Chisoxfn

I wonder if that was the Portland pick or a Bulls pick?

Sounds like Celtics trying to drive up the price and or make sure they get any best and finals before making a deal.

I just know what my best buddy who is a huge niner fan told me (and he is not a meatball fan). He said the st coach was bad and they consistently got pants, made bad mistakes etc during his tenor. On your other point - yes I would like those coaches you mention - and to me it is less about the Raiders guy and more we are getting a guy who was pretty down (vs other guys who are more respected that they could have got). I could care less that they didn’t get Rich - that stinks - but when you combine it with missing on other good guys and that hurts. I actually have no idea if the Raiders ST coach was actually any good at that role or not. Tabor wasn’t so bad even with Browns cause he had Toub vouching for him if I recall - which I think the world of Toub. Either way I like the other two hires you mention. I do not actually think those jobs are more important than the ST coach though.

I don’t like the process more than anything here. And fact you lose out due to pay to your rival after you turned down other good candidates. Not a good look. It could be Niners invested little into their special teams but I don’t think that was the case. They had a lot of picks during that window and should have had appropriate depth for st. But maybe they never prioritizes having that stallwort player or two on that phase. I hope Eb and Poles have an understanding of the importance of special teams. I presume Poles did - given the Toub units always crushing it with the Chiefs. Note: Bmags as good as grant was for Bears - that was still such a stupid trade by Pace. Giving up limited draft capital for a player who was going to be a free agent at end of the year for a team who clearly was nothing but a potential 7 seed (at best). Such an absolute stupid use of resources.

Bears missed badly on ST coach. Hiring Niners coach who was probably getting canned. He had been there 5 years with units mediocre to bad in every season. This is a bad miss by Eberflus. They had a top 10 guy in Tabor who they let go because they wanted the Raiders interim HC or Giants guy and ended up waiting for their top guy (Raiders) who got more money from Pack. Fail on all degrees. Packs out paid for the guy you passed on 2 other good candidates for and ended up panicking with one of the worst ST coaches in the league. Great. Note: I had a similar reaction when Gould got dropped and Barth was who they ultimately picked up. This is like that. Fine if you wanted to move on from Tabor but in my Mando voice: “this is NOT the way”.

Hawk & Joe West became pretty good friends (I don't know when that happened - but at least post retirement I believe the two hung out from time to time).

You are very much on to something - that is why I Like the approach we took with Getsy bringing in people he supported and trusted who (hopefully) fit his system. I think Nagy outthought himself thinking all the various disciplines would help but reality it just created too much conflict (at least early on).

I am very good with this. Cousins quietly had the best season of his career (or at least close to it) and the only reason Vikings stunk was because their defense was a sieve.

They needed an easy win like that. Next game in Azteca will be huge.

Damn - Champ Kelly got hired away by the Bears (going to the Raiders) to be the Asst GM. Good for Champ but a loss for the Bears (although I totally get why Champ is making the move). Additionally - Bears hired the Giants WR coach to be their new WR coach and passing game coordinator. This was a real good hire. Giants Wideouts sucked this past year - but outside of that fact, has 19 year track record and was widely respected. Seems like a very good, experienced hire. I also like the oline coach. More than anything it seems like his style aligns with what the OC wants to do and that alignment is important. He also got the interim main job with Steelers at end of the season and has experience with oline. Sucks that Brady ended up in Buffalo - but as nice as his name is - I sometimes think the QB coach job is so much more nuanced you want an ex QB doing it or someone really set for the role (Brady may not be that guy). I saw at least someone tweet Caldwell's name and I would reiterate that would be a STELLAR hire for the Bears (make him the highest paid QB coach in the league if that is what it takes). Also positions you nicely if Getsy were to leave as you would have a lieutenant in waiting.

Was Christ Getz always the asst GM and I just didn't remember that change or is that a new change / position and maybe partly tied into fact that Jasmine Dunston took in the director of minor league ops?

Yeah - I was going to say - Donovan is familiar with him and he ultimately makes them better.

I don't have any issue with that deal. You aren't giving up any long term piece.

He is also a completely different guy when he plays the Bulls.

The bright side is - free agency is going to be crazy once they do agree. There is going to be a flurry of action in a compressed window.

100% - this is going to drive real and necessary change (just bad it got to this point). Or at least I hope it drives change. Zero excuse for there to be 1 minority head coach in the NFL.

Flores situation is just a mess on many levels - and it goes both ways. But on Morris, Leftwich (if he doesn't get a job), and Bowles - there are no reasons they don't get another job / shouldn't have a job in the NFL. Flores likely should - but I get why there is hesitation with him given some of the secondary reports that are out there. Hard to tell what is real vs. noise (but that was what always had me concerned about him being the Bears HC). If it weren't for the noise with his assistants - Flores would have been my guy (since Harbaugh was never a real option). Bienemy I get - he has background issues that might make him unhireable (If I were a front office - I get why you may not want to make someone with those past issues with women the head coach of your franchise).

Unrelated - but Joe Brady apparently interviewing today (per Albert Breer). A lot of speculated on him being QB coach/having a role - but all the reports were from "bloggers" vs. major reporters. Mike Munchack also likely out in Denver, so that is a possibility for Bears (very good oline coach). That said - Muncack isn't pairing up with Hackett because Hackett prefers a different style of blocking to support his ground attack (so I would think some of those differences might exist with Getsy too...but maybe not).

I will point out - we all like to rip on George and the McCaskeys - and obviously I don't know the inner workings of what they wanted to do, etc - but I feel like they handled their hires very appropriate - they evaluated many diverse backgrounds (both in terms of race, but also just in terms of various levels of expertise and broad backgrounds) and seemed to have a very open mind throughout the way, eventually hiring for both roles, who they thought was best for their org(s). Pretty proud of that fact.

HAHA - I wish Gar and Pax paid that to Forman (or Hoiberg) back when the Bulls were trying to tank but Nikolai and some scrubs got hot and they ended up missing out on a difference maker. But in all seriousness - not the smartest. Maybe they should bank some incentives in the contract - year 1, escalator clause for team getting #1 overall pick or winning a superbowl (hey - either be great or suck really really bad).

I mean - I am not surprised. It just seems like the anatomy of a rumor. Teams usually go through the interview process and probably have a lean. I bet if you checked the Bears candidates phones there might have been people who said the same thing. Bears may have hired that candidate - may not have. Poor Bill B though - he probably was like oh crap. He was just trying to reach out to one of his former coaches (in this case they both are).

I feel like Rodgers ends up getting traded for Tray Lance and some picks.

I am annoyed - was planning a family trip out there with some of my kids friend(s) and there families. They are in that young age where they love baseball and would have just had a blast going to games and hanging out at a pool at a nice hotel out in Arizona area.

Reality is - they are making small progress - but the real progress still doesn't happen until they are closer to losing revenue (both players and owners). No doubt spring will be cut or shortened and likely delayed start to the season (to me I don't see given the disparity in where they are today - how they would be able to negotiate to a good place without having the additive pressure of having already delayed the season etc).

I take fact that they were heated is a good sign - if nothing else - shows real passion in the room and it takes those contentious conversations for progress to happen.