adam

Mitch got a TD pass in his first preseason action. Nice to see. Then I see the actual play lol. Busted coverage, no player within 5 yards of receiver. Easy pitch and catch. Pickett actually looked really good. Definitely not a QB controversy, but Mitch is going to be on thin ice in Pittsburgh.

Prost! Ebner did look good, and probably should be the 3rd Down back over someone like Evans. Sanborn may actually make the roster if he keeps that up though.

Yeah, Newsome did not have a clean game at all. As a second year player, there are no excuses anymore. He has some work ahead of him to make the roster.

I should clarify a hot take is meant to be an extreme over reaction to a small sample size.

It was really hard to evaluate the team as a whole with so many players injured. On offense, no Monty, Pringle, Jones, Kmet, Reiff, Griffin, O'Shaughnessy, Harry and Patrick. At least 4 starters out. On defense, no Quinn, Muhammad, Blackson, Smith, Gordon, Vildor, Graham, Jackson, or Cruikshank. At least 5 starters out. Fields, playing against first teamers, didn't turn the ball over. This may not seem like a big deal but no fumbles or INTs is a positive. He looked much better overall, but with so many starters out, the entire offense is a work in progress. However, the Getsy offense already looks better than the Nagy offense. The Bears and Chiefs both had 63 plays on offense, the Bears outgained them by 80 yards. They had 13 receptions/runs over 10 yards, Chiefs had 6. The Bears also had 4 plays over 25 yards, the Chiefs had none. So the recipe is already cooking: get explosive plays on offense while limiting turnovers and prevent explosive plays on defense and get turnovers. This game was something to build off of. Some guys made the most of their playtime: Sharpe is making this team. He made 2 highlight reel catches on his only 2 targets. He compliments Mooney very well. I can see him in the mix as high as WR2, he looked that good. Ebner is not only making the 53-man, he may make Monty expendable by the end of the year and will take touches away from Herbert for sure. He can do everything. A 27 yard rush and a 12 yard TD reception. He was the best RB out there from either team AND he was the man KR and had a nice 34 yards return. For defense: Sanborn is going to start at one of the LB positions. He just has a knack for the ball. He had an interception, forced fumble, fumble recovery, TFL, and PD with a team-high 7 tackles. He also makes the Roquan situation much easier to handle. With Morrow, Adams, and Sanborn, they have 3 starting caliber LBs with Joe Thomas as a backup. The Bears may have found a great rotational DT in Trevon Cole. He filled up the stat sheet like a Christmas tree. He had 2 sacks, 3 QB hits, 1 PD, and 2 TFLs. On defense, he may have been the most dominant player on either team. D. Robinson is going to allow the Bears to trade Quinn at the deadline. He had a sack and a TFL and his speed was evident on the sack. With Muhammad and Gipson, Robinson can be the rotational guy with Mario Edwards. Brisker was as advertised, 4 tackles, 1 TFL and 1 PD. He is going to be a stud and perennial Pro Bowler (bookmark this thread and flame me in 2 years). Hot Takes: Surprise cut: Khalil Herbert. With Ebner doing KOs and looking much better as a runner and pass catcher than Herbert, he seems very expendable. He is going to need a nice series or two in the next few games to redeem himself. Roquan situation: I know it is preseason, but the defense and LBs played pretty good. For a season where they are not expected to go to the Super Bowl, this is probably the worst year to be threatening to hold out when you have zero leverage. I would not be surprised if the Bears pull the offer that they had on the table or reduce it.

Depends how long he sits out, but you are correct. He doesn't get service credit. He has lost all leverage he had because they know they are not going to the Super Bowl this year, so there is no concern about a drop off in production from the Will on defense. If he loses more than $5M (half his year's salary), that would've been the same as paying an agent on a $100M deal.

Now this: Talk about some bad judgment. Next Roquan is going to operate on himself to remove his appendix, will do his own taxes, and represent himself in court. Dude, just get an agent. He is about to lose more money than he would've if he just paid an agent 5%.

Roquan removed from PUP: That can only mean one of three things, an extension is imminent, a trade is imminent, or they are now forcing his hand (fines?) after being nice by allowing him to be on the PUP.

It seems most if not all of the 2nd year QBs have struggled at some points during this offseason. We will see who is legit when the actual lights come on, but at least from a Fields perspective, he is not the only one who had a bad day or two this offseason. Lance: Jones: Wilson: Lawrence seems like the only one that has had a decent camp throughout, which is good for him. It makes sense going from Urban Meyer to Doug Pederson.

Promising to see progress.

Rumor is he wants more than what Leonard got to reset the market knowing someone else will get more than him next year. However, to me, he is a notch below Leonard and should not be getting top 3 LB money. If I am Poles, I leave the offer there and allow him to lose his peak 3 yrs to a contract dispute. Most players lose these battles. Remember LeVeon Bell? 5 yrs with Pittsburgh, 25 yrs old, back-to-back 1200-yard seasons. Contract dispute, holds out a year, signs with Jets, does make some money from them, but doesn't even make it a 1 year and a half before he is released. Plays one more year for two teams and is out of the league before 30.

True, but I felt his statement was odd given that he had no leverage. He still has a year left on his rookie deal. If the team doesn't budge, does he just magically all of a sudden back down and agree after he said the current deal was disrespectful? I just don't think he does. He really backed himself into a corner here. Requesting a trade with one year left on your deal seems a little drastic.

Now David Moore, who was fighting for the last WR spot: So it looks like Mooney, Pringle, ESB, Jones, and probably Sharpe as your top 5. Dazz Newsome or Dante Pettis as WR6 if they go with 6. Harry starts season on IR.

I am just thinking if the Bears did give him a take it or leave it offer, and he said no, what other path is there? The whole point of a take it or leave it deal is that there are no other deals and Roquan is not the type of guy to compromise. If you remember, for his rookie deal, he was making a stand for all rookies, and in his message, he again said if signed it would be bad for the entire LB market. It is a contract to play a game. He is not a player personnel rep, and he doesn't even have an agent. Why is he worrying about others' contracts? Worry about yourself. He actually has zero leverage here. He can sit out the entire year, then the Bears can tag him the next year. Losing $1-2M a year on a 5-year deal, when you make $16.5M per year is not much to comprise compared to losing a potential $26M over the next two years ($9.7M for 2022 and potentially $16.5M in 2023) and two of your prime years in the league. The Bears could actually tag him again after that.

Poles clearly reads PFF lol: I know this can only be seen as a negative, and I agree at this point not having Smith on the field is a negative. However, there are a lot of factors. Smith never signs a deal until it is exactly what he wants, that was clear when he held out as a rookie over some pretty minor stuff. He doesn't have an agent. So there are things in contracts that he may not have known about. The Bears will not get a comp pick for him if he leaves via free agency because they will sign too many FAs next year cancelling the comp pick out. With teams knowing that, I don't see them getting more than a 3rd for Smith. Also, how many teams have the cap space to sign him to a $20M year deal? Very few teams have the cap space to add someone like Smith for $20M a year. Besides the Bears, only NYG, NE, HOU, SEA, CIN, BAL, ATL, and ARZ have over $25M FOR NEXT YEAR's CAP! That already limits the amount of teams. NE is out because they never sign players like that. ATL has Deion Jones, so they are out. ARZ will be out once they have to resign some of their own players. BAL has to pay Lamar. CIN will have to pay Burrow, so I doubt they take on a big contract. So realistically, it would come down to NYG (most cap), HOU (Lovie connection), and SEA. If Smith wants a trade, he is likely going to a worse situation.

Figured this would come once a deal wasn't struck by last week. Not a good look for Poles after all the other little things this off season. What sucks is Smith is gone, no way is he playing for the Bears even if they up the offer.

There was a pretty funny incident a few years ago with one of the guys, he had 100s of burner accounts and was pumping up his followers and posting from the other accounts to give himself praise in his own tweets.

He has the most accurate and timely info. I like his takes, never too extreme.

Yeah, those guys help a lot. I would be happy with top 15.

We are beating the Giants, this team is a mess, another fight:

Bears came in at 11: The additions of Reiff and Schofield helped out a lot. The line could be even better if Jones or Jenkins beat out Borom. Then the 2 that don't win the starting job become super subs with Mustipher as depth. That is a very solid O-Line and a lot better than last year.

Head coaching goes to NE, but the jury is still out on Matt Patricia as an OC and play caller.

Hoge and Jahns, CHGO w/ Hoge, Locked On Bears (daily pod), and then follow the entire beat on Twitter, Brad Biggs seems to be the fastest.

Good point. I guess it comes down to overall value, including Special Teams.