What The Hell Happened?

[dplank]

Jets do have an absolutely fantastic Front 4 for what its worth - ignoring the Sample Size issues (or Oblique injury etc - All the stuff we'd give crazy Benefit of the Doubt on to others) (You can add those in one you get to the Sack % rate stuff)

Also - QB hits/Sacks are what you should be using (No Offense)

But if you recall Shea - They ALWAYS had good pressure numbers for him. He very rarely got home or even got a hand on the QB. Pressure is a bit of a nebulous term

Semien Sack Percentage v Jets: 7.1 %

Fields as Rookie: 11.8%
Fields this year: 14.9% (Holy Crap BTW)

So - again sample size - yadda yadda

The Sack Rate falls by MORE than 50% in Semien's 1 Game.

Who are they?

And the purpose in bringing these stats up wasn’t to compare QBs. Indeed, one of the key points was that Siemian got the ball out considerably faster and used his check downs but was still facing constant pressure and got sacked twice.

The point in bringing up those stats was to illustrate how poor the offensive line is at pass protection.

I’m also not sure the math is correct on your sack percentages is correct if the pass attempt number on ESPN is correct. But I also don’t really care because even Fields understands he needs to get the ball out quicker.

But the offensive line also needs to not be significantly better in pass protection which probably entails getting better players.

Yep. We cannot pass protect for shit and haven't been able to all season long. And you don't need to spin stats a thousand ways to explain it, all you need to do is watch football games. It's OBVIOUS. My wife, who watches maybe half the games with me and occassionally other games, asked a few weeks ago "Why is someone always immediately in Justin's face when he throws the ball", then later in the day asked "See what I mean, that QB just gets to stand back there without people in his face all the time, why can't the Bears do that?" This is not a trained eye lol. But it's just THAT obvious. When folks try and say otherwise, consider their motive.

[thunderspirit]

Jets do have an absolutely fantastic Front 4 for what its worth - ignoring the Sample Size issues (or Oblique injury etc - All the stuff we'd give crazy Benefit of the Doubt on to others) (You can add those in one you get to the Sack % rate stuff)

Also - QB hits/Sacks are what you should be using (No Offense)

But if you recall Shea - They ALWAYS had good pressure numbers for him. He very rarely got home or even got a hand on the QB. Pressure is a bit of a nebulous term

Semien Sack Percentage v Jets: 7.1 %

Fields as Rookie: 11.8%
Fields this year: 14.9% (Holy Crap BTW)

So - again sample size - yadda yadda

The Sack Rate falls by MORE than 50% in Semien's 1 Game.

Who are they?

And the purpose in bringing these stats up wasn’t to compare QBs. Indeed, one of the key points was that Siemian got the ball out considerably faster and used his check downs but was still facing constant pressure and got sacked twice.

The point in bringing up those stats was to illustrate how poor the offensive line is at pass protection.

I’m also not sure the math is correct on your sack percentages is correct if the pass attempt number on ESPN is correct. But I also don’t really care because even Fields understands he needs to get the ball out quicker.

But the offensive line also needs to not be significantly better in pass protection which probably entails getting better players.

Any conversation about Justin Fields with Rich be like

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

In my subjective opinion, Fields is the best thing that’s happened to this team in a long time.
When have we felt so positive on game day?
When have we had that feeling that our QB could make a play and totally transform a game?
That feeling that you’re never out of a game and you believe your QB can pull it off no matter what the odds.

It feels great on game day, you have hope rather than dread.

[wab]

I don't need stats to tell me what my eyes can see, and my eyes plainly see that pass protection has been wildly inconsistent. I think it's a combination of multiple factors though. 10 different starting OL combinations in 12 games in a new blocking scheme isn't usually a recipe for success.

I still think it's a relatively easy fix though.

[The Marshall Plan]

This is an interesting point.

At what point can we say something definitive about something?

@wab was basically saying Sanborn = Roquan after like three games.

I'll take the bait I guess even though you know that's not what I said. I said there was no statistical dropoff between the two players.

YMMV I guess. You also never answered my question...which I suppose I should have expected.

That is what you said. Something akin to the same level of production.

I don’t think Roquan and Sanborn are anywhere close. Roquan has a four year pedigree of excellence. Sanborn was undrafted and driving people to the airport for a living for all I know six months ago. Remember Kwit from a couple years ago? How’s that looking now?

I’ll take the future HOF LB Roquan Smith over that guy Sanborn any day of the week.

[Boris13c]

It did not go to shit..it was scrubs..one year castoffs..kids..low draft picks.. It was not waiting..it was obvious.. Been a fan for 65 years.. Year after year of plugging holes on very flawed teams..had to be burned down..

And here we are..in the smoldering pile that was obvious from the beginning of the year..

guess maybe I was expecting more than could happen, but I felt if Justin could stay healthy and the rest of the team just be average the team could be good ... not championship material, but decent at least ... and even with the scrubs and castoffs, they did manage a run of games with 200+ yards rushing, which was fun to watch but unfortunately did not assure wins

[Moriarty]

I don't need stats to tell me what my eyes can see, and my eyes plainly see that pass protection has been wildly inconsistent. I think it's a combination of multiple factors though. 10 different starting OL combinations in 12 games in a new blocking scheme isn't usually a recipe for success.

I still think it's a relatively easy fix though.

I'm not so sure it's that easy.

I feel like they have 5 guys who are tolerable to decent.
It would be easier to "fix" the line if you had 3 good players and 2 shit. You make 2 replacements and you've got 5 good lineman.
Here, you have to replace 3-5 guys to get everyone up to good.

[wab]

I'll take the bait I guess even though you know that's not what I said. I said there was no statistical dropoff between the two players.

YMMV I guess. You also never answered my question...which I suppose I should have expected.

That is what you said. Something akin to the same level of production.

I don’t think Roquan and Sanborn are anywhere close. Roquan has a four year pedigree of excellence. Sanborn was undrafted and driving people to the airport for a living for all I know six months ago. Remember Kwit from a couple years ago? How’s that looking now?

I’ll take the future HOF LB Roquan Smith over that guy Sanborn any day of the week.

I'm not going to derail the thread, but if you choose to overcomplicate what I posted, then that's your issue. Roquan has a long road to travel before his name is even whispered in a Hall of Fame conversation.

[wab]

I don't need stats to tell me what my eyes can see, and my eyes plainly see that pass protection has been wildly inconsistent. I think it's a combination of multiple factors though. 10 different starting OL combinations in 12 games in a new blocking scheme isn't usually a recipe for success.

I still think it's a relatively easy fix though.

I'm not so sure it's that easy.

I feel like they have 5 guys who are tolerable to decent.
It would be easier to "fix" the line if you had 3 good players and 2 shit. You make 2 replacements and you've got 5 good lineman.
Here, you have to replace 3-5 guys to get everyone up to good.

With Fields, the line doesn't have to be elite (of course that would be preferable). If the RT would stop letting free rushers through, that would be a huge step in the right direction.

[Mikefive]

I'm not so sure it's that easy.

I feel like they have 5 guys who are tolerable to decent.
It would be easier to "fix" the line if you had 3 good players and 2 shit. You make 2 replacements and you've got 5 good lineman.
Here, you have to replace 3-5 guys to get everyone up to good.

With Fields, the line doesn't have to be elite (of course that would be preferable). If the RT would stop letting free rushers through, that would be a huge step in the right direction.

I tend to agree. That's why I have said since JF1's emergence that a reasonable starting RT and a quality C would be fine additions, but we need to focus on bringing in two top shelf DL guys to fix the defense this offseason.

That said, Fields needs to see the field better, so he can get rid of the ball and not have to run on virtually every 3rd down to keep drives alive. To achieve that, he has to trust that line more than he does now.

[Sugashane]

We started the rebuild a year late, so this feels like two straight wasted years. I think that is why I am annoyed with the season. I'm all for losing 31-34 all year, get Fields to grow and develop while the nobodies on defense do as little as expected, it is annoying knowing we have now wasted 2 years of Fields between Nagy sucking ass and a tank year this year.

[dplank]

I don't need stats to tell me what my eyes can see, and my eyes plainly see that pass protection has been wildly inconsistent. I think it's a combination of multiple factors though. 10 different starting OL combinations in 12 games in a new blocking scheme isn't usually a recipe for success.

I still think it's a relatively easy fix though.

I agree and Poles has earned my trust - I think next season the pass protection will be dramatically improved. And likely with only 1 or maybe 2 personnel changes.

[BearsFanInMN]

I never thought the goal this year was to have a competitive team..not a real tank job but fielding so many cast off one year waste..scrubs and kids that might have promise with what we had for draft position last year. Add in some injuries..lack of depth for the one year cast off contract place holders and the season was unexpectedly revived by Fields legs and occasional brilliant pass.

We are now in the first year of a rebuild coming next year....choose wisely add FAs that can play..maybe keep some of this year detritus as backups or at best PS filler..

Build inside out.. Get Fields more talent and some patience on when to break out those legs..and time to actually become proficient in a pocket...

We need TALENT..we have $$$..we have #2 or #3 or such as a high pick..or trade to get a shit ton of college talent..

Going 6-11 or even 5-12 would have set us back in our goals...

Soft tank..maybe..but little long term commitments to the uglies and we can be a fresh look Bears..

Bring It On..2023

but aren't you a little tired of seemingly saying wait until next year, over and over, year after year?

many previous years it was "if only we had a QB" ... well, now we have a QB and everything else has gone to shit ... can't win for losing is the saying, yes?

Hell yeah I’m tired of waiting and saying next year. At the same time it feels like we have a plan (so far the plan is exactly as GM laid it out) and it’s focused on long term. Yeah it sucks that we wasted last year with Fields and this is kind of his rookie season to a degree. But I’ll take this with all the Fields positives, draft capital, and cap space vs a let’s bid against ourselves for Foles, Graham, Quinn, etc to gamble on a window that isn’t really there.

That said might be too much traded for Claypool, VJJ might be a very bad pick, and the WR FA/trades are historically bad. So not anointing yet either.

[wulfy]

With a offensive line beset by injuries.

We literally played our #1 OL unit for the first time in a long time in that game, so this isn't true. Jones/WHitehair/Mustipher/Jenkins/Borom. Reiff subbed out, but that position is clearly unsettled for who is the actual starter as it's been Borom's job all year prior to his injury.

Also, if we're going to extrapolate statistics from 1 friggin game, how about extrapolating what actually matters? POINTS went from a 30PPG average down to 10PPG, that's a MORE than 65% drop in Siemiens 1 game. LOL, pick your poison and cherry pick stats, or you know, just use your freaking eyeballs and see plainly that we can't pass protect for shit. It's goddamn obvious to even a casual observer.

Borom went out, Reiff went out, you had Scholfield and RT and Lucas Patrick (who is a starter despite what you think of his performance) is on the IR .... how is that the #1 OL?

I'm not even on the other side of the argument from you ... I might be the biggest JF1 fanboy there is ... but if you don't think JF1 needs to work his progressions and get rid of the ball MUCH faster, you're choosing to not be objective.

JF1 >>>>>> Siemien is not in doubt. Areas he needs to improve however, are very clear.

[RichH55]

I'll take the bait I guess even though you know that's not what I said. I said there was no statistical dropoff between the two players.

YMMV I guess. You also never answered my question...which I suppose I should have expected.

That is what you said. Something akin to the same level of production.

I don’t think Roquan and Sanborn are anywhere close. Roquan has a four year pedigree of excellence. Sanborn was undrafted and driving people to the airport for a living for all I know six months ago. Remember Kwit from a couple years ago? How’s that looking now?

I’ll take the future HOF LB Roquan Smith over that guy Sanborn any day of the week.

Which would be a much better point if you weren't saying that Tackles = Elite for Roquon ......And then ummmmm ignoring Tackles when they don't suit you anymore.

[RichH55]

We literally played our #1 OL unit for the first time in a long time in that game, so this isn't true. Jones/WHitehair/Mustipher/Jenkins/Borom. Reiff subbed out, but that position is clearly unsettled for who is the actual starter as it's been Borom's job all year prior to his injury.

Also, if we're going to extrapolate statistics from 1 friggin game, how about extrapolating what actually matters? POINTS went from a 30PPG average down to 10PPG, that's a MORE than 65% drop in Siemiens 1 game. LOL, pick your poison and cherry pick stats, or you know, just use your freaking eyeballs and see plainly that we can't pass protect for shit. It's goddamn obvious to even a casual observer.

Borom went out, Reiff went out, you had Scholfield and RT and Lucas Patrick (who is a starter despite what you think of his performance) is on the IR .... how is that the #1 OL?

I'm not even on the other side of the argument from you ... I might be the biggest JF1 fanboy there is ... but if you don't think JF1 needs to work his progressions and get rid of the ball MUCH faster, you're choosing to not be objective.

JF1 >>>>>> Siemien is not in doubt. Areas he needs to improve however, are very clear.

Yep - and he's still been very good this year - especially when unleashed running.

But there will always be apologists where just nothing is wrong and it's all perfect

[IE]

I actually don't get the surprise or consternation. I have no idea why someone would point out the defense as being mysterioiusly bad when it is clearly deliberately bad. Poles did it on purpose, to get rid of aging, expensive or soon-to-be-expensive guys while building a war chest. Of course Sanborn isn't Roquan. But he really doesn't need to be. What this D needs is a Dline and this year's version is just a placeholder with a couple of guys getting reps to develop. A new LB or two will be in next year, regardless of whether Sanborn is a player. So cheer for him to be the future SAM or rotation guy, and it's great.

Poles' approach this year was to get the offense to just enough level to support and evaluate Fields. Mission accomplished, baby. The Oline isn't great but we knew that going in and although they're not consistent they're not the worst and they're going to get a lot better. A lot of the sacks is due to JF1's development and that isn't a surprise either so just having an offense that can score 30 a game and keep sacks to 3-4 is really great progress for this year. Mission accomplished for real, with JF1 emerging and Kmet elevating and acquiring Claypool.

Losing while developing is a luxury - not a debacle. Of course the players want to win. The offense is capable. The defense is not. Just a handful more games and this proof of concept season is over and the goodness starts.

I see nothing remotely bad. Even this weekend I'd like to see them lose 35-34 to the Packers. There's no reason to win.

[EricTighe]

I see nothing remotely bad. Even this weekend I'd like to see them lose 35-34 to the Packers. There's no reason to win.

There is never a good enough reason to lose to the Packers. EVER.

This is HOMER 101.

[dplank]

We literally played our #1 OL unit for the first time in a long time in that game, so this isn't true. Jones/WHitehair/Mustipher/Jenkins/Borom. Reiff subbed out, but that position is clearly unsettled for who is the actual starter as it's been Borom's job all year prior to his injury.

Also, if we're going to extrapolate statistics from 1 friggin game, how about extrapolating what actually matters? POINTS went from a 30PPG average down to 10PPG, that's a MORE than 65% drop in Siemiens 1 game. LOL, pick your poison and cherry pick stats, or you know, just use your freaking eyeballs and see plainly that we can't pass protect for shit. It's goddamn obvious to even a casual observer.

Borom went out, Reiff went out, you had Scholfield and RT and Lucas Patrick (who is a starter despite what you think of his performance) is on the IR .... how is that the #1 OL?

I'm not even on the other side of the argument from you ... I might be the biggest JF1 fanboy there is ... but if you don't think JF1 needs to work his progressions and get rid of the ball MUCH faster, you're choosing to not be objective.

JF1 >>>>>> Siemien is not in doubt. Areas he needs to improve however, are very clear.

Borom played almost the whole game didn't he? And he has been our starting RT all season when healthy. And Mustipher has been our starting C all year. The point is that Fields played with those exact same guys on the OL, there wasn't a different OL protecting Siemien that the one that has been protecting Fields all year.

I don't know why you would suggest that I don't think JF1 needs to work on his progressions, I've said so dozens of times. No argument there. I expect that strawman from Rich, but not you. I don't want to go and quote all the times I've said this, but I'm going to say it's more than 20 times.

It's also true that it's hard to get through progressions when you can't pass protect at all, and there are people who have steadfastly refused to acknowledge that point.

[Sugashane]

So long post but posting a response from another board. Posing here for feedback.

OTHER POSTER
Legitimately asking, is there an argument that he's a good passer right now? You can blame the OL or the WR or the coaching staff, but he's been a bottom third passer this year. He's been absolutely dynamic as a runner, but he's been miserable as a passer. The easiest comparison would be Lamar Jackson.

Justin Fields: 136-228 (59.6%), 1642 passing yards (7.2 YPA), 13 passing TD, 8 INT, 8 fumbles, 4.87 ANY/A (11 GP)
Lamar Jackson: 200-322 (62.1%), 2231 passing yards (6.9 YPA), 17 passing TD, 7 INT, 4 fumbles, 6.22 ANY/A (11 GP)

Lamar Jackson has been better than him by a pretty significant margin. He's not a better passer than Lamar Jackson.

Significant margin? Really? Are you just looking at volume stats? Of course Jackson will have higher TDs and yards when he has thrown the ball over 90 times more. Completion percentage is less than 3% difference, lower YPA for Jackson, Fields has a higher TD%, Jackson has a better INT %, etc. All while running a horrible scheme for the players on the offense for the first quarter of the season.

Still a poor comparison to be honest though. Too small of a sample size. Lamar is in his 5th year and has had the offense revolving around his skillset for 4 of those years. Fields has only 6-7 games where they weren't trying to force him to be a pocket passer with a crap OL and WRs. Do you think Jackson's numbers would remotely the same if he was in a traditional offense? I don't. Roman also has already ran a similar offense to force the defense to account for the QBs legs when he had Kaep, but Getsy is in his first year calling plays and changed his offense in the middle of the season. Even if only extrapolating those 6-7 games though it will be too small a sample, defenses will adjust and he will have to adjust. I'm wanting to go out for at least 16-17 games of THIS offense to give me an idea.

 

I'll compare your numbers to Jackson's last year

Justin Fields: 136-228 (59.6%), 1642 yards (7.2 YPA), 13 passing TD, 8 INT, 8 fumbles, 4.87 ANY/A (11 GP)

Lamar Jackson: 246-382 (64.4%), 2882 yards (7.5 ypa), 16 TDs, 13 INTs, 6 fumbles, 5.78 ANY/A (12 GP)

- Both Jackson's rating and QBR were career lows, INT% was a career high and he had a career high 38 sacks

 

Fields has been sacked 40 times in 11 games, with over 100 less dropbacks than Jackson had last year. Anyone simply saying "Justin can't read a field" is just parroting what someone else wrote online. He isn't a 1 read and run QB, the narrative is false and laughable. He DOES need to speed it up but shockingly almost all QBs do over their first 3-4 years. There is clearly more going on than just him. And if Fields has been miserable as a passer, then Jackson been close to that for the last two years, which I fully disagree with. There is more than - and I'm not speaking about you directly - looking at totals and ignoring volume or style of offense. Thre 2nd and 3rd best players of the Bears skill players are Monty and Herbert, so they run more than they pass. I'd take them over the groupings of Freeman/Murray or Drake/Edwards/Hill. Why wouldn't the Bears run more? And if we compare who they are passing to, and BAL has been criminal with who they have put with him for the most part, is anyone going to take Mooney over Andrews? Legit one of the best TEs in the game vs one of the better #2 WRs in the league? I'd be shocked if anyone did, if so they're likely someone who just hates BAL. lol

 

Honestly the best comparison would be between both Jackson rookie year and Fields' 2022 season. Both offenses were forced to drastically adjust, both QBs were learning their offense for the first time, and Fields has the better completion %, Jackson has a better YPG (149 vs 159)*, Fields has the higher TD%, Jackson has the better INT%, Fields has the better rating and QBR, etc.

*Also I am doing YPG based off of starts, I'm not diluting Jackson's numbers because he got to pass like 10 times over the first half the season.

 

There is a lot more to unpack than just looking at base stats, which most are simply too lazy to do. That year Jackson also had Crabtree, Andrews, Brown, Snead to pass to. Not a great group but better than Mooney, Kmet, ESB, and Pettis. Also Jackson had the luxury of having a top defense his first 3 years. Makes it a hell of a lot easier to know your offense will give up only 18ppg compared to the 24-25ppg the Bears have averaged. Jackson didn't NEED to be as aggressive and could be conservative to play field position rather than having to outplay his own bottom 10 defense's failings.

 

I'm not crowing Fields as a future MVP or even saying he is a franchise QB. He was set up to fail by that hack Nagy who seemingly was just ensuring Pace was going down with him his rookie year (which I support honestly, both were given one year too long), and now has a cast of misfits that most will likely not even be spot starters in 2-3 years around him. He is getting points on the board, which is WAY more important to me than how he does it. I'm fine giving at least another 2 years to see if he is the real deal, people saying he absolutely is or absolutely isn't are most likely just going off confirmation bias or may be simply too stupid and/or impatient to make informed decisions. Again, not singling anyone here out, but... just look at Facebook groups... lol




Any critiques to my logic? Anything I missed or misstated? I'm 100% open to others' opinions, its how I learn.

[wab]

Borom went out, Reiff went out, you had Scholfield and RT and Lucas Patrick (who is a starter despite what you think of his performance) is on the IR .... how is that the #1 OL?

I'm not even on the other side of the argument from you ... I might be the biggest JF1 fanboy there is ... but if you don't think JF1 needs to work his progressions and get rid of the ball MUCH faster, you're choosing to not be objective.

JF1 >>>>>> Siemien is not in doubt. Areas he needs to improve however, are very clear.

Borom played almost the whole game didn't he? And he has been our starting RT all season when healthy. And Mustipher has been our starting C all year. The point is that Fields played with those exact same guys on the OL, there wasn't a different OL protecting Siemien that the one that has been protecting Fields all year.

I don't know why you would suggest that I don't think JF1 needs to work on his progressions, I've said so dozens of times. No argument there. I expect that strawman from Rich, but not you. I don't want to go and quote all the times I've said this, but I'm going to say it's more than 20 times.

It's also true that it's hard to get through progressions when you can't pass protect at all, and there are people who have steadfastly refused to acknowledge that point.

Borom did play most of the game.

Snap counts at RT: Larry Borom 48, Riley Reiff 8, Michael Schofield 1

[EricTighe]

Borom played and let a DE in when he went inside to help and there was no help needed letting the DE go unabated to the QB. Very bad look for him.

[IE]

I see nothing remotely bad. Even this weekend I'd like to see them lose 35-34 to the Packers. There's no reason to win.

There is never a good enough reason to lose to the Packers. EVER.

This is HOMER 101.

If someone told me a few years ago that losing to the Pack would help the Bears land Justin Fields, I would have been fine with it then too. I don't want to beat the Pack for a game - I want to beat them for a decade.

[EricTighe]

So lets start with tomorrow. Then we can tank the rest of the year if that is ok.

Either way I hate losing to the Puckers

[RichH55]

I'll take the bait I guess even though you know that's not what I said. I said there was no statistical dropoff between the two players.

YMMV I guess. You also never answered my question...which I suppose I should have expected.

That is what you said. Something akin to the same level of production.

Sanborn was undrafted and driving people to the airport for a living for all I know six months ago.

Do you not know what College Football is?

[Heinz D.]

We started the rebuild a year late, so this feels like two straight wasted years. I think that is why I am annoyed with the season. I'm all for losing 31-34 all year, get Fields to grow and develop while the nobodies on defense do as little as expected, it is annoying knowing we have now wasted 2 years of Fields between Nagy sucking ass and a tank year this year.

First off--hiya, @Sugashane !

The big thing with the defense...while Poles made some excellent picks on that side of the ball, IMO, it takes a while for defensive backs to get into the flow of the pro game. We've certainly seen strides from Gordon and Brisker, but they were both hurt last week, and I haven't seen anything on their progress (but haven't dug around).

I agree that we're definitely in full-on tank mode now, but I do wonder if that was the plan all along? It didn't really seem like it, at first. Maybe when Fields came out and struggled Poles decided to do a partial reset? Something to ponder, but we'll likely never know for sure.

[dplank]

You don’t trade Khalil Mack for a draft pick if you are trying to win that season.

[Shadow]

I never thought the goal this year was to have a competitive team..not a real tank job but fielding so many cast off one year waste..scrubs and kids that might have promise with what we had for draft position last year. Add in some injuries..lack of depth for the one year cast off contract place holders and the season was unexpectedly revived by Fields legs and occasional brilliant pass.

We are now in the first year of a rebuild coming next year....choose wisely add FAs that can play..maybe keep some of this year detritus as backups or at best PS filler..

Build inside out.. Get Fields more talent and some patience on when to break out those legs..and time to actually become proficient in a pocket...

We need TALENT..we have $$$..we have #2 or #3 or such as a high pick..or trade to get a shit ton of college talent..

Going 6-11 or even 5-12 would have set us back in our goals...

Soft tank..maybe..but little long term commitments to the uglies and we can be a fresh look Bears..

Bring It On..2023..and a beginning..

This was my thinking coming into 2022 also. CAP strapped, bloated contracts, limited draft capitol, spelled suck 7 different ways. Poles did what he could with what he had. Traded away big contracts, asked the remaining Vets to step up, went bargain hunting to fill this roster with the money he had left. Stuck to his philosophy of building through the draft. Okay so we ended up here. It is exactly where I thought they would be. 2023 will see a big improvement to the roster and game play. I see 2024 as the year we fans should be getting excited about. That is when it will come together or fall apart.

I will grade the coaching staff next season. I coached BBall for years. I know what inheriting a bad roster is like. Year one is evaluation and flexibility. You take the small victories as you find them. Year two is recruiting and embedding your system. Year three is making a run at the title. Flus, Williams and Getsy are looking for small victories and are biding their time till 2023. 2022 is a Mulligan for the staff. With all that being said, I do not like the staffs willingness to trot an injured Justin out there on Sunday. That is just dumb. Or it is gamesmanship and they really never intended to play him and are going with Nathan Peterman all along.

I get fans want wins, but we just aren't going to see many this year.

[RichH55]

You don’t trade Khalil Mack for a draft pick if you are trying to win that season.

Absolutely correct. The intentions were clear pretty early

[RichH55]

I never thought the goal this year was to have a competitive team..not a real tank job but fielding so many cast off one year waste..scrubs and kids that might have promise with what we had for draft position last year. Add in some injuries..lack of depth for the one year cast off contract place holders and the season was unexpectedly revived by Fields legs and occasional brilliant pass.

We are now in the first year of a rebuild coming next year....choose wisely add FAs that can play..maybe keep some of this year detritus as backups or at best PS filler..

Build inside out.. Get Fields more talent and some patience on when to break out those legs..and time to actually become proficient in a pocket...

We need TALENT..we have $$$..we have #2 or #3 or such as a high pick..or trade to get a shit ton of college talent..

Going 6-11 or even 5-12 would have set us back in our goals...

Soft tank..maybe..but little long term commitments to the uglies and we can be a fresh look Bears..

Bring It On..2023..and a beginning..

This was my thinking coming into 2022 also. CAP strapped

Nope. I'll keep posting this everytime its said - We were not Cap strapped going into this season.

Other issues? A plenty.

Cap Strapped?

This is not factually correct