JF1 and WR Chemistry

[dave99]

It's getting more difficult to face each new season with any optimism but at least for now this time it does feel different. For years the Bears tried to link whatever they had to whatever they could bring in to patch up the issues with what they had. This time Poles told GMcC you have bupkis here and we need to start over again but do it the right way this time.

Very important point. Richard Feynman famously said that "You must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.”
Poles is a realist and he has a plan that he believes in. He has brought in experienced personnel, front office and coaching to help bring the plan to fruition. That already puts him miles ahead of Pace and Nagy.

Another important consideration brought up by other observers, the Bears have never managed to get their GM, HC and rookie QB at the same point and at the same time. All on the same page and with the same vision.
Obviously, they still haven't, but with Poles perspective and Fields intelligence and determination, this is as close as they have been.

[RichH55]

It's getting more difficult to face each new season with any optimism but at least for now this time it does feel different. For years the Bears tried to link whatever they had to whatever they could bring in to patch up the issues with what they had. This time Poles told GMcC you have bupkis here and we need to start over again but do it the right way this time.

Very important point. Richard Feynman famously said that "You must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.”
Poles is a realist and he has a plan that he believes in. He has brought in experienced personnel, front office and coaching to help bring the plan to fruition. That already puts him miles ahead of Pace and Nagy.

Another important consideration brought up by other observers, the Bears have never managed to get their GM, HC and rookie QB at the same point and at the same time. All on the same page and with the same vision.
Obviously, they still haven't, but with Poles perspective and Fields intelligence and determination, this is as close as they have been.

Surely you're joking with a Feynman reference!~

[Arkansasbear]

I think even just improving on this seemingly simple thing will help elevate JF1. Losing Robinson may actually be addition by subtraction.

Those are both TDs if Fields throws the ball on time. I've never been as high on Robinson as some, and I don't like how he seemed to check out last season. But these here are examples of the QB leaving his WR spinning his wheels, not the WR letting his QB down.

I don't agree with take very much, but let's say that is the case. Aren't you both saying the same thing but maybe pointing the finger at a different person? If Fields let Robinson "spin his wheels" they don't have good chemistry and Fields gets more in line with whoever replaces Robinson so that he "doesn't spin his wheels" we have improved the chemistry and hopefully get better results with Robinson gone. If Robinson didn't understand what Fields expected him to do and the new guy does, we would say they have better chemistry and hopefully put up better numbers than Robinson did.

So I think everyone is in agreement as to the problem maybe just not the cause.

[RichH55]

Those are both TDs if Fields throws the ball on time. I've never been as high on Robinson as some, and I don't like how he seemed to check out last season. But these here are examples of the QB leaving his WR spinning his wheels, not the WR letting his QB down.

I don't agree with take very much, but let's say that is the case. Aren't you both saying the same thing but maybe pointing the finger at a different person? If Fields let Robinson "spin his wheels" they don't have good chemistry and Fields gets more in line with whoever replaces Robinson so that he "doesn't spin his wheels" we have improved the chemistry and hopefully get better results with Robinson gone. If Robinson didn't understand what Fields expected him to do and the new guy does, we would say they have better chemistry and hopefully put up better numbers than Robinson did.

So I think everyone is in agreement as to the problem maybe just not the cause.

Fields needs to learn whats open at Ohio State is very different than whats open (and when its open) in the Pros.

Until he learns that lesson - the WR - save for the Absolute beasts won't matter all that much

[Heinz D.]

There's also the one that went right between Arobs arms in the end zone. Forgot which game. But god how can a good player play just so damn bad in a contract year?

Robinson is mentally weak. We've seen it even before last season--when he was stressing about his contract, and his money.

Not going to sift through every post here, but Robinson phoned it in last year. Anybody pretending otherwise is fooling themselves.

He got paid $18 mil, and didn't even have five hundred receiving yards. And gaffed all over the place, like we see in the OPs videos.

Whether someone is sorry he's gone, or happy he's gone, I think it's obvious that there's no way in hell Poles could justify re-signing him...

[Bearfacts]

There's also the one that went right between Arobs arms in the end zone. Forgot which game. But god how can a good player play just so damn bad in a contract year?

Robinson is mentally weak. We've seen it even before last season--when he was stressing about his contract, and his money.

Not going to sift through every post here, but Robinson phoned it in last year. Anybody pretending otherwise is fooling themselves.

He got paid $18 mil, and didn't even have five hundred receiving yards. And gaffed all over the place, like we see in the OPs videos.

Whether someone is sorry he's gone, or happy he's gone, I think it's obvious that there's no way in hell Poles could justify re-signing him...

Yep. Whatever animosity that may have developed over a contract extension did appear to impact his play last year.

From what he was quoted as saying he preferred to stay in Chicago but other than whatever rumors leaked out either Pace didn't go all out to make that happen or ARob and his agent over valued him by so much there was no hope of finding a compromise. I recall some numbers being leaked but who knows how accurate they were.

What I do find odd though is that I believe he could have gotten a deal similar to the one he got from LA but he wanted more. A lot more. The other issue I have is with Pace. If he knew there was no way they were ever gonna come to an agreement why not trade him as opposed to tagging him at $18 mil for one year?

Most likely because both he and Nagy were trying to hold onto their jobs and trading their #1 WR would not have helped? My take on it all is that as a team we made the worst decision we possibly could have both for ARob and the Bears. I can only guess what his trade value might have been but I would like to think we could have gotten at least a 3rd round pick for him.

[Yogi da Bear]

No argument there--I anted up by calling Robinson a putz a few posts back.

I just don't think that chemistry is to blame in the examples shared here, or on any number of similar plays from last year. What I see is a QB who's uncomfortable with what the play is asking him to do. Specifically, reading coverages quickly enough to anticipate when guys will come open, and throwing the ball just as they begin to, or even a tick before. That's nothing to do with Nagy, really, or the receivers--every system is going to ask him to do that, including Getsy's.

Chemistry would seem to be a function of how reliably receivers are where they're supposed to be. If Fields needs to see major separation before he feels comfortable throwing the ball, the major adjustment is his to make, not the receivers'.

I think that's a fair assessment, one of the things Fields has to work on and quite possibly has prepared himself for via some film study. It's a habit he has to shed left over from college where his receivers were generally wide open as compared to the tighter coverages and more complex NFL zone schemes. If he can learn to read a defense pre and post snap it's fixable.

The rest will come from developing the necessary rapport with all of his receivers. He needs to know where to expect his guys to make their breaks or when they will extend their routes and they need to do that dependably. That takes time and practice. The kind of time and practice he never got last summer when Nagy was insisting Dalton would be his #1 and got most of the reps.

I agree that those two examples had nothing to do with "chemistry." They had to do with ARob being a lackadaisical dick. He just gave up.

What JF1 has to work on with respect to chemistry is throwing his receiver open. Right now, JF1 relies on seeing separation before throwing the ball. The separation doesn't have to be great for him right now. Look at some of his tight completions--amazing. But what he doesn't do is throw with anticipation--before the cut. That comes with studying and confidence in your receiver which comes from chemistry.

He has to rethink his response to Jimmy Graham last year, "Get open and I'll throw it to you." That's him recognizing that he has to see some separation before throwing it. No, Justin, in the NFL, sometimes you have to throw your receiver open. You have to have the confidence that he's going to be where he's supposed to be. Hopefully, your work with Mooney and Kmet will show that.

[IE]

It seems like throwing a receiver open has a whole lot to do with QB/WR chemistry.