Tuesday Morning Thoughts - Time to tank

You're allowed to draft a QB in the 2nd round or 3rd round in 2021 then dip into the 1st in 2022 if you have to. Brock Purdy and Kyle Trask are perfect candidates for 2nd or 3rd round. Maybe even Lance, given his one showcase game this year he sucked in.

If you draft a QB in the 1st, great chance he'll start the season sitting. And with a team lacking impact starters and cohesion on offense, I don't know how benching a QB then maybe getting one of the OLinemen scraps in the 2nd (tons of teams need OL and have multiple picks before the bears' 2nd rounder) or even 3rd round helps you.

Short of injury, most every tackle listed except for the injured Stanford kid can be a day 1 starter. I don't have a lot of confidence what's left of 8 tackles and 5 interior OL will be there when bears pick late 40s/early 50s. It would however--be a bears thing to do. Ignore the OL once again.

Agree to disagree, but I'd rather formulate a unit with some pieces in place like the OLine before throwing a 1st round QB in there. Right now, you don't have a right guard and you have 2 garbage tackles. Doesn't matter who you put back there to throw passes when the best thing your turnstile OTs can do is scrape what's left of him off the field after he gets flattened.

 

You're not wrong. I lack patience. I've waited too long for this QB shit to be sorted out. Another year of a placeholder, delaying any hope till at least 2022, that will be tough.

Of course there's the dream scenario that some how we magically create a shit ton of cap space and then convince Dak that Chicago is a great situation.

 

Agree, and I too lack patience with QB. However, when I look at Erin Rodgers. Mahomes. Brady, Peyton Manning, and Russell Wilson, the successful/top QBs. I see team who take them, pair them with a coach (sometimes together year 1, not always), and a stable structure for an offense. You bring up Jordan Love. He was La Fleur's 2020 1st rounder after giving Erin a huge payday. Not his 2019.

Then I see Mitch Trubisky, see that he was paired with Fox and Frodo--who probably got the best out of him, then move him to Nagy where he can't fucking understand the offense. I see Andrew Luck, limitless talent but constantly on his ass because they couldn't protect him. I see Matt Stafford, bouncing through numerous coaches, also on his ass a lot of the time--just didn't puncture whatever organ Luck did.

Do it right. Put the kid in a position to succeed. The individual talent like having a cannon for an arm is secondary. Plugging the best talent in the worst situation is a recipe for a 1 way ticket to IR and further QB futility and its the same half-assed approach the bears have taken. Taking a QB in the 1st round next year isn't doing that when you lug out one of Leno/Massie and a 2nd/3rd round OT to protect him, ARob likely gone, and another likely bargain buy at RG because of a tight cap.

Get back to basics. Resurrect a run game with two top OL draft picks, and find a damn running back somewhere. Tons of undrafted and drafted guys can play. You're stuck with Foles (unless you find a way to lose a couple of big money contracts) and roll with Trask/Purdy. They may suck, because lots of teams pick wrong when drafting QBs, which sets you up for your 1st rounder of 2022 to be in a better spot because unlike now, you'll have a run game.

 

Or do what Arizona did...in lieu of fixing your oline...find a QB that doesn't need one.

 

We all know what needs to be done but won’t happen. Bears need to replace sweaty Teddy with a legit President of football operations. At the very least bring in better help to assist in the hiring of a new GM.

Pace and Nagy are to be let go. None of this let the new GM choose Nagy’s fate. Once a new GM is hired let him hire the new coach free from any upper management involvement.

 

Loads of great thoughts guys, but you've gotten ahead of me. Im gonna have to get last night off my chest first. Feel free to skip but at this stage this shit is fucking therapy for me heh.

* From what i could tell Lazor is no more than a mini-Nagy. Some silly gimmickry, some bad situational play calls. Obviously the personnel arent helping anyone but come on. 1st fucking play of the game you go bubble screen to the smallest WR on the team, with a lead blocker who's the second smallest guy on the team. And of course it gets blown right up. I mean no shit!

You could write pages about playcalling fails and philosophical breakdowns re this Offense. And that might not even be the worst part! How about personnel?!


* I said last week under no circumstance can you play Coward at RT again, and of course, they start him at RT again. And he was a disaster again. I place that 0% on Coward and 100% on Nagy and the coaches. Coward is being set up to fail, he is not a T. Nagy is sending him into a knife fight armed with a cue tip and then telling us after the game he needs to look at the tape. Fuck you coach!

The split-levels of accountability on this team is hilarious. Harris muffs one punt and they bench his ass. Miller sucks ass every other week and nothing. Leno stinks up the joint for two years and nothing. But hey, easier to bench a guy whos just joined the team after being out of the league right coach?


* Cordarelle Patterson had more than double the touches of any other play on the Offense!! HOW?!!! Kmet had 1 catch and it came on a scramble drill. Mooney had 2 targets, 2 catches for 3yards. These guys dont even know who their play makers are!


* Im gonna say this one more time then try not to say it again the rest of the season. It blows my mind that Pace and Nagy thought they could roll this season with the same OL + 1 minor addition at RG. And a below average RT who was let go at that. After the train wreck that O-Line was in 2019. Just blows my mind.


* 149yards of Offense against the 29th D in the league, thats what they did.


* I had the pick on Foles more than Miller personally. I know Miller got hands on it so im not saying he's blameless, but that was a perfect pocket for once and you have throw a strike. It was high and behind him and thats just not good enough.


* That said, the little Tyler Bray cameo showed why i have no desire to see Tyler Bray. I know its tough being thrown in cold at the end of the game, but can you at least get the ball within 5yards of the receiver??


* The Defense once again did well overall. Less than 20points, 2 TOs and they did a real good job against Cook who came in red hot and ran hard the entire game. The front 7 in particular did a great job against the run. But the pass rush was really poor. Pagano is so passive its crazy. It makes me wonder why cos he had a rep for being an aggressive blitzer when he got here.


* Roquan had another great game and is just in such good form right now. Its taken a hell of a long time to get to this point but its great to see. He should be making his first pro bowl this season.


* No one got round to mentioning this during the week but RRH is done for the season. I mention that cos the Bears DL depth is at a point where you'd ideally like to start handing out some low-mid level extensions there over the next few months. Im not sure the Bears can do that cos of the state Pace has the CAP, but hypothetically i'd be looking at getting maybe Nichols and Urban on team friendly extensions. They've put a lot of development time into RRH but he hasnt come on enough unfortunately. He'll def land on another team next year, possibly as a starter, but for the Bears its time to move on.

 

THIS!

Jackson has been nothing special most of the season and he was dogshit last night. Worse than that he was a fucking pussy. When he wasnt slipping off tackles he was actually avoiding them! That actually happened on one Cook run. Jacksons mouth did more work than his legs yesterday.

At this point if they got offered anything like what the Jets got for Adams i'd bite their hand off. Hell i'd take what Pit paid for Fitzpatrick tbh.

Jackson is the highest paid Safety in the league and he's coasting.

 

Yet he was the guy that supposedly addressed the team after the game.

Also the guy that bitches no one throws his way and chirps way too much on the field.

 

3rd and 5 and you have a shit oline and you call a play where you toss the ball 4 or 5 yards backwards.....

Just ponder that bullshit

 

Its the 4th & 1 pitchout all over again. Different play caller same shit.

I still cant work out Kmet tho. Surely Nagy was massively involved in that decision. How do you make that kid your top pick and then never use him? 11 targets all season. Crazy.

 

They are trying to use him more as a blocker. It's fucking dumb.

 

I think some of it was on Foles. On one of the 3 point drives, Foles threw an uncatchable duck when Kmet was wide open at the 2 yards line with nobody within 5 yards of him. Could have walked right in. The INT to Miller (why Miller ran the 10 yard drag route and Robinson the 3 yard hitch I don't understand) Kmet ran a flag and was wide open on the left sideline with the safety 8-10 yards away. Foles didn't even look.

Kmet was going out for passes. Cant complain there. Get him the damn ball. The nifty little 2 yard swing pass they ran to Robinson and often run to Graham--why can't that be Kmet? What frustrated me most was Vikes ran 5-6 DB looks often. You have a 6'5, 250 lb mismatch on most of these guys except Harrison Smith--who's just an all pro.

My favorites are the play action/fake RB hand off then quick toss the the guy you faked the handoff to.

Or that everybody except Lazor beam knew the Vikings were sending 7+ guys on 3rd down...

 

I know the Bears suck in the screen game...but if you know the jailhouse blitz is coming every 3rd down...why not try one basic RB screen?

Or at least call plays with hot routes for the QB.

 

Finally got around to watching the game (the condensed 30 minute version, I'll be damned if I'm spending 3 hours of my life on this fucking team). My thoughts.

Nagy sucks. So what he wasn't playcalling, his scheme is hot garbage. We've done nothing but get players to fit his "scheme" and the offense is now only not dead last because the Jets are actively tanking hard. The offense here is fucking shocking, and the on the field play buck stops with him. Our run game most importantly, is and has been complete garbage. No amount of QB changes fix that. Yes our RBs are injured, but you me and my dead grandmother can see that running from the shotgun is not this teams strength so what do we do? You betcha. They'll never see it coming!

And while he wasn't doing the playcalling, holy shit did I see some things that made my eyes bleed. A wildcat where Patterson fakes the handoff to Foles? What in the serious fuck was that? I could not believe my eyes. The screen that's been discussed here ad nauseam. Lining up in fucking shotgun with an empty backfield on third and short when the vikes send the house. I know Nagy wasn't playcalling because I saw the I formation, and I know he wasn't brought here to run that. Which we then promptly ran outside the tackles. I mean, it was a masterclass.

I'm going to estimate the line for the Packers game will be 6.5, because the Bears "keep it close" - and that's assuming we don't trot out Bray, but make no mistake, that will be brutal. For the first time since Trestman era I'm deciding right now that I'm just going to check the score after the games over, and then watch the 30 minute condensed a day later. And I'm going to keep doing that until this team proves it's worthy of me spending the time to watch it.

The defense was pretty damn good on the whole, but it's clear they're starting to lose the motivation. Nagy is losing the locker room, or at least that side of the ball. They were standing guys up because it's desperation to try and win the game by them scoring points. There were a few plays where they let a guy get 5 yards or so because they were holding him up for a strip/punch out. I don't know when the D throws it in, but it is coming.

I'm not sure they win another game. Not even the Jags or Texans. But I do know this, that game was a MUST WIN if they were to stay in the playoff hunt. The West and South are too good even with the expanded spot. They will need to go likely 5-1 at worst the rest of the way. And they play the Packers x2, the Lions again (who they barely beat last time) and the Vikings again. If the stars completely align, I still don't see them taking one from the Packers. I fucking hope so because I hate them, but I hope like I hope I'll win the lottery tomorrow. Pretty fucking unlikely.

Also fuck Pace. Who would you keep on offense? Mooney, Kmet.....Arob but he's going to come with a price tag now, Monty I'm unsure of, we already paid Cohen. Outside of that, it's rebuild time. I feel pretty sure this year we *might* lose Nagy but Pace is going nowhere. Welcome to hell Bears fans.

Put me on the "build the oline first" side of the fence. Great protection can make the shittiest QBs look better. Foles himself will look better. That said, they MUST draft QBs. We can't keep betting the house on getting that top 5 pick. Cutler was what, pick 21? Romo was mid round, as was Brady. It's a crapshoot, and your odds go down drafting later, but you miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

I would rather them draft a 2nd round QB every year with a 30% chance of hitting, than the 1st round top 5 pick we get once per decade that for us is apparently a 50/50 fucking shot anyway.

He did exactly as well as you'd expect him to. Would he be better with some more playing time? Maybe, but I guarantee you he's not the answer.