Atlanta Falcons vs Chicago Bears Game Thread

I missed the game again. Flus has probably saved his job the last several weeks. We would be on a 7 game winning streak if we had closed out the Lions and Browns as we should have.

So now it's down to whether or not Poles brings back Fields and I think Rob makes a good point that it may be worth it if only to save the money if Maye or Williams are as good as Fields.

No chance we win this week, right?

 

Is this week the Packers?

 

It is the Packers!

 

If they want to sell us on a "new Bears" - it would have to start this week. To keep the hated out of the fucking playoffs. Justin is totally inconsistent, can he deliver when it matters? These assholes want to run it back with Eberlose, as they reported before this past game? SHOW US. If you can't beat a middle of the road Packers team with Jordan Fucking Love, you ain't shit.

 

They're going to sell this even if we get blown out this week. 7 wins. That's more than doubling our total from last year. No question Georgie and co. will see that as terrific progress.

 

It makes sense to draft a QB with the #1, but you can't do that with Getsy still in place. It will be a while before the Bears will be in this position again they need to try and make it count. The Bears need to find an OC that isn't stubborn and stuck on stupid. Getsy's reluctance to depart from the game plan when shit isn't working kills this team. I will give Eberflus credit that despite how bad things were early in the season the team never stopped playing for him, and after he took over the defense it was a night and day difference (Sweat didn't hurt that either). This being the Bears they will keep Flus, and winning next week will only seal the deal. If they do that and draft a QB without relieving Getsy it will be business as usual for the Bears, postponing the inevitable of another rookie QB learning a new system in his second year. I like Fields I just don't love him he's the Harbor Freight of QBs with too many hiccups in every game to put him in the toolbox and use week in and week out. Besides his lack of ball security late in games, his on-time decision-making is still suspect with his inability to recognize and throw receivers open.

 

I think next week matters a lot when it comes to everyone’s future. To beat the Vikings and Lions only to shit the bed against the Browns and throw away a chance at the playoffs is a failure. To then win 2 straight at home only to fail on the road against your hated rival and open the door for them to get in!!! Right back where we started.going nowhere fast.

You want to show me you deserve to return as HC. Win this fucking game.

You want the top pick in the draft used to support you and not replace you? Show up and ball out in a hostile environment.

 

I dunno, George might hate the Packers more than I do, and that's saying something. This week matters.

I guess for me I was pretty done with Fields, but despite the hiccup games, he is showing some progress. His games via the eye test and the numbers are trending upward. Isn't that what we want to see? I totally get that we are in a unique position at #1, and we certainly don't want a Daniel Jones situation. I get what you're saying Tuna, there's too much down. But if he comes out and blasts the shit out of the Packers? That will start to make me believe. He shits the bed and he can go. It's that simple. I am in full meatball mode.

Eberlose I am much more out on, even these games where the team has played well they turtle up so badly it will result in losses. Yeah, they play hard for him, more or less, but that's about it. Getsy's scheme is braindead. The most is we lose Getsy, but a win over the packers would cement him.

What is Justin worth on the trade market? Less than the 1st overall pick, but I think he would get a haul. The offseason is going to be interesting no matter what.

 

He says stuff like that but I don't buy it. No matter what happens this week he's going to give Flus a ringing endorsement at his post-season presser.

I think the Daniel Jones comparison makes sense. Never did enough to win the fans and the team over entirely, but always showed just enough flash to keep everyone's hopes up that he might be the guy. This is where we are with Fields. I think we've seen his ceiling. A guy who will make 1-2 impressive throws per game plus several spectacular runs, but a guy who still processes and moves too slowly in the pocket and who fails to protect the football.

This excellent blog makes it clear Fields is and never has been even an average NFL QB: Bears Should Move on from Justin Fields

The turnaround in the second half of the season is more due to the defense getting their shit together than Fields improvement. If Maye or Williams (or any other incoming rookie QB) are at worst as good as Fields, we have to move on now. Get that QB on the rookie contract for 4 more years and continue to build the o-line and add weapons at WR and TE

As for this week, like all Bears QBs Fields struggles mightly against the Packers and I don't expect anything different. He would go a long way to changing my mind if he has a career game and we win. But hell will freeze over first.

 

Christmas and New Year fell at the worst times for being in game threads, sorry. Bears beat another dogshit team with a bumass QB, yay.

Any hope of Eberflush getting the flush have surely gone now which is massively disappointing to me. I'll give him a tip of the cap for somehow keeping that locker together, F knows what he says behind closed doors but it must be a hell of a lot better than what he says in public. But its not enough for me to want to keep him, no way. Sweat has more to do with the D turnaround than anything Flush is doing. But he's got to 7 wins so thats that. When tryng to predict the McFuckskeys remember the simplest answer is almost always true. They know nothing about football, we know this. The team won 3games last season, they won 7 this season, clearly everyone is doing a great job. The only 2 people who may still be undecided are Fields and Getsy, and thats not an ownership decision. Imo they are also linked. If they stick with Fields i don't believe they'll make him learn a new offense. If they get rid of Fields there's sure as shit no reason to keep Getsy.

I've been back and forth on Fields 100times already and we're not even thru the regular season yet. I've been a believer in him and i know the Bears have been crap at putting in position to succeed. But this is about looking forward now. 2 things i keep coming back to:

1- They won't be in this draft position next year. There is the chance at a huge talent, how do you turn that away for Fields? Who i like, but his ceiling at this point is undeniably lower than Williams. Probably Maye too in all honesty. And in the not too distant future your gonna be paying him stupid money to throw for 200yards a game, that the plan? Doesnt sound like a great plan.

2- His passing numbers are underwhelming i think we'd all agree, but damn i come out of a lot of games thinking there were too many dropped balls and those drops are all yardage/TD's that aren't going to his totals. That prob sounds like excuse making, it isnt, i have no trouble at all keeping it real with Fields. He should've had def 1, possibly 2 more TD passes against the Falcons. The Browns game was downright criminal. There was legit 150yards and at least 1 TD pass left on the field that day. Mooney & Tyler Scott have been dogshit this season. Tonyan has had some horrific drops. If the goal is to objectively figure out what Fields is then shouldn't this be taken into consideration? IMO Fields passing performance has been better than his numbers suggest. He has gotten better.

Then on the other hand i've seen some legit disturbing metrics re Fields. His 4th Quarter numbers in the pros are awful which ties directly into Rob's apex predator comment. Top QBs find something in the 4th Q, you see it all the time. They find a way to deliver and win a game. I know Fields has been on some terrible teams with bad supporting casts on O, ive never been a fan of the teams record being on the QB alone. But the fact is there's no basis whatsoever to claim that Fields is any kind of 4th Q game winner. He's not that guy.

Frankly im glad i don't have to make the decision which is not something i ever say with this team. I wish it would just hurry up and happen so i can find out but Christ over 3months to go.

But when push comes to shove if i had to make the call then im taking a QB at 1 and lamenting the fact we never got to see what Fields could and should have really been in Chicago.

 

Personally i don't think it matters to anyones future except maybe Fields if the decision hasnt already been made. By extension maybe Getsy as well i guess but are they really gonna leave the decision on Fields down to the last game? The previous 40 weren't enough heh?

Exactly blang.

Fucking exactly blang!

Don't ever buy into the McFuckskeys rah rah rivalry talk because it is a total crock of shit! No ownership that believes in that accepts the humiliation in GB in 2014 the way they did. If they had an ounce of rivalry in them they would've fired Trestman the very next day. But instead they held to their pathetic virtue of not firing a coach in season. Because thats what mattered to them, not the rivalry. Coach after coach gets humped by the Packers and ownership never gives two shits. And now im riled up.

FUCK THE MCKLASKEYS!!!

 

F, just one more thing i wanted to say. If they were to trade Fields id be amazed if Poles didnt get a 1st rounder. Fields has more than enough wow plays on tape, someone out there would fall in love with the idea of making him top 5-10, its a QB starved league. Also Poles has shown good pedigree in trade negotiations where he's the seller.

Sam Darnold was garbage in NY and they got 3 picks for him inc a 2nd rounder. That is the floor/starting point for this. You have to expect a 1st rounder for Fields. You'd like to see Poles haggle in something extra thats based on performance.

 

Man what an excellent fucking point there. No matter what he says, Trestman is the indictment of any real hatred of the Fuckers.

I'm not going to bother quoting it, but I agree with you for the most part Ev on Fields, it's a decision I don't want to have to make. Fields HAS made progress, even in the passing game, but the 4th quarter killer instinct is definitely not as there. It's kind of like with Mitch, they are damn nice guys but there are still flaws in their game. I'm just saying that he is showing improvement in the passing game I think. It would not be the worst thing in the world to trade back, take a flier on a lower ranked QB and let him sit

So that's what I'm thinking, if he's not the guy for us, these past several games have given quite a bit of tape to give any number of QB starved teams some ideas of how they could use him, and hell, they might even be right. I saw a 2nd rounder floated around, and maybe I'm biased but that feels like nonsense. And we generally overpay, could we once get someone to do that for us?

Then we just have to hope that we pick the Stroud or Mahomes, and not the Young or Trubisky.

 

I think its why the board will go dead again/why I won't post elsewhere. I was dumb enough to watch the entire game, and a part of half time. I gotta tell you, every pundit on the CBS show said Fields will be playing elsewhere next year/is auditioning to be traded. The hyper-polarized media has already gotten rid of Justin/traded him in multiple scenarios (usually for peanuts), so avoiding the next 3+ months will be necessary because they will have a lot of time to kill with bogus storylines, just like last year--because many more bs scenarios are to come. It'll be Drake May soon enough for the flavor of the month #1, then someone else, then 'what about this mid round guy coming out of nowhere?' followed by me saying "didn't the Jets just learn the hard way doing that with Zach Wilson?"

I don't know why that's such a foregone conclusion that Justin is gone. I too have been back and forward on the guy (plenty of threads I say I'm done then 'keep him and draft a qb'), but for point 2 you bring up, along with the fact he's only 6 million dollars and 23-25 mil if you pick up his option--it just boggles my mind that he's something you just give away for 'a Sam Darnold' return, even if that's at minimum. They don't have to trade him, they can keep him and give him significant competition, whether that be a draft pick or anything else. Make a team pry him from Poles' hands.

You hit the nail on the head about the 4th. It's why I to this day hatewatch Erin. Dude's always been able to turn it on in the 4th, and always sets up to have the last drive, usually where he scores points. Hell, even though it was the loins for a lot of years, Matt Stafford knew how to turn it on the last couple of drives in the 4th. The bears, for as long as I've watched, have either been a 1st half team with a monumental chokejob in the 2nd half (Bob Babich/post Rivera years), or they can really play well in the 3rd before falling flat in the 4th, usually with a ball busting/heartbreaking INT (Jay Cutler years), or its been timid offense run, run, 2 yard swing pass to the FB, punt.

Keep Justin, fuck the pundits, draft a QB, and let the starting job be Justin's until it's not.

 

Well, the Bears fans didn't have to lament the fact when they stuck with Vince Evans and took Joe Montana off the board in the 3rd round.

 

Its prob worth us all keeping in mind over the next few months that the Bears are in whats very close to a win win situation here. Whether to take the number 1 overall QB or stick with the current guy and parlay your situation into multiple extra draft picks is, in football terms, very much the equivalent of first world problems. There must be at least 20teams around the league that would love to be in the Bears position.

Whatever move the Bears end up making they should come out of it in position to be a lot better for years to come. What can i say im in a good mood this morning. I had one of those rare nights on the sauce where you get totally shitfaced and somehow wake up the next day as fresh as a daisy.

The goal in all this, whatever they do, has to be to lock down the QB position for many years to come with a guy who at the very least will be a top 10-12 QB. What you've described here doesnt achieve that, its too short-termist. If you go with Fields you have got to be prepared that you will probably be paying him big 12months from now. Having him play out the 5th year with nothing after it is a bad idea. Putting this off should not be an option, you have the #1 pick now and you're not getting another one, the decision has to be made now. This is one of the reasons im reluctantly moving off Fields if its me. If you're not sure about him by now then the decision should be made.

The worst case scenario in all this would be turning down another CJ Stroud and winding up with a Daniel Jones player & contract. Fields is better than Jones, yes, but ballpark the description holds. What you've described gives the clear potential for this outcome and this is the Bears we're talking about. They could fuck up a one car funeral so they can certainly bollocks up this.

You have to be highly confident in Fields to move forward with him and if you're not now is the time to trade him. Cos he's pretty close to peak value right now, assuming he doesnt shit the bed in GB(pretty big assumption i know).

Personally, a scenario i really dislike is keeping Fields and drafting a QB at #1. I think that would have the potential for a very messy locker room, you'd also be giving up the chance of big trade compensation basically because you can't make a decision. Its weak. You didn't specify the #1 pick so maybe you have another QB in mind? Thats your department not mine, all i'd say is if the Bears were trading out of #1 but still going QB i would not like some mid round pick. That again is weak imo. The time has come to commit to a path. Either you commit to Fields or you commit to a high value draft pick.

About the only type scenario i might be on board with in this situation is if you don't love the top 2 guys so you trade down to the bottom half of the top10 and take a guy like Jayden Daniels. That would achieve the draft haul while still committing to a high calibre prospect.

Note: I don't know enough about Daniels specifically, im more talking about draft range. We know who the top4-5 QBs are gonna be. If you dont think there's as big a gap as people say about 1-2 vs 3-5 then taking your QB later in the top10 may be a possibility. Its not my preferred approach, just putting it out there.

 

The alternative is drafting a guy, who because this is the bears--the defense is playoff ready, but the offense will sputter. You're going to have crazy expecations for a kid taken in the 1st round, whether that be 1 overall, or a tradeback if you get rid of Justin, and IMO you're already doing it wrong. Even if you're taking one of the two most hyped guys in Maye/Williams. Even if, theoretically if you trade Justin, you sign a Glennon/Andy Dalton type to be a sacrificial lamb for a couple games.

We've seen this movie before. It ends with big pieces on the playoff-contender ready defense hurt and on the field 60%+ of the game, or done with their contracts and gone while the offense struggles to score 7 and we're back in football purgatory, where they may scrape into the playoffs only to get steam rolled by a legit team who belongs there. Poles would back himself into a corner and bank it all on a rookie, and mind you--the OL is still bottom 5 in the NFL, after DJ Moore there's really nothing depth-wise at WR (I'm of the opinion Mooney already played his last game for the bears/he's listed as injured for Sunday).

You're thrusting whomever you draft into a losing situation (quintessential Bears), where he's going to have to be otherworldly to make the offense viable to pair with the defense. If that goes sour next year, and a rookie QB can't carry the offense on his back to keep them in games enough to make this team truly dual-threat--Poles is picking an avenue that can get him fired, quickly.

Nobody knows, myself included. McCarthy vs Penix for the national championship would be a good start to watch if you're looking outside the top 2. Penix is a pocket passer with a nice, accurate deep arm you'd need in Soldier Field. McCarthy is the guy who all this year and often last--against solid collegiate competition, has tendencies to make big 3rd down conversions and score/win the game having the ball on the last drive, I'm also biased for McCarthy because he's a local kid, and its gravy for me that he's played under Harbaugh, who knows a thing or two about NFL offense.

I really like these two. McCarthy probably is a late top 10/top half of 1st round, while Penix presently leans late 1st/early 2nd. Jayden Daniels probably is QB3 taken, possibly 2 instead of Maye--but I won't be shocked to see him going 4-10 range.

I don't think Justin is the type to make it a 'messy lockerroom.' I think it lights a fire under his ass or we find out very quickly that he's done and we move on. You don't have to pay him like Daniel Jones, and I'd argue if Justin plays well and keeps a 1st rounder sitting on the bench with a clipboard, that's not a bad problem to have. You pick up his option, he's tradeable, even on a 1 year.

 

What sucks is after tomorrow, we have fucking months of this type of speculation - I agree pat at that point it will be time to shut it off until the draft probably for our own sanity. For me, I'm hoping Fields balls out no matter what, that's the best possible option. Either high trade value or he's turning a corner. Plus I really, REALLY want us to stick it to the fucking hated. The bad man isn't fucking here anymore, we should have a decent chance to make this happen with how they've played against bad teams, and the packers ARE a bad team. JUST FUCKING WIN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 5 FUCKING YEARS OR WHATEVER.

 

The MAN has spoken!
Listen to him and make it happen!

 

Apparently the Packers are 3 points ahead of the Bears.
Personally, I'd like to stick those 3 points where the sun don't shine on Matt Lafleur.