Chisoxfn

I’m not going to lie - that guy is me: you may not be able to tell from some of my posts the last day or so - but that is me. I am trying to find silver lining for how they can pivot and look smart - but it is really hard. I am the type that can turn lemons into lemonade in almost any situation. I literally have to do that for a living - when something zags - you pivot your strategy realign and optimize your path. But it feels like pace has just kept driving himself into a bigger and bigger ditch.

I have no problem with that - although my preference would be to leverage Mack/Robinson to move up. Overall - my tune would change if I could trade Robinson for a tackle (or pick(s) and than flipped mack for some more and than drafted a young QB and drafted another olinemen early, signed a FA wideout, and essentially just said - you know what - our defense is going to be challenged - but we are going to build an offense (or attempt to). At this point - the above is exactly what I would want to happen. And if they couldn't get the QB - take Trask / Mond in 3rd round and hope he can become a backup (at worse) than get a few more foundational building blocks (oline / wideout / another DB) - at very least - it means Pace turns the org over to a new GM in a pretty good place (vs. a barren place). Don't get me wrong - there would be work to do - but the GM would hopefully have some solid young building blocks, cap space, and draft capital. And in the above scenario - especially one where you don't actually take a QB in 1st round - having Dalton actually is pretty decent - because he's good enough that you can still evaluate your skill position players, etc., but he's not so good that he's going to magically carry you to 8 wins (unless you did a whole lot of other stuff right).

Surprising news - AROB signs his franchise tender - locking in his $18M.

So - I 110% agree with everything you said. That said - I don't know that the part where you say - draft a young QB and than start trading away defenders really lines up to where Pace has been positioned where he needs to win now. The saving grace to me (as a Bear fan) is signing Andy Dalton doesn't dramatically impact your #2 scenario - other than I might win 1-2 more games. And scenario #2 is still pretty dependent on giving up draft capital - cause another alternative would be basically having Dalton as a guy who at least is good enough to enable solid talent evaluation of your skill position players while focus on turning things in the draft and accumulating capital to make a QB move a year from now (when maybe you are in a better overall position). At this point - I almost feel the organization's best path is the minor reset - pass on QB (unless one falls to you) - figure you'll end up closer to a 5 win team - but you have a QB who is good enough to allow you to keep evaluating Kmet, Mooney, Montgomery (mabye even develop a new wideout you draft) + you will end up with a good draft pick in a year - and through some trades likely will have more draft capital in the future while potentially having a better younger core/oline around that can grow into a new QB (whether via draft or something else). And cap wise - you also should be in a good spot where you went from having a collar around your neck to a nice hawaain shirt that gives you room to breathe and maneuver.

What would you have done? This is not me defending Pace - I'm curious what you would have done? Again - the premise here is you are Ryan Pace - so you couldn't just blow it up - so you are essentially under the directive of get into the playoffs to keep your job and/or find a franchise QB. Was McCaskey really a genius - and he realized - they basically had a year of purgatory to go through anyway - and thus they wanted to safe costs and put Pace in that chair - with the only real way out being an ability to snag a big time QB (but that would have required obviously an ownership approval to prevent a pure selling of the farm). If Andy Dalton was going to cause you to break down your D - this team had far bigger issues anyway and/or didn't show enough foresight out there.

Hicks is probably gone - has permission to seek a trade;

Yes. Reality is they should have been able to extend Fuller - but Fuller might have just wanted to go somewhere else. So this might not all be Pace's doing - but either way - it was all of the moves that he made and just ineffective use of cap that got him to this spot.

I’ve already said at this point - they have messed up. They have dropped the ball big time. Essentially pace waited too long on Wilson (which I guess I understand) and than forced himself into a real tight corner where he couldn’t maximize assets. If pace knew he had to move Fuller - he could have started that market 2 weeks ago. Maybe he did but couldn’t move him because everything hinged on Wilson. The good news to me is - the new gm will still be in a better spot cause fuller wasn’t helping 3 years from now and Hicks the same. So whomever takes over next year will have a tradeable Mack - all of his draft picks - and what will likely be a pretty advantageous cap position by time he gets into year 2. And if they hit on a rookie qb this year - all the better - they will be in an even better cap spot.

By the way - put this in the worthless post column - but was talking to a coworker today who is a die-hard Cowboy fan - and he actually said he thought Dalton was pretty solid and that the Cowboys really hindered him. Just talked about how bad the Cowboys oline was (not that Bears is great) and obviously Zeke was a mess last year. But while he doesn't think Dalton is stellar - he thought Bears fans are probably overreacting and he's much better than we thought. Gil Brandt also had some nice things to say about Dalton. Feels like Bears are just going to focus on putting other quality pieces around him and maybe do some other retooling. I guess that isn't the end of the world - have a great draft - dont' mortgage the future - and see what a year from now brings....potentially with a whole new staff.

I don't have ESPN+ either - but I will gladly buy it during the NFL season if that is what it takes

So do I need a seperate package or as long as I have ESPN+ I am good?

Bears evidently met with Golladay. He would be a good get. Maybe Bears could than flip Robinson for Brown and upgrade oline and maintain wideout - 2 birds one stone. Leverage Mack and the 1st rounder to move up in the draft.

I highly doubt that - but I will still bite that he has more upside because he's still young so a switch could flip. I'd actually say if I were a neutral team - and had a choice between Dalton, Trubisky, and Mariota - I would sign Trubisky. The Bears obviously are not a neutral team - cause they already had Trubisky.

We are literally seeing deja vu from a year ago - Pace ended up panicking - vs. waiting on the market and / or striking. My guess is Dalton > Mariota - but Mariota probably has a bit more upside (although injuries really did hurt him).

Evidently Macks & Hicks were the 2 players the Bears were going to trade along with the picks for Wilson. I have no idea how they could have made that work cap wise. At this point - if they were willing to trade Mack than - If I were the Bears - I would still be pretty aggressively looking at that option. Seems like Hicks and Fuller still very likely to get moved as well. I think only reason they are fine on cap space is they probably have a few guys who they signed but haven't actually signed. That is a pretty damn aggressive offer by Pace. I can't see another team going to that extent.

Coby and Wendell are really really bad on many nights. Coby when his shot doenst fall is like the worst player in the nba. I don’t know what happened to his defense - but it’s awful - makes Lavine look all pro. They have to package some of these guys - problem is their value is trending down. But development isn’t linear so I can still see why a team would be okay getting these guys and rolling. Heck look at Lonzo and how much he’s kicking butt of late. He still needs to work on being more aggressive in the paint - but that guy is playing himself into a big contract - probably from the bulls (see if New Orleans matches).

I am surprised they haven’t done anything with Jimmy Graham yet. Would have figured he was a cap casualty and or renegotiate guy.

I was going to say - they better figure that out...cause being forced to cut / trade Fuller in such short order would have been such a lack of planning. I'm okay if they decide to move Fuller via trade and get a 3rd and a future pick or something...just like I am 100% okay if they trade Robinson and sign a different wideout. Quite frankly both of those would be moves that potentially enhance the teams future (even if there was a near term hit) as well as add extra flexibility.

It is this - that is why Pace should be out. If this happens - it is because he spent money on Graham, Foles and Quinn a year ago - and the cost of that is a top 10 NFL CB who is paid at a fair deal. That is just one view - it is also the fact that we are now stuck with Foles this year and weren't able to resolve the Arob situation / forced ourselves into spending $20M on cap space on 2 QB's noen of which can ever be anything better than mediocre. That is awful.

Now to your point - from a PR perspective - for Pace to make this move was kind of crazy. He would have been better just waiting a number of months to see how other things played out and at that point - if he needed to panic - than hit the panic button and get a guy like Dalton. But maybe in June we all are saying Pace is a genius and he ends up dealing Wilson for a similar package - but for future 1st round picks and we have an upgraded oline and quite frankly ended up getting Wilson for less than they were to offer today (because his market shrank). Who knows - I won't hold my breath on it though - and if this was the route they were going to go - I would have much preferred moving on from Pace/Nagy - which to a point you made earlier - does Pace have a lot more freedom/job security than we think. The problem is - if he doesn't have that job security - his options are just to narrow and therefor Bears ownership has put team in too hindered of a spot. That said - 2 months ago - I don't think anyone would have said Watson/Wilson would have been on the market - so a Dalton type and a potential trade-up probably would have been what most people would have guessed and that might still be exactly how things go down. Note: Wentz was really the best choice. Their reluctance to grab him because of his preference to go with Colts is something they will regret. He was available - had real upside and the overall cost was very affordable. They could have got Wentz - upgraded the line and skill positions - and kept an above average defense.

So why do you think the Bears will stink? Playing devils advocate - they won 8 games last year, 8 games the year before, and 12 before that - all under Nagy. I don't know that they got worse yesterday. Seems like if I were going to bet - I'd say on average they'd probably be pretty close to last year. I can see reasons they would be a bit better (with the defense bouncing back / having Goldman and if they had a good draft that might help too). I could obviously see reasons for a step back - if they had key injuries / players didn't take next steps (Montgomery/Kmet/Mooney/Johnson/etc). Now I'm not saying that is great - cause I don't currently see a scenario they are a super bowl caliber team. But barring a ton of injuries - they also aren't a 4 win team.

I didn't want to say anything negative- but i was bummed to see him follow-up one of his best games with such a clunker (at least offensively). One thing I've noticed is he gets rejected a heck of a lot at the rim. To your point - I don't want him to get discouraged and I think its something with a normal off-season and continued work in the weight room that will change (plus I think it just goes back to continuing to adjust the game in the NBA where there are so many athletes where you can't get away with certain moves). Still - he looks like such a projectable player (although I could be wrong) - which is a nice change of pace.

Oh man - that would have been so sweet. So sweet.

At this point - it will be interesting to see what happens with Wilson. Will he push a deal after this news or what. Or will this all drag until June when all of a sudden it is easier (cap wise) to trade Wilson.

This would be a real bad look. Unless they trade him and get some value - just cutting him - no bueno.