The National Media Doesn't Get It

[Bearfacts]

National Media Missing Justin Fields Story Because They Don’t Actually Know What’s Happening

Jeff Hughes | May 20th, 2022 https://www.dabearsblog.com/2022/why-th ... elds-story

Justin Fields is not a finished product.

Anyone who watched him over the duration of his rookie season knows that. The new GM and head coach and offensive coordinator know that. So why are so many in the national media – the Orlovsky and Tanier types – obsessing over the weapons surrounding him in his sophomore season? Why are they acting like all Fields needs is another receiver or two to reach the heights of the position?

It is pretty simple. First, they have no idea what is going on at Halas Hall because Halas Hall ain’t talking to anybody in the press these days. But second, and perhaps most importantly, it all comes down to an over-obsession with the NFL Draft.

When Ryan Poles, Matt Eberflus and Luke Getsy turned on the tape from 2021, they didn’t see a quarterback immediately ready to take the leap into the elite. They saw a quarterback needing significant mechanical alterations. They saw a quarterback failing to adjust to the speed of the game around him. They saw a quarterback relying exclusively on his athleticism to create positive plays. (They also saw ineptitude in the “system” around Fields but that’s well-worn territory at this stage.) Fields was a rookie. And he played like one.

Since meeting and working with Fields, the new leadership has been overwhelmingly impressed. He’s already instituted those mechanical changes and looks comfortable with them. His command of the playbook in just a few months has allowed him to be a vocal leader both on the field and in the meeting rooms. His charisma is infectious – this is his team and the players around him are responding. The leadership loves everything they’ve seen from Fields since taking over the franchise. But folks, he still has to DO IT on Sundays. That’s all that matters.

The Bears are not desperate. They are not at the top of the sport. They didn’t make their 2022 off-season about building around Justin Fields because the primary focus has been building Justin Fields. The Bears have a plan. Install a QB-friendly scheme. Enhance the running game. Rebuild the defense. Give Fields the structure to improve. They believe they have done that for 2022. And there’s a lot of excitement in the building because of it.

[Bearfacts]

I've only hit the highlights here but I believe what Jeff Hughes is saying makes sense. A whole lot more sense than what we see or hear every single week from the national media. They misreport because they don't get it. They don't understand the Bears plan.

Do you agree or disagree?

[spudbear]

They didn’t make their 2022 off-season about building around Justin Fields because the primary focus has been building Justin Fields. The Bears have a plan. Install a QB-friendly scheme. Enhance the running game. Rebuild the defense. Give Fields the structure to improve. They believe they have done that for 2022. And there’s a lot of excitement in the building because of it.

This was the failure of the last regime, thinking they could get by with Dalton and keeping Fields on the bench. When Fields outplayed Dalton it exposed Nagus. He had not "built" up Fields but was looking to run his offense his way. He did not give Fields the environment/playcalls to help his success.

That first line is a keeper. The choice was to build around FIelds after they build him up. Some may disagree but that is where we seem to be at. Hopefully the defensive rebuild will not be so painful.

[Bearfacts]

They didn’t make their 2022 off-season about building around Justin Fields because the primary focus has been building Justin Fields. The Bears have a plan. Install a QB-friendly scheme. Enhance the running game. Rebuild the defense. Give Fields the structure to improve. They believe they have done that for 2022. And there’s a lot of excitement in the building because of it.

This was the failure of the last regime, thinking they could get by with Dalton and keeping Fields on the bench. When Fields outplayed Dalton it exposed Nagus. He had not "built" up Fields but was looking to run his offense his way. He did not give Fields the environment/playcalls to help his success.

That first line is a keeper. The choice was to build around FIelds after they build him up. Some may disagree but that is where we seem to be at. Hopefully the defensive rebuild will not be so painful.

You've hit on what feels different this time not only in the front office but at the coaching level as well.

Pace and Nagy looked for players to play in Nagy's offense. An offense that failed no matter who played in it and quarterbacked it.

Poles and "Flus" have schemes they want to run and Poles will sign and draft players who fit but they prefer to build with younger players they can build up via coaching them to play in their schemes. While they inherited Fields unlike Nagy no one is trying to make him fit in ways that he doesn't. They're working to fix his flaws and build him into a solid NFL passer while also working to bring in younger talent to support him. If it works they entire team advances together as a unit with Poles upgrading as they go.

Being somewhat of an "oldster" this approach isn't all that much different than how Lombardi built the '60s Green Bay Packers. The story as told by his players is that in his very first meeting he held up a "Duke" and said gentlemen this is a football. We're gonna start with that and learn to play this game the correct way. Much like Poles he brought in players from other teams who didn't fit there but fit his approach and could play his system which was also fairly simple and depended on great execution. It worked. Big time.

[dplank]

I've only hit the highlights here but I believe what Jeff Hughes is saying makes sense. A whole lot more sense than what we see or hear every single week from the national media. They misreport because they don't get it. They don't understand the Bears plan.

Do you agree or disagree?

Interesting how this works...

This was terrible writing with highly suspect logic / logical flaws all over the place. It was also spot on correct on numerous points, but failed to connect those individual points to the assertion above that they "don't understand the plan" or, more specifically, that THIS WRITER understands the plan better than they do - because he says no one but Poles actually knows the plan, before then telling us what the plan is lmao.

What's interesting is that all the stuff you cut/pasted above are the points that I see as correct. I agree with them. But the stuff you left out is the stuff that was flawed. For example:

Desperate teams give Zay Jones $10 million a year. (The Jaguars have been in a perennial desperation.) Teams that are already at the top of the sport can draft projects like Christian Watson or an injured Skyy Moore. The Bears are not desperate. They are not at the top of the sport. They didn’t make their 2022 off-season about building around Justin Fields because the primary focus has been building Justin Fields. The Orlovsky and Tanier types think Fields is already built because some nonsense they saw on the Purdue tape. The Bears are a team that thinks they have their answer at quarterback and are eager to see if that truly is the case this coming season.

He makes the exact same logic mistake that he's accusing the national media of making - he's assuming they are making their comments about maximizing a ready player - that he's already built - and they are not about issues with building/developing that player. That is simply a false depiction of the national media. The Ross Tucker stuff I just posted explicitly talked about the Bears ruining a prospect / not developing him properly. That's exactly opposite how this guy frames it above. And this is typically how internet arguments go - someone makes a point, and once someone else gets entrenched into opposition for whatever reason, they start moving goalposts/distorting/making logic leaps/etc. That's what I see here. And that doesn't dismiss all the good individual points within - like, both things can be true.

Focus in on the last sentence, The Bears are a team that thinks they have their answer at quarterback and are eager to see if that truly is the case this coming season. The writer is missing the real counterargument here: The real argument is about HOW THEY ARE DEVELOPING HIM, AND GIVEN THE LACK OF SUPPORT AROUND HIM WILL THEY "SEE IF THAT IS TRULY THE CASE"? It's a fair question considering what the GM of the Giants just said re: Daniel Jones. But the writer here doesn't seem to understand what the actual discussion is about.

There's more but no need to belabor the point further.

[dplank]

Just to belabor the point a bit further lmao

They didn’t make their 2022 off-season about building around Justin Fields because the primary focus has been building Justin Fields.

This point here. Everyone will love this point, myself included! Yes, building Fields is 10000% our most important goal. So no one - and I mean no one, not Orlovsky or anyone else - would quarrel with this point. BUT - it's NOT THE POINT. The national media posts that I've read are talking about how best to develop Fields and criticizing that specifically. There's a discussion to be had there. YMMV on how much you think having a strong OL and/or a strong WR corps helps your young QB develop. Not post good stats - but develop. There is a correlation there, for example - a QB cannot develop well and may even develop bad habits if he is getting pummeled into the ground repeatedly.

So this is the point of contention. Not IF we think Fields development is paramount but HOW we think Fields development is being executed. The writer completely misses this point in his zeal to rip on easy target Orlovsky.

[RichH55]

Just to belabor the point a bit further lmao

They didn’t make their 2022 off-season about building around Justin Fields because the primary focus has been building Justin Fields.

This point here. Everyone will love this point, myself included! Yes, building Fields is 10000% our most important goal. So no one - and I mean no one, not Orlovsky or anyone else - would quarrel with this point. BUT - it's NOT THE POINT. The national media posts that I've read are talking about how best to develop Fields and criticizing that specifically. There's a discussion to be had there. YMMV on how much you think having a strong OL and/or a strong WR corps helps your young QB develop. Not post good stats - but develop. There is a correlation there, for example - a QB cannot develop well and may even develop bad habits if he is getting pummeled into the ground repeatedly.

So this is the point of contention. Not IF we think Fields development is paramount but HOW we think Fields development is being executed. The writer completely misses this point in his zeal to rip on easy target Orlovsky.

They literally are changing the entire offense for him.

And a QB will be pummelled to the ground if he can't read the defense and/or holds onto the ball too long like it's his reason for existing.

The Bears weren't a bottom 10 OL group last year - with Sam Mustipher prominently involved - And Nagy.

And building a winning football team is the goal. I mean year in, year out not 2022. That correlates with Fields development - but its not 1:1 either

Fields had a ton of work to do (the distance between the sack he took in the Preseason last year which was as close to Football 101 as you will ever see - AND being a high level QB is rather vast) - But hopefully hes had some of it all ready done.

He wont fail because Mooney isn't Cooper Kupp. He wont fail because his OL is more like the 22nd best rather than being 8th best.

People will make excuses for him though for those reasons though. In advance.

Despite Fields role - he won't be touched as if its shocking that when you take a bunch of sacks in College when your team outclasses everyone you play except Alabama - or hold onto the ball too long then...

What they will do? Praise him to the hilt if in OTAs he throws a nice looking pass against Air.

[dplank]

All that can be true, and it can also be true that if our OL is as bad as I fear it is, that will negatively impact Fields development.

[RichH55]

All that can be true, and it can also be true that if our OL is as bad as I fear it is, that will negatively impact Fields development.

Yeah - but it wasn't as bad as you thought it was last year though (Part of that is OL play across the league isn't as good as almost any fan base would like theirs to be)

If Jenkins is what people thought - and the back injury was a bump in the road - he really could be an Elite RT from Day 1 (they are some terrible RT out there)

The Center being both better AND knowing the system better? Big upgrade.

I get the RG consternation - but that is also probably the "best" (relative term) position to be iffy at - and I doubt its the same blackhole as Mustipher was last year

I don't take the Nagy stuff as far as most here - so I think that bounce will be that vast.

It would shock me if the Bears OL this year was as bad as the Bengals line last year - For example

[thunderspirit]

Interestingly, I don't think anyone raised the prospect of other poster's opinions on Fields in this thread until our resident troll did.

Odd, that.

[dplank]

RG consternation and LT consternation and outright panic if a single injury strikes. The OL could go from just “pretty bad” to “outright terrible” with one injury. We MIGHT squeak out of the bottom 10 OL IF we stay healthy - unlikely though. Scheme changes will help, reading how we will do a lot more quick throws and screens warms my heart.

[HurricaneBear]

The Bears are betting heavily that switching to a time of position, run first team will cover or fix alot of the units problems from last season and protect Justin more than any player could. There is some truth in this - we all acknowledge how much of an idiot Nagy was. Nagy's teams were most definitely less than the sum of the assembled parts. And historically that kind of team can thrive with a young QB when things go well and the offense can stick to that plan. The Bears even showed signs of being able to be that team at times during Nagy's tenure but we all know about the I formation.

Poles is definitely a poker player and has brass cajones because odds are against him that a scheme change can help THAT much. With that said, it's his lifes work on the line and he's sells his confidence well. I'll believe him until they show me they are just one of numerous other teams who tried this same exact thing and failed. Who knows, maybe the Bears luck has finally come back around and it works for this unit for whatever reason. Stranger things have happened in football.

[Yogi da Bear]

The one thing being missed is that we are bringing in players who fit the system. Remember how we kept changing it up and then trying to get the players to mesh with the change. Remember the order from on high demanding that the offensive linemen gain weight? Now, we have drafted and brought in players who actually have the athleticism to run the system. I think our OL is going to be much better than the media thinks.

I also can't wait to see us fully expose the success we have. With Nagy, if a RB broke one, he'd immediately take him out. It's like he kept shooting himself in the foot trying to outthink the defense. If DM or Herbert had a good gain, he'd take him out. He did that with Howard too. Pissed me off to no end. Football's not that hard. If you see a weakness, you exploit it. Or at least you threaten to expose and then hit them with something else after a play action fake that pretends to exploit that weakness. With Nagy, he'd completely remove the player from the game, thus ending the threat. I mean what the HOLY FUCK?!

[IE]

It may be true that it would be unusual for "just scheme" to result in a vast improvement in an offense (and oline). What is also true is what Yogi wrote here about Nagy - he was unusually bad. I don't know if I've ever in my life heard a new GM say that he believes the team will be quite a bit better just by virtue of them moving on from the old system (wow!). I don't think it is unreasonable at all to assume that the team is vastly improved by subtraction... AND - importantly - with a more experienced and better prepared group of 2nd and 3rd year players that should be coming into their own.

Poles may be a bit of a poker player, or have a level of calm and patience that drives people crazy. But we do have to remember he comes from a place where they won the superbowl with some lower-round draft picks on the oline. And given where he came from and what he's seen and wants to do, reducing a description of his approach to "hurting fields" or "doing nothing" or implying that these later round pics are all worthless because its some sort of lottery... that's just not how it is.

[Heinz D.]

RG consternation and LT consternation and outright panic if a single injury strikes. The OL could go from just “pretty bad” to “outright terrible” with one injury. We MIGHT squeak out of the bottom 10 OL IF we stay healthy - unlikely though. Scheme changes will help, reading how we will do a lot more quick throws and screens warms my heart.

Injury struck last year...and that's a big reason the O line had some terrible games (which then skewed all sort of stats, if you're scoring at home).

Olijah Wilkinson is god awful. And he played meaningful time. The other guy they threw in at tackle--one of Pace's late round picks, I'm not looking him up right now--was pretty much equally as bad.

Davenport and Jones are MUCH better depth. Davenport has even started at both tackle spots in his career--and faired substantially better than Wilkinson ever has.

And they'll figure out RG. If they plug that gap with one of the rookies, we may have some depth issues...but that all remains to be seen.

[Bearfacts]

Well......this got a great response than I expected. And I left out things that didn't appear to apply to Hughes point that the national media is evaluating Poles and the Bears by their own set of standards which disagrees with how it's being done. I'm also doing my best to remain within the forum guidelines on not posting an entire piece (which I more typically have done elsewhere) as UOK asked me to do. I'm not trying to avoid anything Hughes wrote or be selective based only on my take on things.

[Bearfacts]

I've only hit the highlights here but I believe what Jeff Hughes is saying makes sense. A whole lot more sense than what we see or hear every single week from the national media. They misreport because they don't get it. They don't understand the Bears plan.

Do you agree or disagree?

Interesting how this works...

This was terrible writing with highly suspect logic / logical flaws all over the place. It was also spot on correct on numerous points, but failed to connect those individual points to the assertion above that they "don't understand the plan" or, more specifically, that THIS WRITER understands the plan better than they do - because he says no one but Poles actually knows the plan, before then telling us what the plan is lmao.

What's interesting is that all the stuff you cut/pasted above are the points that I see as correct. I agree with them. But the stuff you left out is the stuff that was flawed. For example:

As explained above I did my best to hit on the points that I both agreed with and believed made sense to me. I was also looking to avoid our guideline about posting copyrighted material as I committed to UOK I would do. Elsewhere I have more typically posted the entire article with a link as well as an attribution to it's source and author.

While I prefer posting an entire article so I'm not being thought of as "cherry picking" I'm also trying to respect Admin rules and preferences that I not do that. So.....having already given my opinion about that rule I'm doing my best to keep the peace on that matter and still comply with it.

And ya' know, I'm all for logic but painfully logical writing doesn't always sell nor does is get you elected to public office and in many other cases that raise or promotion at work. It's OK to see some of this as logical and other as not but I'm not the one to debate that with you. You can do that in the comments section beneath the article addressed directly to Jeff Hughes/DaBears Blog.

[Bearfacts]

RG consternation and LT consternation and outright panic if a single injury strikes. The OL could go from just “pretty bad” to “outright terrible” with one injury. We MIGHT squeak out of the bottom 10 OL IF we stay healthy - unlikely though. Scheme changes will help, reading how we will do a lot more quick throws and screens warms my heart.

Are you also this concerned over things in your own life that may cause harm like whether or not lightning may strike you while outdoors or whether you'll inadvertently collide with a speeding freight train and die a horrible, fiery, nasty death. LOL I'm joking around with you which I'm finding is not always supported around here but that's me so fuck that nonsense.

What I'm seeing is the possibility of an OL that may struggle at times due to lack of experience in running this blocking scheme but with as many OL as Poles has reeled in to add to those already on the roster lack of depth shouldn't become a problem unless half the OL gets wiped out and by that I mean half of the 8-9 OL I expect we'll keep on the 53 man roster.

What might be of more concern is whether or not the starters are all that much better than their backups but we won't know any of this until much later so I'm not willing to forecast any devastation on the horizon just yet. Sometimes the glass really is half full.

[Bearfacts]

The one thing being missed is that we are bringing in players who fit the system. Remember how we kept changing it up and then trying to get the players to mesh with the change. Remember the order from on high demanding that the offensive linemen gain weight? Now, we have drafted and brought in players who actually have the athleticism to run the system. I think our OL is going to be much better than the media thinks.

I also can't wait to see us fully expose the success we have. With Nagy, if a RB broke one, he'd immediately take him out. It's like he kept shooting himself in the foot trying to outthink the defense. If DM or Herbert had a good gain, he'd take him out. He did that with Howard too. Pissed me off to no end. Football's not that hard. If you see a weakness, you exploit it. Or at least you threaten to expose and then hit them with something else after a play action fake that pretends to exploit that weakness. With Nagy, he'd completely remove the player from the game, thus ending the threat. I mean what the HOLY FUCK?!

Here's at least one of my issues with Nagy.

He's a former QB. Mostly a former Arena League QB. So we shouldn't have been shocked that he favored passing the ball over ever trying to build and maintain a strong running game to support is passing offense. In fact he actually reversed the old ways of using runs to set up passes. Maybe that worked in KC but it didn't work in Chicago and to the best of my knowledge it never has.

Whenever the Bears have been dominant that dominance has always been based on having a strong running game paired with a dominant defense. We appear to be returning to that approach again but this time behind another defensive oriented coach who may understand far better than Nagy ever did what types of offenses are most difficult to defend against. Like maybe offenses with an ability run the ball down your throat behind a very mobile QB with a great arm and deadly downfield accuracy.

[Bearfacts]

It may be true that it would be unusual for "just scheme" to result in a vast improvement in an offense (and oline). What is also true is what Yogi wrote here about Nagy - he was unusually bad. I don't know if I've ever in my life heard a new GM say that he believes the team will be quite a bit better just by virtue of them moving on from the old system (wow!). I don't think it is unreasonable at all to assume that the team is vastly improved by subtraction... AND - importantly - with a more experienced and better prepared group of 2nd and 3rd year players that should be coming into their own.

Poles may be a bit of a poker player, or have a level of calm and patience that drives people crazy. But we do have to remember he comes from a place where they won the superbowl with some lower-round draft picks on the oline. And given where he came from and what he's seen and wants to do, reducing a description of his approach to "hurting fields" or "doing nothing" or implying that these later round pics are all worthless because its some sort of lottery... that's just not how it is.

If nothing else the scheme should help Fields in his ascent or at least that's what Getsy and others familiar with the wide zone scheme have said. And your point about improvement via subtraction (ie; Nagy) is well taken. I agree with you there as well.

As for Poles he seems to be the first of our GMs who isn't being driven by some kind of need to show an immediate return to the top of the NFCN by any and all means necessary. Maybe that was a GMcC/McCaskey dictum for past GMs but if that was true then it no longer seems to be the case. Maybe GMcC and Teddy Bears have finally admitted to themselves that they never did know what the hell they were doing. They were just doing whatever they believed would work and ready to start over when it didn't work.

It's still very early on but it does feel different this time and Poles seem to confirm his own "Build Back Better" approach in both words and actions every time he's interviewed and with the way he's chosen to roster build. If nothing else I'm satisfied for now with two things. 1) We finally have a young QB who I believe can be a franchise QB, and 2) This is not a warmed over repeat of how the Bears have done things in the past. The fundamentals need to be there and work if there's ever to be a return to consistent winning.

[o-pus #40 in B major]

Well, it doesn't bother me at all if the national media says we are going to nose dive this year. That's exactly what we want every team in the league to think about us. ESPN says we'll get a #1 pick next year and I think they're setting up our opponents in advance, if you follow me.

I think we win 8 or 9 and surprise a bunch of people, including a few guys here.

It'll be a gas.

[rtd]

The one thing being missed is that we are bringing in players who fit the system. Remember how we kept changing it up and then trying to get the players to mesh with the change. Remember the order from on high demanding that the offensive linemen gain weight? Now, we have drafted and brought in players who actually have the athleticism to run the system. I think our OL is going to be much better than the media thinks.

I also can't wait to see us fully expose the success we have. With Nagy, if a RB broke one, he'd immediately take him out. It's like he kept shooting himself in the foot trying to outthink the defense. If DM or Herbert had a good gain, he'd take him out. He did that with Howard too. Pissed me off to no end. Football's not that hard. If you see a weakness, you exploit it. Or at least you threaten to expose and then hit them with something else after a play action fake that pretends to exploit that weakness. With Nagy, he'd completely remove the player from the game, thus ending the threat. I mean what the HOLY FUCK?!

I was watching a podcast with Greg Gabreal last night and he was saying similar things about the Oline. Also believed the WR group is much better than perceived . The interview was very interesting. He explained how little the public knows what really goes on in Free Agency, draft and player evaluation.

[Kylo Bearen]

The one thing being missed is that we are bringing in players who fit the system. Remember how we kept changing it up and then trying to get the players to mesh with the change. Remember the order from on high demanding that the offensive linemen gain weight? Now, we have drafted and brought in players who actually have the athleticism to run the system. I think our OL is going to be much better than the media thinks.

I also can't wait to see us fully expose the success we have. With Nagy, if a RB broke one, he'd immediately take him out. It's like he kept shooting himself in the foot trying to outthink the defense. If DM or Herbert had a good gain, he'd take him out. He did that with Howard too. Pissed me off to no end. Football's not that hard. If you see a weakness, you exploit it. Or at least you threaten to expose and then hit them with something else after a play action fake that pretends to exploit that weakness. With Nagy, he'd completely remove the player from the game, thus ending the threat. I mean what the HOLY FUCK?!

I was watching a podcast with Greg Gabreal last night and he was saying similar things about the Oline. Also believed the WR group is much better than perceived . The interview was very interesting. He explained how little the public knows what really goes on in Free Agency, draft and player evaluation.

Fingers crossed the corp shows the naysayers wrong come the season. On the field is always the best place to make the doubters eat their words.

[dplank]

Yep agree. The national media will follow the narrative - and our players and coaches are the only people who can change the narrative. It’s on them to show them they’re wrong!

[RichH55]

Interestingly, I don't think anyone raised the prospect of other poster's opinions on Fields in this thread until our resident troll did.

Odd, that.

Tough crowd

[HisRoyalSweetness]

This may cheer people up a bit...

State of the 2022 Chicago Bears: Justin Fields, new regime provide hope

https://www.nfl.com/news/state-of-the-2 ... ovide-hope

[Kylo Bearen]

Just for the Star Wars reference I like this guy.

Quarterback: Justin Fields. I always feel like Qui-Gon Jinn facing the Jedi Council when I try to explain how well Fields is going to do in Year 2. I mean, he didn't have great numbers last season. But let's look at what he was given to work with in 2021. Fields was the 11th overall selection in last year's draft, but didn't see many first-team reps in camp because of a promise made to the QB the Bears signed before picking Fields, Andy Dalton. ANDY DALTON. I mean, Peyton Manning was once benched for Brock Osweiler in Denver, but let's make sure we don't hurt Andy Dalton's feelings. Anyway, the offensive design was not built around Fields' skills, so if anything, it should be viewed as a miracle that he was as good as he was last year. Fields led the Bears to wins over the Lions and Raiders and put the team in winnable positions against the 49ers, Ravens and Steelers. The Pittsburgh game was exceptionally horrific because of a costly and controversial taunting call. But Fields flashed enough to have Chicago buzzing. And if offensive coordinator Luke Getsy has any sort of competence in play-calling, that alone should help Fields improve. His teammates have noted he seems more confident coming into this season as the unquestioned starter.

[Bearfacts]

Tough to see how Fields won't be far better this year both having had enough game experience and now playing for an OC who wants to build around his strengths. Poles has provided some new receivers I believe may have been underrated by the media and by Bears fans themselves and while the TE core isn't fancy it's experienced enough to get the job at hand done.

The big unknown is the OL but this time we have a GM and an Asst GM who are both former OL themselves and an OL Coach with a very solid rep for coaching a wide zone OL. All Flus, Getsy, and Morgan need to do is find the 5 best square pegs and put them in the correct holes this time not the round ones. I believe there's enough raw talent to make a decent OL out of.

[Stormtrooper]

Tough to see how Fields won't be far better this year both having had enough game experience and now playing for an OC who wants to build around his strengths. Poles has provided some new receivers I believe may have been underrated by the media and by Bears fans themselves and while the TE core isn't fancy it's experienced enough to get the job at hand done.

The big unknown is the OL but this time we have a GM and an Asst GM who are both former OL themselves and an OL Coach with a very solid rep for coaching a wide zone OL. All Flus, Getsy, and Morgan need to do is find the 5 best square pegs and put them in the correct holes this time not the round ones. I believe there's enough raw talent to make a decent OL out of.

Great post and I have gotten more irritated everytime I read preseason power rankings or anything else of the sort lol. Fields has the tools you want in an NFL qb imo and just needs a team built around him to succeed and I think we are slowly but surely doing that. Kmet has had a great offseason hopefully it continues.

And yes the caveat to Fields having more success is the protection he has in front of him. I am realistic in that our OL isn't going to break into a top ten unit anytime soon. But, I do think they can be productive enough to get some wins.

Call me crazy but if Fields improves like we hope he can and our OL is just decent, we will be far from the worst team and I have us winning at least 7, perhaps and hopefully even more.

[Bearfacts]

Tough to see how Fields won't be far better this year both having had enough game experience and now playing for an OC who wants to build around his strengths. Poles has provided some new receivers I believe may have been underrated by the media and by Bears fans themselves and while the TE core isn't fancy it's experienced enough to get the job at hand done.

The big unknown is the OL but this time we have a GM and an Asst GM who are both former OL themselves and an OL Coach with a very solid rep for coaching a wide zone OL. All Flus, Getsy, and Morgan need to do is find the 5 best square pegs and put them in the correct holes this time not the round ones. I believe there's enough raw talent to make a decent OL out of.

Great post and I have gotten more irritated everytime I read preseason power rankings or anything else of the sort lol. Fields has the tools you want in an NFL qb imo and just needs a team built around him to succeed and I think we are slowly but surely doing that. Kmet has had a great offseason hopefully it continues.

And yes the caveat to Fields having more success is the protection he has in front of him. I am realistic in that our OL isn't going to break into a top ten unit anytime soon. But, I do think they can be productive enough to get some wins.

Call me crazy but if Fields improves like we hope he can and our OL is just decent, we will be far from the worst team and I have us winning at least 7, perhaps and hopefully even more.

What annoys me the most is the lack of both patience and understanding with the current process. Poles was hired to rebuild a "House" that is the Chicago Bears. Upon initial inspection he realized that even the foundation was faulty and yet the previous front office had chosen to build on it anyway. It didn't work and the house began to collapse on itself all over again.

So he tore down much of the upper structure and began rebuilding from the foundation upward. Anyone whose ever worked in construction or had their own home built knows that the steps it takes to do it correctly take time. Yet out there sit millions of Bears fans criticizing how long it's gonna take or he's not doing it right who don't even know how to hold a hammer or drive a nail.

For years we have lacked a top shelf QB we could get behind and win consistently. Cutler was close but we blew it by failing to properly build around him. This is much different. We finally have that QB and we also have a front office and coaching staff willing to build around him without shortcuts and excuses but we're so used to how it was done before this looks wrong to some.

It's not wrong. It's that we've been fucking this up for the past 40 years so half the Bears fans out there have never seen it done correctly. They're so used to seeing dysfunction as normal that some can't even recognize the dysfunction. I truly believe that this time we're gonna get it right but that only happens if we don't rush it and let it play out instead just as we did in the 1980s.