2021 NFL Season Thread

[ShoeLessRob]

1 hour ago, StrangeSox said:

whyyyyyyyyyy are the bears narrowing down HC candidates before signing a GM

If it didn’t work in the past, it for sure will work this time around!

[Harry Chappas]

NFL overtime should be the same as college but you start at your own 25. 

How there is was no squib kick is just bad football management.

The Bears hiring process seems to be going as how most pessimists would have thought - f'd up- the HC listing is down to three candidates.  The HC candidate listing should be fluid until the GM is hired.

The Bears continue to be a shitshow of epic proportion.

How could you watch the Bills/KC game and think the Bills DC is the answer....oh right he was a Bear.  4 of the 5 people on the "search" committee have zero experience (Campbell and the internal VP) or proven ability (Ted and George) to be in the room to make the decisions yet there they are. 

 

[bmags]

1 hour ago, StrangeSox said:

whyyyyyyyyyy are the bears narrowing down HC candidates before signing a GM

The only coach second interview was with Eberflus and it was a response to Jacksonville. Breer last week goes from "Leagues circles saying Frazier is Bears guy!" to then Eberflus being the only second interview to then "League circles saying Caldwell is rejecting offers from LV and calling staff for Bears job!" to then getting a rejection of that from Caldwell, and now he's saying all three of those guys are the finalists. 

His columns are fun when he gets access (a la King)...but he clearly doesn't have access right now and there are no shortage of people willing to pontificate stupid things the bears will do.

But if you just look at the process they are going through - nothing indicates they have a short list for coaches.

[Chisoxfn]

Today is the big day at Halas Hall with Khan and Brown both interviewing. In my opinion the two heavy favorites for the job knowing that Rick Smith evidently didn't interview/maybe wasn't ready yet in reality to get back into the game.  My gut is this might actually be the 2nd round and we don't even know. A lot of secrecy / mixed reports had been out there on this due (had they already interviewed or not).  

Clearly Ryan Poles is the other name on the short list of names. In terms of the reports on coaching favorites - if there is any truth to them it is crazy - cause it is the GM job, but right now I think as we saw with the Pace stuff - outside of DaBearsBlog - almost no one has been very accurate reporting the Bears. And the blog hasn't been perfect - just better than most.

DaBearsBlog did post that Frazier is not a finalist. Again - I don't want him as a finalist either - but the whole there are finalist when no GM has been hired is crazy anyway.  However, it could be more of Polian's view of the better candidates - which would be fair - but still - GM has to get its person if they are going with this power structure.

I did read something that Polian was the man who consoled Bills ownership into the front office / HC they hired and put into place, so maybe that is a good sign.  

[Dick Allen]

4 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

Today is the big day at Halas Hall with Khan and Brown both interviewing. In my opinion the two heavy favorites for the job knowing that Rick Smith evidently didn't interview/maybe wasn't ready yet in reality to get back into the game.  My gut is this might actually be the 2nd round and we don't even know. A lot of secrecy / mixed reports had been out there on this due (had they already interviewed or not).  

Clearly Ryan Poles is the other name on the short list of names. In terms of the reports on coaching favorites - if there is any truth to them it is crazy - cause it is the GM job, but right now I think as we saw with the Pace stuff - outside of DaBearsBlog - almost no one has been very accurate reporting the Bears. And the blog hasn't been perfect - just better than most.

DaBearsBlog did post that Frazier is not a finalist. Again - I don't want him as a finalist either - but the whole there are finalist when no GM has been hired is crazy anyway.  However, it could be more of Polian's view of the better candidates - which would be fair - but still - GM has to get its person if they are going with this power structure.

I did read something that Polian was the man who consoled Bills ownership into the front office / HC they hired and put into place, so maybe that is a good sign.  

Watching the Bills offense, I was dreaming of Fields being used the same way.

[Chisoxfn]

While Frazier is on the outs - I do think there is a decent shot Caldwell is the next head coach; I buy the fact that Caldwell / Eberus are coming highly recommended from Polian and others.  The one thing I will say about Caldwell - to do what he did in 4 seasons with the Lions - is pretty impressive. I don't get excited about Caldwell being a home run hire, but 36-28 record with the Lions is pretty impressive. Highest winning percentage of a Lions coach since the 1950's.  Overall record of 62-50.  

It isn't the move I would make - but I also don't think it is a disaster hire. 

[Chisoxfn]

1 minute ago, Dick Allen said:

Watching the Bills offense, I was dreaming of Fields being used the same way.

I really think Fields upside/comp has to be Josh Allen. I'm not saying they are the exact same player, but there are a ton of similarities in the physical tools, etc.  I don't typically over-react and my views aren't just because they had 2 great playoff games, but seeing how Daboll built this entire unit around him, etc - I just felt like it was a no brainer to go aggressive at him (and I was in the camp of - if he worked great with the Bills Asst GM - just let that duo do its thing; I've seen far worse get done).

I do think Daboll will go to Giants - but I still wonder if there lack of a QB (and a weak draft) somehow gets him to swing to having a bit more interest in Chicago.  That is my hope.  With that in mind - if the Bears could somehow get a Khan or Brown or Poles and pair them with Daboll - that is as happy as I can get at this point (I will probably be wrong - but whatever).  

Note: I still would rip it all up and give Harbaugh a big deal

[Chicago White Sox]

3 hours ago, bmags said:

Listen, I know this will seem like wishful thinking, but Breer has been all over the place on the bears for a week. 
 

Everyday there is a new freak out. 

No you’re probably right, just never fun seeing tweets like this from guys with connections. I’m far from panicking, but the thought of Frazier is even more horrific after last night’s 13 second albatross.

[bmags]

Just now, Chisoxfn said:

I really think Fields upside/comp has to be Josh Allen. I'm not saying they are the exact same player, but there are a ton of similarities in the physical tools, etc.  I don't typically over-react and my views aren't just because they had 2 great playoff games, but seeing how Daboll built this entire unit around him, etc - I just felt like it was a no brainer to go aggressive at him (and I was in the camp of - if he worked great with the Bills Asst GM - just let that duo do its thing; I've seen far worse get done).

I do think Daboll will go to Giants - but I still wonder if there lack of a QB (and a weak draft) somehow gets him to swing to having a bit more interest in Chicago.  That is my hope.  With that in mind - if the Bears could somehow get a Khan or Brown or Poles and pair them with Daboll - that is as happy as I can get at this point (I will probably be wrong - but whatever).  

Note: I still would rip it all up and give Harbaugh a big deal

I'm still not sure. Fields is physically built yet doesn't play delivering near the punishment Allen does (or Newton), nor does he avoid contact naturally like Jackson does.

BUT, I do think the Arians or Roman or Daboll offense is way better for fields than the west coast scheme of Nagy, at least initially. He wants the big play. A lot of Daboll's passes are essentially runs. I think he'd be great in an offense like Cleveland's as well.

I both agree that league trends and success point to the idea that an offensive coach is more likely to be successful than a defensive guy. But it also has felt like the offense has been extremely picked over recently. I like Daboll a lot because he had so many stops. I think Shanahan was likely helped immensely by his stop in Cleveland, and then ATL. 

But you look at someone like Zac Taylor and he had like 5 games of bad offensive playcalling and he's been good! 

Who knows. I like what I read about Eberflus and Patrick Graham. I don't think they are "we run the ball and play defense" coaches. But you never know what these coaches will be like. Same  with GMs.

[bmags]

re: Daboll

 

[Chisoxfn]

My dream is that the Bears announced Khan as the VP - and Brown or Poles as the GM. I know a .1% chance of happening - but boy would that excite me.  

[pcq]

21 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

I really think Fields upside/comp has to be Josh Allen. I'm not saying they are the exact same player, but there are a ton of similarities in the physical tools, etc.  I don't typically over-react and my views aren't just because they had 2 great playoff games, but seeing how Daboll built this entire unit around him, etc - I just felt like it was a no brainer to go aggressive at him (and I was in the camp of - if he worked great with the Bills Asst GM - just let that duo do its thing; I've seen far worse get done).

I do think Daboll will go to Giants - but I still wonder if there lack of a QB (and a weak draft) somehow gets him to swing to having a bit more interest in Chicago.  That is my hope.  With that in mind - if the Bears could somehow get a Khan or Brown or Poles and pair them with Daboll - that is as happy as I can get at this point (I will probably be wrong - but whatever).  

Note: I still would rip it all up and give Harbaugh a big deal

For whatever it's worth half of Bills' fans want Daboll gone but they just put up two pretty awesome offensive games. The first-half game plan was not good yesterday.

[bmags]

15 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

My dream is that the Bears announced Khan as the VP - and Brown or Poles as the GM. I know a .1% chance of happening - but boy would that excite me.  

The real dream should be Khan as President of football operations and Joe Hortiz as GM.

[Chisoxfn]

5 minutes ago, pcq said:

For whatever it's worth half of Bills' fans want Daboll gone but they just put up two pretty awesome offensive games. The first-half game plan was not good yesterday.

Is that old? I know mid way into the year they had some of those view points. I even said - my only interest in Daboll would be if he could actually show he could adjust to the league adjusting to him.  Than the 2nd half (or really like final 1/4 of the season), the offense made adjustments and was on fire. That was before the post-season...after they adjusted and showed it and ended up with yet another year of a top 5 unit (under the guy who literally built the offense) - I had saw enough to say - take a swing on this person (unless he has Trestman like leadership qualities).  If you miss - I'm fine missing cause it seems like you might be getting someone who is real special from an X's and O's perspective at a critical position and for someone who helped lead one of the bigger QB turnaround we have seen in a while (Allen going from highly inaccurate to accurate). 

[Chisoxfn]

1 minute ago, bmags said:

The real dream should be Khan as President of football operations and Joe Hortiz as GM.

Followed by Harbaugh as HC haha. But yeah - I am good with that duo too - hiring 2 big names from 2 extremely well ran franchises. 

[bmags]

Aaron Leming's twitter is good for aggregating the helpful tweets

 

[The Grinder]

Great playoff games to date Ive adopted Buffalo as my team this yr, bad choice

I'll predict an LA and KC Super Bowl

[CentralChamps21]

Here's an interesting question: With 13 seconds left and 75 yards away, shouldn't the defense just commit defensive holding on every eligible receiver? It's a 5 yard penalty. Repeat until the clock is down below 5 seconds and then play it straight.

[Kyyle23]

18 minutes ago, The Grinder said:

Great playoff games to date Ive adopted Buffalo as my team this yr, bad choice

I'll predict an LA and KC Super Bowl

Bengals and 49ers it is

[Dick Allen]

56 minutes ago, pcq said:

For whatever it's worth half of Bills' fans want Daboll gone but they just put up two pretty awesome offensive games. The first-half game plan was not good yesterday.

Still, the offense is something you don't see. The Bears, to maximize Fields, have to use his running ability. He can't be as physical as Allen, but he is faster and can make more miss. It was lunacy the way Nagy was using him. 

[bmags]

18 minutes ago, CentralChamps21 said:

Here's an interesting question: With 13 seconds left and 75 yards away, shouldn't the defense just commit defensive holding on every eligible receiver? It's a 5 yard penalty. Repeat until the clock is down below 5 seconds and then play it straight.

I think the danger would be someone like Kelce could still release out of it, likely make a big gain (got past initial defense) or worse, and you still would have a stopped clock.

[bmags]

One thing I'll be watching is if Bears can grab back Pep Hamilton as QB coach now that Culley is gone with whomever takes over. He has done some incredibly strong work recently in that role with Herbert and Davis Mills.

[Jack Parkman]

3 hours ago, Harry Chappas said:

NFL overtime should be the same as college but you start at your own 25. 

How there is was no squib kick is just bad football management.

The Bears hiring process seems to be going as how most pessimists would have thought - f'd up- the HC listing is down to three candidates.  The HC candidate listing should be fluid until the GM is hired.

The Bears continue to be a shitshow of epic proportion.

How could you watch the Bills/KC game and think the Bills DC is the answer....oh right he was a Bear.  4 of the 5 people on the "search" committee have zero experience (Campbell and the internal VP) or proven ability (Ted and George) to be in the room to make the decisions yet there they are. 

 

Counter argument to squib kick: Bears/Falcons, 2008. The Bears scored to go up by one point with 19 seconds left in the game. Falcons got the ball with 11 seconds left, threw one play for 25 yds,  kick field goal and win. 

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. 

Edited January 24, 2022 by Jack Parkman

[The Grinder]

45 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

Bengals and 49ers it is

Yep bet on it!

?

[Dick Allen]

3 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

Counter argument to squib kick: Bears/Falcons, 2008. The Bears scored to go up by one point with 19 seconds left in the game. Falcons got the ball with 11 seconds left, threw one play for 25 yds,  kick field goal and win. 

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. 

Even if they got an extra 10 yards, it would have been well worth the 4 or 5 or 6 seconds on the clock. They would have had 1 play and a Hail Mary in all lilelyhood.