Bears thread 13

[SalmonsSuperfan]

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

sans any kind of a track record

[dice]

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

it's been a bad defense

offense at the bye:

75 caleb
73 odunze
71 olamide
68 dalman
66 darnell
62 thuney/DJ
61 swift
58 kmet
55 brax
53 jackson

defense:

75 tyrique/sweat
67 brisker/edmunds
62 dexter
58 byard
56 jarrett
54 sewell
53 dayo
52 wright
47 mccloud

[Dresden]

PFF...pure freaking fluff

[SalmonsSuperfan]

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

it's been a bad defense

offense at the bye:

75 caleb
73 odunze
71 olamide
68 dalman
66 darnell
62 thuney/DJ
61 swift
58 kmet
55 brax
53 jackson

defense:

75 tyrique/sweat
67 brisker/edmunds
62 dexter
58 byard
56 jarrett
54 sewell
53 dayo
52 wright
47 mccloud

Kmet had a tough week, I wonder if that's what bringing him down, but I don't really know enough to analyze closely/appropriately. He feels to me like a guy who is lost in the offense, but maybe that's his own fault.

[GetBuLLish]

Aside from Thuney, our free agent acquisitions this summer have been disappointing.

The worst part is that aside from Thuney, the signings were widely panned by media and analysts, particularly Jarrett, Dayo, and Jonah Jackson.

[Dresden]

Aside from Thuney, our free agent acquisitions this summer have been disappointing.

The worst part is that aside from Thuney, the signings were widely panned by media and analysts, particularly Jarrett, Dayo, and Jonah Jackson.

I didn't get that impression. I thought they were widely praised- Jarrett for his experience and leadership, Jonah Jackson for his previous experience with the Lions. Dayo was the one signing that seemed to generate lukewarm response.

[jnrjr79]

Aside from Thuney, our free agent acquisitions this summer have been disappointing.

The worst part is that aside from Thuney, the signings were widely panned by media and analysts, particularly Jarrett, Dayo, and Jonah Jackson.

I didn't get that impression. I thought they were widely praised- Jarrett for his experience and leadership, Jonah Jackson for his previous experience with the Lions. Dayo was the one signing that seemed to generate lukewarm response.

Yeah, agreed. Dayo raised eyebrows in terms of salary vs. his history of production, though funnily enough he's had some decent flashes this season.

The OL signings were generally lauded. Jarett seemed to be "he's old, but he's still very productive."

[nomorezorro]

jarrett was an ok guy to add as a veteran depth piece, but we kind of paid him like he was still an impact starter, which was stupid at the time

dayo always looked iffy at best, but that's basically the cost of doing business if you want to get a remotely intriguing young guy in free agency

trading for jonah on that contract after a down year was also pretty questionable, but you could at least defend it as "ben knows what he's getting." the immediate extension seemed like the dumbest move of the offseason by some distance imo

[panthermark]

Post bye-week it will be interesting to see what happens with DJ Moore
21 targets - 16 catches - 173 yards and 1 TD isn't great through 4 games.

[Dresden]

Post bye-week it will be interesting to see what happens with DJ Moore
21 targets - 16 catches - 173 yards and 1 TD isn't great through 4 games.

It seems like he generally has been getting the second most targets after Rome, plus he gets some touches out of the backfield. There's just a lot of mouths to feed on this offense- people want Burden more involved, and Loveland, and Kmet, and Zacheus hasn't had many chances either.

I think DJ has a lot to offer, with his hands and ability after the catch, and I do hope he and Caleb can connect more.

[sco]

Post bye-week it will be interesting to see what happens with DJ Moore
21 targets - 16 catches - 173 yards and 1 TD isn't great through 4 games.

It seems like he generally has been getting the second most targets after Rome, plus he gets some touches out of the backfield. There's just a lot of mouths to feed on this offense- people want Burden more involved, and Loveland, and Kmet, and Zacheus hasn't had many chances either.

I think DJ has a lot to offer, with his hands and ability after the catch, and I do hope he and Caleb can connect more.

I like DJ, but if we could trade him for an impact lineman, I'd be all over that.

[panthermark]

Post bye-week it will be interesting to see what happens with DJ Moore
21 targets - 16 catches - 173 yards and 1 TD isn't great through 4 games.

It seems like he generally has been getting the second most targets after Rome, plus he gets some touches out of the backfield. There's just a lot of mouths to feed on this offense- people want Burden more involved, and Loveland, and Kmet, and Zacheus hasn't had many chances either.

I think DJ has a lot to offer, with his hands and ability after the catch, and I do hope he and Caleb can connect more.

He's 3rd in passing targets, but Rome is getting the most looks by far. The others are grouped together.

Targets:
Rome - 35

OZac - 22 (2 rushes)
DJ - 21 (6 rushes)
Swift - 18
Kmet - 16

LBIII - 8 (1 rush)
Loveland - 6 targets

That is indeed a lot of mouths to feed, and DJ is really talented. I don't want to see DJ go, but he seems like a good trade candidate. If him and CW don't click, then he is being wasted here. LBIII needs more targets as well.

It is crazy to look at this WR room and compare it to the WR room through 2022. Mooney was far and away the best WR on the team. I think only two of those guys might still be in the league, and as a group they have something like a total of 20 catches combined in 2024 and 2025. (ESB, Pringle, Pettis, Harry, Webster, Clayfool, ISM and VJJ)

In that sense, it is a good problem to have I guess.

[fleet]

Aside from Thuney, our free agent acquisitions this summer have been disappointing.

The worst part is that aside from Thuney, the signings were widely panned by media and analysts, particularly Jarrett, Dayo, and Jonah Jackson.

4 games in.

I was worried about Jarrett being too old and on the downside. And Jackson wasn’t that much different on paper than Tevin Jenkins, but Ben Johnson we assumed knew what he was doing. Whenever I see him, Jackson always looks like he has a hangover, needs more sleep. Dayo was equally met with suspicion and mystery, along with some acknowledgement of upside. Again, we deferred to Dennis Allen. But there aren’t a whole lot of late bloomers in the NFL.

[fleet]

Speaking of money and assets well spent by the Bears:

Spoiler:

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

it's been a bad defense

Read on Twitter

Jeff Hughes wrote: “With 2025 Montez looking like 2024 Montez”

[Chi town]

Gutsy Niners win. They look for real. So do the Rams.

[patryk7754]

If we are going to make some moves, our best bet might be to double dip with the saints. Already mentioned Kamara. It would be cheap to acquire him, cap wise. Draft compensation is kind of unknown but I doubt the price would be too steep. Something I didn’t mention (might not be relevant) is the familiarity Dennis Allen has with him. Something that is relevant is the familiarity Allen has with cam Jordan. He’d be a great addition and he’s built a likely hall of fame career playing in Allen’s system. The only thing about trading for Jordan is does the timing work. He might want to go to a sure contender instead of a team that might be competing for a wild card spot.

[Dresden]

Gutsy Niners win. They look for real. So do the Rams.

Mac Jones is a perfect fit for the Niners. They were down their top 3 WR's, their all-pro TE in Kittle, and their starting QB, and on a short week went on the road and beat a very good Rams team. Quite an achievement. Rams fumbling on the 1 yard line late in the 4th was a miracle for them.

[nitetrain8603]

The Bears cap is a mess due to Poles overpaying quite a few players, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

their cap is not a mess at all? they have some potentially unpleasant salaries that probably can't come off the books until after the 2026 season, but there's basically nobody they're tied to beyond that, and they have not even really begun to dive into the accountancy tricks that good teams use to create space and maximize their windows (which can create actual long-term cap issues)

things might be tight in terms of making moves in free agency next year, but there's no reason they shouldn't be able to retain players they want to keep long-term

It's a mess because you are overpaying quite a few players playing below their salary. It looks OK for now because there are also some players playing above their salaries.

Sweat
Swift
Dayo
Johnson
TJ Edwards
Tremaine Edmunds
Cole Kmet

Now I would argue that it's not Kmet's fault. Either way, I would hate to see them restructure the contracts of any of these players. They do have to jump off when they can, especially given that they are using up Caleb's rookie contract on this.

[GetBuLLish]

Aside from Thuney, our free agent acquisitions this summer have been disappointing.

The worst part is that aside from Thuney, the signings were widely panned by media and analysts, particularly Jarrett, Dayo, and Jonah Jackson.

I didn't get that impression. I thought they were widely praised- Jarrett for his experience and leadership, Jonah Jackson for his previous experience with the Lions. Dayo was the one signing that seemed to generate lukewarm response.

Yeah, agreed. Dayo raised eyebrows in terms of salary vs. his history of production, though funnily enough he's had some decent flashes this season.

The OL signings were generally lauded. Jarett seemed to be "he's old, but he's still very productive."

I looked back at some of the media coverage. ESPN's Seth Walder gave the Jonah Jackson trade and Jarrett signing D's. This is consistent with what I read elsewhere. He gave the Dayo signing a B, so it looks like my memory was off on that one.

[Dresden]

I didn't get that impression. I thought they were widely praised- Jarrett for his experience and leadership, Jonah Jackson for his previous experience with the Lions. Dayo was the one signing that seemed to generate lukewarm response.

Yeah, agreed. Dayo raised eyebrows in terms of salary vs. his history of production, though funnily enough he's had some decent flashes this season.

The OL signings were generally lauded. Jarett seemed to be "he's old, but he's still very productive."

I looked back at some of the media coverage. ESPN's Seth Walder gave the Jonah Jackson trade and Jarrett signing D's. This is consistent with what I read elsewhere. He gave the Dayo signing a B, so it looks like my memory was off on that one.

CBS Sports gave the Bears an A- for the Jackson trade, and the Rams a D, so they thought the Bears made out well.

And SI gave the Jarrett signing a B+: https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/grading-the-chicago-bears-signing-of-falcons-dt-grady-jarrett-in-2025-free-agency, and Yahoo Sports gave it a B+ as well: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/grading-bears-expected-signing-dt-154515908.html

So I guess you can find opinions on both sides.