Chisoxfn

Alright - I'm going to go on a sidebar - but once the coaching staff is finalized, Bears focus has to be on the oline. From a way way too early perspective, I'm thinking Bears have significant work to do on the line(s) and are going to need to do it through a combination of free agency, the trade market, and the draft in a year where I don't know that the Bears will have a LT on the board worthy of the #10 pick and if they want to focus on oline they may need to actually move down to better align with positional value. So hypothetically - I'm thinking Bears trade down from 10 to 20 (this is hypothetical - not sure whether Broncos would be a fit), Bears would get 20 plus a 2nd & 4th to make up the difference in value (per Jimmy Johnson trade chart). That move gives you 20, plus 3 2nd round picks, your 3rd pick, and than the 4th rounder you got (since we traded ours for Keenan). With that - you now have quite a bit of ammo to handle the interior of the line plus add a potential skill position upgrade or two and some defensive candidates. You still have cap space and you have flexibility to make a deal. Say a strong guard is on the market - maybe you trade a 2nd rounder for the guard and a 3rd rounder?

Shoutong doesn’t make you a leader - how you set the standard and get players to buy in and how you hold them and your coaches accountable is how you are that. Being consistent - holding yourself to another standard - and your talent has to show off too…winning helps but you got to do that other stuff. Im excited - but like I want to see results.

I don’t know enough about them in that regard - but the staff is better already than it was under Flus. Johnson is a proven good offensive mind with playcalling experience and Allen is a two time head coach who has a history of being a good DC. If they get the Saints interim HC as special teams coordinator that is another solid experienced get. Flus meanwhile filled his defensive staff with position coaches and has far less depth. Now I don’t know how Johnson will do as head coach and none of his assistants are officially in but I’m hoping we see him pull a strong staff. I think his contract and message bears sent bringing him here is a good start though. I like how they aggressively handled this.

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!

This 5 game losing streak against crap teams is such a blessing. Would think this would finally force the front office into a move to improve lottery position and start setting them up for future. And man, I always thought Pwill sucked but geeze does he suck.

Bears should have their next coach but Friday.

George is a good dude to interview. I actually have come to appreciate (thus far) the process they have taken. Now I hope they actually hit on the hire.

I don’t believe McCarthy is either.

I had the exact same thought.

Bears get torched there. In particular McCaskey and Teddy given how much they clearly relied purely on ole Trace.

I didn’t remember that either.

I’m officially out on Flores. That Fitzpatrick interview was really damming. Basically validated a lot of Tua said. Bears have to stay so far away from him - pairing him with a young qb knowing what they know would be malpractice with the other options out there.

A total legend

I think both candidates are strong so this would be AJ Hinch and Dave Roberts or something. And I do think for all the worry about these randoms - Bears have 2 really good choices.

I will also notate - if I were McCarthy or Johnson, I would be wanting to meet with Caleb for a long time. I'm hitching my wagon to this QB, I want to meet with front office and ownership, obviously, but I also think part of my diligence would be doing a Jon Gruden QB camp style thing with the QB just getting to know how he ticks, watching film with him, chatting with him, getting to know who he is. Different if a guy is 5 years in the league and enough contacts - this guy is 1 year into the league and McCarthy / Johnson both have the juice to have that sort of discussion / interview...really making sure they are the right fit on this. I know this doesn't happen often - but if I were those coaches I'd go that route and push for it cause I can.

I really think it is Johnson or McCarthy at this point and I think the Bears should be able to get either one - or at least be in drivers seat, unless they wait way too long and/or aren't willing to spend the money. McCarthy and Johnson are both going to be more than your standard coaching hire.

By the way (adding on what you said a few posts ago) - put yourself in Ryan Poles or even Kevin Warren's shoes. I really think at this point its down to Johnson or McCarthy. Johnson is the top young, potential high upside unknown on the market. McCarthy is the stable, high floor, good coach, with a proven track record of getting the most out of his QB's (and by the way his players genuinely seem to love him). You are sitting there in those seats and thinking of longevity - do you go for the homerun that could look like a disaster in 2 years or do you hire McCarthy and basically in reality that should (anything can happen) buy you a few years, if the ship is turning and you are heading in right direction...in 4-5 years you could always now pivot to say, its time to find the high upside coach who can jump in....but you are now 5 years down the road if you are Poles, if you've made the playoffs say 3 or 4 out of those 5 years...you are NOT on the hotseat, and instead are looking at another hire and probably a pretty safe path to say 10 years in the seat. In fairness - anything could happen, McCarthy could come in, you know he's got a high floor and it starts to show that Poles draft's and FA moves have been wrong and now he is out and McCarthy is staying (even in that scenario - if I'm Warren, I at least know I've put Caleb with a proven, bright offensive mind who is GOOD with QB's - so I've protected the franchise from that standpoint). I just think of the above and while there is the allure of Ben Johnson - do you really wait 3 weeks for the chance of Johnson and if you meet with Mike and really say hey this guy is different than what we've had in Chicago for a long time, this guy is Chicago, this guy is really good...do you really let him leave the building and interview for New Orleans while you chase the allure or Ben Johnson (who is going to get a huge offer from the Raiders - no doubt about it in my mind)?

What if the inverse strategy would work - go acquire some extra money if you are the White Sox and than go after these 3 teams hard (a little too late to do that now) - but I could have seen a world where I would have went and grabbed some international money in trades and than leveraged it to buy out some high quality prospects on the promise of certain payouts.

I saw this somewhere else - but this goes back to 2000-2024 and how McCarthys offenses have performed and who the qb was. I will notate 2017 with Packers was when Rodger’s was hurt (i think by Wooten or someone on Bears iirc): Mike McCarthy as OC in New Orleans and San Francisco ('00-'05) 00 - 10th in yards, 10th in points (Jeff Blake & Aaron Brooks) 01 - 10th in yards, 13th in points (Aaron Brooks) 02 - 19th in yards, 3rd in points (Aaron Brooks) 03 - 11th in yards, 14th in points (Aaron Brooks) 04 - 15th in yards, 14th in points (Aaron Brooks) 05 - 32nd in yards, 30th in points (had 4 different QBs start games - Alex Smith, Tim Rattay, Ken Dorsey, Cody Pickett) Mike McCarthy as Green Bay head coach ('06-'18) (Brett Favre through '07; Aaron Rodgers '08-onward) 06 - 9th in yards, 22nd in points 07 - 2nd in yards, 4th in points 08 - 8th in yards, 5th in points 09 - 6th in yards, 3rd in points 10 - 9th in yards, 10th in points 11 - 3rd in yards, 1st in points 12 - 13th in yards, 5th in points 13 - 3rd in yards, 8th in points 14 - 6th in yards, 1st in points 15 - 23rd in yards, 15th in points 16 - 8th in yards, 4th in points 17 - 26th in yards, 21st in points 18 - 12th in yards, 14th in points Mike McCarthy as Dallas head coach (''20-'24) 20 - 14th in yards, 17th in points (Andy Dalton & Dak Prescott) 21 - 1st in yards, 1st in points (Dak Prescott) 22 - 11th in yards, 4th in points (Dak Prescott & Cooper Rush) 23 - 5th in yards, 1st in points (the year McCarthy took over playcalling from Kellen Moore) (Dak Prescott) 24 - 17th in yards, 21st in points (Dak Prescott, Cooper Rush & Trey Lance)

What you said above. I go back to - let McCarthy be Doug Collins to Caleb, I also just think there are too many other good candidates who I'd prioritize over Flores. But there are certainly worse candidates than Flores. If Fields was the QB - Flores for example is more of where I would be going (a QB 3-4 years into the league who you are looking at building the rest of the team). The nice thing is - McCarthy, Pete - I really think they achieve both ends. But maybe I'm biased...and McCarthy despite his flaws also has the whole offensive side of the ball thing.

Exactly this. It sounds nice to say next coach for next 10 years but reality is this hire has to be the person who gets Caleb on track to be an all Pro type of qb. That has to happen immediately over the next year plus in terms of that big leap and continued growth. You get this hire wrong - and wrong isn’t this coach can’t win the Super Bowl, wrong is this coach can’t develop Caleb (and the rest of the team) and this becomes a wasted opportunity. That is why I’m looking purely at who can get that right and position Caleb and rest of the locker room as best as possible to get that part of the maturity, development and growth of this franchise to happen. It has to be Pete, McCarthy or Ben Johnson in my mind. I can also get the idea of Ravens OC or Kingsbury…cause in all cases you are going with proven or at least guys with track records of sustained offensive success or with a coach who knows what he is doing and has developed the position (or McCarthy who has done both).

I really want to see this happen - sit back and eat your popcorn, the fireworks will be so awesome and entertaining!

It is - really good vet candidates plus Johnson and Monkin and Glenn. Bears are who scare me.

Pirates also got Morel who was one of the Dodgers bigger targets (bigger than the guy the Sox got).

This is a great thing - was hoping Sox would at least get someone out of this. Just confirming - this was someone in this upcoming year's class (not the previous year). So he was previously committed to the Dodgers '25 pool and now backing out.