Bears thread 13

[nomorezorro]

yeah the sack avoidance was excellent in week 4 (12 pressures, 1 sack) and i'm pretty sure he's an upper 1/3rd QB in most sack metrics so far

(he's also still got a really high time to throw, which means the sack avoidance isn't coming at the expense of his ability to extend plays + he's not just turning into a checkdown merchant)

[fleet]

The Bears would be answer to new Comiskey Park, 1991

Read on Twitter

[fleet]

Two things can be true:

1. Ben is an emotional guy who needs to check his tone and body language when things aren’t going well.

2. “Do you need to change what you’re doing?” is a really dumb question, especially since he just told you *what* he plans to change. I doubt Ben’s the only coach who’d have reacted negatively to it.

Should he check his tone? I don’t know. It depends what his goals are. Winning makes a lot of things tolerable that are normally intolerable. If this guy wins, he’s got my permission to be himself all he wants to fwiw. Sure, I get the business of the NFL. But most of these guys didn’t get to their positions by being courteous. Some can’t be contained, especially in game.

Almost as if she wasn’t listening to, or caring about what he just bluntly and honestly told her, and was bound and determined to ask the pre determined questions to rub it in. She wanted to be adversarial. Fair enough. And she found an adversary. Some of the people (not you) complaining about “appearances” also want to act like she was an innocent victim of a mean coach. Hey stick your hand in the tiger cage, tease the cat, see what happens.

It depends. Does he want to answer questions in the presser about the way he answers questions in sideline interviews? Seems like a waste of energy. I guess if you’re Popovic or Belichick it’s all water off a duck’s back, but I don’t get the impression Ben’s built that way. Which is why he diffused it with an apology, and will probably, if I had to guess, stick to the coach speak script, or try to anyway. He’s an intense guy, so he’s going to color outside the lines from time to time.

He’s got a Harbaugh/Ditka/Walsh type energy

Read on Twitter

[fleet]

Read on Twitter

[Dresden]

Read on Twitter

Funny thing about that play was that DJ was wide open down the middle as well. Could have thrown it to either. I would guess Rome being a bigger target has to be a factor in Caleb's connection with him.

[Dresden]

We'll see how the run defense looks when they have TJ, Booker, Grady and Kyler back. Those are 4 guys that could all make a difference. Although Grady has been there all but one game already.

[jnrjr79]

We'll see how the run defense looks when they have TJ, Booker, Grady and Kyler back. Those are 4 guys that could all make a difference. Although Grady has been there all but one game already.

Grady’s been there, but playing hurt, if you want some reason for optimism. I’m still pretty concerned.

[Dresden]

We'll see how the run defense looks when they have TJ, Booker, Grady and Kyler back. Those are 4 guys that could all make a difference. Although Grady has been there all but one game already.

Grady’s been there, but playing hurt, if you want some reason for optimism. I’m still pretty concerned.

WAS, our next opponent, leads the league in rushing right now, so they probably will run all over us.

[Dresden]

Edwards, Gordon and Loveland all practiced today. Darnell, Jonah Jackson and Jarret did not.

[jnrjr79]

Edwards, Gordon and Loveland all practiced today. Darnell, Jonah Jackson and Jarret did not.

FYI, that was yesterday. They canceled today's practice and are just doing a lifting session and then going off on their 4-day break.

[Jcool0]

Read on Twitter

[jnrjr79]

Read on Twitter

I assume there's some cost savings incentive here if you're basically just throwing different finishes on a building that has already largely been designed & engineered.

[fleet]

Wish I could claim we are better than this.

Read on Twitter

[Dresden]

Ben Johnson on the offense:

"I don’t feel like everybody on offense yet is pulling their weight, and that’s myself included," Johnson said. "There’s a number of things from (Sunday's) game that I have to do a better job of. There’s a couple calls I was getting in late. There’s a couple things that the coaching staff, myself, we could have coached up better to give us a better chance there.

"When you look at it as a whole, it was just a mess, man. I’m just not proud of what we put on tape. I think it’s a reflection of myself. I always take it personally. I saw us getting better the first three weeks in a lot of ways on offense and then this was just a little bit of a step back for us."

[patryk7754]

With it being our bye, I think now would be the best time to make moves to fill holes/make improvements. There are three main things that come to mind:

1. Trade Swift/acquire new RB
2. Sign a CB
3. Improve the DL

Trading Swift:
He's been terrible, and I think most people would rather just see the rookie get the bulk of the carries. With that being said, I don't think he's without value. I think the Chiefs are a trade partner target. I would honestly take anything, but I think we can realistically get a 4th for him from the Chiefs. KC has had a horrible run game. I think Mahomes was the rushing leader for them after three games, and then yesterday, Worthy led them in rushing. Swift might have a dog **** IQ, but he can still be the lead rusher on your team and he'd be a good passing game threat for them as well. And then swift and Pacheco would be a really good 1/2 punch, in theory. Best case scenario would be a 4th and Kareem Hunt, IMO.

After that, I would like us to flip what we got in the Swift trade for a different RB. There are a handful that come to mind:
1. DeVon Achan
2. Braelon Allen
3. Tyler Allgeier

I think those would be my top 3 choices, but there are a decent amount of backs that I think can be a stopgap as a starter for the rest of the season and be cheap to get. Some of those players players would include; Tony Pollard, Nick Chubb, & Rhamondre Stevens.

Honorable Mention: Alvin Kamara. This would obviously be a big swing, but I think there's little reason for him to stay in NO and given his age and injury history, the trade compensation might not be too pricey.

Signing a CB:
I'm honestly surprised it hasn't happened yet, especially after the JJ news. Regardless, there are a handful of quality veteran CBs available and would probably be better than our CB4/5/6s right away. Top candidates, imo:

1. Asante Samuel Jr
2. Stepon Gilmore
3. Kendall Fuller
4. Chris Sutton

Improving the DL: I put this last because there's little chance we do anything

First, our run defense. There aren't a lot of options for us other than signing a beefcake off the street. Linval Joseph is a FA. I think it would be at least worth kicking the tires on him.

Next, our pass rush continues to be pathetic. I think I saw we had zero sacks and one QB hit against the Raiders. The major problem with trading for a DE (because we wouldn't be able to sign one) is that anyone worth trading for is probably getting paid to much money. The person that comes to mind is Trey Hendrickson. There's really no point of the Bengals holding on to him. They're likely to be a bottom 5 team without Burrow and Hendrickson is now an FA after this season. They might as well trade him for value while they can. The positive for us (and anyone in the market for a DE) is that his trade value has probably dropped with his raise and being a FA. Negative for us is that his contract is probably to big for us to afford. If we can pull off the money, I'd do a 3rd.

But, I think it's best for us to hold off on making a move for a DE until the offseason. We can maximize our flexibility in the offseason. I think if it comes to it, cutting Dayo would be relatively friendly and there are other cap moves that can be made without accruing too much dead cap. With another horrible year for the Browns, I think its inevitable that Garrett demands a trade again, and if he does, I think it happens. I'd be willing to trade two 1sts and Sweat (or Dayo).

Long story short, we need to trade Swift and acquire a decent to great back from a bad team and sign a CB

Let’s come back in 2 weeks with the ability to stop the run, and ability to run.

A wild concept

[JohnnyKILLroy]

PFF has Sweat ranked 2nd on defense so far this season found that interesting

[Dresden]

I read somewhere that Caleb's numbers against the blitz are some of the best among all QB's. Although I can't recall what they used to measure that by. In any case, that's a good sign, and maybe teams will start blitzing less.

[Dresden]

6 Edges in the first round of next year's draft in Yahoo Sports early mock: https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/2026-nfl-mock-draft-10-an-edge-defender-goes-no-1-and-4-qbs-follow-him-in-the-top-10-220558890.html

They have us taking the RB from Notre Dame at 15.

4 OT's in the first round in that mock.

[ThisGuyFawkes]

Can’t ask for more really other than reducing the sacks, which is going in the right direction as we speak. Caleb is now a top half EPA guy. All I know is that the Bears are regularly scoring 20+ ish ppg in 2025. That’s where this needs to be. The defensive line rebuilding has to take place next for the complimentary football to become more consistent.

Read on Twitter

Honestly, going in the right direction might be an understatement. Caleb has been sacked 7 times in 4 games. There are 18 starting QBs that have been sacked more. Just last year, he was tops by a mile. And that’s having gone against 3 defenses (Minny, Det and LV) that blitz pretty often.

I also think that 1 or 2 of those "sacks" were CW scrambling and stopping short of the LOS. Still technically a sack, but not really.

[nomorezorro]

6 Edges in the first round of next year's draft in Yahoo Sports early mock: https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/2026-nfl-mock-draft-10-an-edge-defender-goes-no-1-and-4-qbs-follow-him-in-the-top-10-220558890.html

They have us taking the RB from Notre Dame at 15.

4 OT's in the first round in that mock.

it's early but there are a few big EDGEs in the first round mix too, which would fit allen's previous m.o. at the position

ruben bain (6'3", 275 lbs) is the standout so far but right now it's looking like we don't want to be drafting high enough that he's on the board. other notable guys are keldric faulk (6'6", 285), matayo uiagalelei (6'5", 270) and dani dennis-sutton (6'5", 265)