Chisoxfn

The NBA should have just cancelled like 5 games per team. Putting this much basketball in a short stretch on (all) of these teams is just insane. That or extend the season by 2 weeks - doesn't matter to me. But the outcome they chose, in my opinion, was the absolute worst.

This is exactly the bounce back game I want to see from Bulls. Hopefully starters can sit out the 4th. Will be huge heading into a back to back. Plus tough games coming up with Nets and Warriors. I think Caruso is expected back tomorrow too.

No - If they were going to hire him as a president, they would have just done it.

Yeah - Harbaugh is going to win in next week regardless. Either he stays at Michigan (because its his dream job) but gets a nice bump up in pay to do it or he gets an increase to go back to the NFL (if that is what his preference is). Either way - he's sitting pretty.

Ed Dobbs is a really good front office name. Read some pretty good quotes / pieces on him. His resume / track record is pretty good with his time at the Colts and previous 10 years with the Seahawks, two very good orgs which have done a real excellent job drafting, etc.

What would it take to get Harbaugh. 7yr deal worth $75M or something like that? 5yr 60M? Or am I way overshooting. I think he only makes like $4M at Michigan. Could you get him more at a 7YR $45M. 5YR 35M?

So mid-season I was doubting Daboll; I had said - I want to see how he handles adversity. How he handles the league making adjustments to his offense, etc. What we saw with Nagy was the league adjusted and he had no idea how to adjust back. Daboll showed me he can adjust during the 2nd half of the year and that starts to make him a heck of a lot more attractive to me. Moore is interesting - he clearly seems to be bright and innovative - but like Bmags mentioned - he has weapon(s) galore, so I don't know what to think of him. If you take him - you just got to buy all of his intangibles and other skillsets and assume he can escalate and bring it like McVay. Given how much he's been around the game for a young age, the position he played in college, I wouldn't put it past them. If they are going offense - I prefer these two to Leftwich. I discount anyone working with Brady and Arians as an offensive genius. I have no idea how to evaluate Leftwich (interviews would be pretty huge here). With Andy Reid I worry less cause his coaches (despite Nagy's flop) have a pretty good success rate when they move on. I don't know what to think of Arians disciples. That said - Leftwich is facing real adversity as a play caller late in the season - so he has a shot to show how he innovates here, but again, hard to know what is him driving it vs. Arians. Note: Harbaugh remains my strong preference while my preferred defensive candidates remain Quinn & Bowles (Colts DC is also intriguing - I need to read up on him).

I just don't like anything other than his actual results. I don't like what I've heard went down with him and the GM. Seemed like him more in the wrong than the GM. He has gone through DC's and OC's like crazy in his short tenure there. And quite frankly - I have very little thought of the BB disciples because I think what BB does is very unique to him and I think his assistants don't fully grasp that. McDaniels might be the one I'm willing to try and even than I start to throw up a bit in my mouth just thinking about it.

I actually like the fact that they didn't sign Baker to an extension. Shows me they are realist in their views before totally tying up their franchise. That said - I do feel like the Browns consistently underperform, but you are right, they have valid excuses in terms of having their QB play pretty dinged up / miss games this year. It is why finding a QB can be so hard. There are jut so many of them so no matter how smart you are as a front office / head coach, sometimes the reality is you can only do so much at QB. I do like how they have handled draft capital more recently, but some of their other moves and ability to evaluate the personality equation has probably been a miss. I just get nervous with getting anyone from an org that has such a history of suckitude. That said - if they really have turned the corner, you could be getting a great candidate who actually understands how to get rid of the stink.

To me - it all depends on how you structure your front office (to your point). Is the GM really kind of the "president" and your acting GM's are below you - with very experienced, highly paid, and obviously strong college & Pro scouting directors and maybe even an ultimate player personel director that serves over them...kind of giving you a structure like a president, gm, and directors (but just with different titles - obviously right comp and right empowerment). If you are going with him as the GM - than I do think you need to put that structure in place - make huge hires underneath him (or identify you have someone you really like within - maybe it is Champ Kelly, maybe it isn't). But if the Bears are looking at a more typical structure/unwilling to make that change - than I don't know that as a GM he will work well as I feel like they will be putting too much responsibility on his plate that probably doesn't fit his strengths. If I interviewed him - it would be really important to understand how he works with others, collaborates with others. I do like fact that he worked with some smart minds in San Francisco and at least have intrigue at the thought of different.

Might have missed it - but Rick Smith officially on GM interview list. Dan Quin added to HC list too.

This - I have always said Bears ownership is so hands off it has to be an almost ideal role for a gig. They also have committed funding in recent years so you have budget and freedom. You build a sustainable winner - and you literally are king of Chicago.

I am like you that I prefer the two candidates to be independent of each other. I realize one technically needs more power than the other - but you want them very well connected and able to collaborate. I also want the two parties to feel confident challenging each other and having the right tough questions. Disagreements can be healthy and it is those uncomfortable conversations (between HC and GM and with scouts) that likely will push people to the best answers/outcomes anyway.

Your presumption - I don't know that I would say that. Lets not just say because someone is old they are out of touch. My presumption from interviews I have heard is that Polian is still pretty connected to the game and I think he still understands what it takes at high level, especially when it comes to identifying talented individuals, etc. Polian has ran 3 organizations and led them to superbowl appearances. That is as impressive as it gets. So resume wise - they probably picked as good of a person as possible and it seems like they at least talked to Dungy (although wouldn't verbally confirm that out of respect to whom they discussed the process).

More of - they are human, just like any of us. If someone asks - hey can you help me find someone in x line of work (and it happens to be your line). You are probably going to start with recommendations within your network or start the process from there. You will also suggest - expanding - but reality is pool will likely be tainted by people you really like (which are due to your own personal connections). Just the facts. That said - Polian has been there enough - that I think teams now a days have like a ready to operate list (heck the league probably does) - than its just a matter of the teams looking at resumes and meeting with people and asking questions. That is where Polian is probably huge - seeing through the BS in responses, knowing how to ask the question that digs deeper and shows more clarity into the vision and thought-process, etc. But its more than obviously talking the talk - cause these people have resumes around what they have accomplished too (but obviously the skills of a GM are different than a personal guy too). But If Bears already had maybe a candidate or two in mind - I would expect a smaller list of candidates so they could fast track to their people (and if anything confirm their pre conceived biases).

By the way - for those wondering - Rick Smith and Bill Polian's paths when they were both a handful of members of the competition committee back in 2010 (not sure for how long). I say this because I do feel like typically when you get an adviser you are probably going to get some perceived bias from people within your existing network (which isn't saying a lot as I presume Polian has a HUGE network in the game).

I think Frazier is a good leader of men and would be smart enough to surround himself with very good coordinators, which is key. I can think of a lot worse hires than Frazier. I think he knows the game, he knows how to network, he knows the importance of development, and he has seen things work in many orgs with many coaches and also has the perspective from once having been in that seat.

And I really want Rick Smith as GM. Like a lot. I always thought he was old - I just realized he is only in his early 50's too. Guy was extremely successful in Houston - found a QB (and even battled BOB who didn't agree with him that Watson was the guy) and regularly found good talent and put together good teams in Houston. If somehow I could get him and Harbaugh - that would be amazing. I presume Smith isn't coming with a Harbaugh - and Smith would more go with one of the non Harbaugh names I mentioned (due to power conflicts) but either way - I'm a happy camper with Smith. Don't get cute, go out there and get someone who has done the job and done it well in the past (and better yet someone that is young enough that they could do it for another 10-15 years). In 3 or 4 years - elevate them to president - so you can bring in or promote another person up a level to strengthen your bench and actually position the franchise for more sustainable greatness. The end - 20 years from now people talk about the McCaskey's like the Rooney's - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Harbaugh is my heavy preference - if not him - I am open to the defensive guys (Frazier, Quinn, Bowles). My preference is probably Bowles/Quinn over Frazier (if you go defensive guy).

I very clearly have - it just isn't fun or worthwhile to just say - george will never figure it out. He may never - I don't agree with any of that. I just think your ultimate complaint is wrong. You are arguing about what the Bears did when you real argument is that George is the one in charge. At the end of the day that is your problem and I don't have an issue with it at all - but I don't know what to do with that. Cause we as fans can't change ownership. You can scream for them to change coaches, gm's, etc, but nothing I can do is going to stop them from being the owners. I was pretty clear that it was time for a change and quite frankly - today was a win. It wasn't the full win that I wanted - but it was still a positive as far as I'm concerned. Now to see who they hire and what they do. And I may hate what they do or like it - reality is even that doesn't matter as much as the end result. The results are what matter in the long run. And they will probably remain to stink because that is what they do - but that is just an easy / lazy answer. You want me to give an eval on George - he too gets an F - they have made the playoffs twice since 2011 - that is miserable. Guess what - as owner he can keep picking until the board replaces him with a different McCaskey.

I always remember this headline when USC hired Pete Carroll. The fanbase, the airwaves - everyone was outraged. The media is entitled to opinions - but they are also in their role for clicks, advertising, etc. So no - I don't judge things based upon how the media reacts and whether it approves. How many teams that are off-season champions end up in-season champs, etc. For Pete's Sake USC, Why did you do it? https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-dec-16-sp-904-story.html

I think I heard from someone else - that Kreutz was offered the "standard" contract for that type of role...which happens to be $15/hr. I think that is what George implied - that Olin wasn't telling the whole story - just part of the story. But I am not sure and it went back to the question I asked earlier - without knowing what the going rate for that type of role is - I have no idea what to think (but I do get that any normal person would read that and go wow, pro football player gets paid an amount in-line with what you get paid to flip burgers at In and Out burger - that is crazy and Bears are cheap). The above may be true too - maybe other teams pay $100/hr. I literally have no idea, but until I have context it doesn't matter.

I at least thought George had good answers where they asked him about style, candidates wed to Fields etc. He didn’t fall for those and just said the people need a plan. He can look at Arizona who did a do over right away with success. I would be surprised though if bulk of candidates or any candidate said Fields can’t be it. Rather I suspect they all talk about getting relationship with coach and QB right, putting weapons around, maximizing skill set and getting rest of roster right. From there you consistently evaluate QB and if it isn’t right pull the ripcord and try again knowing you have the right parts put around etc.

Ok - so your point is we have a crappy owner. So whether he said what you wanted or what he did it would be a moot point. Literally that is your statement. Nothing I can do to change fact he is the owner. Either George hired a crappy GM and they suck or he does what you say and hires a crappy president (who has that title but really is the GM) and they suck. Tomato / tomatoe because George is a crappy owner. I think JR holds Sox back too - nothing I can do about that.

That is semantics - it is no different than what it is happening now. It is such a minor thing. I get it - from a PR perspective it would be a better win - but from a reality of the situation - they are basically doing that (Polian and George are going to make the hire and yeah Ted is in the room but Polian is who they are leaning on). They don't need to hire a president of football ops (who essentially is the GM vs. Asst). What they need to do is hire a really good GM (call it a GM, call it a pres, whatever). Hiring candidates is what it is - there are only so many ways to interview so yeah - it is going to be similar to the last time (which by the way is how many front offices, if not the majority go about their hiring) but obviously they made a relatively sizeable structural move (with the role now reporting into the owner...just like the "president" role that you would want would report in). By the way - I would have been even more happy if I did hear Ted wasn't involved and they were hiring a president of football ops. But it doesn't mean the reality is much different than George & Polian (with Ted in the room) hiring a GM who has full control and ownership of football operations, directly reporting into the owner. And unless the Bears came out and announced Bill B or Sean Payton were immediately coming - no matter what George did would have gotten picked on. Looks like Bears have already requested formal approval to interview Frazier. This is meaningful for two reasons - one, no matter what they do they have to get through minority candidates. 2 - Frazier is obviously an outstanding candidate. I only mention the minority piece because if they were going to go for Jim H - they have to go fast (I don't see Harbaugh move happening a month from now - if it happens it happens fast).