In What Ways is this Team Better?

Alright, all. I know it's the doldrums of the offseason, and we all have a lot going on elsewhere in life. But, let's see if we can't get some Bears football talk going, in anticipation of the new season.

We all have been clamoring for change, many of us having tuned out from this past season. This was the least interested I think I've ever seen the fanbase, and with good reason (I'm absolutely included in that description). All of a sudden, we've got a new coaching staff, a potential young franchise QB, and a handful of new players. Personally, this is the most excited I've been in years, but as we've all learned, there's a deserved air of caution and tempered expectations that go with it.

So, with all that said, and with the majority of the offseason moves already made, let's look at where this team got better in the offseason, and what holes there are left to be concerned with...

QB: Trubisky has a full year under his belt. The Giraffe is gone. This is already a plus. Backup QB's Chase Daniel and Tyler Bray have experience both on the field and with Nagy / playbook. I'm still skeptical about Trubisky, but this entire staff and QB room is set up for him to succeed. It's gonna be a learning curve with this offense, but we should know whether or not he can be the guy shortly. Meanwhile, if he goes down, Chase Daniel is... serviceable?

RB: Howard, Cohen, and Cunningham are back for another year. I don't see any problems here. I think we can all anticipate that Nagy will make infinitely better use of them than Fox did, specifically with Cohen's abilities. I wonder whether FB Michael Burton will play a role this year, in the new O. Trying to hang onto the roster are rookie FB / bruiser candidate Ryan Nall out of Or St, and Taquan Mizzell, an undrafted FA last year who spent a season with Baltimore. Mizzell's skills as a receiver in college were well utilized, so he might find a fit with Nagy's offense, but it's likely he sees the practice squad or is released when league cuts are made.

TE: This position is the first that starts to look more significantly different than last year. Shaheen hasn't shown why he was a 2nd round pick yet, but we all anticipated him needing lots of development and an opportunity. Nagy was brought in to address the latter, for the offense. If he's done the former, he could be a dangerous receiving weapon. I'm still skeptical. Trey Burton goes from UDFA to massive contract, and should provide multiple skill sets and experience. Alongside Dion Sims, these three should provide plenty of personnel options for Nagy. Braunecker and Brown will try to hang on.

WR: Makeover time. The amount of bodies at this position currently on the roster is staggering, but it makes sense. Allen Robinson comes in as the new #1, but Meredith is out as the old one (should've been #2). Taylor Gabriel is next in line, though it's yet to see what role he'll play, with his diminutive stature and outrageous speed. We've seen these guys thrive in Nagy's offenses before. Anthony Miller, the rookie out of Memphis, looks impressive with serious RAC ability. Again, his role and proficiency are TBD, but he's got seriously quick feet and is tough to bring down.

How Josh Bellamy is still here is beyond me. Kevin White is here by virtue of the fact that they want to see if he can actually play football - none of us know, yet. Tanner Gentry (remember him?), DeMarcus Ayers, and rookies like Wims and Shaq Roland will try to add on, but this position still looks thin after the upgrade at the top of the roster.

OL: I like the looks of the rookie addition, James Daniels. Dude is only 20 years old. A hopefully healthy Kyle Long will join young stalwart Cody Whitehair to most likely make up the starting interior OL, in some combination (who plays C?). Massie and Leno Jr. make up an underwhelming Tackle pair. Backups are... uninspiring. Grasu is still sticking around, but it's open bets as to whether or not he makes it past cuts. Let's hope for health, or some generous cuts from other teams. Depth here projects to be a problem.

DL: Oh, boy! We get to see Hicks wreck shop again, this year! Along with a healthy Goldman, the line is off to a good start. The third spot gets weaker with some combination of Bullard, Robertson-Harris, and rookie Bilal Nichols. John Jenkins is another solid contributor. If the two former-most names can stay healthy and continue to succeed, that list of bodies will do the trick.

OLB: Uh oh, kids. This position is so thin you can see through it. Floyd mans one side and... former 49'er Lynch mans the other? Lynch played well with Fangio, but hasn't done much since. Hopefully a reunion gets this guy to perform at least as an average edge for us, because it'll be sorely needed. A bunch of bodies play backup along with Sam Acho, and notable rookie additions being Joel I (nickname time, everyone) and Kylie Fitts. Let's hope someone steps up and makes an unexpected impact. Could Kwiatkowsi see a role change here? He's good enough to be on the field, and might contribute locking down an edge...

ILB: A healthy Trevathan is a great start. Top draft pick Roquan Smith will compete with Kwiatkowski for the opposite spot, but you expect that Smith was drafted to make an early impact. We'll all miss seeing Freeman play (so much fun), but this duo is sincerely promising. Kwiatkowski and John Timu give confidence of depth, here. This was a position of strength during health issues, it would be nice if it stayed that way with the new rookie addition.

CB: This position didn't change much. Amukamara, Fuller, Le'Blanc, Callahan, Cooper, McManis... A handful of unheralded rookies get thrown into the mix - LSU grad Toliver has garnered mention in early camps. Deiondre Hall, anyone?

S: I've been critical of Adrian Amos, and I was skeptical of Eddie Jackson. So far, they look to be proving me wrong. I hope they're absolute stars, and we actually have good, reliable safeties for once. Houston-Carson and Deon Bush are backups. Anyone else?

Specialists: Parkey, O'Donnell, Scales. Consistency?


I've gotta run, at the end of a work day, but what positions do you think we got significantly better at?

Ultimately, I think the two major upgrades on this team aren't a highlighted position, here: Coaching, and youth. This is a team with a lot of promising youth that got another year under its belt. This is a team with a brand new, finally promising and exciting coaching staff (holdover at DC, which is a good thing). Can these alone be the major factors? Let's hear what you think, where you see the holes, and what you're excited to see this season.

 

For the last 3-4 years, for the first time in my adult life, I've chosen to miss Bears games that have aired locally. I dropped off the board myself for more than a year. My Lions friends are not very sympathetic... they've had to deal with this apathy for decades. I still can't stand Pace, and am a pessimist by nature, so I can't quite get myself too excited yet.

He's being groomed for slot WR.

http://www.espn.com/blog/chicago/be...thony-miller-be-next-alshon-jeffery-for-bears

Think Whitehair is staying at C, the coaching staff wants to maintain the relationship he already has developed with Mitch, and Daniels spent rookie minicamp at LG (not that that means a ton).

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...mes-daniels-lineman-biggs-20180513-story.html

There won't be a competition, the spot is Smith's, barring injury. And I am a bit excited to see this guy.

That's it, I'm out of steam already.. wish I had your energy, brother

 

I understand and share in all of that. First and foremost, as someone who has been talking football with you and others here for my entire adult life (it's been spread over a few websites and with numerous posters, but it's the truth), I always appreciate seeing people come around and share their thoughts. So while I'm also not going out buying new merchandise just yet, I am awfully glad we might all have a reason to come around here and do more than bitch (justified as it has been). Here's to us all being a little damn more optimistic, when given reason.

Awesome article. Thank you for sharing. This is one of those things that I rely a little more on everyone else for. I very much appreciate it.

Ditto from above. Awesome article. Really encouraging stuff, and I agree that he's got versatility. I'm eager to see how they use him, and even more eager to see him as a talented Bear for a long time to come.

The boss is out at work, and I've already got my head buried in some time off this weekend. It was less energy, and more just not wanting to fucking work. Cheers, bud. Here's to football starting back up, and our Bears being worth watching!

 

Trubisky growing and improving...along with better coaching on the offensive side...should automatically make them better.

Not addressing the CB position really at all bothers me. You're banking of Kyle Fuller reproducing what he did last year. I'm good with safety...but I think they should have paid more attention to the CBs.

Also not addressing offensive tackle was a mistake. I don't like Leno and Massie blows.

LB and DL is all about health. Can we finally stay healthy this season? If we don't...it's gonna suck.

 

While I don't disagree as I wanted an OT drafted high but the value just wasn't there. I would of thought at least they could draft a project but that wasn't the case either, and while I'm not optimistic about those tackles I'm not pessimistic either. I don't know what Hiestand sees in these two turds, but it's not his first rodeo either. While I'm NOT saying "In Hiestand I trust" but he has had success with his lines. Can he polish these turds? that remains to be seen, but if he didn't see something to work with and given his experience he could of easily pushed for something anything in the draft wouldn't he?

 

Well the addition by subtraction re the HC is impossible to ignore. Fox was one of the worst coaches in the league last year, ownership/Pace never took nearly the heat they deserved for hiring him in the first place. They could've replaced him with anyone outside a couple of guys(eg McDouchiels, Schwartz) and it would've still been a step up.

- Nagy may turn out to be a failure, but if he is it'll at least be from trying things that don't come off. There'll be innovation and there'll be much more courage in terms of Offensive approach. Fox was a classic coaching dinosaur whom the game had passed by. As well as a senile idiot who couldn't even master basic clock management, and a general pussy who never went for the win. He deserved every L he racked up in Chicago, give me the guy who'll at least front up to the situation and go for the win.


- Daniels was prob my fav pick in the draft. Now, im perplexed as to why the staff have come straight out and said he's gonna play G. Why not just put Daniels & Whitehair in the positions that got them drafted where they did? Its not like Whitehair did that great a job at C last year. It looks a little too cute for my liking but that said, im hoping talent is talent and on paper the interior OL looks very strong if Long can stay healthy.


- WR kinda speaks for itself. They were the worst group in the league last year. They're better now, they couldn't be anything else.


- ILB is now arguably a strength of the team along with RB. I thought Kwit was on a gradual upward path, but there's no denying the talent Smith brings. But i do have a major caveat here....

Smith and Trevathon are gonna be far less effective if they don't have quality cover in front of them from the DL. I thought Pace should've taken 5-tech way more seriously than he did this offseason. A hell of a lot is resting on both Hicks & Goldman not missing playing time next season. If just one of them does the other can be schemed around far more easily. That happens and your gonna see the run D suffer. With the weakness already there at pass rush things could go south easily.

But anyway this is a happy thread so lets just pretend i didn't say any of that.


- Trubisky needs to take a step forward. I'm still on board with him achieving that so i say the QB play will be better this year.


- And to end on a high note, Barf isn't on the team!! I don't even like Parkey much, but Barf isn't on the team!!!!!

 

Well this was all very interesting and enlightening right up to this point.

Who is Barf?

And where is Mongo?

 

All fair points...I just don't see Leno as a legit LT and I don't see Massie as a legit starter anywhere on the line.

In an offense that is likely to run a very healthy dose of RPO.....having good edge blocking is going to be paramount.

 

The Bears former kicker

BWW is Mongo just play along. Geez

 

You cant look at this roster and think its worse than last year. Theyre definitely a better team this season.

 

How much better they are lies on the arm and feet of Trubisky and....health.

It won't matter how improved they are if they can't stay healthy.

 

Trubs has to be better with the guys they added. If not we fucked up and wasted a pick on him. Youre right about the healthy part.

 

This is the best squad they have fielded since 2006 but its not as good. I think we can all agree they're getting closer.

 

Great name.

 

You’re just jealous.

 

And you're desperate to troll but really, really bad at actually doing it.

 

No just couldn’t resist, had to weigh the urge to do it, with the weight of the moronic response I would get from you. Obviously the moronic response lost in my reasoning.

 

Whatever you say bud.

Just keep following me around from thread to thread dropping mindless one liners. It’s working well so far.

 

It got your panties in a bunch. But one? You really think I have nothing better to do than follow you on the boards? I know when I get on your nerves because that is your canned response. Try canned heat next time.

 

I'm actually going commando today.

Yes, I really do.