adam

I guess it will come down to the QB situation and if we can even afford ARob going forward.

The Franchise Tag's deadline is tomorrow. The new league year starts on March 17th (next Wednesday), so the Bears will have to get under the cap by that date. If they tag ARob, they would have to shed a ton of salary to get under the cap in a week. The only options I see are the following: 1. Franchise Tag and renegotiate a long-term deal to lessen the cap hit in 2021. 2. Tag and trade 3. Let him go to free agency, but still work a deal with him 4. Let him go, don't pursue

Kyle still thinks the Bears will make a splash.

Looks like Fitz is planning to retire.

Looks like Watt signed with the Cards for $15M a year for two years. That was way too rich for the Bears. The one thing that may help the Bears related to that signing is Wilson has more of a reason to leave the NFC West, now having to deal with Donald, Bosa, and now Jones/Watt 6 games a year.

I was actually thinking about them either trading back, then drafting an QB late in the first or trading up from the 2nd into the back end of the 1st to get that 5th-year option. The only problem with drafting a QB in the 2nd or beyond is you miss out on that 5th year on the rookie deal, so the window with a stacked roster is one year less.

Wilson is 32 and would not command the same type of trade compensation as Watson. I agree on Watson, we would have to purge the roster just to bring him on making us look a lot like the Texans did with him. The problem the team has is without an elite QB, nothing else really matters. Every year this comes to fruition at playoff time. Will a team with an average QB win a playoff game, sure, but on average, most teams that make it to the Conf Championship and SB have an elite QB. Teams like SF and LAR got there recently, but both lost. They had everything but an elite QB. With Pace's track record of hitting in later rounds and missing in the 1st, if the team is trading future picks like Trubisky, Floyd, Shaheen, and White for Wilson, I would be ok with that.

He won't be nearly as expensive as Watson. I think he saw what Brady did and wants to show he can do that too. The Seahawks worst record since RW joined the team has been 9-7. 8 out of 9 seasons with double-digit wins with playoff berths and a top 10 scoring offense in 7 of those seasons. RW's QBR Rankings over the years: 3, 8, 6, 4, 15, 10, 11, 5, 8 He has 6 of 9 seasons in the top 8 in the league. The year he finished 15th, he threw for 4219 yards (career-high) with 21 TDs and 11 INTs. Bears Single Season Passing Records: Kramer 3838 Passing Yds and 29 TD Wilson has 5 seasons with more yards and TDs than the Bears all-time records.

Now BoJack in on this stuff:

It definitely sets the market. I am glad we didn't pull the trigger on him.

I am not too worried about Wentz's contract, you are correct, it is pretty favorable for the gaining team as Philly will have to eat a ton of guaranteed money. Then if the new team wanted to move on from him, they would be in an even more favorable position having no guaranteed money left or dead money to eat. I still think it comes down to injury risk and whether 2020 was an anomaly or was that the new norm? He was one of the three worst QBs in 2020 and that was after multiple years in the same system. I will have to find the tweet, but someone did some research and found that he had one of the worst performance drops in history after multiple years of above-average play. When they looked at all of the other QBs who had similar drops, only one had a couple of decent years afterward. That QB was Jay Cutler, lol. Every other QB never recovered, which was interesting and odd at the same time.

We need coaches who can assess the situation, put players in the best position to succeed, and be able to make in-game adjustments based on the other team. Pagano was way too passive in almost all of those. They have to come from somewhere. Brandon Staley is only two years removed from position coach and is already a HC. So there is not really a specific blueprint for making a good coordinator or HC. There are a ton of guys who paid their dues up to this point, 5 years at each level, for 20+ years, get their shot at Coordinator or HC, and fail miserably. I think coaches get too much of the blame for team failures and too much credit for their successes. Jackson's performance difference is either tied to his injury or his new contract. There is literally a night and day difference between pre-injury Jackson and post-injury Jackson. So I don't know how much you can put that on Desai. At the end of the day, it takes the entire organization to succeed. Everyone has to buy in and have a common goal and do their little part. If even one or two of those cogs are not working at max efficiency, then the entire system is degraded. The hope is Desai uses his knowledge of Fangio's defense to put the players in the best position to succeed, then have the understanding to make in-game adjustments to slow down offenses. Also, the last variable, which is probably more impactful than we think is COVID. This last year has been unprecedented and having some continuity within the organization is probably a good thing. If they brought in someone from the outside who made drastic changes to the entire defense, how much improvement would be expected with such limited time to make those adjustments?

I really like this guy. It seems like he gets it, he knows how to make the defense better and they will be next year. It was interesting to hear all the praise go to Fangio, and I don't think anyone ever mentioned Pagano once.

Watt, Mack, and Hicks alone would be an incredibly dominant front 7. When you throw in Goldman, Smith, and Trevathan, you have arguably the best front-7 in the league. Then you have Jackson, Fuller, and Johnson in the secondary. That is one or two players away from being the best defense in the league. If you get league-average production from the other safety and nickel corner position, this is easily a top 5 unit.

I hate to use PFF, but the numbers are accurate in terms of QB pressures, hits, sacks. Outside of injuries in 2016 and 2017, he has still been a dominant player:

This is really going to help the team against GB, and he obviously has experience against our other divisional opponents, so I like the move. If you do good in the division, you are normally a playoff team. So if the Bears can go 4-2 in the division, they are more than likely a 10 win and playoff team.

This would be my preference for QBs based on availability: 1. Carr 2. Mariota 3. Bridgewater 4. Fitzpatrick 5. Darnold 6. Wentz 7. Winston Wentz scares me a little bit with his injury history and just how bad he played in 2020. Outside of Watson, Carr gives the Bears the best chance to win in 2021.

I would not mind the Bears drafting him at #20. Especially if Lawrence, Fields, and Wilson are off the board. I would take Jones over Fields and Wilson too.

Nagy is definitely average overall, but I think as a HC, he is above average, and he is very overrated as an offensive guru. He would be best served to just be a HC. Here are some newer coaching comparisons (3-5 years experience), I am surprised that Shanahan gets the benefit of the doubt, but others do not. The only guy to win a SB was fired. 1. McVay 43-21, 4 seasons, 3 playoff appearances (SB loss), 0 losing seasons 2. McDermott 38-26, 4 seasons, 3 playoff appearances, 1 losing season 3. Vrabel 29-19, 3 seasons, 2 playoff appearances, 0 losing seasons 4. Nagy 28-20, 3 seasons, 2 playoff appearances, 0 losing seasons 5. Reich 28-20, 3 seasons, 2 playoff appearances, 1 losing season 6. *Pederson 42-37-1, 5 seasons, 3 playoff appearances (SB win), 2 losing seasons 7. Shanahan 29-35, 4 seasons, 1 playoff appearance (SB loss), 3 double-digit loss seasons 8. Gruden 19-29, 3 seasons, 0 winning seasons * - Fired Lol, Gruden too. Amazing he has survived with that type of record only to see KC get to 2 SBs in that window. Another thing to note, not a single coach/team in that group has made the playoffs every season over that period, which is interesting because Nagy gets a lot of flak but when you compare the results, he is right there in the middle, which is about where he should be. The question is, is he good enough to get the team to the next level?

He is 6 hours ahead of you:

He is going to get a lot of interest. His wife plays professional soccer in Chicago. Mack and Watt on the Edge? That would be insane. Another option is trading Mack and signing Watt, which is pretty wild, but not out of the realm of possible.

How much better is Wentz than Rivers?

Great question, I have no clue. That situation just seemed like a difference in opinion between management and coaching. Which is hard to overcome. Outside of 2020, Wentz has been a top 12 QB. In 2017, he had the highest QBR in the league, then finished 12th and 11th in 2018 and 2019. So it is not like he hasn't performed well outside of 2017.

With Nagy and Pederson's relationship, plus DeFlip's knowledge of Wentz, I think the Bears would be in the best position to make a decision on Wentz than any other team. So if they don't have full confidence in him, I doubt the Bears trade for him.

HUGE POINT here! Since all the future guarantees become dead money on Philly's books, this becomes a one-year deal, which seems like how long Pace/Nagy have left to prove they are worthy to keep around. So if all we are giving up is #20, Miller, and Foles, with the possibility of getting a 3rd or 4th rounder back + Wentz on a one year deal. That seems like it is worth it, especially if it means bringing ARob back. He would immediately become Wentz's best WR he has ever had. Kmet in his 2nd year, Mooney in his 2nd year, Monty in his 3rd. Cohen back from injury. If they can address RT and keep the interior with Whitehair, Daniels, and Mustipher, the offense would be the best group since the Cutler, Forte, Marshall, Jeffery, Bennett days.