Bears4Ever_34

I'm reaching for optimism, but it's possible A.) The Titans defense is going to be really good and B.) They had the element of surprise advantage coming into this game, given the fact they had a new coordinator with no play calling experience. You'd figure it might be easier to scout a Texans team who's defense you actually have film on.

Needless to say, that was one of the most ugly wins you'll ever see. I don't really feel all that great after that one, to be honest. A win is a win, but also, not really. This formula is not sustainable. You can't score zero touchdowns on offense, throw for less than 100, and expect to win very many games. Caleb played about as bad as one could for their first start. His accuracy was atrocious. Deep balls weren't close and neither were most of his short throws. He looked rattled after they fell behind early. 1st game jitters or something else? All I know is that it HAS to get better next week. That wasn't acceptable today, even for a rookie. Too much talent on this offense for it to look like that. Play calling, run game, OL, Caleb, everything has to be better. As for the good: -Darrell Taylor was the most important player out there today. He was flying around out there. Poles might have gotten a steal if he can continue to show out like this. -Andre Carter had some nice kick and punt returns. -Hardy had the play of the game to jump start the comeback with that punt block. Other concerns: - Waldron's play calling lacked creativity. Very little misdirection, no up-tempo to change things up, only 1 WR run late in the game (which happened to be their 2nd biggest run play of the day). His fingerprints were all over this, too. -Keenan Allen looks washed. Terrible drop in the endzone, and it looks like his foot is already bothering him again. Early returns on that trade aren't looking so hot right now. He had a bad pre-season, too. -OL couldn't block anybody. What else is new? Poles decision to ignore the center position two years in a row is going to haunt this team. Shelton and Bates are both ending up on their ass too much. RB's were getting touched far too often in the backfield.

Hard for me to see a scenario where Will Levis dominates against this Bears defense. My only real concern going into this game is on offense. If they can avoid the self-inflicted mistakes (Caleb turning it over/OL committing dumb penalties), they shouldn't have a problem beating this team at home. They have the better roster.

OL, DL, and punt returner remain the team's biggest weaknesses. Can't expect to be a playoff team if both sides of the line are bad. Will be interesting to see which players (if any) step up at those positions. My confidence meter is a little higher with the DL than OL right now. I think Booker is going to be a player. Saw a stat that said the Bears are the first team since 2013 SEA to post a point differential that high in the pre-season. SEA won the SB that year. I saw another stat from week 1 where the Bears posted their highest single game margin of victory since 2006, which is the year they went to the SB. I'm not saying, I'm just saying

I totally disagree with you about Velus. He looks good at RB. Runs with some pop. Reports are that he's had a great last couple days in training camp at his new position. I'm not big on Roschon Johnson at all anymore. He looks very ordinary as a runner, doesn't make people miss and doesn't break as many tackles as you thought he would coming out of college. Velus, if he can hold on to the ball (which is a big IF), gives this offense a real speed threat they don't have with anyone else. He didn't have many opportunities out there today, but I'm totally on board with this experiment. I've been calling this positional change for 2 years now. He can't catch, but every time he's gotten an end around in an actual game, he almost always does something positive with it.

The most important thing we've learned from this pre-season is that Caleb's special traits will pretty clearly translate to this level. That's all that matters in pre-season, is seeing whether or not those traits show up on tape from your drafted players. We knew from Justin Fields' first pre-season game that he had elite speed. Caleb's pocket mobility and playmaking skills on the run is uncanny. He was toying with the defensive lineman out there. He struggled with accuracy early on, but those are things he can learn from. I did like the fact that he didn't put the ball in harm's way this week. Could have had two explosive throws downfield if Tyler Scott wasn't held on the DPI. It was a perfect ball. Overall, you have to be really pleased with how he's looked in these two pre-season games. There's definitely room for growth, but like I said, the traits are there.

Couldn't have scripted the game much better for Caleb. He showed tremendous poise in the pocket, went through his progressions, and delivered the ball on time, both inside and outside the pocket. I don't know what more anybody could have asked from him in his first live game action. Both drops came in the redzone, which stalled one of the drives, and the other got stalled out with 3 straight runs. I loved his ability to recognize the defense shifting from single high safety to 2 man, understanding the hole in the defense was to scramble, which allowed him to pick up that last 1st down inside the red zone. Hell of a start to his career. I can't wait for next week.

Genuinely shocked they only gave them 3 primetime games. I hate how the only home night game they give the Bears is always the crappy Thursday games. I honestly can't recall the last home SNF or MNF game they've had in years. At first glance, my initial thoughts are that the team better get off to a hot start before that week 11 game against the Packers or it could be tough sledding to finish the season. The backloaded divisional games with SF thrown in there, as well as a 3 games in 10 days stretch, make it absolutely imperative to win early. I've got them at 10-7. I think the division will be super competitive, but the Vikings will be playing for draft position by the end of the year while the Bears, Lions, and Packers battle for the playoffs.

We've heard rumblings about this kind of stuff ever since Dan Orlovsky criticized his work ethic during the pre-draft process based off the information people were giving him at the time. The most credible report came directly from Josh Lucas, former player personal director under Ryan Pace, who flat out said the relationship between Fields and the other quarterbacks did not work at all. Who knows how true any of it really is. I tend to believe there's at least a kernel of truth there. Fields has never been a talkative guy. His podium pressers left much to be desired from a charisma and personality standpoint. Sometimes he looked disinterested and agitated even in situations that were supposed to be light-hearted. I always got a weird vibe with him. If any of that carried over into the locker room, it wouldn't surprise me if he came off poorly to certain people.

Yeah, it would irk me if the Bears passed on a better deal for the sake of Justin. The Bears should only be concerned about what's in the best interest of what makes their team better. That said, I'd love to know the difference in compensation. You're right in that it could be a question of sending him to another conference for a slightly lower pick. If it's anything more than that, though, that's a problem.

Hard to believe we live in a world where Kenny Pickett can warrant a 3rd round pick, but Justin Fields only nets a conditional 6th. I get the contracts play a part in the matter, but a 3 round difference in compensation is wild to me. I don't think Justin Fields is good, but he's certainly better than Pickett. The reality of the situation is that Fields' lack of scheme versatility in combination with the contract and awful 4th quarter performances really cratered his value to teams. He played like a low-end starter this year and was in the bottom 3rd of the league in almost every major passing category. It sucks, but I'm glad it's over and we can move on to finally discussing the next soon-to-be quarterback in Chicago (Caleb Williams) with a clearer mind.

I wholeheartedly believe this sentiment explains 99% of the blowback against Caleb Williams. I think you can throw out the draft haul part of it. There is a subsection of "fans" who legitimately are losing their minds over the possibility of Justin Fields being traded. They've dug themselves into the idea that he's good—in my opinion, due to the insane amount of social media trolling that took place last year during that 5 or 6 game stretch where he actually played well. I think now there's been a massive over-correction on the other side of the argument with people who are now defending Fields out of spite. The Caleb hate is coming primarily from these same people sublimating their frustrations on to him. A perfect example of this would have been after the Notre Dame game. It was embarrassing to see how many Bears fans were celebrating it. Even if the Bears weren't going to take him at the time, you still should want to see him play well to make the pick more valuable, but they didn't care—which just goes to show how irrational and insecure they've become. It dilutes the entire conversation.

Williams is going to be great. I think he's virtually dispelled just about every myth that has come out over the past few months, ranging from his height, to his leadership, to his willingness to play in Chicago. This has been a pretty rough week for all his detractors. He seems like a good kid who handles himself well despite the absurdities of his father constantly trying to do dumb shit that his son gets blamed for. He'll be the most talented quarterback prospect the Bears have ever drafted. If you can't get excited about that, I think you're probably lying to yourself.

He'll stay because they'll use the defensive improvement and win total increase as justification to bring him back, even though they had one of the easiest schedules in football and had only one quality win against a good team all year. Saw a report from a supposedly credible guy who noted the Bears are pushing for Jim Harbaugh, but would pivot back to Eberflus if he goes somewhere else. https://www.sportskeeda.com/nfl/news-latest-jim-harbaugh-nfl-one-team-cold-michigan-hc-bides-time

100%. Bears have a much better roster than the Texans. They just don't have a quarterback nearly as good. Fields relies too heavily on his playmaking ability to make up for his pocket deficiencies. He's been a below average passer for 3 years and has lead the NFL in 4th quarter turnovers since coming in to the league. If he was special, you would almost certainly know it by now. We are repeating the same mistake we made with Cutler. If you have to keep telling yourself you need better playmakers and coaches around the quarterback to make him better, the quarterback is the problem.

Good to see Fields boosting that trade value back up after 2 consecutive bad performances throwing the ball. ATL might be desperate enough now to give us a 1st round pick. Not sure what the temperature of this board is, but my opinion on this discussion hasn't changed at all. The numbers over the last 3 years tell you Fields is still in the bottom half of the league as a starter. Each of the past 2 seasons he's been the worst 4th quarter quarterback in football. He only has 1 true game winning drive in his career, and he's below league average in every major passing category, still, even with minor improvements all 3 years. That should tell you a lot. For some reason, this has turned into a difficult conversation amongst the fanbase. The fans seem to be 80/20 in favor of Fields while virtually everyone outside of Chicago seems to be 20/80.

Btw, Caleb Williams just liked a tweet from some dumbass Fields fanboy telling him the city wants Fields and they should draft MHJ. Hard to tell if he's making some sort of preemptive statement about where he wants to play (or doesn't), or if he's doing it to keep receipts. Here's the tweet he liked:

One more CAR loss guarantees the Bears the #1 pick. I'm still nervous as hell, though, because JAC might not have Lawrence next week after leaving the game again because of a shoulder. He's been banged up this past month, and the Jaguars are going through their worst stretch of the entire season right now. TB could very well be playing for nothing week 18 and rest some or most of their starters. We need to root for N.O next week to beat them to ensure that game will mean something.

I feel like the draft order is going to determine whether or not Eberflus is fired and/or Fields is brought back. I think the drop off from Caleb Williams to Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels is wide enough that I'm not sure the Bears consider moving off Fields for that. And, if you're not moving off Fields, you're probably not going to change coaches unless you can find one who is really sold on Fields.

CAR beating the Falcons really leaves the door open for NE to steal that spot, like the Bears did at the end of last season. Also, SEA winning that damn game on Mon really hosed up the SOS advantage the Panthers were building on N.E. Now everything is tied up again. I don't think the Packers are bad enough to lose the Panthers this week, but I worry about JAC if Lawrence isn't healed yet from his concussion. I also reaaaaaaally worry about the last game of the season against TB, because that game could end up meaning nothing for the Bucs. If they go 0-2 or 2-0 over the next two games, they'll either be divisional champs or out of the playoffs all together. Either we really need to get lucky with the SOS, or we best hope the Patriots can beat the Jets in the last game. I suspect Bill Belichick will be doing everything he can to win what looks like his last game as a Patriots head coach. The Patriots have also beaten the Jets like 15 or 16 times in a row, so maybe a little room for optimism. Either way, this thing is going to come down to the wire. I'm nervous.

Roschon looks to me like a special teams guy or maybe a 3rd down RB, nothing more. He's NFL slow. He's not very explosive and has almost no wiggle to his game whatsoever, at least that I've seen at the NFL level. I don't see much of a burst to his game. Overall, these Bears RB's seem to fall down a lot on minimal contact. They need to add a 4.3 guy to this roster next year who can threaten a defense on the perimeter. I still think Velus Jones is worth the experiment at RB, but I don't know if you can trust his ball security.

Makes me nervous about his ability to scout offensive skill position players. Jones Jr is a certified bust, but Tyler Scott and Roschon Johnson have both had pretty underwhelming rookie seasons. The Claypool trade will go down as an all time bad decision, and Tonyan, while not a costly signing, has been a complete nonfactor.

Kind of crazy to think WR has gone from what we thought would be a position of strength this year, back to being an incredible weakness. Moore, Mooney, and Claypool, on paper, looked like a potential top 10 core heading into this season. Claypool is gone and can't play anymore, and I'm not sure Mooney is that far behind him after today. The guy looks like Allen Robinson his last year in Chicago. Quitting on plays, dropping passes, lackadaisical effort. DJ moore appears to be the only legit receiver on this roster. Mooney, Scott, Velus, and St. Brown are very close to not being NFL players. We need to take a WR in the 1st round.

This game really highlighted the problem with Fields. He has no quick game. Slow processors against teams that can generate consistent pressure is a recipe for disaster. When his legs are no longer the security blanket they used to be (unless he's playing DET), his weaknesses as a passer are magnified.

His longest run all season is 29 yards. Everyone but DET has figured out how to contain that part of his game. The pocket passing still lags too far behind the running ability, but now it's even more glaring when he can't run as effectively as he used to.