Where do they go from here?

[Bill]

They gave up picks to move up one spot and draft a QB no one thought was worth it.  They could of had the pick of the litter at three.  Have given up picks for Saheen, Montgomery, Miller, on and on.  All were thought at the time to be good moves by Pace.  But players drafted at all the positions have proven to be better.  The off line is missing only one starter this year.  The D is under performing the past three games.  And they have no picks to replace all the underperforming players.  I don't see any player to build this team around except perhaps Mack and for such a poor performing team is he worth keeping?  Can anyone show me where we go from here?

 

We were only one player away when they traded for Mack?   I feel like we've been sold a bill of goods from a huckster.  We could not be any worse if we had not.    

[Connorbear]

The defense has underperformed the last 2 games. Three games ago, the defense dominate the Vikings 16-6. 

Peace

[Connorbear]

My thoughts on the current status of the Bears - I don't see them making the playoffs. I think they'll be lucky to get 8 wins. If I were GM, I would do the following:

1 - Cut Trey Burton. He has done absolutely nothing since he showed himself to be a head case last year in the playoffs. You are paying him $8 a year and he's not worth it. Bring up Jesper Horstead from the practice squad. 

2 - Get Shaheen on the field and in the offense. You have to see if he has any value for next year. 

3 - Cut or trade Mike Davis. He has hardly played and is not worth the $2.5 million you are paying him. Bring up Nall from the practice squad. I believe we get a pick from losing Adrian Amos in free agency if Davis is not on the roster in week 10. 

4 - Stick with Trubisky. Give him every opportunity to sink or swim this year. If he shows no improvement, then move on. 

5 - If Trubisky fails, go get Bridgewater or Keenum to be a caretaker QB for next year. 

6 - Do not use Tarik Cohen as the power back. He should not be running into the middle of the line. He needs space to succeed. 

7 - David Montgomery must have 15-20 runs per game for the rest of the year. 

Notice that none of my suggestions are on the defensive side of the ball. The defense was on the field for 15 additional minutes today because the offense failed to get a 1st down for 1.5 quarters. 

Fix the offense.

[AZ54]

Is it just me or is everyone in this offense regressing under Nagy?    I guess the exception would be Robinson but Cohen is no longer the same player as he rarely is willing to take the ball upfield into traffic.   Defenses know this too and wait on him to cut outside and in the end he goes nowhere.  AMiller is a headcase who might make a play, or might not.  Too often on the Oline nobody seems to know who to block.  Last year Trubisky bailed out the Oline a lot.  This year he stays in the pocket and eats a sack.  Why is he afraid to get outside and make plays?  TEs...hello?   RBs?   When I see this many issues it's getting hard to go after the players, even if everyone likes to pile it all on Trubisky.  

 

[adam]

Just blow this thing up, someone has to be held accountable. Fire Pace, Nagy, Heistand, Helfrich, Tabor, someone. You just got beat by a backup QB, RB, and TE at home, and it wasn't even close. 

I would put Trubisky and Burton on IR, sign Kaepernick and bring up a TE. 

[BearFan PHX]

First of all Kaepernick sucks. Forget all the politics and the rest, just as a QB, he sucks and he's been out of the league for a while.

I do think Trubisky is on the hot seat. He has the rest of the year to show something, but if he doesnt, and I think he probably wont, then you gotta do something.

It'd be tempting to put Nagy on the bubble, but he wasnt here when they took Trubisky. I also think Pace has done a pretty good job too. Dont forget where we were and for how long.

Yes we suck. But we suck differently than we used to. Now we are actually angry because there IS talent on the roster. It's a step forward, but it isn't enough.

On D we are really missing Hicks. We need another difference maker at DE.

On Offense, we need something on the OL. Maybe more than one something. I'm looking at Massie in the run game. Not good enough. The three young interior guys are doing Ok, and will grow.

The WRs and RBs are FINE. Montgomery is going to be very good if we can open some holes for him.

Trubisky is not getting it done. They should keep working with him, and maybe the light will come on before the end of the season, but I wouldnt bet on it.

Unfortunately, we dont have the draft capital to draft another QB early int he first round. We might be able to move up around pick 20 or so. But we sure as hell wont have the #3 or #2 pick.

It's easy to say that Pace blew that one, but EVERYONE thought Trubisky was gonna be a top 5 pick, and he was the consensus best QB available. Yes, you pay Pace to see deeper, but all first round QBs are 50/50 shots at best.

So I think next year you need a new QB, ROT and DE. That's before dealing with whoever might be leaving, and resigning our own free agents.

Then again, if you're not going to extend Trubisky past his rookie deal, then you'll have cap room to do lots of stuff.

But boy is this disappointing.

And yes, Nagy needs to get better. There is no good reason not to let the OC call the plays too. It's not like Nagy's had any magic at it. We arent even getting RBs 15 carries.

But in the end, Mitch is not getting it done, and the OL is not getting it done, and the D line is too porous against the run right now.

[Bears4Ever_34]

I'm not going to lie, I would be interested in seeing Kaepernick in this offense. He's not a very good quarterback, but he's got a stronger arm and actually doesn't mind using his legs when he has the opportunity, unlike Trubisky. 

That said, there's 0 chance the Bears would sign Kaepernick as long as Trubisky is healthy. I brought it up a few weeks ago when he got hurt, because I thought he was going to miss half the season. 

The Bears are stuck with Trubisky the rest of the year. I don't need to see anymore of Chase Daniel. We know what he is. At the very least, at least we'll finally be able to learn whether Trubisky should be the team's starter going into next season. The Bears are going to have to draft a quarterback next season regardless, but depending on how he plays down the stretch should determine how high in the draft they should take one. I still contend that they should do everything they can to trade for Nick Foles as a stop gap while grooming a young guy to replace him in 1-2 years. Because of the Mack trade, the Bears can't afford to rebuild for another few years while he's in his prime. 

This team has too much young talent to hit the restart button. If they had a bunch of older players, you might think about trading Mack for picks to re-stock, but I think that'd be a bad thing to do right now. 

[Stinger226]

I am not sure you can count on a QB with a up and down past that has not played for 3 years to be anybodies savior. Kap is a part of the NFL history that I do not think will ever play again. He sued his employer and that wont happen again. He is not just black balled but forgotten by owners. 

So where do we go from here?

After the Viking game, our defense was playing well the offense sputtered but had some hope of getting better. After losing Hicks we expect it to drop a little but I think the last few games the defense has been on the field so long the fatigue has shown in the second half of games.  It was 12-10 at halftime and fell apart in the second half. 

I think the defense isnt so far away from being relevant but the offense shows no signs of hope. Bench MT? Will that help? Maybe Nagy needs to turn over the play calling to someone else? He has been terrible the last few games. There is no players we can bring in to chance our fortunes. 

How about a wildcat offense? Sounds stupid but at least its an attempt at change.

Put Chase in at QB? Why not, the MT thing is at least stalled in progress right now.

Actually run the ball 25 times a game? That's a thought. Anyone remember last year when we went on that run of victories Howard got a lot of touches, we were successful in the run game.

The truth is Nagy needs to change his horizontal run game into a run north and south offense and maybe we can keep the defense off the field enough to get a whole game out of them.

A few notes: R. Smith looks like something is going on in his head, he seems tentative

                       They actually had a TE sighting yesterday. Go to the 2 TE offense and pound the ball, maybe we have different results.

 

 

[killakrzydav]

Seemingly down.

[Connorbear]

No to Kaepernick. He's been out of the game too long. Play Trubisky the rest of the season. If there is no improvement (above last year's play) then move on. Some FAs you can look at next year are - Mariota, Keenum and possibly Bridgewater. 

Peace

[Alaskan Grizzly]

15 minutes ago, Connorbear said:

No to Kaepernick. He's been out of the game too long. Play Trubisky the rest of the season. If there is no improvement (above last year's play) then move on. Some FAs you can look at next year are - Mariota, Keenum and possibly Bridgewater. 

Peace

Agree on ‘no’ for Kaepernick.  He had one decent season...nearly 7 years ago.  
 

Disagree with letting Trubisky play the rest of the year.  It seems all hope is lost at 3-3 but like some have pointed out this was where the team was this time last year.  Right now all the team needs is a rhythm; and that can be had on offense.  The piece most needed to change; QB (with a heavier dose of running).  It’s probably too late (with the bye week behind us) to make an out of team change but I really think Chase could get this team pointed in the right direction if even he plays as pedestrian as expected.  That right now is a whole lot better than what Trubisky is doing.  
 

Last night the Eagles and Cowboys were both 3-3 as they squared off to play one another; some had started to write off Dallas, they were saying things like Garrett would get fired and all that.  Then Dallas comes out and blows away the Eagles 34-10 and its the Eagles who are suddenly looking lost (Nagys last team and a team only 1 1/2 seasons away from winning a super bowl ... hmm).  Anyhow the point being, I believe the team can recover from this.  It’s a simple adjustment here or there and grasping hold of some positive mo-jo and things will get better.  As Aaron Rodgers once said; “R-E-L-A-X”

[Mongo3451]

Nothing will get better unless Trubisky starts hitting the deep ball.  Without that, ball control portion of the offense will remain non existent.  Without that, the OL can't keep up with varying degrees of pressure.  Without that, Tarik Cohen has no room for explosive plays.  Without that, Nagy can't call a good balanced game.  Time for designed plays to specifically go deep even if the issue is forced.

[madlithuanian]

All you guys are making great points.  This season is so far, an enormous disappointment at best.  We were sold a bill of goods last season that looked good.  Was it smoke & mirrors?  All the negatives are starting to show.  The QB looks lost and regressed.  The running game is non existent and they aren't even trying.  The OL is somehow significantly worse than last year despite virtually the same crew and coaches.  The coaching looks bad, and probably was bad last season.  The D also tends to give up long sustained drives at the end of games.  Yeah, they are on the field a lot, but something isn't right.  Maybe we miss Fangio more than we initially thought?  It's all just so utterly disappointing.  Fell like we've seen this movie before.  Bad O, good D.  At least in prior years, while the QB/WR's were poor, our running game was always good.  We don't even have that any more!   This team has no offensive identity.   Tru puts in the work, but it's not showing up on game day.  I really really hate to admit it, but Tru ain't it.  I was holding out hope.  But, I think he won't ever be the guy.  At least here.  Maybe a different coach and scenery can get something out of him.  I'm ok giving him the rest of the season to figure it out.  I'm also OK w letting Chase give it a shot.  And I'm starting to question Pace.  There are so many first round misses.  I'm not sure he's all that.  Losing him wouldn't make me sad.  And I'm starting to think of Nagy in the same way.  The rah rah is nice.  But he's not shown much real coaching ability.  Tru looks lost and the play calling is atrocious.  Just sad...   He's better than the last couple of bozos.  But, I'm not sure how good he really is.  He'll get at least one more year to make something of it.   

[Alaskan Grizzly]

49 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

Nothing will get better unless Trubisky starts hitting the deep ball.

Problem is, Trubisky can’t hit the deep ball with any consistency or accuracy.  I can think of two attempts yesterday where he “tried” and both times the receiver was double and triple covered.  In one instance he under-threw the receiver.  Adam is better at stat gathering than I but I’d be willing to bet his deep ball (anything 15 yards or more) accuracy or completion rate is pretty low.  He wasn’t even able to hit the intermediate passing routes with any consistency, unless the receiver was named Robinson.  

[Alaskan Grizzly]

4 minutes ago, madlithuanian said:

And I'm starting to question Pace.  There are so many first round misses.  I'm not sure he's all that.  Losing him wouldn't make me sad.  And I'm starting to think of Nagy in the same way. 

I’ve never really been set on Pace but Nagy I’m still hoping will figure it out. The thing is I wonder if he weren’t able would you consider to can him before this season ends and put in Pagano?  We know he’s had success as a head coach elsewhere.  Letting him be interim this year would be better than waiting to see what happens after the season ends and he gets let loose.  Problem with it is that Pace will remain; we know how unpopular it is to keep coaches and not GMs...been there done that, no one except me liked it  

Again that was a total ‘what if’ moment for conversation only and I’m still not given up on this year ... yet.  

[fudgeripple2000]

Anyone wanting Kapernick just has to listen to Ray Lewis and when the Ravens were working on a possible deal for him.  He is a side show at this point.  His agenda takes front seat to his ability. 

It is a horrible sign after an atrocious London showing with the raiders, with a bye week, all we have to show at home is that steaming pile we saw yesterday.  Mitch looks very unsure of himself.  Shorting so many throws and then overthrowing the deeper throws.  

Bill Parcells had a philosophy on drafting quarterbacks

Be a three-year starter

Be a senior in college

Graduate from college

Start 30 games

Win 23 games

Post a 2:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio

Compete at least 60-percent of passes thrown

By that criteria Mitch only reached 2 of the 7 and shouldn't have been a pick for us.  Pace is good to very good at evaluating talent as free agents and non quarterback draftees.  However, he is not good with quarterbacks so far.  I don't feel like Nagy is the problem.  I would give Mitch one to two more games to show something.  If we are in the same place, then I would be happy to give the season to Chase Daniels.  Look to trade Mitch if possible and draft someone that is a more realistic quarterback.  I have a suggestion that meets almost all of Bills' criteria.

TUA--no-- Injury prone, runs hot.

Herbert(oregegon)-- 1st rounder and stiff

Frohm( georgia)--no--not anything special

Joe Borrow(LSU)--yes--fulfills most criteria under Bill.  Great numbers 

Jordan Love(Utah State)-YES--fulfills most of the criteria.  Won't have to give up picks to get him.  High character. 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

3 minutes ago, fudgeripple2000 said:

Bill Parcells had a philosophy on drafting quarterbacks

Great overall post!!! 

[Bill]

Maybe all Mitch needs the the old Baseball fixer.  Go get a slump buster and lock yourself in a hotel room for a few days.

[madlithuanian]

1 hour ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

I’ve never really been set on Pace but Nagy I’m still hoping will figure it out. The thing is I wonder if he weren’t able would you consider to can him before this season ends and put in Pagano?  We know he’s had success as a head coach elsewhere.  Letting him be interim this year would be better than waiting to see what happens after the season ends and he gets let loose.  Problem with it is that Pace will remain; we know how unpopular it is to keep coaches and not GMs...been there done that, no one except me liked it  

Again that was a total ‘what if’ moment for conversation only and I’m still not given up on this year ... yet.  

I don't think Nagy can remotely be fired in season.  Even when we had jokes like Trestman, we always waited for year end.

[adam]

1 hour ago, Bill said:

Maybe all Mitch needs the the old Baseball fixer.  Go get a slump buster and lock yourself in a hotel room for a few days.

Lol, this made me laugh. Thanks for that Bill! I would just be concerned if he missed his target or took a sack! 

[adam]

After seeing QB's fail all over the NFL in the last 40 years (of me watching the sport), it is clear that you have to have a combination of several traits, and that you can overcome one or two, but once you get to 3-4 shortcomings, you normally eventually fail.

1. Arm Strength
2. Accuracy/Touch 
3. Vision
4. Pocket-awareness/presence
5. Leadership
6. Decision-Making/Speed
7. Physical Traits

Trubisky can't adjust to a dynamic situation on the fly (#6). He doesn't possess the mental speed to process something new and react immediately. He lacks touch (#2) on most of his throws and has poor field vision (#3). Even if a receiver is his 3rd option and the dude is uncovered at the LOS, he should be able to see that opportunity and take advantage of it. When he is pressured, he has the propensity to move laterally instead of up into the pocket (#4). When he moves laterally, he takes away his ability to scramble for yards. I can't comment about his leadership, but I rarely see him talking to teammates on the sidelines when the defense is on the field. 

To me, he has 4 negative traits, which basically is impossible to overcome. You would hope some of these would improve by Year 3 but if you watched a game in his rookie year and the Saints game, you would think the Saints game was his rookie season. He can improve some of these, but to me, he is cemented at the career backup QB level. He is not an NFL starter and I don't think he will ever get there. Every game he misses 2-3 throws that are inexcusable, he can't hit the side of a barn after 10 yards. Thankfully barns don't move. He still zeroes in on his first read and will throw it to that receiver into triple coverage. He didn't have any INTs, but probably should've had 1 or 2. 

The last part is with being a natural thrower. It's almost like people who can't dance (like me), I can do the steps but it looks awkward. That's how Trubisky plays QB, he has the arm strength, can throw simple route trees, can run with the ball when needed with above-average speed for a QB, but other than that, what has he ever proven since college?

From the collective groan when we traded up one spot to pick him until today, zero has changed. Watson was the pick and Pace blew it and should held accountable.
 

[DABEARSDABOMB]

16 hours ago, AZ54 said:

Is it just me or is everyone in this offense regressing under Nagy?    I guess the exception would be Robinson but Cohen is no longer the same player as he rarely is willing to take the ball upfield into traffic.   Defenses know this too and wait on him to cut outside and in the end he goes nowhere.  AMiller is a headcase who might make a play, or might not.  Too often on the Oline nobody seems to know who to block.  Last year Trubisky bailed out the Oline a lot.  This year he stays in the pocket and eats a sack.  Why is he afraid to get outside and make plays?  TEs...hello?   RBs?   When I see this many issues it's getting hard to go after the players, even if everyone likes to pile it all on Trubisky.  

 

Cohen looks like he lost a couple steps and he is a player who couldn't afford to lose anything.  He no longer looks like a joystick and his entire skillset relied on his super-human speed and ability to change directions / make guys miss. That skill is completely gone at this point.  This is just ugly.  We have a QB who looks like a robot who is trying to overanalyze every throw who is incapable of playing fast (some his fault some I think on the coaching staff) and a scheme that is completely broken.  Oh and zero running game...AT ALL.  

[madlithuanian]

51 minutes ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

Cohen looks like he lost a couple steps and he is a player who couldn't afford to lose anything.  He no longer looks like a joystick and his entire skillset relied on his super-human speed and ability to change directions / make guys miss. That skill is completely gone at this point.  This is just ugly.  We have a QB who looks like a robot who is trying to overanalyze every throw who is incapable of playing fast (some his fault some I think on the coaching staff) and a scheme that is completely broken.  Oh and zero running game...AT ALL.  

Man, what a difference 6 weeks makes.  Before the season started we pretty much all thought we'd be solid except at K....   Now K is about the only place we are solid!

[adam]

What about someone like Tyrod Taylor? He sort of got the raw deal in Buffalo and now sits behind Rivers in LA. To me, he sort of fits the RPO mold Nagy is looking for. He had a couple of good seasons with a bad Buffalo team a few years ago. I can't imagine the Chargers would be opposed to moving him with him only on a two-year deal (signed thru 2021). 

53 TD - 20 INT in his career, a couple of 3,000 Passing/500 Rushing seasons and he just turned 30. 

A couple of other names, AJ McCarron (HOU), and Cooper Rush (DAL). Both are a little bit older with way less production, but at this point all we need is a taller Chase Daniel.

[Bill]

Mitch reminds me of golf hackers like myself.  You go to the range and hit balls and you just crush them.  You go to the practice green and drain 20 footers.  You get to the first tee and you have a couple of foursomes watching you, half dozen people on the porch of the club house watching.  And what do you do.  You hit ground burner or slice it onto the 18th fairway.  You get on a green in two and think you have a chance for a birdie and at worse a par and then you three put the ten footer.