adam

I have seen a few predictions between 4-7 wins. That is batshit crazy stuff right there. The schedule is finally in our favor, there is a lot to like: Easy start, a great way to get going compared to an early meat grinder. They can easily go 5-1. (Lions, Giants, Falcons, Colts, Bucs, Panthers) A home game for Thursday Night Football against TB. Home teams have a huge advantage, we also play at home the week prior. So no travel. Back to back road games, with an East coast to West coast trip, but 2nd game is MNF (extra day for rest/travel) LAR is the only game played west of MIN all season; CAR is the farthest east opponent, short travel distances this year The bye is Week 11, WOO HOO! MIN at home before bye on MNF, then GB following the bye on SNF. This might be my favorite scheduling note. GB and DET have Week 5 byes, and MIN is Week 7. We get a huge benefit from this. The Lions and Texans in December at Soldier Field...giggles. A road game in Jacksonville in December, woo hoo warmth. End the season with GB at home. This is literally the no excuses schedule. The worst stretch is weeks 7-10. Start out on the west coast in LA, then go back home to play NO on short rest, then on the road to TEN, then back home to play MIN before the bye. At least TEN is a short road trip and MIN is on MNF. I am optimistic but it's hard to see less than 10 wins. We would have to play really bad to lose 7+ of these games. If we go 4-2 in the division, it's hard to see us not beating at least the Giants, Panthers, Texans, and Jaguars, and splitting the games with the Titans, Saints, Falcons, Colts, Rams, and Bucs. That's 11 wins and it's not a real stretch, beat the bad teams, split versus the better teams. Even going 2-4 vs those last 6 teams still puts us at 10 wins. So I will leave my May 2020 prediction right here: 11-5.

I think the better pass rush plays into his strengths, and like you said, with two safeties with plus ball skills gives him some overhead cover.

He is also only 21, so he has room to grow. Not going in the first round is going to motivate him to be even better. I would not be surprised if he makes the Pro Bowl as a rookie.

That's why I put him on the bubble. The biggest issue is going to be ST, as the backup TEs, especially 3 and 4 have to play ST. So if Graham and Kmet are not, then TE3 and TE4 have to. There's just not enough non-starters to field an ST unit without these guys.

From all accounts, he handled the Wentz situation very well and you didn't hear any bads things in Jacksonville when Minshew took over.

The playcalling thing is so hard to figure out. There is a chance that Nagy just sucks at playcalling. Highly possible. On the flip side, there were stories about Trubisky not grasping the concepts and Nagy having to dial back the offense to Mickey Mouse levels. So if you now only have a couple of basic plays to run, the defense can key on those much easier and make the plays look terrible (like Tecmo Bowl when you choose the right defense). The misdirection plays were so predictable that they would lose yards because the defense was playing the play for the misdirection. One thing I noticed last year was Trubisky didn't even attempt to fake out the defense with his movements. I can't even remember if he looked off the safeties one time last year, or exaggerated the fake handoff on a play-action pass. He was doing those things as a rookie. I don't know what happened. All I can think of is that he got overwhelmed with the offense and the "wrinkles" and just locked up. You can see it in his face, eyes, and even his pocket presence. Maybe he can snap out of it. All I want to see is consistent QB play.

I like those stories, keep them coming. It was a different time back then. I can picture the story, all the wacs huddled up giggling as this stud walks by and says "hi ladies" sounding like Mike Tyson, then they giggle even louder for another reason.

Yeah, he is a great guy, but once you lose a step, it's easy to see. He was mainly playing way off the LOS and then was always trailing the receiver. If he stays healthy, he can be a perennial Pro-Bowler.

Yeah, it feels like a lot but you could say we went into this offseason needing QB, G, S, TE, CB, and ILB. So I would say 6-7 need areas is not uncommon in an offseason. If we can shed some salary, it will make it even easier.

and without impacting comp pick formula.

Sowell is not listed on the roster. We currently have 9: Braunecker, Clark, Graham, Harris, Holtz, Horsted, Kmet, Saubert, and Shaheen UDFA Wagner is listed as a WR. Locks: Graham, Harris, Kmet Bubble: Braunecker, Holtz, Horsted, Shaheen Likely cuts/PS: Clark, Saubert

You are absolutely correct. The QB situation is the big wild card. With average QB play this is a 10 win team. I have a feeling that this defense is going to be nasty. Mack and Quinn, then spelled with Gipson. The DLine gets to rotate in Jenkins. RRH is going to explode. Johnson's style plays perfectly in the pass rush speed. This defense is top 5, which would put the team in the top 15 with a bad offense. So if we can have an average scoring offense, 21 pts a game, with some balance between run and pass, definitely top 10. For me, it will all come down to the QB play. Bad QB play= 7-8 wins, average QB play=9-10 wins, good QB play=11-12, great QB play 13+ wins.

Johnson wearing Peanut's number, very cool

Gipson is way more of a tweener than HHCD, he still has the knack for the ball and is solid in the hole. He is probably not a true SS, but with the way the game is going, he is probably the best fit across from someone like Jackson.

The had 4 RBs, 6 WRs, and 4 TEs on the opening day roster in 2019. 7 WRs is pretty high if only 2-3 are getting snaps, I don't think they keep more than 6 there. With TE, once you get above 4, you are talking about a 3rd string TE. The only way they carry 5 is if they have Holtz as a FB. It's going to be interesting, but just based on the numbers game, guys like Wims, Braunecker and Horsted may not make the cut.

If there weren't injury concerns, he is probably a top 15 pick. I feel like he is going to be the steal of the draft at 50, and if people don't think he is an immediate upgrade over Prince, watch some tape of him, then immediately go to some of Prince's games last year.

At this point, the Bears put themselves in the best situation they could given the circumstances. In my opinion, Trubisky has been coddled by the organization, which is different than giving him weapons and trying to do everything in their power to allow him to succeed. Now it's all on him. He either balls out and lives up to expectations or stays in the same rut he has been in for a few years. He has to become more than a single read QB that needs the coach in his ear pre-snap. I know that is why Nagy has become frustrated with him. The training wheels have to come off at some point.

What a crazy 2017 draft. 4 out of the top 5 did not have their 5th-year options picked up. Just shows how much of a crapshoot the draft really is.

Just based on draft status, Mooney is making the 53-man. The odd man out is Wims.

A lot of teams just started to announce their 5th year option decisions, and I assume that was due to the draft. However, for Trubisky's, the team didn't draft a QB, so why wait until the last minute to do something? All I could think about was they were looking at some trade possibilities? That is the only logical thing I could think of, otherwise, waiting for no reason doesn't seem to benefit anyone.

I love this. Let them sleep on the Bears. There is no way a top 12 team that improved from the year before falls off the face of the earth like that. 29th is completely ignorant. The team has improved in the offseason and has an easier schedule with a bunch of players that underwhelmed last year.

One thing to note is snap count, I bet Gipson surpasses Smith in PD and INTs easily on a per snap basis and is a lot closer on tackles.

Btw, the defense is stacked. We went from Floyd to Quinn, Prince to Johnson, and HHCD to Gipson. We have Jenkins rotating on the line with Trevis Gipson replacing Lynch as Edge3. The winner of Roberson, Burns, Toliver is our CB3. Mingo is our ILB3. Bush is our S3. We have are pretty solid across the board while returning 8 starters.

Ok, so a WR3 who can also be used on ST and a Safety. So now all we need is a vet RB2 and we are looking pretty good.

Yep you are right, but the way the article describes it (w/ Dallas getting a 7th), they seem to have skipped over Daniel's deal with Detroit which was of greater value.