Chisoxfn

It is kind of funny that a year ago - Darvish contract was more of an albatross and not moveable (definitely 2 years ago) and now we are all saying it is a steal. It is still a LT deal for an aging pitcher, but it seems the type of move that makes sense given White Sox philosphies. If he pitches anywhere like last year, awesome deal, but as long as he's healthy he should be pretty solid and help in that department and likely you aren't giving up any or your stud pitching prospects (which I think is key - because guys are going to be hurt and if Sox are going to win a series they are going to need to find some internal, home grown aces or have those prospects to leverage for future moves). In general - I like the view of Darvish - although I wish you could get him in a deal without dangling Madrigal, but to be honest, of all the Sox more marketable guys, he's the first one I'm dealing.

Yeah - forget Quinn and Foles, bring in one of the other veteran QB's as a backup at a lower end range and invest in the oline. I also was pretty vocal about Ebron over Jimmy Graham. Thought that was an atrocious move too - in terms of how much the Bears paid, but after last years dumpster fire I get why they did it. Reality is their production has been similar, although Ebron has been more steady vs. Graham who has kind of become non-existent later in the season and doesn't play with the same physicality as Ebron (who can still make guys miss and use his athleticism). Ebron has his own flaws though. I don't know if Kmet was not on the same page but the problem with scheme is there were at least a number of plays where next thing you know 2 bears wideouts are in the same spot or they are all just so bunched up I literally think the scheme enables the d to not have to play d. I read in Biggs piece he thought some of the plays where we had 2 guys in the same spot had to deal with Foles holding too long and not releasing on time - so that might be true, but you could here the commentators all night talking about some of the formations and how they didn't really give the unit much chance. I think I saw a Todd Haley quote in Biggs 10 thoughts - focused on how Bill Parcells used to come in each Tuesday and tell his offensive staff to cut 20 plays from the play sheet on a weekly basis and how Haley realized over time it was because it really forced the OC's to truly think about what the very best plays are to run vs. fall too in love with all the cute stuff. I very much think this is a theme and Lazor over time might be better at it (I thought the tempo and pace of play calls in 1st half was pretty decent - foles had some costly miscues that got in the way). 2nd half - well disaster - so many bad 2nd down plays where guys just got blown up / went backwards.

Yesterday - there were a lot of guys open and plays to be made. Nick Foles is check down city. Trubisky was a check down guy up until this year. This year he was actually going downfield at a much higher clip, it was why I had some optimism that he had made progress. Foles missed a ton of stuff and he is hearing footsteps (which I get and I don't blame him) but reality is while there are plenty of blame to go around, Nick Foles has been absolutely atrocious at QB for the Bears this year.

I really can't fathom how much guaranteed money the Bears have tied to Foles too ($24M guaranteed; I think $16M still on hook for). That actually was one of Pace's worse moves - just given how bad that contract wise. If Foles was any good - he opts out and Bears paid him (not that anyone would have complained about that). IF he wasn't very good...you had $8M/yr tied to him which as far as I'm concerned is too much for a backup QB.

If it were me, I'd pay the money for Bauer or a top flight pitcher, hold my young top talent and find a more cost-controlled outfielder who you don't have to give up premium talent to get. I'd also look to go bargain shopping. I don't see the point in spending money on a RFer when the rotation is where we have massive holes. I'm sure we can find a decent enough RF'er without spending huge money and more likley not having to pay up a premium prospect. On the pitching front - I think if you can land an ace without having to attack the trade market, you do it. Problem is Bauer is basically the only guy.

Past the NFL trade deadline, so not much to do there. The hard part I have with Pace is, yeah, he missed on Trubisky - we all know it and there are some other misses (including spending the money on Quinn vs. focusing on the oline). But he has drafted Whitehair and Daniels (Both higher end investments) + signed Massie via free agency and given extensions to guys like Long. So he has invested in the position but offensively he has definitely had a number of misses. But on the defensive side of the ball - he has had some massive hits (don't get me wrong - he's had his misses; Floyd never ended up becoming the edge rusher we had hoped, but he was always an underrated linebacker and is having a great season in LA this year) and ultimately has built a pretty darn good defense. And despite Kmet not emerging (at least not yet - also no TE has really done anything this year), this years draft still looks pretty good. He also invested much needed money into facilities and had clout and vision to do that and in my opinion has been pretty honest when it came to admitting his mistakes (was not shy to cut his guys). His record - obviously poor - but he inherited about as crappy of a set-up as possible and instilled Fox, whos shifted the culture and Nagy, who as a HC has done a decent job with culture, etc. He just is a complete turd offensively (I'm sure he has things he's good at - just not owning the whole thing when it comes to offense design). I actually seriously wonder - how much of the offensive failure is on Pace (including some of his higher profile misses like Dion Simms, or Jimmy Graham (too much money - clearly was a need) or even on the oline (never quite figuring it out - they've used finesse guys after Fox had built a power running scheme - but the finesse scheme/oline thing was very much a Nagy concept...probably too focused on getting cute vs. reality). I really wonder - how much did Pace fail because Nagy really didn't know what he want / wasn't able to really provide effective clarity around what he needed. GM's job is to trust coach to some extent and work with them on desired scheme, etc. I think Monty was a guy Nagy wanted and Nagy has always raved about him. I am probably grasping at straws - I just really hate having to completely start over again because I think Pace has some good qualities. To be frank - Nagy does too - but running an offense isn't one of them and well that is a damning failure. Will be really interesting to see what this team does after the bye week. I legit think they need a spark and maybe Mitch can do that. I do think the offense has always liked him and you've seen guys like Cohen almost hint that they need Mitch back (and we know Zach Miller has been saying for weeks more Mitch). Reality is nothing is saving this offense - it just sucks. I legit don't understand why as a Bears fan I've literally never been able to see any offense. I literally can think of one years a kid with Curtis Conway and Jeff Graham, who put it all together for 1 season and than there was a year with Cutler and Martz where the offense was clicking right before Jay hurt himself tackling someone in a blowout win against the Chargers (huge win - followed up by the Caleb Hanie experience). You had the Trestman era where the offensive talent was legit (Marty B, Alshon, BMarshall) but personalities were insane and Trestman couldn't handle it...but that is basically it. Outside of that - pure & utter crap.

I really hope Foles injury isn't bad. He is an awful QB (at least starter), but a good dude. I also hope Mitch's injury is not as bad as we think and he can get to work immediately on getting ready to be the starter. Shock us and win out with Mitch and have an inprobable run with Lazor calling plays. Probably have a better shot at winning the lottery but I legitimately believe this team has been and would have been better with Mitch running the show (no doubt in my mind). Will be curious to see what the reports are on that shoulder.

With a defense this good - you can't call them a bad team. Defense has missed opportunities to be transcending but it is just beyond pathetic how bad this offense is. Coaching, bad QB play, etc.

Yeah - there were a chunk of those today. I literally think the whole scheme is just too cute; too much trying to mad scheme people open and not enough putting your players in best place to give them preferred matchups. Now I still think the Bears find a way to win this. Missed PAT's always come back to haunt teams. It's happening and no matter what magic Foles works - I'm still switching QB's!

Yeah - that was just another play where Foles blew it. There was the pick to Miller that was a bad throw (and should have been an easy play); There was this play to Miller (tough throw but clean enough pocket for Foles to make a play) and than there was a pass to Robinson down the seam that Foles threw a lame duck instead of a good strike. All 3 would have been big plays and went horribly the other way. Nick Foles can't ad-lib or really do anything off schedule and you can see that this team is not rallying around him at all. Not saying he is the only problem and this clearly shows this offense has bigger issues. Maybe scheme is the issue who knows. I just know if Trubisky is healthy - you need to turnt he reigns to him after the bye week - period. No excuse to not. Foles has done everything worse as far as I'm concerned and basically had 1 good quarter this whole season (Mitch had twice as many haha).

This is it; If Mitch is at all healthy, he is your guy after the bye week. Nike Foles is HORRID.

I saw Miller make one run - so evident to me that Montgomery is part of the ground game issue. Miller is coming off ACL injury and looked so much more explosive than Montgomery. Montgomery may break some tackles, but he is slow and not good.

Bulls make QO to Valentine (surprisingly); No QO to Shaq Harrison / Kris Dunn.

No Qualifying offer to Shaq Harrison either.

Than Skrine committs straight up PI (without it getting called) and it is still a TD. That was too easy (and I can't believe they didn't throw a flat on that on Skrine to boot).

That pick on Foles - tough play for Miller...just a bad throw by Foles. He had Miller open for a pretty nice play with a better throw.

Not the post I should have replied to - but Oladipo is an interesting piece. He's had injury issues but when healthy is a pretty darn good player and the type of guy I think you win with. Good defense, etc. Not sure how it would play with the Bulls pieces but he's a talent and I don't like making deals with Pacers (they tend to be pretty shrewd).

That was kind of my point around it - probably not realistic - but my point is - if you can somehow get a star - you go get the star now and hope you lure additional ones in the off-season.

I would dangle Lavine, White and #4 pick for Harden; or you could do a package around Laurie and others or obviously with Carter Jr. I think you need Lavine in the package to make money work - might be wrong though. Unless Otto Porter is part of the deal to make financing work. If you plan to go big in FA next year - than having someone like Harden is good.

I tend to agree with you - I think they want a year to evaluate. But the interesting part is, none of us know what the front office is thinking, so you never know and if you think you can get a star or two - you should always try.

Woj: Phoenix finalizing deal to acquire Chris Paul

Yeah - I haven't heard any rumblings of anything different. Although if I were Chicago, I'd at least try and figure out how you could like acquire Harden to pair with AD (or something insane). 99.9% it doesn't work, but I'd try.

Except for the fact that this pew study indicates 85% of Americans wear masks most of the time. While it has been politicized, blanket statements implying half of Americans are just ignoring it is nonsense. Again - there are people who don't like it on the right and railroad against it, but more often than not, most everyone is wearing their masks and those that don't are outliers not mainstream. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/27/more-americans-say-they-are-regularly-wearing-masks-in-stores-and-other-businesses/ There might be a more detailed study which shows it has dropped back down - I don't know. I just googled and picked first survey that came up (so maybe this is highly flawed). I just know I live in what was long a conservative county (although it has since slid to being a combo blue/red) but let me tell you - everyone wears masks around here (regardless of political views). Now to your point - there are going to be anti-vaxxers and there are going to be people on both sides that are in more polarized political positions. 2 months ago if a vaccine went out, I think those some anti-maskers (who make up a small sub-set of the right) would have been the first to get their arm pricked just to prove their loyalty to the president. Where those same people feel now with a vaccine coming out under a different admin - who knows. Most Americans are going to do what makes sense and that will be a good thing. At least that is my hope. While there have been complaints and protests, most American's have done what their states have established. The issue is really whether the states (or Fed - which chose to do nothing) have done enough. But California has been very aggressive and still has its own issues. LA has problems and the country is slipping back - despite pretty strict measures (compared to the rest of the US). It hasn't stopped this thing. One could argue the measures California took weren't enough either - that is a whole seperate point.

Yeah - If you go to Portillo you should also stop at Porto's and get some potato balls and other baked goods. A few minutes away. Miss those things - haven't been up that way since COVID.

Lazor is officially calling plays. I don't know if that will really change things, but at the very least, I think Nagy tends to overthink everything and letting Lazor just focus on this and making sure we maximize the useage of our best players is the right way to go. I don't know that Nagy in the midst of everything can keep track of all the snaps and personell stuff so hopefully this helps the balancing act. That said - with this makeshift oline it will be hard to see anyway. I do think if Foles plays bad and/or Bears lose to Vikings because of his performance, we are staring at Trubisky being the starting QB following the bye week (presuming his shoulder is okay).