Chisoxfn

I go back to, I think at the very least they have found a very solid, cost controlled back up in Bagent and that is good. I don't know that he has the arm to be more than that, but lets see what can happen while Fields gets healthy. I still expect to go back to Fields, cause his physical tools are elite. But I'm a glass half full guy and I think Fields seeing this first hand can only help him develop and push and grow more as well. And in the meantime I will continue to hope and root that Bagent is more than just a backup and that he can be one of those guys that transcends things. Its happened. Brady and Brees, neither one of them were full of all of the physical tools - but their physical tools were good enough and they made up for it with pin-point accuracy (which is a physical tool) and an elite skill to read/react and get the ball out and make plays. I will also point out - the defense has been very fun to watch now for a few games in a row. This was largely against bad offenses though, so I'm somewhat curious to see what happens against Chargers. I expect a beatdown, but am hoping somehow they pleasantly surprise us.

It is back to - draft someone early and make them earn it and compete. But draft a high end qb prospect unless one of Fields and Bagent show you something special.

Tom Brady didn’t start his career having a great arm. And no I am not saying Bagent is going to be Tom Brady.

At the very least Bagent is a good back up. I think that for sure. To your point his arm strength may not allow him to be a starter.

Well track record of this front office drafting isn't good. Williams is NOT good and they have held onto him for far too long. Coby White is past regime - he has at least continued to improve and he is a decent rotational player. Ayo had one good year so that was good value out of that late of a pick. The front office gave everything else up but Talen looks terrible....we'll see how this year's pick works (not that they have much cause they gave up the farm for a slightly above average center).

I am such a big basketball fan - yet season hasn’t start and I could barely care about Bulls. They have had some bad teams of late but I am so apathetic. Makes me sad cause I feel that way for everyone but Bears and if Fields is out and Bagent ends up sucking than I will have basically that for Bears all season too. And Bears are only one of my 3 teams that give me any hope cause they at least have draft picks who can give me hope (even if it is false hope). Seripusly though - this team is worse in terms of my joy for them than the post Jordan years with Ron Mercer and Corey Benjamin and Jason Caffey. They aren’t like awful like that team but they are like that team cause the franchise has zero building blocks.

Its like Tom Brady. Tom Brady post 40 would be the greatest QB on the Bears by far - and no offense to Walter Payton, he would have also been the best offensive player in franchise history (just counting his stats from the moment he turned 40).

I'm a simple person. Do I want my team to win the championship - absolutely, but I enjoy baseball and look at it from a how much fun did I have in any given season. 10 seasons making the playoffs in 21 - means I had at least 10 really fun 162 game seasons. Playoffs weren't fun - but the team was fun for 162 out of 165 games every year. The playoffs, sure those stunk, but it doesn't take away from the fun regular season / entertainment value for that. Inverse is - Marlins win 2 world series and are largely irrelevant outside of that. The memories from those 2 world series championships for the fans I'm sure is fun - but there are also what 15 years of pure misery where your season was over by the time April was done. That is just miserable as a fan.

I agree completely.

That sounds pretty good to me. And I like the idea of resetting the clock and paying Higgins a ton, put him with Moore, Scott and draft another wideout (doesn't need to be Marvin Harrison). IF you want - take the stud TE to pair with Kmet. That is a ton of weapons and you CAN afford it because you have a QB on a rookie deal. Take another oline or edge spot, draft or sign a center in FA, spend money on a Dlinemen in FA and use a bunch of other picks. If this year's draft picks show growth, that is the beginnings of a much improved roster and you are putting your young QB in a good spot. And by the way - you can sit the young QB behind Fields for the season too - see if it turns into a Drew Brees / Phillip Rivers situation like San Diego had. If Fields kicks butt you franchise and trade him (or trade your young QB - I don't care).

This. And the Bears can absolutely afford to use one of their top picks on a QB while still using cap space and draft capital to make the rest of the parts better. They have DJ Moore and Kmet. They have some solid running backs and the oline while not good yesterday isn't the dumpster fire it was 2-3 years ago. Wright will continue to grow - lets see what Jones does, lets see if Jenkins can be healthy (when he is - he is a monster). Davis actually looked pretty good prior to getting hurt too. They need a center and potentially a LT (and that is potentially). Defensively - the secondary looks to be improving. Jackson is no good, but otherwise a lot of players flashing and growing. Pass rush needs help. A good QB gets this team better fast and resetting the clock while you continue to stockpile asset (key is drafting well) and this could get better really fast (it may not feel like it, but it could). Not saying next year fast - cause rookie QB's will struggle in year 1.

I don't really blame him. You don't need to say to the media - we benched him because he stunk or whatever. Everyone in the lockeroom knows and Whitehair knows.

I am really hoping this is a 2-4 week thing for Fields. That way he can sit on the sideline, absorb what he's learned, whats been working and not, and than come back for the final half of the season to hopefully build on the positives from the prior 2 weeks. If he misses the season - than things get interesting, cause now odds of 2 top 5 picks go through the roof. Albeit - outside of the weak arm, I saw a lot to like about Bagent. The problem is - that arm. Drew Brees made it work but that is 1 in a million.

The defense wasn’t bad. The offensive play calling was atrocious. Fields also held ball too long. Hopefully his injury is not serious. I presume given he was questionable to return that this was not a serious injury.

This is probably his worse game and he is still making plays. Dude is incredible. If Bears have #1 pick - they have to take him unless Fields is literally averaging 275+ and 3TD per game. Williams is ridiculous.

Well said.

I dig this.

Claypool is going to a very good situation though.

No way he stepped out. Why the heck did they never show the replay. There were some near misses with Moore and Mooney that could have been more. Still not a complete game though but man, this is progress Justin!!!

So I guess Pete King said he wouldn’t be surprised if Bears fired Flus following Thursdays game. So let’s just say this is the case - has a team ever hired an interim coach who wasn’t on the current coaching staff? Would McCaskey turn to Lovie and basically say - hey can you and Marinelli come in and do us a solid and bring leadership and steer us through this? It’s only thing I can think of - and probably totally absurd. In college it happens sometimes, during bowls, but Lovie and Marinelli know the defense and scheme and Lovie, despite his flaws, absolutely knows how to control a lockeroom.

The Bucs OC Canales is interesting. Very green - but spent 10 years with Pete Caroll with Seattle and was with him at USC. Was Geno Smiths QB coach last year and now we are seeing good things with Baker. Could also be a collosal disaster but if he learned a lot from Pete in terms of how to run the show and has good offensive mind it at least intrigues me.

In my entire life - this was the absolute least I have watched the Sox play.

It is interesting cause his defenses ranked very well in 2018, 2019, and 2020 despite minimal pressure. And they forced turnovers. If I recall there run defenses were phenomenal.

Poles is still being evaluated. Trading the #1 pick is probably one of the easier things he could decide as the GM. It was the right move in my mind - but getting value for that isn't the hard part - its how you actually use those assets going forward and do you actually get value out of them. Will he draft well, can he and his pro scouts help him find the right free agents, etc. The assessment on Poles is less W-L (don't get me wrong, those count) - but right now it is more about the individual W-L's. Did he make the right draft picks, are they progressing and developing, how did he do on the free agent front, etc. Those things are going on. Right now - the jury is clearly still out and if I said anything, my lean is a negative lean. His free agents haven't hit (not saying Edmunds or Edwards are busts - but they haven't HIT). Davis is a pass right now (that is an upgrade from where I had him throughout training camp, but he deserves that pass given what was going on). Nadakoue isn't very good - but I think everyone knew that and its a 1 year deal, so I don't lose much sleep on that. Walker has done absolutely nothing - so that seems like a miss (I don't see what he has done for 3yr 21M that Tevis Gibson couldn't have done). That may seem harsh - but Walker has literally done ZILCH. Now all of the above grades can clearly change - but free agent wise - NOT a good start. His trades - the Roquan Smith move was fine on paper. Respending that money on another off-ball linebacker, even though Edmunds is good, is probably a questionable allocation of resources (at best). Trading for Claypool - clearly a mistake, but I respect fact that they seem to be admitting that mistake quickly. Trading Mack was 100% the right thing to do - even did hurt the team in short run. On the draft - Wright, Braxton Jones, and Carter show promise. The two young DT's have really done nothing during the game's at this point (it's early though - so still a pass - but you need to see some flash out of them now that we are through 1st quarter of the season - especially post the long break coming after Washington game. In the secondary Brisker had a good rookie year, but has struggled in year 2. Stevenson and Smith have had some good and some bad - but got to hit. Gordon has been the same. But thus far - no one has emerged as a building block - Wright looks like the closest thing to that. Now its still early - especially for this most recent years draft - but that isn't exactly a good mark. Scott is TBD - but could emerge - he definitely has speed. Velus Jones also has speed, but clearly can't do much else. Hopefully Scott has more in him than Jones. If we finish the season and the above list looks the same - no one has really flashed and you haven't identified clear difference makers 2 years into this (hard assessment because there was so little to work with in terms of capital in year 1) - but that WOULD not be a very good start for Poles and in my mind would warrant Warren and McCaskey to have to make some hard choices. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are still 13 games left - I FULLY expect we should see growth in this year(s) draft class and there is LOTs of time for Brisker, Gordon, & Jones to get back to 100% and take strides forward you hope to see out of 2nd year players. Carter may also get a chance to show us something - in which case, getting what they got with as "bare" of a cupboard as Poles had in year 1 (no high end draft picks to work with, etc) - and I am saying there is enough there to warrant a longer term commitment to Poles.

There is almost zero scenario where I don't take Williams if the Bears have the #1 pick (whether there pick or the Panthers pick). He may bust - but he is a one in 5 year type of #1 overall pick. So unless Williams gets seriously hurt or forgets how to play football - he is the pick. On the other end - it would take Fields putting up stats like he did last week REGULARLY for me to maybe start to think twice.