Are we “a player away” now?

[dplank]

Not in the literal sense, but the common use of the phrase….

If we add, say, Myles Garrett (the one player) - and then fill out the roster with normal moves but nothing overly dramatic (3 high draft picks and maybe a FA C or something)…I kind of feel like our roster stacks up with anyone. Caleb being they key of course but with a real NFL OL and his rookie year behind him and Ben Johnson stepping in, I’m weirdly confident he’s going to just explode next year.

[LacertineForest]

I say no. I think we need at least another year of drafting and actually developing some guys on our lines for depth and eventual starting roles before we ready to add that piece that puts us over the top.

Neither of the acquisitions made this week have long-term deals attached to them (and both might not be on the roster next year - I hope that's not the case). I think making that kind of a move too early can end up hamstringing you down the road.

I am excited and hopefully we do see that explosion this year, either way!

[WagonForce]

I think this is a nice question to raise now. My answer is no.

For me, being 'one player away' means that the team should look to trade future assets for immediate impact. They should already believe they can contend for a Super Bowl with the existing roster and be looking for an elite player to put them over the top.

Even with the new coaching staff, the Thuney and Jackson trades, likely further meaningful additions in free agency, and some nice capital in the draft, I just can't get past the fact that this team won 5 games last year. The Bears have also averaged 5 wins a season for Ryan Poles' tenure. It's the NFL and teams can and do go from worst to first but I'm not counting on anything from the Bears until I see it on the field.

The Bears should build methodically. Poles needs to prove he can find pro bowl (or all pro) talent in the draft, something he hasn't accomplished yet in three years. While the Bears seem very well poised to break out, this isn't the first year it has looked that way.

[G08]

It's really tough to say, especially with this being Year 1 under Ben Johnson.

Could we surprise some people and make a little run? I don't see why not, but I don't think we're "a player away" from being a Super Bowl contender.

I think that is at least two-to-four seasons away. Caleb needs to grow, Ben needs to learn what works best for him philosophically, and we still need to add more talent, preferably younger.

Now, let's say we add Drew Dalman and Khalil Mack and they play to the top of their talent levels. Then in the draft we hit on our first few picks, including RB, and they too play top-tier football.

IF that happens? Anything is possible.

But, @dplank, it's also possible you can also get a blowie from Lizzo and if you squint hard enough, you'll think it's Queen Latifah!

[Shadow]

I would also say no at this point in time. Poles has made some great moves, but they have not played a single snap together. After 17 games of real football, we will see if they are 1 player away. If the O-line and D-Line solidify, Caleb makes that step everyone thinks he is capable of, RB group improves, WRs, TEs and even LBs. That is a lot to do in one season.

I think you can maybe start a countdown to when though.

[dplank]

You all are some low expectation having mfers lol

[Heinz D.]

Caleb being they key of course but with a real NFL OL and his rookie year behind him and Ben Johnson stepping in, I’m weirdly confident he’s going to just explode next year.

Well, I'd argue he already exploded. The best season by a Bears quarterback in the hundred plus years of the franchise. Remarkably few turnovers for the number of times he was hurried, or sacked.

I do get what you're saying, though. A good line and he could potentially have an OPOY type season...

The Bears should build methodically. Poles needs to prove he can find pro bowl (or all pro) talent in the draft, something he hasn't accomplished yet in three years. While the Bears seem very well poised to break out, this isn't the first year it has looked that way.

Odunze is that type of talent, but as everyone here knows--IMHO, that pick was the exact opposite of building methodically. The football media is starting to finally grasp this, too.

Brisker would be that kind of guy, too, if not for the concussions.

I'm not trying to claim you're wrong, though. Poles has to get his act together--and quickly.

But, dplank, it's also possible you can also get a blowie from Lizzo and if you squint hard enough, you'll think it's Queen Latifah!

[Heinz D.]

You all are some low expectation having mfers lol

Well...the O line still needs improvement, no?

As the roster stands right now, we need about four quality players to be a legit force. Maybe seven quality players away from being kick-ass.

Poles can't waste roster spots any more, either. No more DomRobs or Va-Jay-Jays...

[Bearfacts]

Not in the literal sense, but the common use of the phrase….

If we add, say, Myles Garrett (the one player) - and then fill out the roster with normal moves but nothing overly dramatic (3 high draft picks and maybe a FA C or something)…I kind of feel like our roster stacks up with anyone. Caleb being they key of course but with a real NFL OL and his rookie year behind him and Ben Johnson stepping in, I’m weirdly confident he’s going to just explode next year.

How do you add Garrett while keeping three high draft picks and the rest of your core roster intact? I mean come on brother. What color is the sky where you live?

[RichH55]

It's probably technically "Two" Players away - in a semantic way

If Caleb is the guy (And I think he is) - IF he's a No Doubter Top 10 QB next year - then yes. An add of Myles would absolutely make us a legitimate contender. There wasn't a ton of holes on the team

[Bearfacts]

But to answer the question with a question.....away from what? An NFCN top place finish? A couple of playoff wins? An NFC Championship? A SB appearance? A SB win? Maybe #1 and possibly even #2 but I stop there.

We're adding talent but that talent and our QB need to gel under a new HC in a new offense that will take time to learn and perfect. The defense faces the same but should take less time to adapt. And last we are still about a half dozen players short of where we need to be. Maybe the draft and FA will provide and maybe not.

[G08]

But, dplank, it's also possible you can also get a blowie from Lizzo and if you squint hard enough, you'll think it's Queen Latifah!

You clearly do not watch Bears games with us in the Discord, good sir.

[Heinz D.]

We're adding talent but that talent and our QB need to gel under a new HC in a new offense that will take time to learn and perfect. The defense faces the same but should take less time to adapt. And last we are still about a half dozen players short of where we need to be. Maybe the draft and FA will provide and maybe not.

I'll address the bolded first--seems to me you're admitting that this off-season is yet another crapshoot that Poles may lose. Welcome aboard. It's a nice ship! I think you'll feel right at home. We have cookies, and weed.

As to the rest of that...it defies football logic for me to disagree with you...but, for some weird reason I can't even properly explain...I believe the Johnson-led Bears are going to hit the ground running. Now, will they get better as the season progresses? Sure. But I think we'll be impressed, right out of the gate.

[Grizzled]

Low expectations? No, just been burned too many times with expectations not met, last year being just the latest. No, we're more than a player away. Billings goes down, the run D collapses. The team can compete for a playoff spot in '25. But it needs at least another year of building depth on the OL, DL, RB, S, LB, maybe TE.

[RichH55]

Not in the literal sense, but the common use of the phrase….

If we add, say, Myles Garrett (the one player) - and then fill out the roster with normal moves but nothing overly dramatic (3 high draft picks and maybe a FA C or something)…I kind of feel like our roster stacks up with anyone. Caleb being they key of course but with a real NFL OL and his rookie year behind him and Ben Johnson stepping in, I’m weirdly confident he’s going to just explode next year.

How do you add Garrett while keeping three high draft picks and the rest of your core roster intact? I mean come on brother. What color is the sky where you live?

It's probably gonna cost you the 10th this year (maybe something next year - though not a 1st) and 30ish Cap Space a Year

I'm not sure why that is gonna break us and us have to lose the core of the roster - especially when Caleb and Rome have 3 Rookie years left....JJ, DJ, and Kmet are all on team friendly long term deals......You can save money on Edmunds after next year, probably Byard too

And you'd still be adding two High 2nds and a high 3rd Rounder to the roster

And you have Roughly 126 million under the Cap next year and have basically done next to NO cap games (*)

(*) That number wouldn't include this draft class or next years draft class OR myles's $$$. and it's only for 26 players under contract AND next year is the year you have to make some real decisions on players (Gordon, Thuney, Edwards, Edmunds (he would be savings though), Brisker, Braxton and even Billings)

Though it also incorporates only a small cap gain (OTC has typically put a very conservative number on it ). And doesn't incorporate any Cap Space you are bringing forward.

Or that Swift and Edmunds could represent Cap Savings if cut. 7.5 for Swift and 15 for Edmunds.


So quite frankly adding Myles to the Roster and making money and core guys work - Doesn't seem like that much of an uphill battle

[RichH55]

Low expectations? No, just been burned too many times with expectations not met, last year being just the latest. No, we're more than a player away. Billings goes down, the run D collapses. The team can compete for a playoff spot in '25. But it needs at least another year of building depth on the OL, DL, RB, S, LB, maybe TE.

I do think Dplank is factoring in that we do have a normal offseason too (correct me if Im wrong)

It would be weird if we didn't use our Draft picks you know?

[HisRoyalSweetness]

You clearly do not watch Bears games with us in the Discord, good sir.

The Discord is den of debauchery!

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Like @WagonForce I'll wait until I see it on the field but...

For all those pointing out the Bears only won 5 games last season, saying another year of player acquisition is needed, that time is needed for Johnson (and Allen) to get the their schemes engrained, that Caleb needs another year to develop etc. I can't help but think of Washington last year.

[Heinz D.]

Like @WagonForce I'll wait until I see it on the field but...

For all those pointing out the Bears only won 5 games last season, saying another year of player acquisition is needed, that time is needed for Johnson (and Allen) to get the their schemes engrained, that Caleb needs another year to develop etc. I can't help but think of Washington last year.

Kind of what I was alluding to, above. If you manage to do it right, it CAN be like flipping a switch. Provided you have a base to work with.

[LacertineForest]

But, @dplank, it's also possible you can also get a blowie from Lizzo and if you squint hard enough, you'll think it's Queen Latifah!

Maybe in the past, but Lizzo has lost a ton of weight recently!

(This image is fairly large and I'm not sure if you can scale using BBcode, so here's a link to it, instead: https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/G_aX1 ... da15515599).

[dplank]

Not in the literal sense, but the common use of the phrase….

If we add, say, Myles Garrett (the one player) - and then fill out the roster with normal moves but nothing overly dramatic (3 high draft picks and maybe a FA C or something)…I kind of feel like our roster stacks up with anyone. Caleb being they key of course but with a real NFL OL and his rookie year behind him and Ben Johnson stepping in, I’m weirdly confident he’s going to just explode next year.

How do you add Garrett while keeping three high draft picks and the rest of your core roster intact? I mean come on brother. What color is the sky where you live?

Bro - not literal just threw a rando example in there.

[Bearfacts]

How do you add Garrett while keeping three high draft picks and the rest of your core roster intact? I mean come on brother. What color is the sky where you live?

Bro - not literal just threw a rando example in there.

But why throw out something that's impossible? Why not do it with someone who is like Jeanty? Then it would make sense. Or take a different FA we might get or a player we could actually get in trade and keep the rest intact? But Jeanty might still be the best example.

Then I could say that if we've truly fixed the OL then with Jeanty even in year one of a new regime I believe we'd have a good shot at taking the NFCN crown. That puts us in the playoffs and that's as far as I'd take it until I can actually see what our playoff schedule would look like. But no, we're not gonna win the 2026 SB with just one more player.

[Grizzled]

Low expectations? No, just been burned too many times with expectations not met, last year being just the latest. No, we're more than a player away. Billings goes down, the run D collapses. The team can compete for a playoff spot in '25. But it needs at least another year of building depth on the OL, DL, RB, S, LB, maybe TE.

I do think Dplank is factoring in that we do have a normal offseason too (correct me if Im wrong)

It would be weird if we didn't use our Draft picks you know?

And then most of them actually pan out.

[thefish7]

The Bears have a really great position in terms of resources. They have not been playing cap games and they have Caleb on the cheap through the 2028. That, to me, means you can get kinda pantsless on moves until 2029. In 2029 you may have to spend a whole helluva lot to keep Caleb. So, unleash the cap games! I don't know if we're one player away... But considering the ~37M we have in cap space (plus that liberal ability to play some cap games) and 3 good draft picks, I think we're maybe two away. Can still improve the o-line and d-line in FA. Still, imo, need a WR3 out of FA. Then you can use your first 3 picks on an RB, an OL, and a DL (take the position you didn't address in FA) and fucking go for it.

I also want to point out, there's no real value in being conservative, as the value of your draft picks is going to decline when the team improves. Unless you want a tank year, there's no reason not to go for it this year.

[southdakbearfan]

Fans always think they are a player away never are. This “Team” hasnt even formed to run a practice, a drill or anything else under totally new systems. Name one player that ever went to another team and put them over the top that wasn’t a HOF QB.

We have a Qb that needs to develop, a line that needs to gel and a defense we don’t know about. That’s a far cry from one player away.

[thefish7]

Fans always think they are a player away never are. This “Team” hasnt even formed to run a practice, a drill or anything else under totally new systems. Name one player that ever went to another team and put them over the top that wasn’t a HOF QB.

We have a Qb that needs to develop, a line that needs to gel and a defense we don’t know about. That’s a far cry from one player away.

I mean, the joint is called bearsfansonline, so you should expect to find some fans here.

Of course what you're saying is true, but that doesn't excuse the front office from trying to put the best possible roster out there this season. There is no value in continued tanking to rebuild, or even to reserving resources for some future day. Time to stack the roster, keep it stacked, and let the coaches and players do their part to get the Ws.

[thefish7]

Also to answer the demand to find examples of "one player putting teams over the top," I looked at the greatest turn around seasons in NFL history. I'm not sure any "fits" exactly, but let's look at a couple.

1999 Indianapolis Colts. Went from 3-13 to 13-3. Notable team changes: Peyton Manning's improvement over his first season. They're drafted Edgerrin James but trade Marshall Faulk (not sure that is any kind of addition). They signed DE Chad Bratzke, who was a force at end for them. I think this is a decent example of "one player" doing the thing.

2008 Miami Dolphins, went from 1-15 to 11-5. I'm not going to summarize this one except to say the Dolphins hired Bill Paecells and he proceeded to murder the entire team, players, coaches, and from office. If you want to see all the moves, they're well summarized on the Wikipedia page. This is not a good example of one guy (except for maybe Parcells), but it's a lot more similar to the current bears off-season.

Those are the two biggest turnarounds in NFL history. You can draw some parallels from both seasons to the current bears situation. Also, the bears haven't added just one player, so the question is really about if they add a couple more and have draft success what will it do to their record?

[southdakbearfan]

Fans always think they are a player away never are. This “Team” hasnt even formed to run a practice, a drill or anything else under totally new systems. Name one player that ever went to another team and put them over the top that wasn’t a HOF QB.

We have a Qb that needs to develop, a line that needs to gel and a defense we don’t know about. That’s a far cry from one player away.

I mean, the joint is called bearsfansonline, so you should expect to find some fans here.

Of course what you're saying is true, but that doesn't excuse the front office from trying to put the best possible roster out there this season. There is no value in continued tanking to rebuild, or even to reserving resources for some future day. Time to stack the roster, keep it stacked, and let the coaches and players do their part to get the Ws.

Pretty much saying the same thing. When you mortgage all the assets needed to deepen a roster further chasing the thought of having 2 - 100+ million DE’s. Would I salivate at the thought of a dominating, crushing d line, yep but that doesn’t make it smart..

Myles Garrett is a move you make next season, maybe, when you actually know what you have in a coach and how a roster actually plays in your new scheme. And its preferably a low cost rental for a season costing small draft capital along with no reinvestment.

Teams don’t win it all with “Myles Garrett” moves, they win it all stacking success upon success in the draft, so when the QB salary gets huge you don’t have to devoid the team of all talent cutting expensive players for nothing. You stack that talent in the draft, keep strategic players, trade others away at the point they become expensive for more assets to restock and stack the cupboard again. A “Myles Garrett” type move right now reeks of what the last two GMs would have done, I mean hell we did it with Mitch and Khalil, see how that worked out and the bandaids year after year after that move since they had no draft capital?

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Those might be the "biggest" turnarounds in NFL history, but as mentioned above there's no need to go back further than last season.

2023 Washington Commanders: 4-13
2024 Washington Commanders: 12-5 + 2 playoff wins and an appearance in the NFC Championship Game

New GM, new HC, new OC, new DC, new STC and a rookie QB, yet they completely turned it around in one season.

Oh and they're in the top 3 for cap space heading into this year's free agency as well picks in the first 3 rounds of the draft.


Ben Johnson said it loud and clear: ""Our mission, starting this spring, is to win and to win now."

No more "they need another year". It's time this team started winning.

[LacertineForest]

Those might be the "biggest" turnarounds in NFL history, but as mentioned above there's no need to go back further than last season.

2023 Washington Commanders: 4-13
2024 Washington Commanders: 12-5 + 2 playoff wins and an appearance in the NFC Championship Game

New GM, new HC, new OC, new DC, new STC and a rookie QB, yet they completely turned it around in one season.

Oh and they're in the top 3 for cap space heading into this year's free agency as well picks in the first 3 rounds of the draft.


Ben Johnson said it loud and clear: ""Our mission, starting this spring, is to win and to win now."

No more "they need another year". It's time this team started winning.

I agree, and I'm optimistic the Bears will be able to pull a similar turnaround this year. Relating that back to this thread topic - the Commanders didn't do it by spending a big chunk of cap space to get a guy or multiple elite guys to put them over the top. Their biggest FA spend last year was $11MM AAV for DE Dorance Armstrong (who had 5 sacks, 39 tackles over 16 games last year). They only signed four players with contracts of $5MM AAV or more last year, which left them in incredible shape for this offseason, especially given their performance last year.