Rants and Raves 2024 Edition

I want Jayden to play because I want him to test our defense. What worries me most isn't his passing, which has been outstanding, but could we control his rushing. Now if he does play I doubt he'll run much given the injury.

Regardless, this is a game we need to win if we are serious about making a playoff push. A road game against a team with a winning record is always going to be tough no matter who the QB is. Neither team has beaten a team with a winning record yet so something will have to give. I'm traveling to DC for work on Monday, debated arriving a day early and going to the game but didn't pull the trigger. Even if Mariotta starts I still don't love our chances.

 

I'm disappointed big time if Jayden doesn't play. I wanted the Bears defense to go in there and put a cork in this Jayden ROTY talk especially the crazy MVP talk. What bothers me the most is the talk that Caleb hasn't played anybody, and this may be true, but who has Jayden played? Those first two games Caleb got his baptism by fire facing the current #1 and #2 defenses in the league which currently have the #3 and #4 passing defenses respectively. Who did Jayden face? Those first two games? The #31 and #12 with the current 29th and 6th passing defenses. If you take the current defensive rankings of the teams both have played on average of defenses for the first 6 games ( I omitted the Commanders last game and Jayden's 2 for 2, 6 yards passing) The Bears faced on average a 19th-ranked total defense and a 17th-ranked passing defense. The Commanders have faced on average a 26th-ranked total defense and a 25th-ranked passing defense. So I ask again who have the Commanders played?

Yeah, let's go out and get one of those two so the Bears can limit fixing the offensive line through free agency, and have them fix it through a weak draft that's brilliant, and then we can really knock the cap balance out of whack.

So do I. I just want this Bears defense to bring all the Jayden talk back to earth.

I disagree here, the Bears have only given up 4 TDs through the air this season second to only the Dolphins with 3, so I especially think the Bears defense would do better against Mariotta than they would Jayden.
I want this to be the Bears statement game, or perhaps I'll be eating crow.
I know the history of this team coming out of a bye so just to be sure I cover my bases what kind of wine goes with crow?

 

I'm only worried about Caleb. If Caleb is a franchise QB, as he appears to be early on, Jayden could make the Hall of Fame and I wouldn't give a shit. Now if Caleb is a bust.... fuck it all

I want it to be to. If we win convincingly against Mariotta it would still be a huge win for us. OL needs to show they can perform on the road.

 

It just feels different this year. Besides the fact the Bears have been historically bad coming off the bye, and if Jayden plays they have historically let rookie QBs have Hall-of-Fame games against them. Now I'm probably out over my skies and could possibly be let down in historical Bears fashion, yet again but I just feel pretty good right now about this team and feel It will be different this time around.

 

I think the Bears are gonna have their hands properly full against Wash on sunday.

The Deadskins DL maybe hasn't been dominating this season but there is still a stack of talent there and i think they're gonna crush our interior OL. This could have a very week 1 vibe in that sense. The good news is Caleb has already improved a heap since week 1. Actually i think its fair to say Waldron has as well. But how much and will it be enough to move the ball consistently well against that front? I'm sceptical.

I also think our DL is gonna be severely tested on the ground. The WTFs are a hair away from being 2nd in the league in rushing. Brian Robinson is a really good back who doesnt get enough written about him. And teams have been able to run on this D at times. Rarely consistently drive to drive, but they will get walked down the field from time to time and thats against lesser rushing attacks than this.

I also don't give a chit about Jayden Daniels, but how Bears would it be for Mariotta to come in and light them up. I was shocked at how fluent he was right off the bat, even if it was against the Panthers.

A win would send a message to the rest of the league, but im not sure they're there yet. I will be taking the Deadskins in the pickems contest, and as you probably know, im right near the top of the rankings again this year, same as i am every year tbh. I'm basically the greatest picker in the history of this site.

Cheerio

 

You must've moved away, last i knew you were living in DC right?

 

This is all I care about, that Caleb is our franchise QB, and not many in the line of busts that adorn the shitstory of the Chicago Bears. If Daniels pans out to be HoF worthy and better than Caleb, whatever, but if Caleb busts, we just opine about what could have been....again.

For us as fans it would bring legitimacy, but to the media and opposing fans even a convincing win against Mariotta and it's "just" Mariotta.

I am nervous about this one for the reasons I mentioned. It would be a BEARS type of thing to get the doors blown off by a backup QB. It would signal a significant change if this game goes the Bears way, and they need it because the division is still tough as hell and the schedule is backloaded with some tough games.

 

Glad you mentioned it because everyone is focused on Jayden/Mariotta but the Commies have a great running game overall and our run defense has not been good. Jayden could play at 50% and they could still win if we can't stop the run.

Yep, was there for 10 years. My job is still based there. Moved back to Chicagoland in March after nearly moving to FL. First time living here since I left home to go to college.

Yes. This win and then at least splitting with each team in the division would prove we are on the right track.

 

Whoah. Guess they couldn’t get anything for Velus after all.

 

If you are counting on Brisker coming back from the NFL concussion protocol consider that Tua who also suffered his third concussion on Sept 12th has just been cleared to play this week after about six weeks. Without knowing the severity he may be down for longer than we expected.

 

Could've had a draft pick this offseason but no, genius decided to make one last desperate attempt to find a role for his guy. And now he gets nothing but Nelson memes. Awful draft pick, clown level GMing.

Thanks also to Hard Knocks for wasting all our time with that stupid ass Velus "im a hybrid man" storyline. And he had about the crappest nickname ive ever heard. Joins the many other turd receivers to carry the stone-hands moniker, along with Bellamy, Roy Williams, Pettis et al. Good riddance.

As for Blasingame, the guy sucked. I am totally on board with that move too.

 

"I'm not even taking a call for anything less than a 3rd"

- Ryan Poles on trading Velus Jones this preseason, on Hard Knocks

Good times.

 

Come on he isn’t going to give up on his love child that easily. I’m betting he finds his way back to the practice squad.

 

I chuckled when that scene came on because I kept wondering ‘how?’ Drafted a 26 year old speedster who’s electric with the ball in his hands—but he cant catch and has problems holding onto the ball.

Busted draft pick. Hated it. Remember really wanting Bernard Raimann out of Central Michigan (and/or his teammate Luke Goedeke) and now he’s a top 1/2 in the league LT, unlike Braxton Leno.

Wouldn’t have happened anyways with Poles though. Raimann has 33 inch arms. Arm size queens would have twisted their panties something fierce over having one of the better LTs in football, because something something—unimportant measurables that have fuck all to do with whether or not the guy can block the player across from him.

Doug Kramer is a better FB.

 

I am trying not to let last nights fuckup ruin my day but it isn’t working so I will rant.

We all wanted Flus gone after last year. And boy were we right. I will say I am actually surprised at how well his defense is playing and will give him all the props for that but he isn’t the DC he is the HC. And as HC he just doesn’t cut it. If you are not an offensive minded coach you dam well better have a conviction on how you visualize your offense to play. You don’t just hire an OC and say hey I am sure you know what your doing I’ll just blindly support you.

The offense. Waldron has been around the block and has experience putting together some good game plans but all his success came coaching under alpha male head coaches who dictated to him the style in which they will play offense. Flus has no fucking clue what he wants his offense to look like so how the fuck is he going to dictate to his OC. So the players are forced to do it. We all heard how the team leadership had to come together and tell the OC how to coach them.

Starting slow every fucking game. Waldron is in way over his head when it comes to scouting the other teams defense and his own teams offense when it comes to game planning. He just has no ability to find ways to exploit the other teams weaknesses vs his teams strengths pre game. It seems that he just lets the offense start and tell him what they think will work. Am I the only person who thinks the Bears are giving Williams too much control of the offense? Just because the kid can handle the responsibility doesn’t mean you need to give him all of it. Just look at Daniel’s pre snap vs Williams pre snap. Simple can be good when you know what you’re doing. You’re telling me with Allen, Rome, Moore, Kmet and Swift you can’t dial up some plays that exploit the other teams weakness? When the smartest people in the room are the players and not the coaches you are fucked.

Back to the fucking Hail Mary. After listening to Rex Ryan break it down with Greenberg I was ready to drive into a fucking tree. We can’t just lose on a last second Hail Mary we need to do it in the worst fucking way ever!!!!! The coach actually said that the 13 yard play before the last play didn’t matter. Fire him now. Then when asked if he should have called a time out to regroup he says they had what the wanted. Everyone could see the confusion. The rushers rushed the wrong way. You didn’t have your best rushers even in the field. Need to take a TO so Sweat can catch his breath. Go ahead you have 3 of them. Want to go over it one last time really make sure none of the DBs have there back to the play when the ball is snapped and are actually playing. Go ahead. But not our brilliant coach. Fuck him.

 

How many presnap penalties can an offense be expected to tolerate per game? False starts are one thing, but illegal formations. You have defenders running in unabated to the QB. Is everybody even on the same page with the play and protections? WTF!

 

I mean there's a lot of things that get me about the end of that game, of course, but the 1 that really takes the cake for me personally is that as a HC you walked off the field after that game with 3 TOs still in your pocket. That just blows my mind. High pressure, close-it-out moments like those last two plays, where you need clarity, composure and organisation.....and you don't use a TO to achieve that on either play. Hell burn two just to give Sweat a breather so that maybe your best pass rusher can be on the field for the fucking play of the game!

I mean we already knew what im about to say, but for the non-informed, Eberflush was shown to be what he is. He was a passenger throughout that whole sequence. The moment was too big for him and it wasn't even close. He is in so far over his head, his answers in the presser, particularly the one about the 2nd last play not being important, were flat out embarrassing. With an ownership that doesnt have its head up its ass and actually values winning and success instead of pious bullshit like "we don't fire coaches in season" Eberflush would've passed the u-bend long ago.


As for that loser Stevenson, the irony of the situation doesnt escape me. If he'd just kept on jawing at the crowd rather than belatedly trying to play football and getting in the way, they probably win the game.

 

Talent issues aside, we said somewhere in one of these threads that Flus alone will be responsible for 2-3 losses on his own this season. This has been the case each of his first two seasons. This is loss number 2 on him already in 2024 (Colts game being the other) and we aren’t halfway through the schedule. We’d be sitting at 6-1 with an average head coach.

 

Good stuff from Kmet. The players clearly don’t respect this coaching staff.

x.com

 

Yeah, Der flus looks like a clown no matter which way you spin it, even being objective at things done well. We’ve seen the bears, for years, good or bad, comically laughable or legit—fuck up royally and lose coming off a bye, so the result I’m not shocked at. A few coaching decisions on the other hand…

We talk about the Hail Mary which had its own problems, but I’m more interested in/pissed at why the fuck the play before did yall just hand them 12-15 yards for free, out of bounds, nobody nearby? Kevin Byard and Jaylon both touched on how making that play slightly difficult for JD or even putting guys wide on the sidelines to tackle a guy in bounds so the clock runs, because JD couldn’t hit that deep Hail Mary the play before if you forced their hand and defended the play before.

Players have questioned coaching all year. Theyre doing it again. How fucking obvious of a red flag do you need poles?

I’d like to believe maybe this makes eberflush’s seat hot—but, let’s be honest, probably not.

Not rooting for long term injury, but at this point, start Kiran the rest of the way at LT. See what you have—or don’t. People were saying when Braxton went down that the bears ‘lost their best pass blocker’ and I couldn’t stop laughing, because people saying that don’t watch this team.

I’ve alluded to it before, and now I’m officially there. Start Bill Murray at LG, let Teven sit out the rest of the year, coming in relief or for injury only—because he’s toast at LG—and let Jenkins walk. Yeah, that opens another hole, but he’s not exactly fixing or filling in one competently now, and I’m tired of watching him get pantsed or whiff on a guy.