Bears 8.0: Matt Eberflus FIRED

[dougthonus]

Just like trading a 25 year old QB who was absolutely showing signs of progress for a 6th was a bad trade.

Do you think Justin Fields will ever be viewed as a top 10 QB in the NFL? I would find that very unlikely at this point. If the answer to that question is "no" then I'm not sure a "bad" Justin Field trade exists.

You weren't going to pay him or keep him and wanted to develop someone else. Maybe you could have used him as a bridge starter for a year, but I'm glad Caleb is starting this year and getting reps, it's clear he needs them and prefer that route to a bridge starter route.

If there was a better trade for Fields, we should have taken it. I know there was some talk about us doing him a favor and taking less, not sure if it was ever reported how much less that was, but dumb move if true.

You were just saying the OL wasn't the issue but now you're citing PFF grades for the center. The center position was just as bad last year FYI and the OL issues stem from a coach who can't teach his line basic pass protection rules like how to pick up a DL stunt.

You said we upgraded Center, that doesn't appear to be true to me. Visually watching it, it would seem like that's the worst part of our line. I don't think our line is good. I just don't think it's so bad it is preventing Caleb from finding success. I do agree that it is a negative drag on him, but I just think the amount of that drag is grossly exaggerated based on comments I read where they think the QB doesn't have a chance and couldn't possibly be successful with it. This seemed particularly true with Fields, whom had the highest pocket time in the league each of the past two years.

[panthermark]

Pocket time is deceiving based on how it is tracked. One "awesome looking scramble where he spins out of three tackles and buys himself 5 more seconds before he throws or tucks it" per game will completely throw off the numbers when if they are measured down to 1/100ths of a second.

[Susan]

Just like trading a 25 year old QB who was absolutely showing signs of progress for a 6th was a bad trade.

Do you think Justin Fields will ever be viewed as a top 10 QB in the NFL? I would find that very unlikely at this point. If the answer to that question is "no" then I'm not sure a "bad" Justin Field trade exists.

You weren't going to pay him or keep him and wanted to develop someone else. Maybe you could have used him as a bridge starter for a year, but I'm glad Caleb is starting this year and getting reps, it's clear he needs them and prefer that route to a bridge starter route.

If there was a better trade for Fields, we should have taken it. I know there was some talk about us doing him a favor and taking less, not sure if it was ever reported how much less that was, but dumb move if true.

You were just saying the OL wasn't the issue but now you're citing PFF grades for the center. The center position was just as bad last year FYI and the OL issues stem from a coach who can't teach his line basic pass protection rules like how to pick up a DL stunt.

You said we upgraded Center, that doesn't appear to be true to me. Visually watching it, it would seem like that's the worst part of our line. I don't think our line is good. I just don't think it's so bad it is preventing Caleb from finding success. I do agree that it is a negative drag on him, but I just think the amount of that drag is grossly exaggerated based on comments I read where they think the QB doesn't have a chance and couldn't possibly be successful with it. This seemed particularly true with Fields, whom had the highest pocket time in the league each of the past two years.

How many games did you watch last year?

[Lexluthor]

I still would have traded last years number one pick and justin fields for Lamar Jackson when he wanted to leave the ravens. To me he is the second best quartback in the league

[Michael Jackson]

Maybe they picked the wrong quarterback, IDK, but nobody in their right mind would tell you that Daniels or Maye or McCarthy would be balling out in Chicago either.

No way to know for sure, but I think Daniels would be balling in Chicago. Caleb has had enough wide open WRs down field that he has missed that the gap between what he is doing and balling is reasonably small, which is actually good news for Caleb even though it sounds like I'm trashing him.

I think he makes a bunch of those throws in the future that he's missed.

I think Caleb is so frightened of throwing interceptions he just throws long. Honestly that is how it feels to me. He needs to get some confidence in his own run game and trying to hit a guy in coverage. I think/hope it will come as NFL secondaries are a lot better than college and that has him nervous I think. He has to start threading the needle more. He needs a little of Farve's eff it confidence (not too much) but a bit more on that side. He is tenative to not give turn overs which isn't what you want from a game breaker. If we want game management we Bagent sitting right there.

[Dresden]

The way things look now, the game next week v. NE could be the last game this year we'll be favored in. We might be a 5 or 6 win team, which would be an awful outcome and surely would get Flus fired.

The hangover from that WAS debacle plus missing Sweat, Gordon and Brisker really took it's toll yesterday.

I'm still a believer in Caleb over Daniels long term. It might be that Daniel's college system just prepared him much better for the pro's than Caleb's did. For whatever reason, Daniels has just hit the ground running much better. I hope the Bears didn't make a mistake, but Caleb's inaccuracy and the amount of time he takes before he throws is concerning.

[patryk7754]

I still would have traded last years number one pick and justin fields for Lamar Jackson when he wanted to leave the ravens. To me he is the second best quartback in the league

This is what I really wanted to do as well. I think, because of the tag, it would have had to be two 1st. I would have done that and thrown in Fields anyway. Doing the Panthers trade and then following up by acquiring Lamar would have been insane. Basically give up one pick for Lamar

[TheSuzerain]

1. Trade off win-now vets (Allen)
2. Be kind of bad this year.
3. Fire Flus and hire Ben Johnson
4. Add three top 40 draft picks to the roster (Bears 1st/2nd + CAR 1st)
5. Spend in Free Agency
6. Make Playoffs next season


The Bears remain in a great spot imo.

[dougthonus]

How many games did you watch last year?

I'm sure you deeply want to know, but probably 15? I don't know, I don't keep a calendar, but I generally watch every week unless I'm on vacation.

[TheStig]

Maybe they picked the wrong quarterback, IDK, but nobody in their right mind would tell you that Daniels or Maye or McCarthy would be balling out in Chicago either.

No way to know for sure, but I think Daniels would be balling in Chicago. Caleb has had enough wide open WRs down field that he has missed that the gap between what he is doing and balling is reasonably small, which is actually good news for Caleb even though it sounds like I'm trashing him.

I think he makes a bunch of those throws in the future that he's missed.

I think Caleb is so frightened of throwing interceptions he just throws long. Honestly that is how it feels to me. He needs to get some confidence in his own run game and trying to hit a guy in coverage. I think/hope it will come as NFL secondaries are a lot better than college and that has him nervous I think. He has to start threading the needle more. He needs a little of Farve's eff it confidence (not too much) but a bit more on that side. He is tenative to not give turn overs which isn't what you want from a game breaker. If we want game management we Bagent sitting right there.

I don't really blame him for being scared and throwing long. He's getting pressured all the time and D's can just dial up whenever they want if the team has a halfway decent D. We had a terrible Oline and now we're on backups. I just don't want him hurt or to ruin him. This is a very bad situation heading down the stretch.

[patryk7754]

The bottom line is that Williams is facing a lot of the same issues Fields had. Most importantly, Inept coaching and OL play. It has definitely effected it but he's made it worse by missing wide open passes and creating his own sacks. That will get better with time, and it would help a lot if he doesn't have a bottom 5 OL/coaching staff.

[biggestbullsfan]

Read on Twitter

[chitownsports4ever]

1. Trade off win-now vets (Allen)
2. Be kind of bad this year.
3. Fire Flus and hire Ben Johnson
4. Add three top 40 draft picks to the roster (Bears 1st/2nd + CAR 1st)
5. Spend in Free Agency
6. Make Playoffs next season


The Bears remain in a great spot imo.

I dont see how Poles can fire Flus because I would expect they promised him that he wouldn't because throwing a rookie starting QB into a a coaches 3rds year pretty much guarantees a losing season.

This was 100% the reason why a lot of people wanted him gonna if they were drafting Caleb because the rookie QB was gonna be essentially a pseudo extension and with our previous history it pretty much guaranteed that .

Ben Johnson would be a great hire but do you think he touches this team with Poles basically being on the hotseat ?

Fields 10-28 record turned into Flus 14-28 record and the moment he is gone it becomes Poles 14-28+ record and a essentially must win heading into year 4.

[TheStig]

1. Trade off win-now vets (Allen)
2. Be kind of bad this year.
3. Fire Flus and hire Ben Johnson
4. Add three top 40 draft picks to the roster (Bears 1st/2nd + CAR 1st)
5. Spend in Free Agency
6. Make Playoffs next season


The Bears remain in a great spot imo.

I dont see how Poles can fire Flus because I would expect they promised him that he wouldn't because throwing a rookie starting QB into a a coaches 3rds year pretty much guarantees a losing season.

This was 100% the reason why a lot of people wanted him gonna if they were drafting Caleb because the rookie QB was gonna be essentially a pseudo extension and with our previous history it pretty much guaranteed that .

Ben Johnson would be a great hire but do you think he touches this team with Poles basically being on the hotseat ?

Fields 10-28 record turned into Flus 14-28 record and the moment he is gone it becomes Poles 14-28+ record and a essentially must win heading into year 4.

I don't know how you can possibly bring back Waldron and Flus with this terrible offense. It has all the skill position talent you can ask for and they can't do anything against halfway decent defenses. What changes next year? You have to bring in an offensive coach that will grow Caleb and not get him murdered.

Why would Ben Johnson come here? Rookie coaches don't really walk into better situations with good defenses and tons of skill talent on the offense. Oh and HC money. Thats a big raise.

[TheSuzerain]

1. Trade off win-now vets (Allen)
2. Be kind of bad this year.
3. Fire Flus and hire Ben Johnson
4. Add three top 40 draft picks to the roster (Bears 1st/2nd + CAR 1st)
5. Spend in Free Agency
6. Make Playoffs next season


The Bears remain in a great spot imo.

I dont see how Poles can fire Flus because I would expect they promised him that he wouldn't because throwing a rookie starting QB into a a coaches 3rds year pretty much guarantees a losing season.

This was 100% the reason why a lot of people wanted him gonna if they were drafting Caleb because the rookie QB was gonna be essentially a pseudo extension and with our previous history it pretty much guaranteed that .

Ben Johnson would be a great hire but do you think he touches this team with Poles basically being on the hotseat ?

Fields 10-28 record turned into Flus 14-28 record and the moment he is gone it becomes Poles 14-28+ record and a essentially must win heading into year 4.

laughed out loud at "they promised him that he wouldn't"

If that's Poles approach then he should be fired too

[panthermark]

Read on Twitter

Flus is toast.

I think a more interesting question to a player would be:

Does this team have faith in Ryan Poles?

Of course a player can't answer that with anything other than "Yes!"...but that question should be floating out there.

[biggestbullsfan]

A few select posters on here said our O-line wasn’t bad last year. Justin was just so horrible. How do yall feel now lol

I'm one of those people, and the same.

Fields had among the most average time in the NFL last year prior to the pocket collapsing. His issues were mainly on him. That's why he's a backup QB right now, and he couldn't land a starting caliber QB trade return or find a team that would give him a starting spot.

Fields definitely wasn't the only problem, but he's a below average starting QB, and it was good to move on from him.

Our offensive line feels worse this year, but Caleb is exactly middle of the pack in pressure% and on the low end of average on pocket time.

I don't think our offensive line is making the game easy for Caleb, but I don't think it's been a "can't win" situation for him either. Much like Fields, his issues to me strike me as largely his issues. That said, in year 1, Caleb looks better than Fields did in year 3, so I have confidence that Caleb can still get there.

From a long term potential and short term contract stand point, Trading Fields is and was the right call. I don’t think Caleb has played great but we are struggling as an O-Line against some of the worst D-Lines in the league. That’s the issue. We haven’t even seen the division yet who has some of the best rushers league wide.

Last week Caleb was pressured constantly against statistically one of the worst pass rushes in the entire NFL. This week Arizona had 6 sacks on us. They only had 8 sacks the entire season before that! That should definitely tell you where we stand. And it’s not middle of the pack offensive line. Now with the potential injuries, things might get even worse.

Now i say this to say, Caleb must and should be better. But ppl giving this line too much credit for subpar performances. Blame it on scheme in play or coaches but it’s not good.

[biggestbullsfan]

Read on Twitter

Flus is toast.

I think a more interesting question to a player would be:

Does this team have faith in Ryan Poles?

Of course a player can't answer that with anything other than "Yes!"...but that question should be floating out there.

I’m honestly surprised at how transparent and honest DJ and JJ have been in interviews the last two weeks. Especially after saying they would keep it in house. Player morale but be super low if they can’t even fake it on Monday morning.

[patryk7754]

since week 3, the Lions have 26 TDs and 22 incompletions. Ben Johnson is only solution for the bears

[TheSuzerain]

DJ Moore seems like an iffy intangibles guy honestly.

I want Flus out but Moore doesn't seem like captain material.