Chisoxfn

This is what gives me some excitement. Borom, Jenkins, Montgomery, Herbert, Mooney, Kmet and Fields are all young players with arrows pointing up. I don't think anyone other than Fields has the skill set to be a star, but the rest give me hope at being solid to above average players. Some are complete hopes - basically buying on Borom's solid preseason (when healthy) and one game - so I am way too optimistic and way too soon on that and in the case of Jenkins it is entirely on his draft status (since he has yet to be healthy in a Bear uniform). Of course - they could all end up / most could bust & be mediocre, but somehow - I will tell myself this will be different. When you combine that with the contracts coming off books in next year or two - and things will be very interesting for whomever is calling the shots starting this offseason.

So i was a grump all last week - this week I will take a glass half full approach. I saw a QB who settled down and got rid of the ball quicker, he went to his 2nd and 3rd read at times, and he actually flashed the 40 time we all knew he had. Like legit flashed it. I also was not surprised it coincided with him actually having a bit of time to breathe where he wasn't getting drilled from start to finish. This was a good game - because there were more flashes of good than bad. Yes, 22 points isn't enough, but this season is about the little things and the signs in the longer game -> knowing/hoping that there are one or two offensive explosions to come as well. I keep thinking Robinson will get himself going again (I Know he has been playing through some type of injury - don't know what - but maybe they need to rest him a game or two or something). I am excited still for the final 6 or so games of the season. At that point - Borom will hopefully have a few more starts under his belt and be showing us something and we will be in a spot where we can see Jenkins and where he is. If somehow Borom and Jenkins can be good tackles - we could start to see a much different shape of the offense start to take place, one where maybe they are a good center away from having an above average unit, which quietly starts to put Fields in a position where with him, Montgomery, and Herbert, we are talking about a nice core of weapons to protect the QB. At that point - offseason priorities become finding an addition lineman, deciding whether Daniel's is where you role (or making another upgrade on oline via FA at guard) and than looking at how to massively upgrade the skill position front on offense. Quite frankly - if Fields can be the real deal and the Bears get some luck/good scouting/whatever - this line could actually shift quickly (and yes - I am way too optimistic on Borom after one game where I didn't notice him - that doesn't mean he was great, but not noticing him is usually a good sign for a lineman), than just looking at finding some wideouts puts the offense in a decent spot or at least gets a good foundation faster than we expect. Note: Above is a glass half view on the offense and where it might head. I am no longer talking about the coaching staff - because I assume we will have a new staff unless we see a major offensive explosion in 2nd half of the season. At WR - Presuming Robinson is out, Mooney is the only keeper at wideout. Mooney was probably overrated, but he's still a legit #2 wideout and Kmet isn't an explosive TE but he's a solid TE (and if you add another TE the combo of them will be dynamite with a QB like Fields). Finding a top wideout isn't easy - but they could hopefully address position in 2 years time with their FRP (if they can't upgrade via FA, etc). That said - Robinson and Fields figuring things out in 2nd half of the year would be nice -> cause than the team can be looking at adding one more legit wideout and actually making the WR corps above average (vs. below avg).

The Rams have been doing that for the last 4 or 5 years.

Yeah - defense just stunk. From the big play they gave up in final drive of second half straight to finish. But I could care less about that. Fields took some bad sacks at times and missed on some passes but he also made some plays. I’ll take it cause quite frankly all I care about this year is Fields getting better. Offensive play calling was too predictable in 2nd half. Too much first down running vs mixing in some better mix. They got super conservative late too. That final drive before they handed it back to Niners was not pretty.

Man this team is fun!!! Derozan was such a good addition!

I do think Gallo makes some sense as a buy low candidate. I don’t like his style but he brings power and solid defense at a position of need from the left side. I’d like him and a surprise big move for 2B.

This sucks because as much as I complained about Williams I still thought he was one of those guys who could have gotten a lot better as season went on and as a cost controlled piece/asset going forward. In short term this obviously hurts and slows that trend but long run he is still super young and should still be able to work on his quickness but obviously won’t be able to shoot etc for a while. Tough how many of the Bulls recent picks have had a lot of trouble staying on the court.

Oh man - I just read something and this sounds like an awful awful life impacting type of injury. And on a flagrant foul. Total crap. Get better Pat and hopefully you come back and are able to put it behind you and take the league by storm!

Wow - Is that really an injury that takes that long to recover or Bulls being conservative on timeline? Poor guy.

I think Vuc rolled out and cause an issue where normally that is a nice jumper for Derozan. My guess is it was a read react play that could have gone to either. Williams played aggressive for a few minute - hurt again. He has good touch and mid range - needs to get health and come back with anger and aggression. This was a game where White would have been huge. They needed another guy to space the floor and hit buckets and a hot White would have been exactly what the doctor ordered.

Damn - they didn’t play well but still down to final shot. Awesome - Thibbs is so good as a coach.

I still remember how much I didn’t like the Noah draft selection and now he is one of my all time favorite Bulls. Wish I could watch live but at least have set for DVR.

It is a really tough time to have Lavine have to go through that injury. Yes they are off to a nice start - but 12 straight games against playoff teams from a year ago is just not the time to have Lavine having to play through an injury. At same time - this is the type of injury that could linger or get worse and before we know it he gets hit and is out 6 weeks. In an ideal situation - I would sit him for 3 weeks and let him get better and figure you can play .500 through that stretch...but this is a tougher than normal stretch.

SO I don't know what to take of this - but evidently the NFL has changed the rules around hiring new coaches and when you can interview potential head coaching candidates. Long story short - 2 weeks before the regular season ends - teams who have open vacancies can begin INTERVIEWING new candidates via zoom (virtually). This does require the other team to give permission and the hiring team obviously would have had to ax its coach. The new rule is immediately going into effect and evidently McCaskey sits on the committee that made this happen. I don't know whether teams will give permission or not for this. On one hand - you can move forward and meet candidates sooner, on the other hand, that is a lot of noise to juggle, especially for teams who may not be shoe-in's for the playoffs. That said - maybe there is a benefit to those teams that are already in where there assistants can get some stuff squared away better during regular season vs. in midst of post-season. Will be interesting to see if this causes teams to aggressively increase who they can and when (vs. waiting until the Monday after the season ends).

Yep - completely remember that.

I think what helped Michael a lot was that Paxson, like him or not, is a pretty savvy guy and understood a lot. He was a good exec for a long time and thus could be a pretty trusted mentor to help Michael R get the right people in place to build a more modern front office (which quite frankly Pax had no interest doing). So Michael having that resource to lean on was huge, because it was someone who knew a lot about the game but also cared a TON about the franchise, vs. your run of the mill Ernie Acorsi/Consultant who quite frankly is tied to most all of the hires. I also think like you McCaskey tries to get out of the way and if he ever found the right people -> we would probably see the cycle turn pretty materially because he'd get a view of how it looked and worked well and start to better understand. Let alone the right president/gum and you have a culture where you can turn over new people etc over the long run too. Angelo was as close as it got to be honest. With the Sox - I think you have a similar situation with Paxson and at some point could probably leverage Kenny is a similar way (who is a well respected and very talented baseball guy) who probably has more modern views of how to do things, but again, has to build within an existing confines -> who could clearly probably parlay and help drive a broader change (if more money / other items were to be spent).

Nah I think wholesale changes.

Thad was a DNP in one game for Spurs. Not sure why but maybe it all works itself out and he can be a low cost add at some point.

I wouldn't be shocked to see Thad come back at some point. He'd be a great addition on the bench and geeze - the facilitation would only get better. Plus his relationship with Lavine is excellent and I think the coaching staff liked him a lot too.

I actually think you are right - and I've knocked White a lot - but I think he's in a much better place to succeed and build with this new roster. Having guys like Caruso, Ball, etc alongside him is going to take a ton of the pressure of being a primary distributor and put him in a place where he's going to get to be himself and he'll likely benefit with a few more open 3's just by playing with those guys too. Donovan will have to use him like a microwave - when he's hot - you play him, when he's off, quick hook.

Reality is White, Williams, picks and one of the existing core pieces are probably getting dealt for a disgruntled star at some point to take this team next level (or some combination of that). Don't ask me who that star is - and no - not making that deal for Ben Simmons (nor are the Sixers).

They will need to find an athletic big that can play D and rebound at some point - but that should be doable (not great) but someone who can help against longer teams so they don't get crushed on the boards.

He has not gotten a few lose balls which really irritates me. Right now I think its more likely he is a very meh player but I hope I see some explosion / quickness in a week or two and this is more him still regaining his stamina from his injury. That was a fun 3 quarters - brutal 4th quarter but to pull that out when Lavine wasn't at his best was awesome to see. Derozan came up huge late and for a team that outside of that first game against Detroit has really not turned the ball over - was tough to see them start giving up the ball left and right down the stretch. Still - good lesson for the squad and always better when you learn in a victory than via a loss

Still a road game against a decent team. I'm not sleeping on the Raptors. Would be awesome to get another win!

I am all in on grabbing the Bills guy - but I imagine he may prefer some other destinations out there. The good news is there is no legit #1 QB in this years draft - and the Bears are probably the only team with a high draft pick at QB this past year who are going to have a new head coach, so that might work its way in their favor when it comes to landing its next HC (or even GM for that matter). ' Pats = No Niners = No (and if they did - I'll take him as our HC haha) Jets = No (not after 1 year) Jags = Maybe = but it is still Jags (Bears have to be a better destination vs. them)