Chisoxfn

It is a really entertaining game. I don't know that Iowa can keep up with how well Oregon is shooting the ball.

Excellent!

The bright side is - does this Goladay deal set a clearer market for Robinson. Feels like the tide might have turned where Robinson and Bears might be able to get into a closer spot.

Damn - I was hoping with all these wideouts signing smaller deals the Bears might have gotten him. Would have been fun to have 2 real good wideouts + Mooney and Kmet. That would have been a real nice set of weapons for whomever your QB is.

I am guessing we see Foles traded today - think he is due a roster bonus. Also Bears still trying to trade Fuller. I’d feel much better if they end up getting a pick for each - even if it is a crappy pick.

Back to back choke jobs. Pathetic.

A week ago - I would say yes - at this point - I don't want Pace doing anything.

NO link - I think it was yesterday some twitter said he might still be traded - but I assume if he was it would be for almost nothing. The Denver stuff was always rumored as a FA type signing and I think they were saying something around 8-10M per year.

Especially when you still are paying Graham what you are. Back-up TE <<<< Top 10/15 CB (even on a high cap hit).

I saw something that said a trade might be an option. But all the rumblings are that he's going to head to Denver and join Fangio.

Oh joy - so we kick more money into the future - to sign a guy that Trubisky lit up?

This might not be true - I saw somewhere $7M - I'll just continue to shake my head. So we cut Kyle Fuller to save $10M - only to pay Trufant $7M. Yeah - Kyle Fuller worth the extra $3M if that is true. Trufant had an opposition QB Rating > 100 each of the past 2 years too. Didn't Trubisky pick him apart?

Dude - I keep trying to find a silver lining - but it really keeps getting worse. Apparently they kicked half of Dalton's money into future years. Just crazy.

Schuster @ 8 is a great deal for the Steelers. Makes the Golladay offer look pretty fair. And Robinson has to thanking his lucky stars for that franchise tag.

Here is an option if they draft a qb in round 2/3. Tons of physical tools - not a ton of game tape and some concerns over his knee. https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bears/bears-scout-stanford-qb-davis-mills-pro-day-andy-dalton-introduced

I think you are right - I think Pace was green lit to tear this thing down after they couldn’t get Wilson. On one hand - this is the right thing to do - on the other hand - not often a gm gets to do it twice. But directionally - as long as pace is building capital and not trading it away - I’ll be a happy camper.

I agree - at this point I feel the only way I allow pace to trade any future 1st rounders is if it is for Wilson or Watson. If he wants to move up for a QB this year - and I am okay with it - he has to use current year draft capital and / or players. I also would be looking to move Roquan if someone would give us something good for him. Goes back to I don’t want cap space tied up to guys at non premium positions. And roquan was awesome last year - but I’d deal 20 and Roquan for Mac Jones/Lance/Fields. Draft an online man in 2nd, and weapons for young qb later on. Almost ignore the d and just build an offensive foundation.

So I am going to make a prediction - we are about to see the bears blow up the defense. Well it already started - but watch Eddie Jackson, Mack and Hicks all go next. They are still pursuing Golladay too - so I still think that means they might move Robinson. Are we about to see some major investments in oline and offensive skill positions plus another draft pick or two on new dbs and maybe some later free agent buys once market has died down a bit. I am starting to think Nagy and Pace are saying - look we won’t build a playoff team McCaskey - but let us show you we can build an offense. Or maybe Nagy is saying - Pace - don’t let me go down with people saying I can’t run an offense - give me some horses and let me lose a bunch of games 40-30.

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.