1920 Football Drive

[BearFan PHX]

I'm sure most if not all of you have seen this.

Still there is a lot of good and sometimes subtle info here to my eyes. The good news is you get to see it yourself, and don't have to rely on anyone's opinion or second hand telling.

The first thing I'd note is that Williams looked nervous in his combine interview. He kept his hands in a praying position, which usually means someone really wants something, and he was comforting himself with his thumb and actually kissed his own hand too. All of this is body language evidence that he really wanted to be here.

His draft day exuberance also told that story.

You can hear our scouts way back before the combine talking about how everyone loved him, teammates etc. So the narrative that he was an odd duck and unloved by teammates was either a false lead planted by Washington who wanted him (or another team similar) or it could have just been the kind of rumors that fill a vacuum when there is no press agent putting out tidbits to consume.

But you can see the Bears were convicted that he was the guy we see him to be today as far back as before the combine.

If you watch from about 16:30, you can see the draft room, and I think a few things are noticeable.

Poles LOVES Cunningham and Warren. The body language is off the charts. But when he hugs Eberflus, they do it quickly and both look away - every time. Poles may well like Flus as his head coach, but I dont think he would be calling him if he and his wife had a bad fight the way I think he would with Cunningham and Warren.

At one point Cunningham says to Poles something like "can you believe it, we got our top 2 players" so they clearly had Rome above anyone else other than Williams. That's great news. It's not spin later in a press conference it's a real comment almost whispered in the heat of the moment.

I think this is really great stuff. And I personally wonder if Waldron isn't getting an audition to become our head coach at some point.

https://www.chicagobears.com/video/behind-bears-path-to-nfl-draft-1920-football-drive
 

[ASHKUM BEAR]

15 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

I'm sure most if not all of you have seen this.

Still there is a lot of good and sometimes subtle info here to my eyes. The good news is you get to see it yourself, and don't have to rely on anyone's opinion or second hand telling.

The first thing I'd note is that Williams looked nervous in his combine interview. He kept his hands in a praying position, which usually means someone really wants something, and he was comforting himself with his thumb and actually kissed his own hand too. All of this is body language evidence that he really wanted to be here.

His draft day exuberance also told that story.

You can hear our scouts way back before the combine talking about how everyone loved him, teammates etc. So the narrative that he was an odd duck and unloved by teammates was either a false lead planted by Washington who wanted him (or another team similar) or it could have just been the kind of rumors that fill a vacuum when there is no press agent putting out tidbits to consume.

But you can see the Bears were convicted that he was the guy we see him to be today as far back as before the combine.

If you watch from about 16:30, you can see the draft room, and I think a few things are noticeable.

Poles LOVES Cunningham and Warren. The body language is off the charts. But when he hugs Eberflus, they do it quickly and both look away - every time. Poles may well like Flus as his head coach, but I dont think he would be calling him if he and his wife had a bad fight the way I think he would with Cunningham and Warren.

At one point Cunningham says to Poles something like "can you believe it, we got our top 2 players" so they clearly had Rome above anyone else other than Williams. That's great news. It's not spin later in a press conference it's a real comment almost whispered in the heat of the moment.

I think this is really great stuff. And I personally wonder if Waldron isn't getting an audition to become our head coach at some point.

https://www.chicagobears.com/video/behind-bears-path-to-nfl-draft-1920-football-drive
 

I watched it and love the chemistry of Poles and Cunningham.  Hope they stick together because Cunningham sure seems to be the rock to keep Poles grounded.   

As for Waldron, you might need to dig deeper on him from Seattle's viewpoint.  They seem happy he is gone and really like his replacement, Ryan Grubb, who is more demandi.  Waldron should be an upgrade for us and won't be restricted by Carrol any longer, so he needs to first prove he can produce with an offense that looks loaded on paper. 

[adam]

42 minutes ago, BearFan PHX said:

I'm sure most if not all of you have seen this.

Still there is a lot of good and sometimes subtle info here to my eyes. The good news is you get to see it yourself, and don't have to rely on anyone's opinion or second hand telling.

The first thing I'd note is that Williams looked nervous in his combine interview. He kept his hands in a praying position, which usually means someone really wants something, and he was comforting himself with his thumb and actually kissed his own hand too. All of this is body language evidence that he really wanted to be here.

His draft day exuberance also told that story.

You can hear our scouts way back before the combine talking about how everyone loved him, teammates etc. So the narrative that he was an odd duck and unloved by teammates was either a false lead planted by Washington who wanted him (or another team similar) or it could have just been the kind of rumors that fill a vacuum when there is no press agent putting out tidbits to consume.

But you can see the Bears were convicted that he was the guy we see him to be today as far back as before the combine.

If you watch from about 16:30, you can see the draft room, and I think a few things are noticeable.

Poles LOVES Cunningham and Warren. The body language is off the charts. But when he hugs Eberflus, they do it quickly and both look away - every time. Poles may well like Flus as his head coach, but I dont think he would be calling him if he and his wife had a bad fight the way I think he would with Cunningham and Warren.

At one point Cunningham says to Poles something like "can you believe it, we got our top 2 players" so they clearly had Rome above anyone else other than Williams. That's great news. It's not spin later in a press conference it's a real comment almost whispered in the heat of the moment.

I think this is really great stuff. And I personally wonder if Waldron isn't getting an audition to become our head coach at some point.

https://www.chicagobears.com/video/behind-bears-path-to-nfl-draft-1920-football-drive
 

I agree with most of that, but I don't know about the hug thing. To me it just looked like they were trying to get down the line with Flus knowing Warren, who he just hugged, was right behind him. Unless there were more hugs lol, I only saw the one after Williams was selected.

[BearFan PHX]

15 minutes ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

I watched it and love the chemistry of Poles and Cunningham.  Hope they stick together because Cunningham sure seems to be the rock to keep Poles grounded.   

As for Waldron, you might need to dig deeper on him from Seattle's viewpoint.  They seem happy he is gone and really like his replacement, Ryan Grubb, who is more demandi.  Waldron should be an upgrade for us and won't be restricted by Carrol any longer, so he needs to first prove he can produce with an offense that looks loaded on paper. 

Thats totally fair. He will have to make Williams into something special first, that's why i called it an audition, but i agree with everything you've just said too.

 

7 minutes ago, adam said:

I agree with most of that, but I don't know about the hug thing. To me it just looked like they were trying to get down the line with Flus knowing Warren, who he just hugged, was right behind him. Unless there were more hugs lol, I only saw the one after Williams was selected.

There were a few hugs, and one at Williams pro day that looked like that too. In all the clips Flus just seems ill at ease, but maybe thats just social stuff and he's dynamite ont he field or when the subject turns to pure football.

Im just saying I dont think Poles and Flus are ride or die, but they obviously have a good working relationship, and maybe that's enough. Flus surely has enough around him to make this all work even if he is mediocre, so as long as the formula is working, he's probably got a job.

[Mongo3451]

You can't tell anything by watching hugs. Flus may not be that warm huggy type.  I'm Italian, we hug everyone.  I could literally hug someone and think of them dead. (And they would never know)  Other cultures act differently.  I remember us discussing Poles hugging Fields.  It ended up being business as usual.  Pro football is nothing but, "what have you done lately"?  And that's regardless of friendship and loyalty.  They all understand it. 

 

[BearFan PHX]

14 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

You can't tell anything by watching hugs. Flus may not be that warm huggy type.  I'm Italian, we hug everyone.  I could literally hug someone and think of them dead. (And they would never know)  Other cultures act differently.  I remember us discussing Poles hugging Fields.  It ended up being business as usual.  Pro football is nothing but, "what have you done lately"?  And that's regardless of friendship and loyalty.  They all understand it. 

 

Yes, I said back then that either Poles is a cold blooded GM, or he might have trouble judging that we need to move on from Fields. I always said that *IF* he kept him, Id think he wanted to be liked by the players. Now we know Poles is all business as you say. I never said I knew it was a problem, i only ever said IF he didnt move off of Fields Id wonder if it was a problem. And cool, Poles is good. I think we all think even better of Poles now too as he has made more excellent moves. I used to like him, now i really like him.

As for the hugs, I do think the enthusiasm is more with Cunningham and Warren. I also see a lot of times Flus is standing shifting his weight uncomfortably. He just feels awkward to me.

But like i said, there is enough around Flus to win, and if we win a lot, Flus will be the head coach who gets the credit, which is fine with me. I just think we miss an opportunity to bring in someone who can add an edge in winning, but the full script isnt written yet for sure.

 

[ASHKUM BEAR]

5 hours ago, BearFan PHX said:

But like i said, there is enough around Flus to win, and if we win a lot, Flus will be the head coach who gets the credit, which is fine with me. I just think we miss an opportunity to bring in someone who can add an edge in winning, but the full script isnt written yet for sure.

 

I think Flus can succeed because the offense should put up points while him calling the D will dominate.  His downfall would be due to injuries imo. 

[BearFan PHX]

9 minutes ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

I think Flus can succeed because the offense should put up points while him calling the D will dominate.  His downfall would be due to injuries imo. 

I agree. i think the downside is that with a medicore coach and so much around him, that he can win, even superbowls, but we lose the opportunity to have a head coach who adds an edge in winning.

I also prefer an offensive minded head coach so that your QB isnt having to work with new offenses every couple years if they are successful and coordinators move on.

But here we are, and the roster and all the other coaches are stacked full of talent. So if that means we win super bowls and Flus gets coach of the year and all the credit, I can live with that LOL Just remember Nagy won it too.

[Pixote]

3 hours ago, BearFan PHX said:

I agree. i think the downside is that with a medicore coach and so much around him, that he can win, even superbowls, but we lose the opportunity to have a head coach who adds an edge in winning.

I respectfully disagree; I do not perceive Flus as a mediocre coach.

This is just my personal viewpoint, and I value your differing opinions.

 

[Daventry]

Great observations, I still hold out hope for Flus being a good coach.  It is thrilling to follow a team with grownups in charge who actually know what they are doing.  I think I might get a Poles jersey if I could, lol.  I have bought a Firestick and am going to purchase Gamepass for the first time since being in the UK for 20 years.  Exciting times 

[BearFan PHX]

6 hours ago, Pixote said:

I respectfully disagree; I do not perceive Flus as a mediocre coach.

This is just my personal viewpoint, and I value your differing opinions.

 

well the decision is already made, and Flus is our guy. So of course we all want him to be successful.

It's just that he blew 3 games last year by being too conservative too early on defense. That's a lot and would get most coaches fired? Maybe with the extra talent on the defensive roster, he will be less likely to go into prevent so early. I hope so. I also hope he learns on the job.

I also can understand why Poles might not want to fire the head coach AND move on from Fields in the same year. That makes sense too.

Time will tell us all of course.

[Mongo3451]

3 hours ago, BearFan PHX said:

It's just that he blew 3 games last year by being too conservative too early on defense. That's a lot and would get most coaches fired? Maybe with the extra talent on the defensive roster, he will be less likely to go into prevent so early. I hope so. I also hope he learns on the job.

One of the three games (Cleveland) he was too ballsy and got burnt by that big Njokue play.  He vacated a zone thinking the blitz would get home.  So, he did learn and adapt.  It just failed.

[BearFan PHX]

43 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

One of the three games (Cleveland) he was too ballsy and got burnt by that big Njokue play.  He vacated a zone thinking the blitz would get home.  So, he did learn and adapt.  It just failed.

good point. He also went for it at times he shouldnt have, and has made clock management errors too. But the biggest indictment I have about Flus isnt anything he does, but what he doesnt bring to the table. I see him as a good manager. Hes probably very organized and gets all the meetings to happen at the right times, etc etc but at the core of it, I dont believe he brings anything special that gives us any kind of advantage over other coaches in the league. And I know thats hard to find, just like in a QB - it's a big part of winning and theres only a few guys who can really do it.

BUt also just like QB, if the guy you have isnt killing it, you try again.

Anyway, the decision has been made, and i dont expect him to do anything obvious and stupid enough to get fired, and we have a lot of pieces and can win with him.

It's just we will never know or see evidence of what a special coach could have added to the mix.

[Stinger226]

The only thing that matters to everyone is winning and he will be expected to win this year. Campbell is admired for being a good coach and he screwed up several times in the playoffs. The most important thing for me is ( will the players run threw a wall for Flus) so far so good. With all that losing he keep the team together. When he took over the defense, the defense got better. We went from worst rushing D team to best rushing D in one year. Players improved and then he got a pass rusher, it started to be a dominate team. If you want to compare him to Reid or Shanahan, he loses but he still has time to win people over.

 

[BearFan PHX]

I was just watching an epidsoe of 1920 Football Drive from last year, and I remembered this chart that got caught on camera.

I remember we all talked about it, and myself included. It looks so different now a year later.

The three Bears top "A Score" (athletic score) were Justin Fields, Chase Claypool and Velus Jones Jr.

Two are gone and one is competing for WR5.

You always need to draft football players, not athletes. Thankfully, Poles seems to get that right a lot, so maybe this A score isnt the most important component of their decision making.

Anyway, I laughed when I saw it, and thought you guys might too.

 

[adam]

Two of the funniest things in this regime is the "T" in HITS as "The Ball" instead of turnovers or takeaways, and this A-Score. 

[BearFan PHX]

1 hour ago, adam said:

Two of the funniest things in this regime is the "T" in HITS as "The Ball" instead of turnovers or takeaways, and this A-Score. 

lol

[lemonej]

The behind the scenes look at the Bears war room was very cool to see and the comments Poles was making on the second day of the draft about " The Punter" and going back in to get Booker was very good to see because it looked as though he executed his draft plan on both days.