Bears thread 13

[Dresden]

At least Tyrique and Kmet are starting to practice again, which means they are getting better.

I posted a graph the other day showing the Bears were 10th in the league in salary that is inactive due to injury. That may mean that the players hurt on the Bears just aren't that high salaried compared to other teams. But we aren't the 49'ers.

[panthermark]

The 2022 Lions weren't loaded with talent. Swift wasn't even their top running back that season, but the one who was, Jamaal Williams, is currently out of the NFL before reaching Age 30 and, for now, is an analyst for Fox Sports. Amon-Ra did make the Pro Bowl, but their receiver corps wasn't remarkable otherwise, and they traded away Hockenson midseason. They did have Ragnow and Sewell on the line.

They didn't have Gibbs, Montgomery, Jameson Williams, or LaPorta until the next season.

and amon-ra was a rookie 4th rounder who didn't start for much of the season. 350 yards thru 10 weeks, 600 yards the rest of the way

This is why I'm saying that the Bears are a more-structured QB away from having one of the best offenses in the league. The the offensive talent of the 2025 Bears is a lot better than the offensive talent of the 2022 Lions.

Goff may have had his NFL career resurrected twice -- once by McVay and once by Johnson -- but he plays on time, AND he can make more than one read, AND he can throw the ball on time to non-primary targets, AND they don't have to be five yards open for him to throw to them. And tight ends are legitimate targets.

He may not have as many platforms to throw off of like Caleb does, but the types of throws that Goff can make for an offense -- back shoulders, Cover-2-beaters, deep fades, corner of the endzone fades, touch throws between linebackers and safeties, and Hail Marys just to targets with defenders draped on their backs -- are a lot more varied than Caleb's, and he's a lot more consistent with them.

The Bears can try to keep Caleb's trade value high and then trade him away in the draft in order to draft a taller, more structured QB like Fernando Mendoza, or they can try to find a way to trade for Mac Jones or Purdy or even snatch away Daniel Jones. There are better options that fit Ben Johnson's offense than Caleb Williams does.

I think this is why folks want to see Agent Bagent start. It isn't a declaration that CW is a bust, or that Bagent is better. It for a comparison of styles. CW is more talented and dynamic, but Bagent plays more on script and within the structure of the offense.

It might just be me, but if feels like the offense is has more talent than what it is showing, especially under BJ. Part of it is penalties, but it seems like the weakest link is currently the QB. All we can do is wait for him to hopefully develop the skills that were a question mark before the draft.

[fleet]

Apparently, there’s a chance Flacco misses the game

Fool me twice…..

[molepharmer]

I wouldn't last very long if I had to take a drink everytime DA uses the word "look" during his pressers. Double shot for every "Hey, look..."

[fleet]

Read on Twitter

So people think he’s been getting better at this.

[Almost Retired]

and amon-ra was a rookie 4th rounder who didn't start for much of the season. 350 yards thru 10 weeks, 600 yards the rest of the way

This is why I'm saying that the Bears are a more-structured QB away from having one of the best offenses in the league. The the offensive talent of the 2025 Bears is a lot better than the offensive talent of the 2022 Lions.

Goff may have had his NFL career resurrected twice -- once by McVay and once by Johnson -- but he plays on time, AND he can make more than one read, AND he can throw the ball on time to non-primary targets, AND they don't have to be five yards open for him to throw to them. And tight ends are legitimate targets.

He may not have as many platforms to throw off of like Caleb does, but the types of throws that Goff can make for an offense -- back shoulders, Cover-2-beaters, deep fades, corner of the endzone fades, touch throws between linebackers and safeties, and Hail Marys just to targets with defenders draped on their backs -- are a lot more varied than Caleb's, and he's a lot more consistent with them.

The Bears can try to keep Caleb's trade value high and then trade him away in the draft in order to draft a taller, more structured QB like Fernando Mendoza, or they can try to find a way to trade for Mac Jones or Purdy or even snatch away Daniel Jones. There are better options that fit Ben Johnson's offense than Caleb Williams does.

I think this is why folks want to see Agent Bagent start. It isn't a declaration that CW is a bust, or that Bagent is better. It for a comparison of styles. CW is more talented and dynamic, but Bagent plays more on script and within the structure of the offense.

It might just be me, but if feels like the offense is has more talent than what it is showing, especially under BJ. Part of it is penalties, but it seems like the weakest link is currently the QB. All we can do is wait for him to hopefully develop the skills that were a question mark before the draft.

I don't want to play Bagent unless CW gets hurt. But I'm happy we have him as our QB2. I don't think we need to keep Case Keenum beyond this season. I would like to see the Bears sign Haynes King from Georgia Tech next offseason. The Draft boards right now have him listed as going UDFA. His short game is erratic. But he's got a cannon for an arm and genuine 4.5 speed. There are so many QBs that are going to be in the 2026 Draft. Dante Moore from Oregon. Ty Simpson from Alabama. LaNorris Sellers from S.C. Fernando Mendoza from Indiana. Nussmeier from LSU. John Mateer from OU. Cade Klubnick from Clemson. Drew Allar from Penn State. Carson Beck from Miami. King is likely not going to get drafted despite the recent glowing article on his toughness. The kid lives football 24/7. Hell of an athlete. As a UDFA we can keep him for less then $1M per and work with him. If he develops then Bagent might become a trade chip in two years.

[nomorezorro]

Read on Twitter

So people think he’s been getting better at this.

he's got the 11th best sack rate in the league, so yes, he's gotten significantly better at sack avoidance?

[Dresden]

Read on Twitter

So people think he’s been getting better at this.

Graphs can be misleading. What separates him from guys like Jalen Hurts is .2 seconds. What separates him from the league average is .4 seconds. That's not a big difference, although I'm sure it is having an impact.

I watched a breakdown on the last game by Chase Daniels. There was blame to share all around. On some plays, Caleb just threw a bad ball. On others, receivers were running poor routes, resulting in guys running into each other, or having too many guys in one area, resulting in Caleb having no one to throw to.

So part of the problem might be everyone learning where they need to be in Ben's offense, and part of it is on Caleb.

[Dresden]

I'd like to see them pass more on first down this week. Too often, they try to run it on 1st, get stuffed, and then it's 2nd and long and 3rd and long. That's contributing to Caleb's problems. On plays where they catch the defense off guard, and he has time to throw, good things usually happen. At least the odds go way up.

[biggestbullsfan]

Read on Twitter

Roschon Johnson really disappointed me. I was a fan in college and thought he was a steal. He hasn’t been available in the season and I don’t understand it. It might be time to cut ties. There’s RB available. Whose gonna back up Kyle on Sunday?!

[Bulls Fan 23]

Read on Twitter

Roschon Johnson really disappointed me. I was a fan in college and thought he was a steal. He hasn’t been available in the season and I don’t understand it. It might be time to cut ties. There’s RB available. Whose gonna back up Kyle on Sunday?!

I want them to pick up the RB from NIU. Antario Brown. Kid is fast as hell.

[Dresden]

Your running backs for this week: Monongai, Travis Homer, and Brittain Brown.

[Dresden]

Flacco likely playing, Hendrickson likely not playing.

Tyrique and Kmet are good to go, Burden will be out.

[FecesOfDeath]

Read on Twitter

So people think he’s been getting better at this.

he's got the 11th best sack rate in the league, so yes, he's gotten significantly better at sack avoidance?

He finished the 2024 season with a TTT of 2.92 seconds (tied for 34th among all QBs who played) while leading the league in sacks, and it's up to 3.16 this season, which is highest in the league, while also having one of the lowest sack rates.

Subjectively, the offensive line and coordinator have significantly improved. The pass-catching talent is just about the same as it was last season; they lost Keenan Allen (who's once again Justin Herbert's favorite target), but Rome is a year older, DJ is in his prime, Olamide Zaccheaus is a decent #3 in 11 personnel, and they drafted Loveland and Burden.

Since a high time to throw is is the most common denominator, this can only mean one thing: that Caleb is still horrible at reading coverages, going to through progressions in a timely manner, anticipating his receivers' routes, and evaluating what are or what are not open receivers. The fact that Caleb is the only significant outlier in that chart should worry a lot of Bears fans.

[nomorezorro]

having a high time to throw isn't an inherently bad thing. it was a bad thing last year because those plays were ending with him getting sacked a lot. this year he's just extending plays

[FecesOfDeath]

having a high time to throw isn't an inherently bad thing. it was a bad thing last year because those plays were ending with him getting sacked a lot. this year he's just extending plays

His ability to extend plays is about the same as it was last year; in fact, the number of times he's had to run for his life right after the snap this season is incredibly low. The difference is that the offensive line has kept his pocket clean for more than 2.5 seconds more often than not.

DJ, Rome, and Colston didn't just suddenly lose their ability to get open, and Ben Johnson didn't just suddenly forget how to scheme his players open. On top of that, Swift has become a much better runner, so the offense is much more balanced, as well.

Virtually every single component of the Bears offense is in place to help Caleb look good. The record-setting Erik Kramer season in 1995 had him throwing to Jeff Graham and Curtis Conway, while his running back was Rashaan Salaam and his 3.6 yards per attempt.

The fact that Caleb is on pace to only just barely break Kramer's passing record with all these weapons around him, and with an extra regular season game, is borderline comical.

[nomorezorro]

he's 13th in the league in passing yards per game, right above jared goff

caleb has a lot of room to improve but pointing at his massively improved sack avoidance, his elite ability to extend plays and his solid-if-unspectacular passing volume makes me think that you don't really have a great understanding of the specific issues with his game!

[patryk7754]

Your running backs for this week: Monongai, Travis Homer, and Brittain Brown.

Although it sucks swift is out (ironic since we all wanted him gone two weeks ago) I’m excited to see what monogaincan offer as the main guy. He’s progressed every week and had two great weeks back to back before we went away from him last week.

Could be a sleeper pickup in fantasy

[patryk7754]

There’s clear improvement in the sack taking from Williams, but I think that’s more from the significantly improved line and blocking scheme. Williams has made improvements as well like pre snap stuff and not being as bad when it comes to holding on to the ball, but I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement. I think he’s still way too confident in his ability to extend the play. However, that might not inherently be the problem. He does a great job at escaping the pressure, the problem is, he doesn’t throw it so it ends up a bad sack or grounding play.

[patryk7754]

Unfortunately, there is little evidence that this team is a piece or two away from completing with the top teams in the playoffs so I would not consider giving up significant draft capital for a player. However, I am 1000% against being “sellers”. The worst way to become a play off contender is trading away your best players (I’m specifically talking about Moore). I’m not against trading Kmet tho. There’s just no role for him on this team, I think. But it would have to be for the right price.

With that being said, if a great value trade becomes available, I’d do it. For example, if we could get Bradley Chubb for a third, I do it in a heartbeat. Even better if they take Dayo too (but we might need to keep him for depth at this point)