Rants and Raves 2024 Edition

What the fuck does Kevin Warren do? The stadium situation has literally regressed since he's been hired and is currently going absolutely nowhere. How much say does he have over Poles/Flus job status? Does he even give a shit about the on-field product?

PS I hate Georgie

 

I have always had a feeling that Kevin Warren has absolutely zero to do with anything other than money and the stadium planning / negotiating / etc. Poles seems to run contract details by him - we saw that in Hard Knocks - but it also seemed like Poles was presenting him entirely new information with context (something you'd only do for someone who doesn't also have their head in the same field as the conversation) regarding the player themselves (at the time, DJ Moore, if memory serves).

Georgie said that Warren still reports to him, and that all football decisions still go through him. I remember us all commenting, at the time, that that means nothing actually changes. And so far, nothing has actually changed.

I have a feeling that Kevin Warren has watched 0 Bears games this year and couldn't tell you much about how the team is doing. Just a hunch.

 

Keep seeing on twitter and reddit that Ben Johnson would be guy when Flus is fired after the season. Why does anyone with a brain expect Georgie to hire Ben Johnson? You fucking kidding?

 

And now Andrew Billings has a torn pec, needs surgery, and is out the rest of the year.

Time for Zach Pickens to shit or get off the pot, errr….roster.

 

Yeah, because while it's a disturbing trend I am not "out" on him just yet. This is a product of a team in pure disarray with a lost locker room and a possible injury. Allen has been down on effort as well. This shit happens when the coach is Trestman. This is a guy who just a scant few months ago was one of my favorites.

I won't defend those two videos, or earlier in the year where he would dog it when the ball wasn't planned on coming his way because they do piss me off. But I think with the right coaches dude can come back. I'm hoping it's not a case of he got a bag and is now a diva.

What I AM deeply concerned about is the coaching situation. We knew Flus should have been gone last year, and he's shown the same this year - good DC maybe but terrible HC. Waldron it is shocking how quickly he's shown himself to be incompetent. On what fucking planet do you not scheme to Olsen and instead to Everett? You also scheme to Allen rather than Moore. I mean, everything he's done has been bad, and then he slowly learns and proceeds to immediately shit the bed again.

It's clear Warren was a hire for the stadium. And he comes in and promptly fucks it up. The lakeshore isn't happening, they bought AH and have been sitting on it because he isn't interested. Didn't AH back down on the taxes?

I don't think he's a football guy. Neither is George, so I guess the "adult" in the room is Poles.

Honestly, I'm ready to change my avatar to George, I'm just worried I do that and I'll never get to change it.

Since the Bears are the new Factory of Sadness, we'd ruin him too, heh.

 

Midseason, what do you guys think we do at the end of season? Fire HC and OC? Just the OC?

I'm thinking both at this point. They won't do it midseason, but they will after the division chews us up and spits us out.

Poles they'll keep. As dline points out he fell ass backward into some easy moves, and lucked out with Carolina choosing so poorly. If they chose Stroud instead of Young, we have a much lower pick. I think we can safely add keeping Eberflus as a big negative.

 

I had to go find this from when Rob and I were arguing: 2024 Offseason

The fuckups I list there are *exactly* what we are seeing pan out as the biggest problems here no? Poles has to shoulder some of the blame.

 

If you move to replace Waldo midseason you would likely do it internally and the two internal choices you have are the passing game coordinator Thomas Brown whom was the OC with Carolina last year and that worked wonders for Bryce Young to destroy his career or the QBs coach Kerry Joseph who's professional experience is 4 years with the Seahawks with the last two years as their assistant QBs coach.
I wouldn't put my team in the hands of either of those two, but this isn't my team, and inexperience and incompetence is traditionally right in the Bears zip code.

 

My point was that he's such an obviously good candidate that Georgie would never hire him because of that.

Flus will be fired and so will Waldron. Poles stays and will get a chance to "hire" a guy.

Damn you nailed it back in March. Everything you wrote in that post is on the money.


Regarding firing Flus midseason. I would love for it to happen to send the message to the organization that incompetence at your job will not be tolerated and that when you fail to meet expectations you're finished. However we have no one under him that I have any confidence would be a good interim. Tuna pointed out if you fire Waldron the guys under him are arguably worse. This probably applies to most if not all of the staff in regards to Flus. Still want it to happen because I've given up on the season and for the message to be sent.

As far as guys to look at after Black Monday. Johnson of course. Mike Vrabel, not an offensive coach but dude got a lot out of the Titans with mediocre QB play and average talent on the rest of the roster. Georgie might like him as a hard-nosed defensive guy, but then again he might be too rough around the edges for Georgie. Then there's Kliff Kingsbury. Not impressed with how things played out in AZ but I think Kyler is partly to blame for that. Maybe he and Caleb are a better match.

 

I think it should be a clean sweep, though you’re probably right with them keeping Poles.

The “media” kisses Poles’ ass more than its objective with him, but I don’t think he gets enough criticism for the OC he hired. So we’ve ranted enough about his trenches last approach, building the WR Corps to be your “strength” then not showcasing any of them, saying you’re taking the north and never giving it back while looking like you’re going to be last place again, how he gives away draft picks like candy on Halloween for OL then never uses them (Ryan Bates will be just like Feeney and the other guy whose name escapes me), Hitching his wagon to a guy who’s gone as far as he can go as a HC then keeping him. I’m not reopening these cans of worms, or his other shortcomings. We know.

But—here’s my latest annoyance I don’t believe enough are talking about. Not even HALFWAY into his first season as OC, and the incompetent, embattled HC talked after Sunday’s loss about how for now—Waldron will still call plays. Not even half way into his first goddamned season, there’s been a conversation that the guy you hired to replace Getsy was hired because he can tailor his talent to the system and vice versa—should have playcalling taken away. The guy you hired to pair with the QB you took #1 overall. Oops.

At some point, Poles fleecing Carolina can’t continue to tip the scales for him. Is he on his last life? Probably not, but he should be a lot closer to 9 than 1.

Dusting this one off—but—fire everyone.

 

Don't forget Flus having to fire the DC AND RB coach last year, that was all conveniently forgotten too. I saw some reddit rumor (via Adam Rank, for what little that is worth) that Flus' job is safe at the end of the year, becuase the contract is for 5 years and they made him assurances. If so, how can I watch this team ruin yet another QB? This one seemingly has real talent, there is potential all over the place.

 

I will give credit where it is due and you did nail it there vvarder. Poles definitely has to shoulder most of the blame. It has been worst case scenario for him and he has added some to the fuck list since then. 4th rounder on putter still comes to mind.

As for Kevin Warren we will see if he is a real president or not after the season. Will he hold Poles accountable for sticking with his coach? You don’t usually hear much from a team president during the year. This offseason we will see if he is a puppet or not. Seats are getting hot.

 

Uberfail didn't lose the team last year because the team was still growing and mistakes were likely dismissed as growing pains.
This season the expectations were higher and those that had bought in previously are now having buyers remorse, because those growing pains are now magnified and they all seem to be pointing to the coaching staff.
Is it just me but Caleb's bread and butter seemed to be working the middle of the field, and his weakness was outside the numbers. This last game it seemed to much focus on the sideline and very little over the middle. Caleb's mindset is trying to push that ball down the field instead of taking was is given to him. Caleb is certainly not helping himself, but then again neither is Waldo. These presnap penalties are killing this offense. I mean false starts are one thing, but illegal formations happen multiple times a game. On presnap penalties Waldo said" those are issues that we need to keep working to fix because they've lingered a little bit longer, obviously, than what we're looking for right there,” whatever the fuck that means. This team is looking to the coaching staff for answers, but they are getting is questions.

 

I think Rank is just stirring the pot. That…and ‘sources’ within Halas Hall have been wrong before with tons of formerly trusted beat writers who have said GMs and HCs are safe/not safe and then the opposite happened.

What makes me skeptical is that Rank has to word it as: ‘People who are in NFL circles are telling me…’ I don’t buy it, he just strikes me as the kind of jackass who will say it’s his “source” when he’s just pulling shit out of his ass for clicks and reactions. Aaron Lemming does the same thing, as does Jacob Infante, and a host of other content creators.

Didn’t the bears tell everybody at Der Flus’ introductory presser that they weren’t going to talk about how long his contract was or Poles—but now all of a sudden, a podcaster who does an occasional comedy bit or fantasy football show on NFLN knows? How? Because he’s a bears fan? Or because he’s trying to get a bunch of Twitter/reddit traffic for his monetization?

I’ll say this for the bears, faults about assembling a competent roster that can compete with teams aside—they’ve been consistently silent and hold their cards close to the chest, as much as we hate ownership and upper management—but we know how they operate. We've seen beat guys back when actual journalism was circling the drain a couple years back guess wrong, and they’re the connected guys constantly in house and none of them knew, but now it’s this guy who knows?

 

Yeah this is how i feel too. Maybe i'll wind up being proven wrong(never underestimate this franchise's ability to out-stupid what you think is possible), but im unconcerned about Eberflus being back next year. In addition to what pat says, 2 more reasons:

1- The Bears have been bitten so badly from bad HC hires over the last 10-15years(since George came to power basically) that i just can't believe they would give a guy like Eberflus 5years. Not because they arent stupid enough, but because they have lost so much money over the years thru this stuff and these idiots do at least care about money. The Bears paying only one HC in any given season is basically the exception! A lot of the time they're paying 2.

We know this matters to them cos they're so obviously reluctant to eat 2years of a fired HCs contract anymore. They've basically refused to do it ever since the Trestman disaster. They had no choice but to fire him cos the team would've gone winless the next season, but it meant in John Fux's first 2years they were paying 2 HCs. Hence why Fux was given a 3rd year when he should've been fired. Firing Fux after 2years would've meant 4 straight years of paying 2 HCs! Nagy might have been a little different due to Pace, but Pace himself had at least 2years remaining on his contract(remember the stupid extension) so in classic Bears fashion they didnt want to fire Pace with 2years left, but they also didnt want him picking another 4year HC. In their warped logic that meant Nagy got his final year. And off the backdrop of all that calamity, all the lost money, we believe that Adank Rank is right and they gave Eberflus 5years? Im not saying its impossible, this is the Bears. Im just saying i dont buy it.

2- Even if we assume for a sec they did give Eberflus 5years, and knowing how much they dont want to eat 2years means he would in theory be back in 2025, dont worry brothers, this decision will soon be taken out of their hands the way Trestman was, because the one good thing about their idiotic no firing in season rule is that it means there's basically no sugar-coating anything when it goes completely sideways. Which this will imo. This sunday could legit be their last win of the season. Even if they steal another 1 or even 2 you're talking a 7win season and a 3-8 final 11games. He's done for. Also in amongst all that will be some absolute pummellings in their division. The Lions will rip this team to shreds. So will the Pukers. At best we split with the Vikes but that won't be enough. The rest of this season is going to be a bloodbath imo.

I'll be honest, part of me hopes they did give him 5years, because it will be extra pleasing to me for them to eat the extra money when they have no choice but to fire him.

 

Dude our house is absolutely crazy right now, its out of control. We've got 2 sports mad kids(which i was too tbh). Both play league tennis, both do league swimming, she plays field hockey and he joined a rugby team this year.

My daughter plays i guess state level equivalent tennis right now and is not far below the national team for her age group. She's proper good and can beat me embarrassingly easily. Problem is its reached a level where its now really serious and we're concerned the love is really fading. Matches are never good natured anymore, her opponents are usually total little bitches and to your other point many of the parents are a disgrace with behaviour/how pushy they are. I've nearly had 2 fights this year alone with asshole dads and none of it is what its meant to be about. We're about 90% certain she'll never play at Wimbledon or anything so the question becomes how far do you take it and at what price. Only thing my wife and i are adamant about is its not getting jacked in entirely. She doesnt have to enter a tournament every week but she does have to keep playing. We're prob gonna back right off the competitive angle for a while and try to ride this phase out.

My son is a competitive little fucker. Today is actually his club champs at his swimming club, so we've got another all dayer ahead of us(and im being a time keeper). Of the 5 strokes(inc IM) in his age group he's qualified fastest in 4 and i swear if he doesnt take home at least 3 winners trophies tonight he's gonna be a fucking nightmare ha. After watching the Six Nations with me in March he told he wanted to play rugby, so we found him a club and, i don't know how to put this, he has dropped everyones jaws at how good he was right off the bat. Could instantly do a spiral pass. Scores 2-4 tries every game, and most impressively to me, is a tackling machine! I played plenty of rugby in my youth, he's def better than i was at that age.

To be honest, my wife and i are pretty exhausted with it all. We've said yes to too much, but they're actually good and if they want to do it then how can you say no? Love the hockey updates you've been dropping btw, please keep those going

 

You really did nail that shit varder.

Blang mostly answered this for me.

All i'd add is that Poles will be massively on the hotseat next offseason. Due to that i think the Bears HC vacancy will be way less attractive than it was this year. Also if the team does nosedive, which i think highly likely given the state of this locker and the upcoming schedule, suddenly this roster is gonna look at lot less enticing. Caleb will have big questions, there will be some big roster turnover at some positions.

The Bears HC position really looked like an absolute prime gig in January. A fresh #1 pick and an ascending roster that looked ready to make the playoffs. None of that will be the case by next January. Bears prob missed their window.

 

What wonderful memories you're making with your kids Ev! I remember how busy it was for me when my kids were competing in hockey, figure skating, soccer and more soccer, rugby, wrestling and swimming. I spent years of my life standing in arenas and on the sidelines of soccer fields (I coached). My husband is a long distance trucker so I did all of the practice and games by myself. It was exhausting but so much fun. My 2 kids made me so proud

Keep those memories locked in your heart Ev. You'll love looking back through them some day.

 

I agree. The Patriots are in complete disarrary, so if they lose this one, they'd go winless. But we can't forget they did have two blowouts this year against crappy teams, this should be an easy win. After two losses and the hotseat questions, I guarantee Flus will have them ready to play.

The problem is, as you point out, after that he's going to run into coach after coach that is flat out better than him (only exception is Seattle, I could see him stealing a win here). It's too bad the Seahawks game is in Chicago because a buddy of mine got his BIL's season tickets so I would have been able to go with some decent seats. Divisional we might steal a game from the Vikings, and maybe *one* from the other two. The Packers are the worst of the 3, so they will sweep us fucking again.

 

My wife called me a "tiger dad" because I keep saying yes to all this stuff, but I think we're doing less than you heh. The little dude does Hockey 5 days a week, but also after school he was in cross country until last week, then he'll do bball intramurals/badminton and take it easy before track in the spring, hockey season is Sep-April, but then he joined Jazz Band too. The little lady just does dance, figure skating but not competitive yet, and then she found her way into choir which is fucking 7am on wednesday. As long as they are out there having a good time socializing and getting good exercise, I am enjoying it. As baby says I'm going to look back on this fondly so might as well make the most of it. Little dude has mentioned soccer and tennis as potential summer sports so we'll see how that goes.

They finally told the team on Monday and gave me the A to iron on last night heh. They've got a double header this weekend against some cupcake teams so I'm looking forward to them showing up, because last week was terrible. At one point in that game my son finally kicks the puck out of the defensive zone, wins a puck battle in neutral ice, then as he's battling in the corner the kid dives towards the boards in front of him (they were a little tangled up) rather than go for the puck and the ref calls the only penalty of the game on him for "holding". After kids have been tripping each other and literal punches thrown all game, they call this ticky tack bullshit. But then I watch the replay on live barn, and I see that even though the kid dove and my son had gotten to the puck anyway, the rest of the other team had already collapsed on his position and his teammates were lollygagging up the ice so he had no outlet for a pass (or he'd have to try and 1 on 4+Goalie a goal, heh).

The good news was after he went into the box, they spent the entire PK in the offensive zone, so at least his unjust penalty woke them the fuck up a bit. I can't say enough about how much I have come to love this sport watching these kids play. They are tough as hell. Oh you got knocked on your ass and it hurts? Get hit in the back with a puck going 60MPH? Competitive contact, part of the game, get the fuck up and fight for that puck, plays not dead. As young as 6 these kids learn that lesson, heh.

Sounds like the right call on tennis for your daughter, that balance man. The better you become, the more serious it gets, the more keeping perspective has to figure in. Enough push she grows, but not so much that she ends up resenting you and hating the sport. Nothing wrong with a breather and reassess.