Bears 2024: 5.0 It's Caleb Williams time

[fleet]

Yes, Fields was a great victim, and CJ is well informed how this team was built the last 2 years certainly. It sucks that the Bears didn’t figure that out, and get “The haul”. And more than a 6th rounder for such a victim of circumstances. Pittsburgh should have picked up Fields’ option too. All Fields needs is “more help”

Pretty much this. Fields frankly didn't deserve being built around. He wasn't a good enough QB to build a team around his legs

Can we stop pretending Fields never had anything? He had Moore and Kmet. Both were top 10 at their position. Fields couldn't do much with them. The Raiders hired his former OC and have no QB and you never even heard a peep of a rumor he could go there.

You know who was set up for failure? Mac Jones. No weapons, not even an OC and he flashed some talent in his rookie year. That's the guy who is the real victim.

And Mooney, who just got a nice contract. Fields completely was unable to use this year. There’s no excuse for a truly good quarterback to look bad. Maybe diminished effectiveness on the margins sure. But good quarterbacks show you.

[TheStig]

Pretty much this. Fields frankly didn't deserve being built around. He wasn't a good enough QB to build a team around his legs

Can we stop pretending Fields never had anything? He had Moore and Kmet. Both were top 10 at their position. Fields couldn't do much with them. The Raiders hired his former OC and have no QB and you never even heard a peep of a rumor he could go there.

You know who was set up for failure? Mac Jones. No weapons, not even an OC and he flashed some talent in his rookie year. That's the guy who is the real victim.

And Mooney, who just got a nice contract. Fields completely was unable to use this year. There’s no excuse for a truly good quarterback to look bad. Maybe diminished effectiveness on the margins sure. But good quarterbacks show you.

Excellent point. I think Mooney will be much better with Kirk.

[panthermark]

OMG - I was gone for awhile waiting for the draft, and the whole thing is still tiring.


In the end, everyone was right (or wrong) depending on your position.
Didn't like Fields? He's gone, CW is here.
Didn't like the OC? He's gone, as he clearly wasn't trusted enough to be the guy for CW.
Didn't like the center? They are gone.
Didn't think there was enough talent at the skill positions outside of Moore and Kmet? A Pro-bowl RB and WR, along with another top 10 pick at WR were added.

Pretty much everything that was pointed at and argued about has been turned over. Time to move on.

[Bulls69]

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This dude again ...

Yes, Fields was a great victim, and CJ is well informed how this team was built the last 2 years certainly. It sucks that the Bears didn’t figure that out, and get “The haul”. And more than a 6th rounder for such a victim of circumstances. Pittsburgh should have picked up Fields’ option too. All Fields needs is “more help”

I strongly disagree this pick from the Panthers was the perfect storm for the Bears. They were able to reset the Quarterback salary cap plus Ryan couldn’t afford to have Caleb blow up like CJ did last season if the Bears didn’t have the first pick Fields would still be a Bear.


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[Susan]

Pretty much this. Fields frankly didn't deserve being built around. He wasn't a good enough QB to build a team around his legs

Can we stop pretending Fields never had anything? He had Moore and Kmet. Both were top 10 at their position. Fields couldn't do much with them. The Raiders hired his former OC and have no QB and you never even heard a peep of a rumor he could go there.

You know who was set up for failure? Mac Jones. No weapons, not even an OC and he flashed some talent in his rookie year. That's the guy who is the real victim.

And Mooney, who just got a nice contract. Fields completely was unable to use this year. There’s no excuse for a truly good quarterback to look bad. Maybe diminished effectiveness on the margins sure. But good quarterbacks show you.

Who gave him that contract?

Atlanta. They just signed Kirk and drafted Penix.

Just let the Fields **** go. He'll be able to show what he was in the coming years - no need to talk about it endlessly.

Enjoy that we have Keenan, Caleb, DJ and Rome. We were discussing **** Byron Pringle and Chase Claypool previously.

[Chicago-Bull-E]

Love Coleman and McConkey for those QBs and franchises.

Not surprised AD Mitchell fell below them. Dude will be a diva from day 1. A good receiver too, but a diva.

[Chicago-Bull-E]

Alt and McConkey for the Chargers is solid. Giving Herbert high quality help quickly.

[fleet]

Love Coleman and McConkey for those QBs and franchises.

Not surprised AD Mitchell fell below them. Dude will be a diva from day 1. A good receiver too, but a diva.

Supposed to have diabetes issues that make him uneven attitude

[fleet]

Read on Twitter

This dude again ...

Yes, Fields was a great victim, and CJ is well informed how this team was built the last 2 years certainly. It sucks that the Bears didn’t figure that out, and get “The haul”. And more than a 6th rounder for such a victim of circumstances. Pittsburgh should have picked up Fields’ option too. All Fields needs is “more help”

I strongly disagree this pick from the Panthers was the perfect storm for the Bears. They were able to reset the Quarterback salary cap plus Ryan couldn’t afford to have Caleb blow up like CJ did last season if the Bears didn’t have the first pick Fields would still be a Bear.

I think that’s fiction. The league quarterback market just strongly indicated that these rookie quarterbacks are more valuable as prospects than Fields, who was only worth a conditional 6th. We would be looking at JJ, Penix, or Nix in Chicago if we didn’t have the top pick. And the top 3 guys weren’t able to be traded up for manifestly.

[dice]

Read on Twitter

This dude again ...

Yes, Fields was a great victim, and CJ is well informed how this team was built the last 2 years certainly. It sucks that the Bears didn’t figure that out, and get “The haul”. And more than a 6th rounder for such a victim of circumstances. Pittsburgh should have picked up Fields’ option too. All Fields needs is “more help”

I strongly disagree this pick from the Panthers was the perfect storm for the Bears. They were able to reset the Quarterback salary cap plus Ryan couldn’t afford to have Caleb blow up like CJ did last season if the Bears didn’t have the first pick Fields would still be a Bear.


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that brings up an interesting alternate reality scenario. expected values of the picks headed into the season were 9 (panthers) and 11 or 12 (bears). would poles have traded fields in that scenario? if so, surely he would have then packaged the picks to move up and make sure he did not end up empty handed

[dice]

Yes, Fields was a great victim, and CJ is well informed how this team was built the last 2 years certainly. It sucks that the Bears didn’t figure that out, and get “The haul”. And more than a 6th rounder for such a victim of circumstances. Pittsburgh should have picked up Fields’ option too. All Fields needs is “more help”

I strongly disagree this pick from the Panthers was the perfect storm for the Bears. They were able to reset the Quarterback salary cap plus Ryan couldn’t afford to have Caleb blow up like CJ did last season if the Bears didn’t have the first pick Fields would still be a Bear.

I think that’s fiction. The league quarterback market just strongly indicated that these rookie quarterbacks are more valuable as prospects than Fields, who was only worth a conditional 6th. We would be looking at JJ, Penix, or Nix in Chicago if we didn’t have the top pick. And the top 3 guys weren’t able to be traded up for manifestly.

at the same time, though, poles might have said "****, for a 5th rounder i'll just keep justin and build the roster"

but thank you lovie, thank you bryce and thank you jim harbaugh

[dice]

Can we stop pretending Fields never had anything? He had Moore and Kmet. Both were top 10 at their position. Fields couldn't do much with them. The Raiders hired his former OC and have no QB and you never even heard a peep of a rumor he could go there.

You know who was set up for failure? Mac Jones. No weapons, not even an OC and he flashed some talent in his rookie year. That's the guy who is the real victim.

And Mooney, who just got a nice contract. Fields completely was unable to use this year. There’s no excuse for a truly good quarterback to look bad. Maybe diminished effectiveness on the margins sure. But good quarterbacks show you.

Excellent point. I think Mooney will be much better with Kirk.

to be fair, justin was great throwing to moore and kmet. but agree with the premise

[fleet]

Can we stop pretending Fields never had anything? He had Moore and Kmet. Both were top 10 at their position. Fields couldn't do much with them. The Raiders hired his former OC and have no QB and you never even heard a peep of a rumor he could go there.

You know who was set up for failure? Mac Jones. No weapons, not even an OC and he flashed some talent in his rookie year. That's the guy who is the real victim.

And Mooney, who just got a nice contract. Fields completely was unable to use this year. There’s no excuse for a truly good quarterback to look bad. Maybe diminished effectiveness on the margins sure. But good quarterbacks show you.

Excellent point. I think Mooney will be much better with Kirk.

Surely. He was rediscovered as a target by Tyson Bagent.

[dice]

About Penix going to ATL, I don't think it was a dumb move at all. They likely just fell in love with his potential, and even though they just signed Cousins, probably thought to themselves that this could be the last good chance they have to land a top QB prospect. I think Penix was very under-rated, plus his age and injuries- but talent wise, he could be as good as anyone in this draft. People might be looking back at this years from now and saying 'wow, ATL made a smart move".

It's also possible they heard that other teams would take him fairly early, so there was no good opportunity to trade back and still get him. Anyway, these are the scenarios I can think of that make sense of this.

In any case, it sure worked out well for CHI! We got our guy in Odunze (although I will be closely following Bower's career as well wondering if we took the right guy- but most likely we did.)

I thought the Penix move was terrible.

If you’re in love with his potential, don’t spend $40M on a QB that’ll keep him shelved until he’s 27 years old. And if you’re not sold on Penix’s ability to become a starter on his rookie contract, don’t use the 8th pick on him.

Using that cap *and* the pick on QB is just a horrible allocation of resources. It smacks of ownership wanting one thing (Kirk) and the GM wanting another.

There's just no coherent strategic synergy behind both moves. You sign Cousins to that deal because you want to max out a 3-4 year window of competitive play. You draft a relatively NFL ready 24 year old rookie at #8 to be the franchise QB in the next 1-2 years. Kirk isnt the type of QB you bring in to be a 1-2 year bridge, Penix doesnt seem like a great fit for a stash and develop QB although you have to acknowledge teams aren't exactly spoiled for choice with what high end QB prospects are available to them.

This offseason does not bring ATL significantly closer to contention:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/transactions/_/name/atl/atlanta-falcons

And the biggest piece of draft capital they are likely to have in Kirk Cousins tenure is not able to help a Cousins led team compete. ATL probably locking themselves in to a situation with Penix where they have to decide on a 5th year option or extension on a player who has been Cousins back up for 3 years in '27. Feels an awful lot like a "dont want to pick a direction so ill put 1 foot on both sides of the fence" move that Bulls fans should be all too familiar with.

mccarthy would have made more sense, but even then...

[Chicago-Bull-E]

What were the betting odds that Mitchell’s Texas teammates Sweat, Worthy, and Brooks all got drafted before him? Holy cow

[Chicago-Bull-E]

Caleb’s twitter is awesome now.

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[sco]

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This dude again ...

Yes, Fields was a great victim, and CJ is well informed how this team was built the last 2 years certainly. It sucks that the Bears didn’t figure that out, and get “The haul”. And more than a 6th rounder for such a victim of circumstances. Pittsburgh should have picked up Fields’ option too. All Fields needs is “more help”

Pretty much this. Fields frankly didn't deserve being built around. He wasn't a good enough QB to build a team around his legs

You are right. Also though, it raises the point that it is a bad idea to bring in a rookie QB to run the team before there are the underpinnings to make the job doable. We never should have drafted Fields to begin with, but that said, it was his play that earned us the last couple years picks.

[AshyLarrysDiaper]

The late intel on AD Mitchell really killed him. Goddamn.

[dice]

Read on Twitter

This dude again ...

Yes, Fields was a great victim, and CJ is well informed how this team was built the last 2 years certainly. It sucks that the Bears didn’t figure that out, and get “The haul”. And more than a 6th rounder for such a victim of circumstances. Pittsburgh should have picked up Fields’ option too. All Fields needs is “more help”

They did a crap job of putting a good team around Fields and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people acknowledging that. Does it mean that we shouldn’t have traded him? No. But the facts are what they are. Just let it go already.

those are not facts. here are some facts:

-bears O-line was 6th in the league in avg. pocket time
-bears RBs averaged well over 4 yards a carry
-bears had 2nd most rush attempts in league, which along w/ fields's running ability forced opponents to load up the box
-kmet was 9th rated TE in PFF grade
-moore was 10th rated WR

despite these strong advantages, fields was 23rd of 30 in pass QBR

[dice]

No chance I want a rookie center calling out reads for Caleb.

I guess if you think he’s talented enough sit for a bit. Much larger needs elsewhere to me.

letting jpj sit for a year would probably be a good idea. he only had a year of starting experience in college

bates has 2 games of starting center experience. and he wasn't good at starting guard