I am going with the positive

[Hoog]

Ok, I didn't like the Graham signing or the Foles trade but I'm going to the positive side here.

I like what I hear from Graham and with the exception of his rookie year and last year, he has caught 42 plus balls every year. Thats much better productuon than what we have gotten from the TE spot. His PT was reduced a ton last year and he still got 38 catches so he still has some play in him.

Foles is Foles, I think he will ve very serviceable in our offense but my hope is he will push and help Trubisky take the next step. Mitch is younger and more athletic. Would love to have him take the unexpected step.

I love the Quinn and Ifedi signings so all good there. The fill in signings are good as well. At the CB spot I think its a long line and someone will step up. Burns or the Canadian guy are my prediction. If Burns can find his confidence, he'd be my choice for sure.

Overall, there is a huge upside here but it just needs to fall into place. The draft will be key though so can't wait.

[G08]

Pending health, I think we are going to have an elite defense and will see an offense that places a greater emphasis on running the ball.

With a defense like this, you don't need to be airing the ball out and taking kill shots like the Kansas City Chiefs do. Over time I'm sure the goal will to be that team, but right now my hope is they establish the run game, build play-action off it and take timely and calculated shots.

Graham, to me, isn't worth the money we are paying him but I've said this is the cost of whiffing on draft picks.

I loved the Foles trade from a managerial standpoint. You have a Super Bowl MVP QB that accomplished this as QB2. He is your hedge to Trubisky sucking/getting hurt AND he has the ability, if he wants, to be our bridge QB if we draft a QB in 2021. It was brilliant in it's execution, I don't really give a shit about the $$$.

[wab]

I don't have a great feeling about the upcoming season. I'll just say that.

[southdakbearfan]

I don't have a great feeling about the upcoming season. I'll just say that.

Kind of feel the same, but it would seem that years when I feel that way are typically years when they do well.

[dplank]

Barring injury, our defense should be Top 5 and possibly as high as #1. Great defense will create a consistency that we've lacked, and Foles creates an acceptable "performance floor" at QB to protect us from a 2019 repeat.

I'll be very surprised if we don't make the playoffs.

[wab]

Barring injury, our defense should be Top 5 and possibly as high as #1. Great defense will create a consistency that we've lacked, and Foles creates an acceptable "performance floor" at QB to protect us from a 2019 repeat.

I'll be very surprised if we don't make the playoffs.

I could see the playoffs. But the Bears weren't too terribly far from that last season (even if they didn't play well).

History is against the Bears making the Super Bowl though

[crueltyabc]

I'm not convinced that these changes in free agency translate into more than another win or two AT BEST.

Offense
Mitch never scored but he didn't throw bad picks, and Nick will do that a bit. The oline should be better but could still have injury and depth problems. Graham, Miller, and Burton are all unreliable. Gabriel is gone.

Defense
The pass rush should be better with Quinn, but ILBs are worse and CBs are worse. I'm assuming we can push on Safety because HaHa wasn't great.

The Bears don't really have money for impact FAs anymore, and they don't have much draft capital. It's very very optimistic to think they get two starters. More realistically, I hope the picks are ready to fill in later this year when injuries hit. I'm assuming 8-8 again.

[Yogi da Bear]

I don't have a great feeling about the upcoming season. I'll just say that.

Kind of feel the same, but it would seem that years when I feel that way are typically years when they do well.

Oh, I do. But then I ALWAY do. 19-0 Baby! Or is it 20-0 with the new CBA?

Mitchell's going to figure it out, and I expect nothing less than the #1 defense! In search of QBs:

[BreadNCircuses]

I'm not convinced that these changes in free agency translate into more than another win or two AT BEST.

Defense
The pass rush should be better with Quinn, but ILBs are worse and CBs are worse. I'm assuming we can push on Safety because HaHa wasn't great.

Another 2 wins and we're a playoff team.

The ILBs -- we return the same starters as last year, so the question is who we get as depth by the time the season starts.

CB, we have 2 of the same 3 starting CBs from last year. Prince was an obvious salary cap casualty, in addition to having lost a step, so while we might be marginally worse there, we might also have upside, and a better pass rush makes the coverage easier

[G08]

I see an elite front 7. I'd argue the best in the NFL.

Hicks Goldman Nichols

Mack Smith Trevathan Quinn

Are you kidding me? That's fucking filthy! Lean on that, lean on your defense while you build up your offense. At minimum we need to be a solid rushing team. I've been a David Montgomery fan since his Iowa State days (and I'm a Hawkeye). Give this kid a decent line and he'll make them look good. Last year it was pure shit and he still managed to churn out 3.7 a pop. You give this kid 15, 20 touches a game and he'll take care of you.

[Richie]

I'm not convinced that these changes in free agency translate into more than another win or two AT BEST.

Offense
Mitch never scored but he didn't throw bad picks, and Nick will do that a bit. The oline should be better but could still have injury and depth problems. Graham, Miller, and Burton are all unreliable. Gabriel is gone.

Defense
The pass rush should be better with Quinn, but ILBs are worse and CBs are worse. I'm assuming we can push on Safety because HaHa wasn't great.

The Bears don't really have money for impact FAs anymore, and they don't have much draft capital. It's very very optimistic to think they get two starters. More realistically, I hope the picks are ready to fill in later this year when injuries hit. I'm assuming 8-8 again.

I don't follow the logic with the ILB's. We return Trevathan/Roquan who were our ILB's the past two seasons.

Miller is unreliable? He was one of the better receivers in the league down the stretch until Nagy decided to have him return a kick-off early in the last game of the season. Miller looks primed to breakout, IMO. He was legitimately fantastic in the 2nd half.

CB is truly "remains to be seen". Prince is just a name at this point and has dropped off. Roberson has more upside. We could easily be better. Not for certain... but it certainly is far from decided.

Foles has a lower career INT% than Mitch. Foles has 1698 career attempts to Mitch's 1280. Not sure where you're coming from there either.

[HurricaneBear]

I'm not convinced that these changes in free agency translate into more than another win or two AT BEST.

Offense
Mitch never scored but he didn't throw bad picks, and Nick will do that a bit. The oline should be better but could still have injury and depth problems. Graham, Miller, and Burton are all unreliable. Gabriel is gone.

Defense
The pass rush should be better with Quinn, but ILBs are worse and CBs are worse. I'm assuming we can push on Safety because HaHa wasn't great.

The Bears don't really have money for impact FAs anymore, and they don't have much draft capital. It's very very optimistic to think they get two starters. More realistically, I hope the picks are ready to fill in later this year when injuries hit. I'm assuming 8-8 again.

Graham - how is he unreliable? He's always healthy, has played in systems with his last two teams that don't feature the tight end yet when called upon still delivered. Through it all he soldiered on and was a good team player. How is that unreliable?

ILB - how in any way are they worse? This one really bothers me. We return the same two starters, one who is an ascending player in Smith and one who is a team leader and still not old enough to expect a drop off in DT. Going into last season no one gave two shits about Kwit, KPL, Iggy or the rest of the back ups. Going into this season no one gives a shit about the backups. Just like last year if there's an injury one of the young guys needs to step up as they did last year. And lets no act like KPL(who I liked) or Kwit(who is overrated badly by alot and will show it this year) are hard to replace. So how are they worse?

To be fair now, I will agree with you on losing Gabriel. That one worries me too.

[dplank]

I'm not convinced that these changes in free agency translate into more than another win or two AT BEST.

Offense
Mitch never scored but he didn't throw bad picks, and Nick will do that a bit. The oline should be better but could still have injury and depth problems. Graham, Miller, and Burton are all unreliable. Gabriel is gone.

Defense
The pass rush should be better with Quinn, but ILBs are worse and CBs are worse. I'm assuming we can push on Safety because HaHa wasn't great.

The Bears don't really have money for impact FAs anymore, and they don't have much draft capital. It's very very optimistic to think they get two starters. More realistically, I hope the picks are ready to fill in later this year when injuries hit. I'm assuming 8-8 again.

Graham - how is he unreliable? He's always healthy, has played in systems with his last two teams that don't feature the tight end yet when called upon still delivered. Through it all he soldiered on and was a good team player. How is that unreliable?

ILB - how in any way are they worse? This one really bothers me. We return the same two starters, one who is an ascending player in Smith and one who is a team leader and still not old enough to expect a drop off in DT. Going into last season no one gave two shits about Kwit, KPL, Iggy or the rest of the back ups. Going into this season no one gives a shit about the backups. Just like last year if there's an injury one of the young guys needs to step up as they did last year. And lets no act like KPL(who I liked) or Kwit(who is overrated badly by alot and will show it this year) are hard to replace. So how are they worse?

To be fair now, I will agree with you on losing Gabriel. That one worries me too.

Good post. The original post also ignores the return of Akiem Hicks to our DL, which is massive. Our front 7 will have 2 major changes, Hicks starts over RRH (who moves back to his best fill in role), and Quinn starts over Floyd (who is now gone). That's adding two potential pro bowlers to your already good front 7, they are gonna be nasty.

We lost depth at ILB, sure, but not starters. We ADDED depth on our DL with Hicks coming back, I'd argue that's more important. We'll see who steps up if Danny gets hurt, Kwit surprised so could someone else esp. when surrounded by all this talent.

I'm not worried about Gabriel at all. Was high on him too last year, and I don't believe Nagy used him right TBH. But the fact is, given how Nagy calls plays, we were a better WR unit out there with Miller and Wims getting more reps after Gabriel got hurt. This is addition by subtraction IMO.

[Otis Day]

The D will need to score here and there. I, at this point, just do not have confidence in the offense to translate field position into TDs. Time will tell. It almost seems like they just changed the furniture around for a new look, but it is still the same room.

[G08]

I've got one... does this team feel like the 2015 Denver Broncos?

Miller/Ware = Mack/Quinn

Marshall/Trevathan = Smith/Trevathan

[wab]

I've got one... does this team feel like the 2015 Denver Broncos?

Miller/Ware = Mack/Quinn

Marshall/Trevathan = Smith/Trevathan

Manning > Foles

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Not in 2015 he wasn't wab! He had 67.9 passer rating with 9 TDs to 17 INTs.

If a QB with those numbers can win a Super Bowl then there's hope for us Bears fans after all!

[dplank]

Not in 2015 he wasn't Wab...not even close. The Broncos won IN SPITE of Manning, who was finished as a player in 2015.

He had a historically bad 2015, absolutely awful.

59% comp pct, 9 TD 17 INT, and a QB rating of 67.9. Probably the worst starting QB in the NFL that year. And, if you think he turned it on for the playoffs...he did not.

In the super bowl itself, he went 56% comp pct, 0 TD 1 INT, 56.6 QB rating.

They won in spite of Manning. And I'm beyond certain that Foles would do better than this. Hell, I think Trubisky would do better than this.

I 100% see our path to winning being the Broncos 2015 path, it's why I'm so jacked about the Quinn signing. Teams simply couldn't deal with Ware/Miller/Wolfe all at once, we have Quinn/Mack/Hicks which might be a tick better. They had Talib playing well at CB, we have Fuller and EJax. Both teams had Danny T, but we also have Roquan. I like our chances.

[G08]

I've got one... does this team feel like the 2015 Denver Broncos?

Miller/Ware = Mack/Quinn

Marshall/Trevathan = Smith/Trevathan

Manning > Foles

Manning was awful that year brochacho: 9 TDs to 17 INTs in 10 regular season games

I dunno... if the offense simply doesn't suck I think we can make some noise...

[crueltyabc]

I'd like to keep arguing with you guys but it feels wrong in the positivity thread. Proceed with your offseason hope

[wab]

Manning > Foles

Manning was awful that year brochacho: 9 TDs to 17 INTs in 10 regular season games

I dunno... if the offense simply doesn't suck I think we can make some noise...

I just don't think I see "Nick Foles" next to the names "Peyton Manning" and "Kurt Warner" as players who have taken two different teams to the Super Bowl.

[dplank]

Manning doesn't belong on that list either frankly...he nearly drug that team down. Brock friggin Osweiller looked better for them (and turned that into a lot of cash).

Foles has had one of the weirdest, most interesting careers I can recall. That Rich Eisen video I posted somewhere was crazy interesting to me...wild ride he's had. Being the 3rd QB to lead his team to a Super Bowl seems absolutely par for the course for him at this point.

[G08]

Manning was awful that year brochacho: 9 TDs to 17 INTs in 10 regular season games

I dunno... if the offense simply doesn't suck I think we can make some noise...

I just don't think I see "Nick Foles" next to the names "Peyton Manning" and "Kurt Warner" as players who have taken two different teams to the Super Bowl.

I don't look at the name / QB as much as I look at the situation in which he finds himself.