Bears 12.0

[TheJordanRule]

That is about what we thought last year with DJ, KA Kmet and Rome.
It really will come down to CW.

Yes, you're right Panthermark. It will come down to CW, and either CW can make the jump or he can't. But we just upgraded our OL from mid to superior. That extra time in the pocket *should* be crucial for CW. If Dresden and Almost Retired are right about Loveland and Burden, IDK how we can look at a season in which CW plays mid as anything more than a disappointment. That is a TON of support over the offseason. Poles has given CW every reason to succeed.

If Caleb still needs extra extra time to throw the ball, the lead is getting murdered and buried. If we want to extend his TTT up to 3 seconds, it’s uncomfortable but some quarterbacks play that way just about. But again, either Caleb is able to process the plays, or we are having discussions we don’t want to have.

Based on the fact that CW is the anti-Justin, I'm willing to bet the farm on CW's processing skills. We don't have a RB who can throw. We have a QB who can run, but prefers to pass when given the option. Justin never gave us any sign of the natural cerebral skills this kid has. CW IS Kobe!

[sco]

Yes, you're right Panthermark. It will come down to CW, and either CW can make the jump or he can't. But we just upgraded our OL from mid to superior. That extra time in the pocket *should* be crucial for CW. If Dresden and Almost Retired are right about Loveland and Burden, IDK how we can look at a season in which CW plays mid as anything more than a disappointment. That is a TON of support over the offseason. Poles has given CW every reason to succeed.

If Caleb still needs extra extra time to throw the ball, the lead is getting murdered and buried. If we want to extend his TTT up to 3 seconds, it’s uncomfortable but some quarterbacks play that way just about. But again, either Caleb is able to process the plays, or we are having discussions we don’t want to have.

Based on the fact that CW is the anti-Justin, I'm willing to bet the farm on CW's processing skills. We don't have a RB who can throw. We have a QB who can run, but prefers to pass when given the option. Justin never gave us any sign of the natural cerebral skills this kid has. CW IS Kobe!

Yeah, IMO CW has the yips (vs. a processing problem), but that doesn't mean you can cure the yips easily. It ended many a high pick QB career.

[Mbrahv0528]

ESPN bears projections

caleb 3450 pass, 400 rush, 22 TD, 10 INT, 38 sacks, grade 5/10

other yards from scrimmage:

1250 swift 4.1 YPC, 9 TD
1050 DJ 6 TD, 12 YPC
950 rome (if you want to) 7 TD, 14 YPC
600 roschon 4.1 YPC, 6 TD (BJ effect)
600 loveland 4 TD, 11 YPC
550 burden 3 TD, 12 YPC
150 kmet 1 TD (trade the man!)

OL grade 9/10

39 defensive sacks (rank 28), 13 INT (rank 13)

12 offense rank
13 defense rank
8 overall rank

Interesting that hes projected to have a worse year (in my eyes) than last year with all the upgrades in OL, coaching, and pass catching.

I understand the sacks are way down in the projection, but I would assume they'd naturally go way down with scheme, OL play, and natural processing/progression improvements from Caleb.

Caleb will be the first 4,000 yard passerin Bears history, book it.

Sent from my SM-S938U using RealGM mobile app

[sco]

ESPN bears projections

caleb 3450 pass, 400 rush, 22 TD, 10 INT, 38 sacks, grade 5/10

other yards from scrimmage:

1250 swift 4.1 YPC, 9 TD
1050 DJ 6 TD, 12 YPC
950 rome (if you want to) 7 TD, 14 YPC
600 roschon 4.1 YPC, 6 TD (BJ effect)
600 loveland 4 TD, 11 YPC
550 burden 3 TD, 12 YPC
150 kmet 1 TD (trade the man!)

OL grade 9/10

39 defensive sacks (rank 28), 13 INT (rank 13)

12 offense rank
13 defense rank
8 overall rank

Interesting that hes projected to have a worse year (in my eyes) than last year with all the upgrades in OL, coaching, and pass catching.

I understand the sacks are way down in the projection, but I would assume they'd naturally go way down with scheme, OL play, and natural processing/progression improvements from Caleb.

Caleb will be the first 4,000 yard passerin Bears history, book it.

Sent from my SM-S938U using RealGM mobile app

Hard to argue, but that is such an embarrassingly low bar these days. That's 235 yards per game.

[nomorezorro]

there were only 6 4,000 yard passers in the entire nfl last season and 12 starters who averaged 235+ yards per game

it's still a reachable target but it's not really a benchmark for "solid qb play" anymore; passing offenses have seen a significant downturn from the peaks of the mid-late 2010s

[GetBuLLish]

Yeah, IMO CW has the yips (vs. a processing problem), but that doesn't mean you can cure the yips easily. It ended many a high pick QB career.

Caleb has the "yips" only if you completely change the meaning of that word.

[fleet]

Well it’s funny. But Caleb has a playmaker’s style of play. Which BJ says he doesn’t want to neuter. Yet BJ is allergic to sacks. But if BJ asks for Detroit style offense out of Caleb, which BJ says he won’t necessarily, BJ is tantamount to asking Caleb to do something he’s not been particularly adept at. I think there is a happy medium in there somewhere. BJ has to walk a fine line of running a quick on-time system where guys are only NFL open, and running Caleb ball. That’s going to be an interesting balance.

If I had to guess how it goes, I think BJ is going to make Caleb do something he hasn’t been doing yet. And we have downgraded coaches that tried to change Justin Fields many times. We’re gonna see if a coach can succeed finally in Chicago changing the QB. This may be overstating it, because I believe Oklahoma Caleb was indeed more pocket passing guy than at USC. If Caleb can still resurrect Oklahoma Caleb, that’s likely what he needs to do. But when has a really talented skill player that has had success in the past morphing into something else change their game and habits to a significant degree? Not very often. Another guess…more or less we will see the same Caleb we saw last season. Only a little better managed.

[fleet]

If Caleb still needs extra extra time to throw the ball, the lead is getting murdered and buried. If we want to extend his TTT up to 3 seconds, it’s uncomfortable but some quarterbacks play that way just about. But again, either Caleb is able to process the plays, or we are having discussions we don’t want to have.

Based on the fact that CW is the anti-Justin, I'm willing to bet the farm on CW's processing skills. We don't have a RB who can throw. We have a QB who can run, but prefers to pass when given the option. Justin never gave us any sign of the natural cerebral skills this kid has. CW IS Kobe!

Yeah, IMO CW has the yips (vs. a processing problem), but that doesn't mean you can cure the yips easily. It ended many a high pick QB career.

If it isn’t slower processing, it is indecision. When you watch Jayden Daniels, Daniels’ decision-making is leagues better and more decisive. Caleb’s decisions, if you want to call it a yips thing, I always thought yips were a lack of confidence at the point of pulling the trigger on a putt causing a miss. But you do pull the trigger. Caleb was more like Maverick in Top Gun after Goose died. Fails to engage, and he pulls the ball down.

Arm chair analysis here is that at his height, Caleb was shocked at the size and speed of the people rushing him up the middle, and he didn’t have enough time for receivers to get USC open before the scramble drill began. If he gets a little more room to operate between the tackles, that’s may help his confidence. But BJ is less likely to anllow extra time to scheme people wide open for Caleb to pull the trigger. No more of that. BJ wants Caleb to let it go on time, and let the receivers be the playmakers after catch.

[Dresden]

It's possible a good portion of Caleb's lack of decisiveness was due to poor coaching. BJ has made it clear he will make sure everyone knows exactly where they're supposed to be and what they're supposed to be doing. that might go a long way to correcting Caleb's faults from a. year ago.

[CBS7]

ESPN bears projections

caleb 3450 pass, 400 rush, 22 TD, 10 INT, 38 sacks, grade 5/10

other yards from scrimmage:

1250 swift 4.1 YPC, 9 TD
1050 DJ 6 TD, 12 YPC
950 rome (if you want to) 7 TD, 14 YPC
600 roschon 4.1 YPC, 6 TD (BJ effect)
600 loveland 4 TD, 11 YPC
550 burden 3 TD, 12 YPC
150 kmet 1 TD (trade the man!)

OL grade 9/10

39 defensive sacks (rank 28), 13 INT (rank 13)

12 offense rank
13 defense rank
8 overall rank

Interesting that hes projected to have a worse year (in my eyes) than last year with all the upgrades in OL, coaching, and pass catching.

I understand the sacks are way down in the projection, but I would assume they'd naturally go way down with scheme, OL play, and natural processing/progression improvements from Caleb.

Caleb will be the first 4,000 yard passerin Bears history, book it.

Sent from my SM-S938U using RealGM mobile app

After looking closer at this guy's predictions, he pretty much predicts all starters will play 14-15 games.
He has Caleb playing 15. which puts him at 230 yards/game. Which would be 3910 yards over the whole season.

[Michael Jackson]

Based on the fact that CW is the anti-Justin, I'm willing to bet the farm on CW's processing skills. We don't have a RB who can throw. We have a QB who can run, but prefers to pass when given the option. Justin never gave us any sign of the natural cerebral skills this kid has. CW IS Kobe!

Yeah, IMO CW has the yips (vs. a processing problem), but that doesn't mean you can cure the yips easily. It ended many a high pick QB career.

If it isn’t slower processing, it is indecision. When you watch Jayden Daniels, Daniels’ decision-making is leagues better and more decisive. Caleb’s decisions, if you want to call it a yips thing, I always thought yips were a lack of confidence at the point of pulling the trigger on a putt causing a miss. But you do pull the trigger. Caleb was more like Maverick in Top Gun after Goose died. Fails to engage, and he pulls the ball down.

Arm chair analysis here is that at his height, Caleb was shocked at the size and speed of the people rushing him up the middle, and he didn’t have enough time for receivers to get USC open before the scramble drill began. If he gets a little more room to operate between the tackles, that’s may help his confidence. But BJ is less likely to anllow extra time to scheme people wide open for Caleb to pull the trigger. No more of that. BJ wants Caleb to let it go on time, and let the receivers be the playmakers after catch.

If Caleb can buy in it works. I am just pretty sure a huge problem was confidence in the coaching staff and well we did have 3 OC’s last year. Stability from the top will make buy in easier. Flus felt like a lame duck going into the year. There is no second guessing with BJ if it is his team and his vision here. That helps. Now can BJ pull it off?

[fleet]

Yeah, IMO CW has the yips (vs. a processing problem), but that doesn't mean you can cure the yips easily. It ended many a high pick QB career.

If it isn’t slower processing, it is indecision. When you watch Jayden Daniels, Daniels’ decision-making is leagues better and more decisive. Caleb’s decisions, if you want to call it a yips thing, I always thought yips were a lack of confidence at the point of pulling the trigger on a putt causing a miss. But you do pull the trigger. Caleb was more like Maverick in Top Gun after Goose died. Fails to engage, and he pulls the ball down.

Arm chair analysis here is that at his height, Caleb was shocked at the size and speed of the people rushing him up the middle, and he didn’t have enough time for receivers to get USC open before the scramble drill began. If he gets a little more room to operate between the tackles, that’s may help his confidence. But BJ is less likely to anllow extra time to scheme people wide open for Caleb to pull the trigger. No more of that. BJ wants Caleb to let it go on time, and let the receivers be the playmakers after catch.

If Caleb can buy in it works. I am just pretty sure a huge problem was confidence in the coaching staff and well we did have 3 OC’s last year. Stability from the top will make buy in easier. Flus felt like a lame duck going into the year. There is no second guessing with BJ if it is his team and his vision here. That helps. Now can BJ pull it off?

I’m sure BJ will tell Caleb that incompletions are fine. Just get it out and don’t take a sack screwing around back there. Caleb’s instincts appear to make this a mental hurdle to overcome for buy in. Hopefully he’s learning that there is too high a penalty in the NFL for the USC offense

[molepharmer]

It's possible a good portion of Caleb's lack of decisiveness was due to poor coaching. BJ has made it clear he will make sure everyone knows exactly where they're supposed to be and what they're supposed to be doing. that might go a long way to correcting Caleb's faults from a. year ago.

I'd agree that the poor offensive coaching messed Caleb up more than Caleb's own possible deficiencies. You have to be a pretty bad OC to get called out by players early in your tenure and then get fired during the season. Hopefully even with the bad in-house experience Caleb faced last year, he acquired a worthwhile year of NFL experience. The offense will still struggle early. They could have 4 new O-line starters and likely 3 new receiving targets.

[fleet]

It's possible a good portion of Caleb's lack of decisiveness was due to poor coaching. BJ has made it clear he will make sure everyone knows exactly where they're supposed to be and what they're supposed to be doing. that might go a long way to correcting Caleb's faults from a. year ago.

I'd agree that the poor offensive coaching messed Caleb up more than Caleb's own possible deficiencies. You have to be a pretty bad OC to get called out by players early in your tenure and then get fired during the season. Hopefully even with the bad in-house experience Caleb faced last year, he acquired a worthwhile year of NFL experience. The offense will still struggle early. They could have 4 new O-line starters and likely 3 new receiving targets.

Coaches make great scapegoats. And Caleb might agree to blame others. Nobody helped him watch film. Woe is him. But again, these coaches had success before they came to the Bears. But suddenly they either go brain dead when they deal with Fields and Caleb, or maybe just maybe these NFL players have more than just a little of the responsibility for their own performances. Granted, if the players lose faith in the coach, then by definition the coach failed. It is the coach’s job to achieve buy in. But just because players blame the coach, and the GM blames the coach, that doesn’t necessarily mean the coach is why the team failed. Naturally nobody wants to admit their own culpability in failure. That is bad for business. And tough on the ego. Sometimes, the odds are against everyone because you’re playing a poor hand.

[jnrjr79]

It's possible a good portion of Caleb's lack of decisiveness was due to poor coaching. BJ has made it clear he will make sure everyone knows exactly where they're supposed to be and what they're supposed to be doing. that might go a long way to correcting Caleb's faults from a. year ago.

I'd agree that the poor offensive coaching messed Caleb up more than Caleb's own possible deficiencies. You have to be a pretty bad OC to get called out by players early in your tenure and then get fired during the season. Hopefully even with the bad in-house experience Caleb faced last year, he acquired a worthwhile year of NFL experience. The offense will still struggle early. They could have 4 new O-line starters and likely 3 new receiving targets.

Coaches make great scapegoats. And Caleb might agree to blame others. Nobody helped him watch film. Woe is him. But again, these coaches had success before they came to the Bears. But suddenly they either go brain dead when they deal with Fields and Caleb, or maybe just maybe these NFL players have more than just a little of the responsibility for their own performances. Granted, if the players lose faith in the coach, then by definition the coach failed. It is the coach’s job to achieve buy in. But just because players blame the coach, and the GM blames the coach, that doesn’t necessarily mean the coach is why the team failed. Naturally nobody wants to admit their own culpability in failure. That is bad for business. And tough on the ego. Sometimes, the odds are against everyone because you’re playing a poor hand.

Did Shane Waldron have "success" as an OC prior to joining the Bears? Seattle's offenses were pretty mid when he was at the helm. He only held the position for a couple of years with Seattle, was fired, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba famously was calling out how that was going to be a bad hire for the Bears. It seems pretty obvious his shortcomings last year went beyond whatever his film watching habits were.

I think the thing with coaching is a lot of guys are good in a particular role, but falter when given the responsibilities of a bigger one.

But also, it's rarely just one thing. To me, Caleb's performance last year is a function of bad coaching, a somewhat poor offensive line, and being a rookie who struggled and sometimes failed to just let it rip when there was a guy wide open. It doesn't have to be Caleb vs. the coaching staff.

[fleet]

I agree, it doesn’t have to be Caleb V the coaching staff. Apparently it is though. For a bevy of reasons legit or not. But the Waldron guy isn’t exactly unemployed. According to Twitter he can’t coach HS football. Let’s just say that it’s hard to place blame on players and the roster because fans ride the players. That’s their hope horse.

[jnrjr79]

I agree, it doesn’t have to be Caleb V the coaching staff. Apparently it is though. For a bevy of reasons legit or not. But the Waldron guy isn’t exactly unemployed. According to Twitter he can’t coach HS football. Let’s just say that it’s hard to place blame on players and the roster because fans ride the players. That’s their hope horse.

He's not unemployed, but he is demoted, FWIW. But sure, the natural thing is to blame the coaching staff b/c Caleb was one of the most heralded QB prospects of recent years and I think, to some extent, blaming the coaches preserves hope among the fanbase that you still have something in Caleb.

[CBS7]

Caleb's struggles were not 100% on the coaching staff, but Caleb's struggles were also not helped by the coaching staff (it seems).

[Michael Jackson]

Caleb has this fear of interceptions, which isn’t a bad thing mind you but it manifests in bad ways. Holding the ball too long and taking a sack, overthrowing deep routes, throwing too hard with out the touch on the ball. Fleet said it too he wants to USC it and make a play but at the same time when he does NFL defenses are much better and he is scared of a turnover. He either has to change that mindset or change the way he plays and not let it be hero ball.

[molepharmer]

Caleb's struggles were not 100% on the coaching staff, but Caleb's struggles were also not helped by the coaching staff (it seems).

Bears OC seemed to think starting G Everett over C Kmet was better for the offense. Rookie QB's struggling is the norm, even eventual HOF QBs, regardless of who is coaching them. I'm expecting second year Caleb will be significantly different than first year Caleb.