hog Day. I have never seen anything like this for this long. Trubisky couldn't read defenses but he was at least serviceable and even seemed to get a little better over time, but the Bears are actually winning in spite of Fields.

and Jones is not that fast, defenders look a little slow today

2 drives, 2 FGs (by Bagley). One terrible sack on Fields, he had Kmet right away on quick pass to the flats but he doesn't pull the trigger and the defender immediately closes and sacks him. He finally had a nice deep ball to Mooney for 50+ air yards, so that was nice, but he needs to stop taking sacks and hits. Hopefully the defense can be better than the 2nd Giants drive, terrible backside contain on 3-4 plays. Bears down 7-6.

Another terrible weather game. On the edge of tropical storm. Constant rain and 25mph winds. Lovely. Another 100 yard passing game incoming. FGs are going to be challenging too, this might be a 12-8 game with 3 total TDs and a 2pt conversion.

Yeah this is a very interesting game with several storylines. Daboll vs Flus, Schoen vs Poles, Fields vs Evan Neal, Kadarius Toney, and Daniel Bellinger. Barkley vs Smith/Morrow, Fields vs Jones, Bagley vs Gano, Mooney vs Jackson.

6-1 possible and would be hilarious, thought they could lose their last 10 and finish 6-11. I think everyone gets fired if that happens.

Jaylon Johnson and Montgomery out for Sunday. Roquan and Velus full participants and are a go for Sunday. I hope they get Velus involved on a few scripted offensive plays. Just put the ball in his hands and lets see what he can do.

3-1 is 3-1. There are also more winnable games coming up. Next week is MIN after they return from London w/o a bye. Washington looks terrible (we play them on TNF at home), we then go into NE for MNF the following week giving us a mini bye and might face Hoyer vs Jones. Then DAL who may still be without Prescott. If the Bears can beat NYG, they can realistically be 6-2 or 5-3 after 8 games (which would match their projected win total for the season).

Poles can also front load a lot of deals so they are cap friendly on the backend. $100M is a lot of money. WR market is bare though, so it will need to be a trade or draft.

and that is with one of the worst games in his career against GB. Poles probably should've just paid him, but now Smith is going to command even more, especially if he makes All-Pro.

Hoge & Jahns said they lock in the O-Line on Wednesday, they didn't mention other positions. Could be complete speculation.

Updated after MNF: Offense Pts scored - CHI - 20th, NYG - 18th Total Yards - CHI - 31st, NYG - 22nd Defense Pts allowed - CHI - 11th, NYG - 12th Total Yards Against - CHI - 20th, NYG - 16th INTs - CHI - 3, NYG - 0 Sacks - CHI - 6, NYG - 3 The Giants did not register a sack or INT against DAL. That seems to be their defense's weakness. They are decent for pts allowed and yards allowed, but don't seem to get much pressure nor are they opportunistic in their secondary. Let's hope Fields doesn't end that INT streak. I am updating my prediction, Bears 24-17

I just hope he doesn't want top 5 RB money. Right now the RB salaries go: McCaffrey - $16M AAV - 1st, Mixon $12M AAV - 8th, then a huge drop off to Barkley at $7.8M. So $8-10M seems like a fair deal. With the cap space next year, they will have money to front load some contracts. I like the 1-2 punch of Monty-Herbert and with the QB position still up in the air, you need at least one position group on offense to be special.

Yeah, they lock in the starters on Wednesday so they can prep for their assignments. So that also means Mustipher at C again.

At this point, Poles is just throwing as many darts as possible. Smith-Marsette, now Roberson added to PS. At some point, one of these guys will look serviceable.

I also heard on a Podcast that he is not comfortable with his new feet set. He used to be right foot back guy and they made him switch to left foot back. That is like trying to skate board or do a long jump off the opposite foot, it is not easy. So that may be contributing to his timing issues.