The Beast

I see fans like these dominate the Facebook threads and hear them flood the Score incessantly. It’s definitely more than a few voices. I can get past the negativity, but I definitely think fans need to be more realistic with their expectations. Look at the Chiefs, even that squad failed this year and have an elite offense. One year going from mediocre to the super bowl isn’t plausible. I’ve been after meat balls for years trying to get them to actually think and stop with the lazy analysis they have. I understand McCaskey hasn’t had results, but you and I both know they won’t sell, despite people wanting them to. If they sell, it will be after they move to Arlington Heights and will be sold to a bidder that will help their family keep their wealth. I’m upset with mostly people who don’t consider more than just “McCaskey bad, therefore we b**** about everything the Bears do.” Or if a coach says something funny in a press conference that he’s Marc Trestman or something. Either way these same meatballs will still watch the Bears and follow them even if they b****. They’ll continue to be fans regardless. They weren’t going to go get Harbaugh and probably weren’t for the asking price he probably wanted. Given the lack of draft capital, Payton wasn’t realistic either. This class of coaches probably didn’t give them what they wanted. In terms of your last point, I am skeptical of the OC they hired, but the Bears hired a defensive coordinator who was one of their longest tenured head coaches in recent memory. He couldn’t figure out the offense, but I am hopeful that this OC will. I would also love to know what people’s expectations are of the offense. Top 5 or top 10? How about being in the top half of the league? That seems more realistic.

1. When have you ever heard anything specific from a football coach or GM in a press conference? Why would they give what they are going to do away? 2. Fans got what they wanted with the firings of Pace and Nagy. They can be negative all they want but they are such fucking babies. “We haven’t won anything since the Super Bowl!” “This guy said something funny in the press conference, he’s Trestman 2.0!” “The McCaskeys need to sell the team, they are too cheap and didn’t pony up to get Harbaugh or Payton!” “They hired Eberflus, more like Everloose hahahaha!” “George isn’t a talent evaluator, he’s a football fan. He’s admitted it himself. We need a new owner who doesn’t hire Ryan and Matt again hahaha!” I read all of these things and yet, they all still come back and watch and pay to support the team in some way. These fans can do whatever they want, but at least consider the possibility of these new hires and what could happen. I understand their perspective but they should consider their expectations. Next year could be a bad year and they need to consider that it might take a year to retool. Look at the Bengals. Did it take them one year to get to the super bowl after getting the quarterback in place? No, it took two. And several failed years before that. I guess I’m willing to see what these guys can do and the results they bring before they are written off completely.

I’ve seen a lot of negative reactions from fans over the press conference. To some people, they must have needed to hire someone like Payton or Harbaugh to meet their expectations. We have too many people in this town who have knee jerk reactions and just want to b**** about anything and everything Bears. Maybe take some hope in the fact that they cleaned house and brought in some new faces. It’s what people wanted, but I hope they also consider their expectations, given that they lack a first round pick, need many holes filled are going to have some new faces on the roster. If not, I hope they continue bitching and waste negative energy on something they wanted to happen, to see Nagy and Pace fired and replaced. Side note, aside from some cheesy things Coach Eberflus said at the press conference and some newness awkwardness from Poles, I saw nothing to be concerned with and instead found it to be refreshing. Can’t wait to see what happens with some hope for success.

I know what you meant. It’s very sad.

Lots of Score listeners (especially the clowns at Chicago Fanatics) hate Bernstein, but he’s actually one of my favorites. He’s got some good thoughts as it relates to baseball and analytics and I enjoy his Bears commentary. Rahimi was a welcome addition to the show, but Dan is definitely on his best behavior now. His best days were when he was with Terry though. I enjoyed John Mullin’s work when he was with the Tribune, but he’s shedding light on a tough disease. His podcasts are inspiring. Cancer sucks.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33175284/minnesota-vikings-request-permission-interview-jim-harbaugh-head-coaching-vacancy If the Vikings got Harbaugh, I wonder how pissed Bears fans would be.

Because a good offense always seems to be so difficult for the Bears to manage, it seems like they need a good OC. They need a good play caller but they need good pieces around Fields to complement him. In other news, Brady is retiring. Maybe Rodgers will head to Denver or Tampa Bay?

Speculation about Luke Getsy as OC

Zac Taylor. Apparently this guy is on the Bears radar. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Getsy

It’s a risk I am willing to see them take. Fans probably wanted Harbaugh or Payton after seeing Nagy go but they weren’t all that realistic. I would have preferred one candidate with experience as a GM or HC, but I like the upside that Poles was with multiple GMs in KC and Eberflus (or Eberloose, like some dumbass who called the Score to b****) is a teacher. He apparently gets a lot out of guys who are undrafted, like Fangio did. I would have liked hiring a football minded team president to oversee Poles, but I bet he wouldn’t have come to Chicago with them hiring someone to be his boss, especially since he can report to just McCaskey. If they bring in a veteran OC, I will feel better, but if it is a young passing game coordinator, I will be concerned because of the lack of their experience. I also want to reserve judgment until I see the rest of the coaching staff and front office staff. Right now I’d grade the moves a C+, with potential to move up or down depending on who is hired. That grade is going to fluctuate with results and in the end, none of us know if the experience gap will matter until this new regime ends with a Super Bowl or another house cleaning.

I hope not, I want someone in there with experience. Rod Marinelli spoke highly of Matt Eberflus with Parkins and Spiegel today in terms of being a teacher. In a coaching cycle with mostly first time head coaches being hired, I’m okay with him as coach given his experience. My opinion of the move depends on who his OC and his staff is though. Doug Pederson or Pep Hamilton would be who I’d like to see.

I wonder if it is possible that they hire the GM before the second round of interviews and then he joins Polian and the rest of the crew for those interviews.

From an audio journalism standpoint, you can’t go wrong with “The Daily.” For politics, I listen to “Hacks on Tap.” Sports wise, I like the Bernstein and Rahimi Show on 670 the Score. I haven’t found a consistent Sox podcast I liked, although Sox Machine was alright.

I think what would be helpful is knowing what a good metric is. Like I would consider a batting average of .265+ to be good, .280+ to be great, .300 to be awesome. I don’t necessarily understand what benchmarks would be for WAR, Whip, WRC+. Knowing those would be helpful. Old school eye test mixed with new school analytics can be very powerful.

I’m 33. I joined here when I was a freshman in high school after spending the previous few years at the whitesox.com message boards. I was here when there was Sox and Roll before podcasts were cool. I met some of the original posters here at games, one of them because of my dad’s connection in business. I also met a poster in high school too. I don’t have much to add with posting except for when there is an offseason and try to learn from people who know more about analytics or appear to have inside information. There are a ton of smart posters here.

Bears request permission to interview Bills OC Brian Daboll Bears have requested interviews with Browns VP of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and VP of player personnel Glenn Cook Bears request permission to interview Bills DC Leslie Frazier Bears request permission to interview former Eagles HC Doug Pederson

They gave 80% of what people wanted. If I heard the press conference correctly, the GM will report to McCaskey and I am not sure what influence Ted Phillips will have aside from being involved in the interview process. I wanted a football team president but if they hit the home run on the GM I don’t know if it matters. Thanks for looking at things objectively, particularly the checklist and looking at the Olin Kruetz “story” with more than just the $15 per hour to be an independent contractor for the team during camp. I think the press conference was a bit overblown. George said some dumb things like "I consider myself a fan and not a football guy," "I was embarrassed by Matt Nagy when he asked if Fields should be the starter" and could have done things differently with regards to the Olin Kruetz $15 per hour to be a football coaching intern, but Pace and Nagy are gone, the new GM will report to George and not Ted Phillips, Bill Polian is a good mind to consult with and there are lots of good names out there. As long as good decisions get made, they will be okay. They have to make tough decisions with limited resources. They might have to suck for a year which might be a problem for their head coach and GM. Phillips is also getting up there in age and might be more busy with the Arlington Heights purchase. I want them to interview any of the following for head coach: Jim Harbaugh, Eric Bienemy, Todd Bowles, Brian Daboll, Brian Flores, Greg Roman, Kellen Moore and Dan Quinn. I want them to interview any of the following for GM: Morocco Brown, Omar Khan, Scott Pioli, John Schneider, Louis Riddick, Joe Schoen, Rick Smith and Ryan Cowden. I’m not really am a fan of Leslie Frazier given his track record as the Vikings coach, but they have already requested interviews with him for HC and Brown for GM.

Okay, so they did fire Pace and Nagy rather than just going after the scapegoat. Now it makes sense to do what the Bulls did and bring in a football Artūras Karnišovas and bring in the GM and coach from there. Now we need to see what happens to Phillips and Desai (I predict he will be gone but may get an interview for his job).

For those who get the Chicago Tribune, read Brad Biggs’ ten thoughts column - the parts where he mentions the candidates for head coach and GM and what head coaches and GMs would ask during about during their interviews were interesting. https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/bears/ct-cb-chicago-bears-brad-biggs-10-thoughts-20220110-ikzhm3kjinbbnkkecec4hvcarq-story.html

Cool.

At least you give people a fair shake. Plenty of fans just find the first reason to fire a Bears coach and drum the beat louder when things get worse. I just thought of the possibility because it’s the Bears.

Compared to the other coaches the Bears have had since I started watching in 1998, Matt Nagy was one of my favorites next to Lovie Smith, which is because they were probably the most successful ones (which isn’t saying much). I like how his players respected him and didn’t quit. I like him as a person. I was intrigued by him with his first year’s offense and thought he had an interesting offense. I felt like if more players executed in specific games, his record would have been better as a coach. I think the Bears fan base has a quick knee jerk reaction when it comes to coaches and GMs. There are plenty of fans who just love to b**** and not think through solutions, they just turn up the volume of whatever is wrong and don’t think through any viable solutions. Many of them just diagnose Nagy as the problem when he’s just a scapegoat of the problem. They look at Mike Ditka and think he’s a god because he and the team he had won one super bowl in he mid-80s. He has “passion” and “fire” and they want to see that out of their coach, as if that actually does anything. Unfortunately for Nagy, players like Hicks, Jackson, Robinson and Graham fizzled out and became nothing. Sure, Nagy had a say in some personnel but I can think of winnable games that they could and probably should have had over the years, especially against the Vikings, Steelers, Ravens, Chargers and the infamous Eagles game where players didn’t perform and they lost. Nagy had his failures with the quarterbacks and the offense, but over the years, I have wondered what this fan base truly expects out of their offense. Some probably expect Drew Brees and the Saints or Peyton Manning, but the Bears have never had that. With the personnel Nagy had, I couldn’t see how they’d be that good. They should have been better than what they were though and I did get sick of all of the penalties (Akiem Hicks is the biggest culprit) and any down and long situations. And the losing streaks were bad too…as well as the fact that he had to give up play calling and they weren’t really in many big time games. If Nagy gets canned and Pace stays, I hope the fan base recognizes that firing the coach won’t fix everything. Pace hamstrung this team with some of the contracts doled out and the trading up in the draft over the years, which forced them to put out garbage in the secondary and force the rest of the defense to be perfect. And regardless of who is hired, I doubt we will see a turnaround next year or sustained success. That’s the cynical fan in me. I personally hope he gets another shot as OC and if Andy Reid loses Bienemy, that he becomes the OC and when Reid retires, he gets the head coaching job. I’d love to see what he would implement with Mahomes, even if I doubt it would happen. Regardless, I wish Nagy the best.

Add the media calling for his head too. More subtle than the fans, but there was consistent pressure applied from the media for him to go. I’d love to see the anger, even if it won’t happen. I hope Nagy gets an OC job next year or the year after and becomes a HC again.

Any takers on the scenario (however unlikely) that both stay one more year? Or are we all set on Nagy going and Pace staying or both of them getting canned?

Something I hope some of the Bears fan base gets through their thick heads.