Bears 2024

[Coach Nowlin]

Really hope Kliff Kingbury is just a ploy to drive up the pice on trading #1

HARD PASS 

[Muda69]

1 hour ago, Coach Nowlin said:

Really hope Kliff Kingbury is just a ploy to drive up the pice on trading #1

HARD PASS 

Go AIR RAID!

 

[Bash Riprock]

[WolvesOnTheProwl]

19 hours ago, Bash Riprock said:

Is it true KK made bears fly out to California to meet with him? Maybe that’s common but don’t think he’s worth it.

[Bash Riprock]

5 hours ago, WolvesOnTheProwl said:

Is it true KK made bears fly out to California to meet with him? Maybe that’s common but don’t think he’s worth it.

Not sure. Agree with you about worth. I believe it all about KK’s relationship with Caleb Williams. 

[Boilernation]

10 hours ago, Bash Riprock said:

Not sure. Agree with you about worth. I believe it all about KK’s relationship with Caleb Williams. 

Agreed. I suspect we'll hear a lot of news regarding interviews and who the Bears are talking to. I would hope Poles interviews as many people as possibly to collect data on hjow prospective OC's feel about and would utilize Fields, Williams, Maye and possibly Jayden Daniels.

[Bobref]

4 hours ago, Boilernation said:

Agreed. I suspect we'll hear a lot of news regarding interviews and who the Bears are talking to. I would hope Poles interviews as many people as possibly to collect data on hjow prospective OC's feel about and would utilize Fields, Williams, Maye and possibly Jayden Daniels.

I have just one question: Have the Bears involved Fields in any way in the process of finding a new OC? The answer will reveal a lot. 

[Boilernation]

18 hours ago, Bobref said:

I have just one question: Have the Bears involved Fields in any way in the process of finding a new OC? The answer will reveal a lot. 

Nothing has been reported that he's involved. I'm leaning towards them taking Caleb Williams and trading Fields. But, based on them interviewing Roman I'm not sold that they're moving on from Fields. Roman's specialty is moreso someone like Fields.

[Bobref]

31 minutes ago, Boilernation said:

Nothing has been reported that he's involved. I'm leaning towards them taking Caleb Williams and trading Fields. But, based on them interviewing Roman I'm not sold that they're moving on from Fields. Roman's specialty is moreso someone like Fields.

If they intend to keep Fields, I imagine he’d be involved in some way in hiring a new OC.

[Muda69]

https://sports.yahoo.com/bears-reportedly-hire-shane-waldron-as-next-oc-180402819.html

Quote

The Chicago Bears have reportedly locked in on its next offensive coordinator. Shane Waldron and the Bears are reportedly in the final stages of agreeing to a deal to bring Waldron to the Windy City.

According to ESPN's Courtney Cronin, Waldron was the first person Chicago interviewed for its vacancy after firing former offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, after two seasons, on Jan. 10. The Bears interviewed nine candidates in total after cleaning out their offensive coaching staff.

...

Waldron has spent the last three seasons as the Seattle Seahawks' offensive coordinator. He coached quarterback Russell Wilson in his final season with the team in 2021, and Geno Smith the last two years.

In his first season as the starter, Waldron helped Smith experience a career renaissance. The journeyman quarterback enjoyed a career-best season, finishing first in completion percentage (69.8), fourth in touchdowns (30), fifth in passer rating (100.9) and eighth in passing yards (4,282).

The Seahawks also reached the playoffs in 2022 as a result of Smith's exceptional year. But Smith went through a sophomore slump in 2023, and the Seattle offense took a step back.

In fact, it resembled some of the numbers for Chicago's offense. The Seahawks finished 17th in points per game (21.4), while the Bears were one spot behind them at 18th (21.2). Seattle was 21st in yards per game (322.9) and Chicago came in one place better at 20th (332.2).

So this is an upgrade in OC?  Really?

 

[Boilernation]

33 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

https://sports.yahoo.com/bears-reportedly-hire-shane-waldron-as-next-oc-180402819.html

So this is an upgrade in OC?  Really?

 

He was a passing game Coordinator for McVay before taking the OC job in Seattle. Poles is known to be found of Shanahan and McVay. Makes sense. Yes, I would definately say he's an upgrade over Getsy. 

[Coach Nowlin]

Very much an upgrade because of this reason here:  

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SmitGe00.htm

 

Took GENO SMITH and in year 1 he was 9th in MVP voting........ GENO SMITH .........

[Irishman]

lol

 

 

[Bobref]

On 1/23/2024 at 1:24 PM, Coach Nowlin said:

Very much an upgrade because of this reason here:  

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SmitGe00.htm

 

Took GENO SMITH and in year 1 he was 9th in MVP voting........ GENO SMITH .........

And here’s someone who thinks the hiring of Waldron and the new QB Coach shows that the Bears are keeping Fields. https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-bears-2-hires-franchise-altering  I hope they’re right.

Chicago Bears: Two hires affirm franchise-altering decision

The Chicago Bears have a big decision to make at quarterback. It seems that they made their decision and their hires on offense signal it.

The Chicago Bears kicked off their offseason by trying to set up their coaching staff. Days after their season ended, they fired nearly the entire offensive coaching staff, led by offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. They then started a search for a new offensive coordinator.

Last week, after nine interviews the Bears hired former Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron to do the same in Chicago. Days later, they hired Kerry Joseph to be the quarterbacks coach.

While Chicago also hired a defensive coordinator over the weekend, the main concern is what happens at quarterback. Do the moves the Bears made last week signal their plans?

Well, since general manager Ryan Poles and his team aren’t saying anything (yet), we only have speculation. Many people have analyzed every move he’s made. If he sneezes a certain way they speculate it has something to do with whether he’ll keep Justin Fields or use the #1 pick on Caleb Williams.

Until he makes his final move and says something about it, we only have speculation. However, we can try to look at some of the facts already in front of us to at least make an educated guess. The moves Poles made could signal what decision the Chicago Bears made one way or another.

Let’s take a look at what Poles’ moves could signal.

Hiring Waldron

What does the Waldron hiring signal? Well, Waldron came in having worked with Jared Goff, Russell Wilson, and Geno Smith. Goff had some of his best seasons when he was with the Los Angeles Rams. Waldron was the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

In 2021, Waldron went to Seattle to become their offensive coordinator. He had Russell Wilson as his quarterback. It did not go as well as planned. A big reason for that was that Wilson dealt with injury.

The Seahawks traded Wilson to the Denver Broncos and Smith took over. Under Waldron, Smith had a career resurgence. In 2022, he led the NFL in completion percentage, fourth in passing touchdowns, and eighth in passing yards.

What Waldron does not have is experience in taking a rookie quarterback and molding him.

The Chicago Bears did interview Kliff Kingsbury, who worked with Williams in 2023. Kingsbury is fond of using the air raid offense, a wide-open high-tempo system. Instead, the Bears went with the Sean McVay coaching tree. He uses the West Coast offense using a wide zone run.

Hiring Joseph

Joseph is a more interesting hire that could signal the Chicago Bears’ plans. As much as Waldron worked with Smith, it was Joseph who had the day-to-day interaction with Smith. He took over as quarterbacks coach for the Seahawks at the same time Smith took over as starting quarterback.

Just like Waldron, Joseph does not have experience developing a rookie quarterback. He worked well with Smith, a veteran.

Joseph played in the NFL from 1998-2001. He was a quarterback at McNeese State but had to switch to defensive back. After he left the league, he went to the Canadian Football League and had some success as a quarterback.

Joseph was a running quarterback, similar to Fields. He was the third quarterback in the CFL to rush for over 1,000 yards (Fields was the third quarterback to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season). In his CFL career, he passed for 28,097 yards and rushed for 4,584 yards.

Waldron and Joseph have experience in helping veteran quarterbacks improve. Neither one has experience taking a rookie and developing him. This could be a case of the Chicago Bears holding onto Fields and building around him.

 

[Gipper]

As we all know, I'm a Packer fan, we've got our guy.  But as for the Bears, I don't think QB1 is the problem.  It's ownership.  The McCaskeys ae too old for this and their business model is past stale.  Bringing in Caleb Williams is not the quick fix as they don't really have many legitimate deep all threats outside of Kmet and Moore.  

[Boilernation]

On 2/1/2024 at 9:44 AM, Gipper said:

As we all know, I'm a Packer fan, we've got our guy.  But as for the Bears, I don't think QB1 is the problem.  It's ownership.  The McCaskeys ae too old for this and their business model is past stale.  Bringing in Caleb Williams is not the quick fix as they don't really have many legitimate deep all threats outside of Kmet and Moore.  

I get why the McCaskey's are always the scape goats and have been nothing but disastrous for the Bears, but isn't isn't fair to say that them hiring Kevin Warren to be President of football operations was them finally changing their business model? Prior to Warren, Ted Phillips was the only non McCaskey to hold hte role. And Phillips was just a career Acountant in the organization who had no actual knowledge of football.

[Bash Riprock]

[Bobref]

Heard some interesting takes on the Bears-Fields situation:

1. Washington has the #2 pick, and they are definitely going to take a QB. Caleb Williams, in addition to being the consensus #1 draft choice, grew up in Washington, D.C., and was coached last season by Kliff Kingsbury at USC. He’s now the Washington OC. Would they trade up to get #1, and if so, how much would they give up?
2. Caleb Williams is in a unique position. He is the first “generational QB talent” of the NIL era. He can go back to USC for another season and still make millions in NIL. He’s doing national TV commercials. In fact, under the rookie pay scale, he would likely make more money by staying than he would make in the first year of his NFL career. He is estimated to make $3.2 million in NIL alone. So, he has more leverage than any undrafted college player has ever had. If he doesn’t want to go to the Bears, he has a legitimate alternative.
3. The Bears should be mindful of Winston Churchill’s admonition the “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” They drafted Trubisky when the head coach, Jon Fox, was a dead man walking. Predictably, he was fired after the season and Trubisky had to push the reset button and learn a new system his second year, too. He never recovered. Then, they did the same with Fields, when Matt Nagy was “pre-fired,” and Fields had to learn a new system in his second year, with predictable results. Finally, the same scenario is rearing its ugly head now, as Eberflus is definitely gone if he doesn’t produce this season. It’s deja vu all over again.

So, what makes the most sense for the Bears?

[Bash Riprock]

2 hours ago, Bobref said:

Heard some interesting takes on the Bears-Fields situation:

1. Washington has the #2 pick, and they are definitely going to take a QB. Caleb Williams, in addition to being the consensus #1 draft choice, grew up in Washington, D.C., and was coached last season by Kliff Kingsbury at USC. He’s now the Washington OC. Would they trade up to get #1, and if so, how much would they give up?
2. Caleb Williams is in a unique position. He is the first “generational QB talent” of the NIL era. He can go back to USC for another season and still make millions in NIL. He’s doing national TV commercials. In fact, under the rookie pay scale, he would likely make more money by staying than he would make in the first year of his NFL career. He is estimated to make $3.2 million in NIL alone. So, he has more leverage than any undrafted college player has ever had. If he doesn’t want to go to the Bears, he has a legitimate alternative.
3. The Bears should be mindful of Winston Churchill’s admonition the “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” They drafted Trubisky when the head coach, Jon Fox, was a dead man walking. Predictably, he was fired after the season and Trubisky had to push the reset button and learn a new system his second year, too. He never recovered. Then, they did the same with Fields, when Matt Nagy was “pre-fired,” and Fields had to learn a new system in his second year, with predictable results. Finally, the same scenario is rearing its ugly head now, as Eberflus is definitely gone if he doesn’t produce this season. It’s deja vu all over again.

So, what makes the most sense for the Bears?

 

May be the time to pass on Bo Callahan and go with Vontae Mack.....

 

[Boilernation]

2 hours ago, Bobref said:

Heard some interesting takes on the Bears-Fields situation:

1. Washington has the #2 pick, and they are definitely going to take a QB. Caleb Williams, in addition to being the consensus #1 draft choice, grew up in Washington, D.C., and was coached last season by Kliff Kingsbury at USC. He’s now the Washington OC. Would they trade up to get #1, and if so, how much would they give up?
2. Caleb Williams is in a unique position. He is the first “generational QB talent” of the NIL era. He can go back to USC for another season and still make millions in NIL. He’s doing national TV commercials. In fact, under the rookie pay scale, he would likely make more money by staying than he would make in the first year of his NFL career. He is estimated to make $3.2 million in NIL alone. So, he has more leverage than any undrafted college player has ever had. If he doesn’t want to go to the Bears, he has a legitimate alternative.
3. The Bears should be mindful of Winston Churchill’s admonition the “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” They drafted Trubisky when the head coach, Jon Fox, was a dead man walking. Predictably, he was fired after the season and Trubisky had to push the reset button and learn a new system his second year, too. He never recovered. Then, they did the same with Fields, when Matt Nagy was “pre-fired,” and Fields had to learn a new system in his second year, with predictable results. Finally, the same scenario is rearing its ugly head now, as Eberflus is definitely gone if he doesn’t produce this season. It’s deja vu all over again.

So, what makes the most sense for the Bears?

From what I've heard Washington is open that they are in need of a full rebuild and plan on doing it the in draft. That will be hard to do if they give away picks to trade up to #1. Something else to consider, they have one Air Raid QB on roster (Howell) and taking Maye at #2 would give them another Air Raid QB to go along with the Air Raid guru they just brouth in to be OC. 

My personal opinion is that the Bears are going to reset the clock on the QB pay scale and bring in Williams. 

[Bash Riprock]

2 hours ago, Boilernation said:

From what I've heard Washington is open that they are in need of a full rebuild and plan on doing it the in draft. That will be hard to do if they give away picks to trade up to #1. Something else to consider, they have one Air Raid QB on roster (Howell) and taking Maye at #2 would give them another Air Raid QB to go along with the Air Raid guru they just brouth in to be OC. 

My personal opinion is that the Bears are going to reset the clock on the QB pay scale and bring in Williams. 

interesting take...would seem to align with your thoughts

https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/caleb-williams-betting-favorite-for-bears-despite-possible-trade-haul

[Coach Nowlin]

Folks, Kliff Kingsbury job title at USC was Offensive Analyst, per NCAA rules (stop chuckling) anyone who holds that title is NOT ALLOWED to be directly involved in any on field coaching roles either in practice or game.   

More you know friends, more you know 

 

[Boilernation]

3 hours ago, Coach Nowlin said:

Folks, Kliff Kingsbury job title at USC was Offensive Analyst, per NCAA rules (stop chuckling) anyone who holds that title is NOT ALLOWED to be directly involved in any on field coaching roles either in practice or game.   

More you know friends, more you know 

 

Haha. That's funny. Is it safe to say if this stint in Washington doesn't end well he'll finally stop getting coveted jobs for being an "Air Raid Guru?"

[Coach Nowlin]

Post without Comment:    All you need to know today!!  THE WINDY CITY FLYER

 

 

NFL<. you BIG JERKS
 

[Muda69]

If Chicago can’t exploit Washington’s obvious desire for Caleb Williams, somebody needs to be fired: https://deadspin.com/caleb-williams-josh-fields-nfl-chicago-bears-commanders-1851235854

Quote

There are enough patsies in need of a quarterback that Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles would be foolish to not take the many godfather offers that will come his way before the NFL Draft on April 25. Chief among them are the Washington Commanders, who have a new owner, new GM and new coach desperately trying to reset the culture. With the hire of Kliff Kiingsbury as the offensive coordinator, Washington might as well write “Mark” on its forehead.

A year ago, the Bears fleeced the Carolina Panthers for a No. 1 receiver, this year’s No. 1 pick and more because David Tepper has the patience of a billionaire. It was the kind of move that can expedite the trajectory of a franchise, and they can do it again. It’d be one thing if Justin Fields was unable to take advantage of the assets Pole provided him, but D.J. Moore surpassed 1,300 yards and endorsed his QB in the process.

All Chicago has to do is convince Washington that other suitors for Williams are eager and willing to part with real draft capital in order to draft the best quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck. New England and Atlanta could put together offers. Hell, what is Adam Schefter’s rate to leak nonexistent trades? It can’t be much more than a retweet and a Chipotle gift card.

The Patriots haven’t replaced Bill Belichick as GM, and that always makes for good entertainment and potential misplays, especially for an ownership group intent on proving itself post-Hoodie. Although the Pats don’t have a skill player the caliber of Moore to push Fields’ supporting cast to league-best status, they have their own first- through fifth-round picks this year and the next.

The Atlanta Falcons have Drake London and Kyle Pitts, and hold the rights to their most valuable picks this year and the next. Just gin up some interest, make rookie Commanders GM Adam Peters sweat from the pressure of rookie owner Josh Harris, and wait out the best offer. The Commanders have Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson and Antonio Gibson, and the rights to their best picks in 2024 and ’25.

The Bears went through this last year, so Poles should be familiar with how it works. Chicago doesn’t even have to take on veteran salaries if they don’t want to. Trading either Fields or the pick for Williams should net a nice haul, but the return for the No. 1 pick is probably better than a known, and likely undervalued, quantity.

Fields is on his rookie deal for another year, and even if he elevates his play to All-Pro status in 2024, his fifth-year option is an estimated $23 million, which is far below what other quarterbacks — franchise or Danny Dimes — are getting paid. Grab a bunch of picks and draft cheap talent to avoid future cap pratfalls.

Chicago is in a win-now-or-win-later situation. How Poles handles it will speak to the confidence he has in the job he’s done thus far. Punting on Fields to draft Williams guarantees him a few more years at the helm, but trading the pick is much riskier because the expectations carry over, and he still has to do the job of hitting on those picks. The reward for winning sooner, with a guy the city has already embraced, is likely an extension and even greater trust.

That being said, if you’re a GM and can’t see the obvious dynamism Fields possesses, or the leap he made when given a No. 1 receiver, maybe it’s you who the franchise should part with.