OT: Bears Talk - Justin Fields era begins

[thedarkstark]

The fact that Pace chose to extend his RB3, ILB2, and give a 4-3 DE 70 million (while not extending his WR1 still in his prime) is quite infuriating. Also, cuts to still productive players- Leno and Fuller who were both in decent deals will bite us this year.

This is a 7 win team unless Fields goes bonkers in year 1. We still lack an offensive identity and lose too many battles in the trenches. Nagy’s poor feel for play calling doesn’t exactly help either.

They are favored in 4 games

Yeah they invested a lot of assets in damaged goods, Quinn, Trevathan and Jenkins. Made some painful cuts as a result. At this point it looks like they can crater. Long shot to be .500

Hard to understand why they would only be favored in 4 games when oddsmakers have them pegged at 7.5 wins this year....

They're only favored in 4 games as currently constructed meaning Dalton is the starter and with all teams having no injuries. That number will presumably change once the season starts, injuries to other teams key players start occurring, and with hopefully Fields taking over starting job.

Honestly it's pretty hard to only win 4 games in the NFL, especially now with the added 17th game, that's like a bottom 5 team don't think the Bears are quite that bad.

I'd hammer the under though, I think they've got 6 wins written all over them.

[Susan]

They are favored in 4 games

Yeah they invested a lot of assets in damaged goods, Quinn, Trevathan and Jenkins. Made some painful cuts as a result. At this point it looks like they can crater. Long shot to be .500

Hard to understand why they would only be favored in 4 games when oddsmakers have them pegged at 7.5 wins this year....

They're only favored in 4 games as currently constructed meaning Dalton is the starter and with all teams having no injuries. That number will presumably change once the season starts, injuries to other teams key players start occurring, and with hopefully Fields taking over starting job.

Honestly it's pretty hard to only win 4 games in the NFL, especially now with the added 17th game, that's like a bottom 5 team don't think the Bears are quite that bad.

I'd hammer the under though, I think they've got 6 wins written all over them.

They're going to get destroyed against LAR + Cleveland. Changes will come in week 4 with JF1 + possibly a youth movement at OLine (Bars and Borom at tackles? After that, who freaking knows but it's going to be fun to see JF unleashed.

[Dresden]

Hard to understand why they would only be favored in 4 games when oddsmakers have them pegged at 7.5 wins this year....

They're only favored in 4 games as currently constructed meaning Dalton is the starter and with all teams having no injuries. That number will presumably change once the season starts, injuries to other teams key players start occurring, and with hopefully Fields taking over starting job.

Honestly it's pretty hard to only win 4 games in the NFL, especially now with the added 17th game, that's like a bottom 5 team don't think the Bears are quite that bad.

I'd hammer the under though, I think they've got 6 wins written all over them.

They're going to get destroyed against LAR + Cleveland. Changes will come in week 4 with JF1 + possibly a youth movement at OLine (Bars and Borom at tackles? After that, who freaking knows but it's going to be fun to see JF unleashed.

I'm not so sure they''ll get destroyed by the Rams. They will keep it within 2 TD's-10 points. It will be interesting to see Dalton out there with the offense v. that Rams D, if they can move the ball at all.

[thedarkstark]

They're only favored in 4 games as currently constructed meaning Dalton is the starter and with all teams having no injuries. That number will presumably change once the season starts, injuries to other teams key players start occurring, and with hopefully Fields taking over starting job.

Honestly it's pretty hard to only win 4 games in the NFL, especially now with the added 17th game, that's like a bottom 5 team don't think the Bears are quite that bad.

I'd hammer the under though, I think they've got 6 wins written all over them.

They're going to get destroyed against LAR + Cleveland. Changes will come in week 4 with JF1 + possibly a youth movement at OLine (Bars and Borom at tackles? After that, who freaking knows but it's going to be fun to see JF unleashed.

I'm not so sure they''ll get destroyed by the Rams. They will keep it within 2 TD's-10 points. It will be interesting to see Dalton out there with the offense v. that Rams D, if they can move the ball at all.

I had a dream last night that Dalton balled out and put up like 45 points and everyone in Chicago was just upset that it means we won't see Fields for a long time

[fleet]

They're going to get destroyed against LAR + Cleveland. Changes will come in week 4 with JF1 + possibly a youth movement at OLine (Bars and Borom at tackles? After that, who freaking knows but it's going to be fun to see JF unleashed.

I'm not so sure they''ll get destroyed by the Rams. They will keep it within 2 TD's-10 points. It will be interesting to see Dalton out there with the offense v. that Rams D, if they can move the ball at all.

I had a dream last night that Dalton balled out and put up like 45 points and everyone in Chicago was just upset that it means we won't see Fields for a long time

Think the Bears are just going to bust out a heretofore unseen ball possession running game week 1? I just cannot see the likelihood of this dream occur, though it would be a fantastic surprise. If Lazor was calling plays, maybe. He has the discipline. But Nagy is just gonna start dropping back as soon as they get behind. He’ll try to run the Ball for 1 series and then wave the white flag. Post game he’ll say ‘hey, we tried but things got out of hand’. Trust that the defense and special teams is gonna have to win the game, and we haven’t seen flashes from either of those yet as well

[thedarkstark]

I'm not so sure they''ll get destroyed by the Rams. They will keep it within 2 TD's-10 points. It will be interesting to see Dalton out there with the offense v. that Rams D, if they can move the ball at all.

I had a dream last night that Dalton balled out and put up like 45 points and everyone in Chicago was just upset that it means we won't see Fields for a long time

Think the Bears are just going to bust out a heretofore unseen ball possession running game week 1? I just cannot see the likelihood of this dream occur, though it would be a fantastic surprise. If Lazor was calling plays, maybe. He has the discipline. But Nagy is just gonna start dropping back as soon as they get behind. He’ll try to run the Ball for 1 series and then wave the white flag. Post game he’ll say ‘hey, we tried but things got out of hand’. Trust that the defense and special teams is gonna have to win the game, and we haven’t seen flashes from either of those yet as well

Oh there's pretty much zero chance it comes true, especially with the Rams secondary, but know Dalton was dropping dimes, he hit like 3 long TD passes.

I just thought it was funny that in this dream the Bears have their first blowout win under Nagy that I can recall since the Mitch 6TD game 3 years ago, and the reaction is that everyone is upset, which honestly is the most realistic part of the dream IMHO.

[fleet]

Nagy fights Nagy and the Rams secondary, I predict a Nagy win

[dice]

The fact that Pace chose to extend his RB3, ILB2, and give a 4-3 DE 70 million (while not extending his WR1 still in his prime) is quite infuriating. Also, cuts to still productive players- Leno and Fuller who were both in decent deals will bite us this year.

This is a 7 win team unless Fields goes bonkers in year 1. We still lack an offensive identity and lose too many battles in the trenches. Nagy’s poor feel for play calling doesn’t exactly help either.

They are favored in 4 games

Yeah they invested a lot of assets in damaged goods, Quinn, Trevathan and Jenkins. Made some painful cuts as a result. At this point it looks like they can crater. Long shot to be .500

Hard to understand why they would only be favored in 4 games when oddsmakers have them pegged at 7.5 wins this year....

if you have a 40% chance to win every time you take the field, you're favored in zero games, yet your over/under is 6.8 wins

[fleet]

We’re mainly looking at a +7.5 v the Rams, 44 points over under. Taking the Bears in this one is tempting with such a big spread, but most sites actually feel like the Rams will cover fwiw. It'll be a surprise imo if the Bears offense generates more than 17 points without a bit of defensive help, but I do fully expect the Rams to put 24+ on the board. So yeah, unless the Bears get somewhat lucky, the Rams to cover does look as if it makes sense.

[fleet]

This is fantastic. And the fine in the first place is so stupid that the technicality which he now enjoys is confusing. Don't know why the NFL can’t be dumb twice in a row, it often is.

Read on Twitter

[Michael Jackson]

They are favored in 4 games

Yeah they invested a lot of assets in damaged goods, Quinn, Trevathan and Jenkins. Made some painful cuts as a result. At this point it looks like they can crater. Long shot to be .500

Hard to understand why they would only be favored in 4 games when oddsmakers have them pegged at 7.5 wins this year....

if you have a 40% chance to win every time you take the field, you're favored in zero games, yet your over/under is 6.8 wins

Got it so that is how the yearly total is figured, just a flat percentage.

[fleet]

https://heavy.com/sports/chicago-bears/teven-jenkins-draft-back-chiefs-titans/

Miller: Bears Weren’t Honest About Jenkins’ Surgery

When speaking with the media in August about why the rookie tackle was having surgery, Bears head coach Matt Nagy said that despite Jenkins having a lumbar issue that everyone knew about, it was a new issue that forced Jenkins to go under the knife.


“We were aware of the back issues in college,” Nagy said on August 18. “But these are symptoms that are new. So this is something we’re dealing with. He’s at a point right now where we were trying different things to see if we could stay away from this. It’s something that ended up getting to this point right now.”

When asked what his intel was surrounding Jenkins in the draft, Miller had more than a few revealing things to say.

Miller immediately challenged Nagy’s comments about Jenkins’ pre-existing back injury having nothing to do with his recent surgery. “That’s like saying your DUI wasn’t because of your drinking problem. It makes no sense. I mean, come on. These guys get to stand behind a podium and lie to us?” Miller said, sounding slightly aghast. “It (his surgery) was because of that.”

Miller then said some things about the way the Bears handled Jenkins’ injury versus the way a few other top NFL teams viewed the situation — and it was telling.


Miller: Chiefs & Titans Both Passed on Jenkins Due to Injury

“When I did my pre-draft report on Teven Jenkins, I went and visited him … he didn’t mention it,” Miller said about Jenkins’ back issue.

Miller then confirmed that Jenkins, initially projected to be a first-round pick, fell in the draft as a direct result of his back problems:

“On the night of the draft as I was sitting in Cleveland and he started falling down the draft board and teams that needed offensive tackles weren’t drafting him. I can remember texting someone from the Tennessee Titans and was like: ‘Why aren’t you taking Teven Jenkins?’ And he replied back to me, and I can send a screenshot of this if I can blur some names out, and he said: ‘Back injury.’ So teams knew about it, and it was the reason he fell at least for a couple of the teams I spoke to.”

Miller also confirmed Nagy’s former mentor, Andy Reid’s team passed on Jenkins for that same reason.

“A lot of people thought the Chiefs would make a play for him, whether at left tackle or right tackle … even people in the Kansas City front office that I talked to have said: ‘The back injury is a problem.”

Herein lies the primary issue: Jenkins’ back issue was an issue for multiple other teams — teams that have recently made winning a common occurrence. But it wasn’t an issue for the Bears, who, instead of letting him fall to them in the second round at No. 52, (which very well could have happened if so many other teams were unsure about him). The Bears could have waited and taken the best available player –which could have possibly been Jenkins if he was still there — but instead, the Bears traded up to get him.

Chicago sent a third-round pick, the second-round pick, and a sixth-round pick (No. 204) in order to move up to take Jenkins. They got Jenkins with the 39th overall pick along with a fifth-rounder (151st overall), but they sacrificed valuable draft capital to take a risk on a player many teams seemed to already know wasn’t going to be hitting the field and contributing anytime soon. It’s the latest in a series of questionable draft decisions by Pace, and if it eventually works out, fine. But if it doesn’t, the Jenkins pick could haunt the Bears for a while

This is what gets aggravating about these guys. They have again made some decisions that have been questionable. But they are not honest, and they don’t own it. Pace did the same exact thing Nagy did, and so obviously this is intentional and thought out. Instead of owning it and admitting they thought it was worth doing despite the injury, they sort of insult everyone and try to get over. Just be honest. Glad that Miller] makes it clear about the Bears.

[dice]

https://heavy.com/sports/chicago-bears/teven-jenkins-draft-back-chiefs-titans/

Miller: Bears Weren’t Honest About Jenkins’ Surgery

When speaking with the media in August about why the rookie tackle was having surgery, Bears head coach Matt Nagy said that despite Jenkins having a lumbar issue that everyone knew about, it was a new issue that forced Jenkins to go under the knife.


“We were aware of the back issues in college,” Nagy said on August 18. “But these are symptoms that are new. So this is something we’re dealing with. He’s at a point right now where we were trying different things to see if we could stay away from this. It’s something that ended up getting to this point right now.”

When asked what his intel was surrounding Jenkins in the draft, Miller had more than a few revealing things to say.

Miller immediately challenged Nagy’s comments about Jenkins’ pre-existing back injury having nothing to do with his recent surgery. “That’s like saying your DUI wasn’t because of your drinking problem. It makes no sense. I mean, come on. These guys get to stand behind a podium and lie to us?” Miller said, sounding slightly aghast. “It (his surgery) was because of that.”

Miller then said some things about the way the Bears handled Jenkins’ injury versus the way a few other top NFL teams viewed the situation — and it was telling.


Miller: Chiefs & Titans Both Passed on Jenkins Due to Injury

“When I did my pre-draft report on Teven Jenkins, I went and visited him … he didn’t mention it,” Miller said about Jenkins’ back issue.

Miller then confirmed that Jenkins, initially projected to be a first-round pick, fell in the draft as a direct result of his back problems:

“On the night of the draft as I was sitting in Cleveland and he started falling down the draft board and teams that needed offensive tackles weren’t drafting him. I can remember texting someone from the Tennessee Titans and was like: ‘Why aren’t you taking Teven Jenkins?’ And he replied back to me, and I can send a screenshot of this if I can blur some names out, and he said: ‘Back injury.’ So teams knew about it, and it was the reason he fell at least for a couple of the teams I spoke to.”

Miller also confirmed Nagy’s former mentor, Andy Reid’s team passed on Jenkins for that same reason.

“A lot of people thought the Chiefs would make a play for him, whether at left tackle or right tackle … even people in the Kansas City front office that I talked to have said: ‘The back injury is a problem.”

Herein lies the primary issue: Jenkins’ back issue was an issue for multiple other teams — teams that have recently made winning a common occurrence. But it wasn’t an issue for the Bears, who, instead of letting him fall to them in the second round at No. 52, (which very well could have happened if so many other teams were unsure about him). The Bears could have waited and taken the best available player –which could have possibly been Jenkins if he was still there — but instead, the Bears traded up to get him.

Chicago sent a third-round pick, the second-round pick, and a sixth-round pick (No. 204) in order to move up to take Jenkins. They got Jenkins with the 39th overall pick along with a fifth-rounder (151st overall), but they sacrificed valuable draft capital to take a risk on a player many teams seemed to already know wasn’t going to be hitting the field and contributing anytime soon. It’s the latest in a series of questionable draft decisions by Pace, and if it eventually works out, fine. But if it doesn’t, the Jenkins pick could haunt the Bears for a while

This is what gets aggravating about these guys. They have again made some decisions that have been questionable. But they are not honest, and they don’t own it. Pace did the same exact thing Nagy did, and so obviously this is intentional and thought out. Instead of owning it and admitting they thought it was worth doing despite the injury, they sort of insult everyone and try to get over. Just be honest. Glad that Miller] makes it clear about the Bears.

it just makes little sense to lie about. what's the upside? he doesn't miss any time, plays well and you look like a genius for having traded up for him? wouldn't it make more sense to just say "he has injury questions, so it's a bit of a gamble, but once he slipped into the 2nd round we felt like we should take a chance on his upside"?

[dice]

Hard to understand why they would only be favored in 4 games when oddsmakers have them pegged at 7.5 wins this year....

if you have a 40% chance to win every time you take the field, you're favored in zero games, yet your over/under is 6.8 wins

Got it so that is how the yearly total is figured, just a flat percentage.

i don't know that it's that scientific, but it should roughly work out that way. i'm not sure when they released this (presumably after the draft and free agency), but superbook sports has already done spreads for all 18 weeks of the season. here they are for the bears, along with the corresponding % chance of the bears winning (road favorites in bold):

Chicago Bears at Los Angeles Rams (-7, 44.5) 26.8%
Bengals at Bears (-3.5, 45.5) 62.3%
Bears at Browns (-7, 44.5) 26.8%
Lions at Bears (-5.5, 44.5) 68.7%
Bears at Raiders (-3.5, 46.5) 37.7%
Packers (-2.5, 46) at Bears 41.1%
Bears at Bucs (-10, 48) 19.3%
49ers (-4, 44.5) at Bears 36.1%
Bears at Steelers (-5.5, 45.5) 31.3%

Ravens (-3.5, 45.5) at Bears 37.7%
Bears (-3, 45) at Lions 60.6%
Cardinals (-1.5, 46) at Bears 44.6%
Bears at Packers (-5.5, 45.5) 31.3%
Vikings (-1, 42.5) at Bears 46.4%
Bears at Seahawks (-5.5, 45) 31.3%
NY Giants at Bears (-2, 42) 57.1%
Bears at Vikings (-4, 45.5) 36.1%

bears are favored in only 1 road game - vs. lions on thanksgiving - and 3 home games (lions, bengals, giants). but if you add up all the percentages it comes to 695%, or 6.95 wins

[Susan]

https://heavy.com/sports/chicago-bears/teven-jenkins-draft-back-chiefs-titans/

Miller: Bears Weren’t Honest About Jenkins’ Surgery

When speaking with the media in August about why the rookie tackle was having surgery, Bears head coach Matt Nagy said that despite Jenkins having a lumbar issue that everyone knew about, it was a new issue that forced Jenkins to go under the knife.


“We were aware of the back issues in college,” Nagy said on August 18. “But these are symptoms that are new. So this is something we’re dealing with. He’s at a point right now where we were trying different things to see if we could stay away from this. It’s something that ended up getting to this point right now.”

When asked what his intel was surrounding Jenkins in the draft, Miller had more than a few revealing things to say.

Miller immediately challenged Nagy’s comments about Jenkins’ pre-existing back injury having nothing to do with his recent surgery. “That’s like saying your DUI wasn’t because of your drinking problem. It makes no sense. I mean, come on. These guys get to stand behind a podium and lie to us?” Miller said, sounding slightly aghast. “It (his surgery) was because of that.”

Miller then said some things about the way the Bears handled Jenkins’ injury versus the way a few other top NFL teams viewed the situation — and it was telling.


Miller: Chiefs & Titans Both Passed on Jenkins Due to Injury

“When I did my pre-draft report on Teven Jenkins, I went and visited him … he didn’t mention it,” Miller said about Jenkins’ back issue.

Miller then confirmed that Jenkins, initially projected to be a first-round pick, fell in the draft as a direct result of his back problems:

“On the night of the draft as I was sitting in Cleveland and he started falling down the draft board and teams that needed offensive tackles weren’t drafting him. I can remember texting someone from the Tennessee Titans and was like: ‘Why aren’t you taking Teven Jenkins?’ And he replied back to me, and I can send a screenshot of this if I can blur some names out, and he said: ‘Back injury.’ So teams knew about it, and it was the reason he fell at least for a couple of the teams I spoke to.”

Miller also confirmed Nagy’s former mentor, Andy Reid’s team passed on Jenkins for that same reason.

“A lot of people thought the Chiefs would make a play for him, whether at left tackle or right tackle … even people in the Kansas City front office that I talked to have said: ‘The back injury is a problem.”

Herein lies the primary issue: Jenkins’ back issue was an issue for multiple other teams — teams that have recently made winning a common occurrence. But it wasn’t an issue for the Bears, who, instead of letting him fall to them in the second round at No. 52, (which very well could have happened if so many other teams were unsure about him). The Bears could have waited and taken the best available player –which could have possibly been Jenkins if he was still there — but instead, the Bears traded up to get him.

Chicago sent a third-round pick, the second-round pick, and a sixth-round pick (No. 204) in order to move up to take Jenkins. They got Jenkins with the 39th overall pick along with a fifth-rounder (151st overall), but they sacrificed valuable draft capital to take a risk on a player many teams seemed to already know wasn’t going to be hitting the field and contributing anytime soon. It’s the latest in a series of questionable draft decisions by Pace, and if it eventually works out, fine. But if it doesn’t, the Jenkins pick could haunt the Bears for a while

This is what gets aggravating about these guys. They have again made some decisions that have been questionable. But they are not honest, and they don’t own it. Pace did the same exact thing Nagy did, and so obviously this is intentional and thought out. Instead of owning it and admitting they thought it was worth doing despite the injury, they sort of insult everyone and try to get over. Just be honest. Glad that Miller] makes it clear about the Bears.

I'm fine with the risk.

DK Metcalf fell to the late 2nd round because of a neck injury, Jenkins tried to get ready for the season, clearly fell short because of the injury and he got surgery.

This team isn't a win-now team, they're going to try and to do that with Dalton but it's a joke and is going to fall short. Hopefully Jenkins recovers and they can get him on the field in the second half of the season. Get him and Borom out there and develop them alongside Kmet, Mooney, and Khalil Herbert so we can go into the offseason with a good, young offensive core to go alongside Fields.

Tennessee/KC's window is right freaking now. The Bears window opens next year, it's good for the franchise that there's no expectations for Justin Fields to come out and fix everything from day 1.

[dice]

offensive ROY odds:

jones 4:1
lawrence 4:1

fields 6:1
lance 6.5:1
wilson 8:1
harris 10:1
pitts 12:1
chase 14:1
smith 16:1
waddle 20:1

jones and lance obviously get a boost because they are on what are project to be good/very good teams

[Posey H8er]

I'm fine with the risk.

DK Metcalf fell to the late 2nd round because of a neck injury, Jenkins tried to get ready for the season, clearly fell short because of the injury and he got surgery.

This team isn't a win-now team, they're going to try and to do that with Dalton but it's a joke and is going to fall short. Hopefully Jenkins recovers and they can get him on the field in the second half of the season. Get him and Borom out there and develop them alongside Kmet, Mooney, and Khalil Herbert so we can go into the offseason with a good, young offensive core to go alongside Fields.

The Bears don't need to be in win now mode to make practical smart moves to improve their roster. Multiple awful decisions from Pace over the years have quickly added more positional areas of need and financial inflexibility, changing what might be Fields-led team contending for SBs in maybe two years to maybe after Fields' next contract.

Pace often tends to get cute with a lot of the guys he falls in love with, many under the radar guys. While he has hit on some of them, he has wasted so much unnecessary draft capital in the process. Even if they really liked Jenkins, there were other similar value OTs in the draft with limited risk, high floor. Cosmi might have fallen one pick to 52 if the Bears never trade up for Jenkins, and the Bears don't lose the draft capital. Trading up to pick Montgomery when there are scores of guys of similar available every year, or fixating on TE last year because he couldn't figure it out the previous 3ish years. I'm hopeful for Kmet's progression but you wouldn't need to draft a 2nd round tight end and could have had someone like Winfield Jr, the most obvious NFL-ready guy after Rd 1.

I hope Fields is a star and can minimize some of this team's flaws over the next few years as the roster is rebuilt to competency along multiple position groups. Fun relevant football may be near.

[Susan]

I'm fine with the risk.

DK Metcalf fell to the late 2nd round because of a neck injury, Jenkins tried to get ready for the season, clearly fell short because of the injury and he got surgery.

This team isn't a win-now team, they're going to try and to do that with Dalton but it's a joke and is going to fall short. Hopefully Jenkins recovers and they can get him on the field in the second half of the season. Get him and Borom out there and develop them alongside Kmet, Mooney, and Khalil Herbert so we can go into the offseason with a good, young offensive core to go alongside Fields.

The Bears don't need to be in win now mode to make practical smart moves to improve their roster. Multiple awful decisions from Pace over the years have quickly added more positional areas of need and financial inflexibility, changing what might be Fields-led team contending for SBs in maybe two years to maybe after Fields' next contract.

Pace often tends to get cute with a lot of the guys he falls in love with, many under the radar guys. While he has hit on some of them, he has wasted so much unnecessary draft capital in the process. Even if they really liked Jenkins, there were other similar value OTs in the draft with limited risk, high floor. Cosmi might have fallen one pick to 52 if the Bears never trade up for Jenkins, and the Bears don't lose the draft capital. Trading up to pick Montgomery when there are scores of guys of similar available every year, or fixating on TE last year because he couldn't figure it out the previous 3ish years. I'm hopeful for Kmet's progression but you wouldn't need to draft a 2nd round tight end and could have had someone like Winfield Jr, the most obvious NFL-ready guy after Rd 1.

I hope Fields is a star and can minimize some of this team's flaws over the next few years as the roster is rebuilt to competency along multiple position groups. Fun relevant football may be near.

David Montgomery has been the most productive back from that draft class (based on AV from this link). So no, there aren't similar guys available every year, he has been the best from that crop and there's nobody drafted after him that I would take over him (Mattison/Pollard are the only ones worth mentioning but they're still well unproven compared to Monty). Beleaguering Pace for trading up to draft Montgomery is absurd.

The Bears were 8-8, 8-8 and 12-4 without a franchise QB, the only move that is worth bellyaching about is Mitch over Watson/Mahomes. That same aggressiveness is what got us Fields so while it was a worthwhile discussion to talk about whether Pace deserves to keep his job - he kept it and IMO saved it by hitting a grand slam in Fields.

Let's see what Jenkins looks like when he finally gets on the field. Let's see what Borom looks when he gets on the field. If one of them pans out, that would be huge, if both + JF1 pan out, that's a draft for the ages.

[dice]

I'm fine with the risk.

DK Metcalf fell to the late 2nd round because of a neck injury, Jenkins tried to get ready for the season, clearly fell short because of the injury and he got surgery.

This team isn't a win-now team, they're going to try and to do that with Dalton but it's a joke and is going to fall short. Hopefully Jenkins recovers and they can get him on the field in the second half of the season. Get him and Borom out there and develop them alongside Kmet, Mooney, and Khalil Herbert so we can go into the offseason with a good, young offensive core to go alongside Fields.

The Bears don't need to be in win now mode to make practical smart moves to improve their roster. Multiple awful decisions from Pace over the years have quickly added more positional areas of need and financial inflexibility, changing what might be Fields-led team contending for SBs in maybe two years to maybe after Fields' next contract.

Pace often tends to get cute with a lot of the guys he falls in love with, many under the radar guys. While he has hit on some of them, he has wasted so much unnecessary draft capital in the process. Even if they really liked Jenkins, there were other similar value OTs in the draft with limited risk, high floor. Cosmi might have fallen one pick to 52 if the Bears never trade up for Jenkins, and the Bears don't lose the draft capital. Trading up to pick Montgomery when there are scores of guys of similar available every year, or fixating on TE last year because he couldn't figure it out the previous 3ish years. I'm hopeful for Kmet's progression but you wouldn't need to draft a 2nd round tight end and could have had someone like Winfield Jr, the most obvious NFL-ready guy after Rd 1.

I hope Fields is a star and can minimize some of this team's flaws over the next few years as the roster is rebuilt to competency along multiple position groups. Fun relevant football may be near.

David Montgomery has been the most productive back from that draft class (based on AV from this link). So no, there aren't similar guys available every year, he has been the best from that crop and there's nobody drafted after him that I would take over him (Mattison/Pollard are the only ones worth mentioning but they're still well unproven compared to Monty). Beleaguering Pace for trading up to draft Montgomery is absurd.

PFF RB rankings from that draft heading into the season:

9 jacobs
13 montgomery
19 sanders
22 singletary

so yes, trading up to take montgomery one spot over singletary looks fine right now

The Bears were 8-8, 8-8 and 12-4 without a franchise QB

you left out 3-13, 5-11 and 6-10. you can reasonably throw out year 1 of an nfl GM's tenure, but not his first 3 years

and mitch's pro bowl season was easily the primary reason that the bears went 12-4. the offense improved by a whopping 9.8 points per game that season, the already young and good defense by only 2.3. the next season? offense regresses almost all the way back (minus 8.8 ppg), defense regresses slightly (0.9 ppg), and voila: back to 8-8

nagy gets credit for the 12-4, but because he traded up for a guy who DID happen to play like a franchise QB that season

and, of course, he did have the opportunity to stand pat or even trade down and take that franchise QB. he instead traded up for a guy who he thought was head and shoulders better. taken with one of the picks used to trade up? alvin kamara

the only move that is worth bellyaching about is Mitch over Watson/Mahomes.That same aggressiveness is what got us Fields so while it was a worthwhile discussion to talk about whether Pace deserves to keep his job - he kept it and IMO saved it by hitting a grand slam in Fields.

it's already a grand slam? he hasn't played a single meaningful game yet. even being a long-term franchise QB wouldn't make the deal a grand slam

Let's see what Jenkins looks like when he finally gets on the field. Let's see what Borom looks when he gets on the field. If one of them pans out, that would be huge, if both + JF1 pan out, that's a draft for the ages.

i'm sure that there have been many, many drafts where each of a GM's first 3 picks pans out

[fleet]

7 years, no playoffs wins, one winning season. Considering the high profile mistakes and constant wasting of assets, most neutral people are gonna wonder how the FO stays in business. Ill tell you how though. George McCaskey is the weakest link of all. I doubt he ever knows what he wants to do without a consultant telling him what to think, and the press giving him clues.