Leaderboard

You are allowed to be excited by moves. What the hell are sports for if not that? Take some joy today. They got the best guy on the market.

I feel it's appropriate to say - sorry for your loss, Mark.

What does leader of men mean though? Just fiery? Allen isn’t fiery but I remember him being pretty liked by his players. It’s just hard to be a leader when you lose. Johnson is fiery. But is Shanahan a leader of men? Was KOC? I unno, but I think Allen’s time as a HC is a big help for Johnson.

Just had this conversation with my old man, who is very much a doubter when it comes to the Bears, understandably so. While I've gotten much closer to that approach over the years, you can still separate the two. If you have someone working under you and they make 5 mistakes in a row, when they do something right, I'm going to be happy, but it doesn't mean that one correct thing they did erases the 5 mistakes. When I heard the news and got hit with texts from friends, I was happy. I still am. Very happy the football team I root for made the decision I wanted all along. Smile on my face. I'm also not predicting they win 11 games next season because they hired Ben Johnson. They have a ton of work to do. And I'm probably not picking them to win 11 games next season, no matter what happens in the offseason or preseason. I need to see it on the field, for a while, before I "buy-in" because there is just too much history to tell us they'll find a way to screw it up.

Alright, man. Well have fun with that.

WHOAAAAA they got him.

They did things the right way. Good for them. Now the hard part starts

The roof leaks, windows are busted, and the electric is shot, but why doesn't the cabinet door close evenly?

Sox DH is the least of our worries...

The channel is live in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa market...comes in crystal clear at my place. Still seems odd for me to switch inputs to watch a "Chicago" channel...but at least it works at this point!

Ugh...he was the best! What a great person...and for White Sox fans...he was the perfect manager at the perfect moment for this franchise!

I mean, yes I could be ok with that. It’s at least a major jump forward. The big problems for the Bears last year were obviously the OLine and coaching. Fixing coaching should at least be worth a couple games given what we saw this year, in terms of that series of damn near impossible losses. Now they have to do something to protect their QB, and they should have the resources for that.

So wait, the Bears interviewed 17 people for a leadership position and then hired and paid the most qualified person for the job? Is that legal? -Jerry R.

I don't know. I saw a few tweets that said he demands respect and gets incredibly intense despite his normal demeanor.

Big picture, the offensive needs to significantly improve. It won't take a year to see if Caleb is in good hands or not, or is there a large performance change that we can see. I say that because with the NFC North being an absolute force last season, so many weird things can happen, so I'm not ready to say "They have the make the playoffs or this is a bust." This is the hire they should have made. Brian Flores? Come on. They took a QB at No. 1 overall, and the offensive seemed broken many times this season. They need to fix that, and this was the best option available. And they got him. Now they need to find more talent for this roster, which is the harder part.

Now actually draft offensive linemen in the 1 and 2 rounds.

It's hard not to feel like this has been done for a while and the Bears were just fucking around filling time. That happened FAST. Good for them. Love it.

Well good work by the Bears getting that done so efficiently.

Give that man what he wants, LFG

Thank you, I've been working on a story about Jeff with many of his quotes and stories. I'll post the link when it comes up. Left a message for his wife Susie today, still can't believe it, just spoke with him a month or so ago around the holidays.

A great baseball man and a real decent man. A big loss for the Sox and their fans.

You keep saying this as if it proves some point. The A's are spending at that level because MLB decided spending below that level is too embarrassing and sad. Even for the A's. White Sox said hold my beer.

Just heard the news and am devastated. Jeff, Billy Pierce and Roland Hemond were three of the finest men I ever knew. Words fail me right now. We talked often over the years and he was always gracious with a lot of stories. I'll call the family on Monday. Just terrible news.

So you're saying they need a different, experienced offensive coach, perhaps in the head coaching role? Deal.

Fully agree on talking to as many candidates as possible. There is always something to be learned on what other orgs are doing and teams should take advantage of these opportunities when they have them.

I read that with the amount of deferrals in this contract the present day value is approx $70M. I don’t know, doesn’t seem that expensive to lock up a corner LHH OF spot for 4-5 years.

Cliche to say, but the easiest way to set a good culture and be a “leader” is W’s. McVay isn’t nuts. Neither is Shannahan. Win, and the culture sets itself

Now everything is in the nicest light. They got to get info on the Vikings (Flores), Lions (obvious) and packers (Stepanovic). Everything is good again.

🤣 Sounds about right. Vaughn is the very definition of a true White Sox player and their associated failures.

This shows they knew what they were doing. They knew what they wanted all along but did diligence and than struck. Is Dennis Allen really confirmed - that would be a great duo!

Would be an insanely bad pick. Saw someone tweet during the Eagles/Rams game. Can't remember the exact wording, but the idea was: RB is a gasoline position. If you have a good OL and scheme, the fire is lit. But you can't expect the RB position to bring the matches and wood. A bad OL will put that fire out ASAP. The RB is the accelerator, can turn the campfire into a blaze. Meaning...they gotta fix the OL before they can think about spending real draft capital on the RB position. *I would also add I would guess BJ feels the same, would rather build out the OL first before getting the RB. The entire offensive won't work without an OL.

Another great guy gone. He was good to everyone similar to Ueck. He will be missed.

Let...Poles cook?

Yeah. And (I think) good job Poles. He was able to sell himself pretty well I assume.

Regardless of anything, this is a highly sought after coach in this cycle. Nice to see the Bears pull it off, feels like when they got Lovie.

And the assumption he brings in the Lions O-line coach as his OC. Wonder if Eddie George fits somewhere?

Ben Johnson HC and Dennis Allen DC it appears

My story on Jeff. I think Sox fans will enjoy reading some of the stories he told me: https://www.southsidesox.com/2025/1/20/24347853/the-right-man-for-the-right-franchise-jeff-torborg-chicago-white-sox-dies-age-83

STOP POSTING ENTIRE STORIES. THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING

Yeah, my parents never let me call those. I do remember the phone numbers you’d call to get the weather forecast though.

He did a good job with the Sox, but got the Doug Collins treatment (and wasn't replaced by Phil, to say the least). May he rest in peace.

Hey, do you remember sports phone where you could call in to get the scores?.....that's pre pre pre internet for those of you playing at home.

So sorry to hear Jeff passing away. He was such a solid guy and was a favorite of mine.

So sad. One of my all time favorites. RIP.

He always seemed like the nicest guy. RIP.

For all of the people out there actually watching the White Sox this year...

Caleb also won a Heisman.

I think every Bears fan in Chicago can admit that McCarthy exudes Chicago guy

Similar to Santos going to Charlotte, Leyland gets to go up a level with some of his team from Kanny. This is a crucial assignment for the coaches as the Dash look to be loaded. I have Saucke, Zavala, Montgomery, and possibly McClain in the outfield. I imagine Jeral Perez, Antonacci, and maybe Bergolla will be there. Outside chance Ronny Hernandez makes that team as well. Smith and Taylor are probably both in the rotation. Like half of their top 30 with probably pass through at some point.