adam

This is a massive win for the Bears. I think there were 13-14 open OC positions, and Waldron was clearly a top 3 candidate and not even expected to be available. For him to become available out of the blue, the Bears to interview him so fast, then still interview 8 others, was impressive. They left no stone unturned. Looking at his pedigree compared to Getsy's, this is night and day. The offense is going to tangibly improve next year across the board regardless of who the QB is. Seattle had Metcalf, Lockett, and JSN, so I expect Poles to get Shane some new toys to mirror that setup. Maybe sign a higher end FA WR and draft a WR in the top 10 maybe? This may not seem like a big deal, but with him in the building, the Bears don't lose that much time without an OC for offseason prep, player acquisition, etc. Also, is this the best OC hire for the Bears EVER? Honestly. Here are the previous names: Getsy, Lazor, Helfrich, Loggains, Gase, Kromer, TIce, Martz, Turner, Shea, Shoop, Crowton, Landry, Hughes, Marchibroda, Meyer, Gillman, and Moss. So Ed Hughes was the OC for the 85 Bears, Ron Turner was the OC for the Bears last SB appearance. It seems like Waldron comes in at that level already based on how bad the other names are lol.

BOOM:

I would say if we had consistent QB play, we would be in the positive category. Fields has games that are at or above that mark, but then has too many below that mark. That's the problem in my eyes. I could care less how he gets the yards as long as drives are more consistent, less 3 and outs, more conversions on 3rd down, and better play in crunch time.

That would make sense. It is interesting that they don't label the interviews that way though. All come in for OC interviews then take lesser jobs? Like I go in for a CEO interview then take a job as a custodial engineer.

The O-Line was bad and Getsy sucked. I don't even know if Goff is overcoming those two factors. I think the Bears situation would turn Goff into Sam Howell. He would still have decent yards, but way more INTs and sacks. Tua becomes Mariota, Purdy becomes Bagent, Prescott becomes Jamarcus. Mahomes, Allen, Jackson, Stafford, Herbert, and Stroud are probably the only ones that would overcome the Bears shortcomings. Fields would be Fields.

It said interviewed for the DC position. I guess they could do that, but lateral moves can be blocked.

I'm assuming they are going to hire Kubiak if there is not an announcement this week as he would be the only one that they technically couldn't hire yet of the available candidates interviewed.

Goff scares me though. The minute he sniffs pressure he folds like a wet paper bag. With the Bears O-Line, especially with the gaping hole at Center, I think he would struggle with the Bears.

Interesting interview with Harris. TEN had the least amount of INTs for a defense with 6, in contrast the Bears led the league with 22.

This Detroit Tampa game is a snooze fest. 10-10 at half. Goff with 99 passing yards. Mike Evans with the only exciting play with a great sliding catch near the goal line. TB gets the ball to start the 2nd half. If they score there, the pucker factor is going to go up.

The Lake Erie Hoedown!

Neither team deserved to win really. I have not been impressed with any of the teams so far. HOU beat a CLE team that didn't show up, then got hammered by BAL. KC beat MIA in the arctic. BUF beat Mason Rudolph. GB beat a DAL team that didn't show up, then lost to SF who didn't look ready to play. DET barely beat LAR who only had one offensive player. TB clobbered PHI who have looked terrible for 2 months. Every game in the AFC has been decided by 14 to 31 points. Of the 8 total playoff games so far, only 2 have been decided by 10 or less. 6 games have been decided by 14 or more. That is some terrible football. The passing yards of the 4 QBs this week: 252, 194, 175, 152. The Y/A of the 4 QBs: 6.9, 6.5, 5.7, 5.3. The winning QBs last week threw for 337, 277, 274, 272, 262, and 203. For the playoffs, the winning QBs have averaged 254 yds per game. No team has yet to win a 2nd game in the playoffs, that changes today.

GB is also in cap hell. They are technically over the cap for 2024 with 48 guys on contract. If Love is their guy, are they going to let him go into the last year of this bridge contract or extend him? Bakhtiari has a $40M cap hit from previous restructures, now what? Cutting him has $20M in dead money. Aaron Jones has a $17M cap hit as a RB. Jaire Alexander has a $24M cap hit and has huge dead money. If anything, once GB extends Love, they are going to lose 2-3 of their current vets, someone like Kenny Clark, Preston Smith, or Elgton Jenkins, or all 3.

LMAO, what a bunch of losers, complaining about the refs and their kicker when their QB throws 2 INTs late. Love had 2-3 nice throws the entire game, but also had 2 INTs and probably should've had a 3rd. Even with a 100 yard rusher, unless the receivers were wide open, he couldn't hit them. To me it's funny, because the dude is going into Year 5, he is not going to improve that much, if any. I actually expect some regression next year, and then maybe in 2025 he may improve again back to something close to this season's numbers, but that is a maybe. The things that were issues with him in college came out in the biggest game of his life. He has zero running ability, and even with a great O-Line still threw 2 back breaking INTs. GB last 4 drives were INT, 3-n-out, FG Miss, INT. So 2 out of the last 3 drives ended in an INT. These all occurred when GB had the lead. They did score a TD on the 5th to last drive, but it started at the SF 20. Love gets credit for a TD drive and TD Pass when he basically did nothing. If they stick with Love, which all signs point to they will, I can see GB being a fringe playoff team every year, but that's it. They lucked out playing the biggest frauds in DAL to actually get a playoff win. Next year is going to be interesting. The Bears are going to improve with 2x top 10 picks. DET is now the Division leader. GB is going to have their work cut out for them. GB plays NO, MIA and PHI compared to CHI playing CAR, NE and WAS.

Both of these QBs are going to have it much harder next year now that teams have a year of tape and an offseason to prepare specifically for them. GB will also have the same exact skill position players. Christian Watson is the next Randy Moss they said, 1 catch for 11 yards. Last week, 1 catch for 9 yards. So his two game playoff total is 2-20, lmao. Here is what the up and coming QBs did and have going for them next year: Stroud 19-33, 175 yds, 72.2 QB Rating, don't have 2 picks in the top 3, losing OC, 1st place schedule in 2024 Love 21-34, 194 yds, 2 INTs, 72.4 QB Rating, Aaron Jones will be turning 30, 2nd place schedule in 2024

How about that Jordan Love performance? He had Aaron Jones running thru and around everyone and they still lost and he threw 2 costly picks, one to end the game when all they needed is a FG to tie. He had a 5.7 Y/A with 2 INTs and he never got sacked. He had a ton of time in the pocket and just shit his pants in crunch time. Look at how similar this is to a former QB that is known for dick pics:

I am not ripping him, he is a rookie and shouldn't even be playing in this game. HOU lucked out that CLE was on their 9th QB. I am just saying things are really stacked against him for next season all things considered. If he has a similar year like he had this year, I will be impressed. Right now he is an excellent rookie who had a great year on an ascending team.

Interestingly enough, the Texans play the Bears next season as the North Divisions face off against one another. HOU gets to play DET, GB, MIN, CHI, BUF, MIA, DAL, BAL, and KC outside of their division. They will be lucky to win 2 of those games.

? Right now with what we have seen over the past 3 years is Fields has limitations that are not going away. Those make it so that a team can really neuter the offense when they have the personnel to do it. So Fields is always going to be as good as the defense he plays against. It really seems to come down to how good the front 4 are and if the opponents bring A gap pressure. That seems to be his kryptonite. With that knowledge, Fields will always be a Tier 3 starter, finish in the top 15-20 annually with some flirts with the top 12, but a chance to dip into the low 20s. That seems to be who he is. He is an NFL starter, but he is not going to carry a below average team. So with the unique opportunity the Bears have, they have to use it, draft a QB, trade Fields, recoup a pick, draft a stud WR and see what happens.

Both Stroud and Slowik have not looked good in this game. If anything, Stroud will regress next year, and overall the team is not going to make a huge leap like they did this year with 2x top 3 picks and playing the last place schedule. Now they go into 2024 more than likely losing their OC, the league has a ton of tape on Stroud now, they won't benefit from great draft position and they will be playing the first place schedule. Good luck Houston.

Lol nope, I am just saying Stroud is not as good as the media has made him out to be over these last few weeks. Next year will be telling now that all the teams have a year's worth of tape on him. He has not looked good at all, even for a rookie.

Houston's offense has 3 points with what some are calling a top 5 play caller in Slowik. Regardless of the defense, this was a terrible outing in arguably the biggest game of Stroud's life and he literally shit the bed.

Yeah the Bagent pickup was nice, but based on the production of some other players, Getsy screwed the pooch. Hopefully Hightower and Borgonzi will do better.

It is great that the Bears will have both Hightower and Borgonzi coaching there. They will get some great in depth looks at players that other teams won't. Hopefully they helps the draft values. With Hightower as the HC and Borgonzi as the D coordinator, I bet the Bears draft at least one defensive player from the East squad. Here are the rosters: https://shrinebowl.com/rosters/ There seems to be a week of activities: https://shrinebowl.com/news/2024-game-week-schedule/ before the game, so we should get some intel as early as this Thursday/Friday.