Chisoxfn

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 20, 2017 -> 09:45 AM) Seriously Jason, what is Doug Collins really gonna do? Its a shield hire. Its a "hey everyone look at this guy everyone likes and has a history with this organization" hire. He isnt a scout. He isnt signing players. he isnt recruiting players. He is gonna be a figurehead and watch some games and maybe say some things in meetings every once in a while. Magic Johnson became advisor before the entire front office in LA was whacked. There is nothing bad about bringing in Doug Collins, nothing. People are going to whine...its what people do best, but I give credit to where credit is due, this is a smart move by the Bulls. Collins is a smart basketball mind and extremely well respected. Him being a part of this organization does nothing but help. Maybe it only helps a little...but I don't see it hurting. I see this akin to the White Sox bringing in someone like Tony LaRussa as a special advisor. It would be a fantastic move, even if he played just a small role, that type of mind / perspective would be valuable.

I don't understand how hiring Doug Collins sends you out. Doug Collins, a legitimately good dude in the NBA. Maybe not the best coach in the world (but solid and someone who knows the game), but extremely well respected and a man who has JR's ear. He also has very strong relationships in the league in general (and since everyone, rightfully so, knocks the lack of respect Gar has in this league and probably to a large extent Paxson), the fact that the Bulls are bringing in someone who has a very good reputation around league circles...is a good thing. Sure people can want Gar/Pax fired and this might actually be the first step to that. IT could also be nothing but a bunch of hot air with Collins doing nothing at all....but even then, I can't see this being a BAD move. Collins is going to report directly to Paxson which is a good thing. If anything, I think this puts the Bulls one step closer from moving away from Gar potentially (or heck maybe even doing something more dramatic). It could be Paxson is getting ready to leave (retire) and Collins is here to advise and get his feet wet before leading the charge to potentially make a massive shift in the front office.

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 20, 2017 -> 09:16 AM) I think giolito will be in line for some blowouts if he can't locate his offspeed continously. What gives me hope is he isn't having fine games when he has his stuff, he's having dominant games when he does. His fine games are just working with fastball changeup. I mean, being able to consistently find his curve isn't a small step, but he hasn't lost fastball location throughout an entire game. That's really great. I like the fact that he's been able to pitch quality games without his best stuff. I think he will find his off-speed stuff and the rest will work. He'll always be prone to some games where he gives up a lot of HR's though, imo. Just part of his stuff, but his ability to pitch, etc, is nice and I think there is some upside in the fact that he is still getting his mechanics straightened out from the Nationals massively screwing him up.

Cooter and McDaniels are #1 / #2 (in no particular order) when it comes to assistants. When it comes to actual coaches, I'd roll out the Brinks truck for Harbaugh. He is my #1-#10 candidate. I should point out, the season is long and I'm not ready to just kick Fox to the curb either though. I am a believer in stability and I don't want to keep messing with Trubisky. Fox is a good coach. Is he amazing, probably not, but he is a good coach. Media hates his guts for a number of reasons and I know a lot of fans are upset with this whole Trubisky thing, but I actually commend the organization because I feel for once they are making the right "long" decision. I think the Texans and Browns were utter idiots in how they've rushed Watson/Kizer. That said, both of those guys were more prepared (in terms of college action, etc, for the NFL). Especially Watson, but I've seen early on the limitations in Watson's ability to be great, namely the fact that he just doesn't make good reads and he's wildly inconsistent with his ball placement. His overally moxy/leadership plus pure athleticism are pluses though and should enable him to be a solid QB in this league or a long-time. Interestingly enough, I've read from some people who took deep dives on the game film and saw some shots and man, Glennon really doesn't know how to read NFL defenses (or he's just not yet comfortable with our system (definitely possible) to know where guys are and work through his progressions, because there were quite a few times where there were guys very open in the game and we went into bad coverage). That said, I'm sure you can break down any QB and find that (just the nature of football) but it seemed on all of his bad picks / plays, we had much better options out there. I've very much noticed the fact that Glennon just doesn't look off guys, etc. If regular fans like us can see it, we'd all be ignorant to presume the coaching staff doesn't see it. Everyone in the building realizes Glennon can't be the bridge, but none of this was ever about Glennon...Glennon was clearly the "smokescreen" used to ensure the Bears could take a QB and surprise people. Had we kept Hoyer or Cutler, the whole league would have known our intentions at 3 and that is an uncomfortable spot to be given the fact that as you get closer to the draft, people ultimately move up to grab QB's.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Sep 20, 2017 -> 08:41 AM) Yessir! Add in Giolito pitching well. Hell, even Fulmer (who I really hope makes me eat crow) has had some good outings. Very much happy with the progress being made.

Moncada has his average up over .240 and a .769 OPS with a majorly upward trend. Obviously, these are all coming off his recent terror but great to these flashes. He's put up a 1.5 WAR in 43 games. Small sample size, but over 162 games that would be a 5.6 WAR. Lots of reasons to be excited about Yoan.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 19, 2017 -> 09:24 AM) I agree. I bought a Nikon a few years ago when our son was born and it's more of a hassle than anything. I don't have the interest or the energy to really learn how to utilize its capabilities that would make a significant improvement over the latest camera phones. That isn't to say it doesn't take beautiful photos, but not any that really make it worth lugging around. I'll never buy one of those fancy cameras for that reason. I hate carrying crap...like hate it, so while the pictures are pretty amazing that those cameras can do, the fact is, I know I'll never carry the damn thing around when I really want it. Quality on phones is good enough and convenience is absolutely amazing (not to mention ability to synch to cloud or amazon prime photo's, whatever it might be). So many great action shots I can get with my kids that are taken totally at random vs. a camera I know I'd never carry around. On a sidenote, any good ways / solutions people have relative to organizing photos and keeping archives clean (with my kids, my wife especially, is notoriously bad at staying organized and I want to have a good way of organizing and maintaining photos).

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 19, 2017 -> 12:41 PM) Peanut Tillman training to become an FBI agent. I love peanut.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 19, 2017 -> 08:14 AM) So I wonder if he is here to potentially replace Forman or Hoiberg? I'm presuming both. I'm guessing it is someone that Pax (and JR) think they can trust who can give them a straight story. Hopefully Pax was on board bringing him in because that will make it a worthwhile role...if he was brought in by JR to be a spy, that wouldn't work well, but I also just don't see Collins doing that.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Sep 19, 2017 -> 08:05 AM) Bulls have hired Doug Collins as a Senior Advisor that will report directly to John Paxson. This is a fantastic hire.

Serious question...where has this, Fox refuses to play rookies/young players sentiment come from? We have played massive amounts of young players in our time. Fox is a players coach though and he isn't going to roast a player in the public or say anything interesting during a press conference. Him saying "coach speak" consistently at press conferences and being a players coach because he won't massively throw guys under the bus is not a bad thing. He was not afraid to go to Tim Tebow when Orton wasn't actually all that bad in Denver. And when he was in Carolina, it didn't take long until Delholmee became the QB (over the incumbent Rodney Peete). All Fox and Pace are doing is trying to make sure they don't go to Trubisky and make him worse by going to him too soon. We aren't contending so I really just don't care whether it is week 3 or week 6...I care about getting it right regarding when is the right time for Trubisky. If you go too soon, you can actually lock in bad habits and make the player worse vs. better.

So given how quickly the Bears are probably going to turn things over to Trubisky (sometime between now and after the Packers game is starting to appear highly probably), should the Bears try to acquire a wide receiver. Obviously we are not contending for anything this year and in general, I am a believer in keeping draft picks (if not acquiring more picks), but given how thin we are at the wide receiver position, should the Bears be actively looking at trading for someone who can be a long-term piece (vs. waiting until free agency/draft). Most of me stands in the, go with what we have camp (even if it is the worst corps in the league), however, another part of me says that if we are going to turn this over to Trubisky, we do want to put him in a position to succeed, and with the absolute lack of talent, are we actually stunting his growth by having such an incompetent corps out there? To go with that, we also have a really banged up oline (albeit, that hopefully can get better in the next couple weeks). Not even sure who is out there, obviously Rams got Sammy Watkins right before season started (and I'm not saying I'd have made that trade if I were the Bears cause Watkins has tons of question marks).

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 18, 2017 -> 11:18 AM) It's getting worse. I'm tired of watching the defense being comprised of half of the september practice squad every year. The 2006 bears had an offensive line that played all 16 games together. Whens the last time any position had that for the bears? I don't think this is just the bears, but the NFL now is if like the entire MLB was the Mets in terms of injuries. Oh yay, can't wait to sit down to watch gary nichols, the undrafted WR from nicholls state face off against bran darbo the 7th round corner back. Should be exciting. It is football, plain and simple and the increase in injuries is something the league has to figure out because it is legitimately affecting the quality of the league.

The bright side to injuries is we are due for a run of good luck and hopefully it aligns with a time window where we actually can contend. I still stick to the assessment I made a week ago....we are a better team and trending in the right direction, even though the record won't show it, and I pointed out we would have games like yesterday given how limited our current offensive personnel is. We can't possibly overcome days like yesterday (4 turnovers, falling behind that much early, etc). Add into the fact that the Bucs are a pretty damn good team and well that is what happens. I am now back to being okay with the fact that Fox didn't overreact and jump to Trubisky and continue to be focused on doing what is right for Mitchell. Probably not setting him up in the right position if we turn to him this week vs. Steelers and then the short window back to the Packers. Feels like when we are 0-4 and coming after the Packers game, although I could see the Bears deciding that a short-week against Packers is the right time...because it provides less time for Packers to gameplan for Mitchell.

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 18, 2017 -> 10:54 AM) So Kwiatkowski likely done for year. So incredibly annoying every year seeing half the defense go on IR in weeks 2-4. Especially in preseason when everyones like "now that we are healthy we could be great on D". Football kinda sucks. Its football. Violent sport. People get hurt and a lot.

On season 1 of Narcos, but man, what a fascinating show.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 17, 2017 -> 11:22 AM) Apparently he can't throw deep, so they can just sit on the short routes and jump them. He sure as hell isn't looking anybody off. Don't know how much is him vs. guys not getting open...but you at least need to try something downfield. We have such s***ty wideouts so I can't not reiterate that fact time and time again. The announcing crew has been f***ing brutal. But if you flip the Bears wideouts with the Bucs...Evans, Jackson, strong TE's. Only real weakness is there weak backfield and that is largely due to their top guy being suspended.

Longest pass attempt was 14 yard completion to Tarik Cohen....and I don't think we attempated anything further downfield then that. Way too easy for a defense to scheme against that.

I have a feeling we will see Trubisky in the 4th quarter (if this stays a total route). Not implying it means Trubisky will be starting from here on out though. Bears offensive talent (or lack there-of) can't overcome all of those early turnovers and early points from the Bucs.

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Sep 17, 2017 -> 11:07 AM) A fumble and two INTs - one a pick 6. At least he has good body language. Both picks were really bad.

QUOTE (Brian @ Sep 11, 2017 -> 05:02 PM) Vincent Jackson still out there. Wheaton hopefully can help Bears stretch field (if he gets healthy). Shaheen is still a long ways away (based upon practice reports). And outside of that, we obviously don't really have anyone on the roster unless Gentry is some hidden gem.

Glennon is going to have a lot of turnovers with this offense....defense doesn't have to cover that much of the field given the s***ty wide-outs and Glennon doesn't have the tools to overcome that. You just know you'll have a lot of TO's with how few downfield passes you are going to have. When you are behind as much as the Bears are....you really are going to let the defense pin its ears back and force turnovers. Is Trubisky coming in? Good for him to get a little exposure haha.

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ Sep 17, 2017 -> 10:45 AM) Whelp, my Sunday afternoon just opened up. Will they win 5 games this year? They should...but they will have games where they get smacked down...the offense is just way too one-dimensional...especially with Glennon. Zero playmakers at the wide-out position. Defense can play but Bucs have a ton of passing weapons and when Bears are on the field as much as they have been (thanks to turnovers and too many holding penalties)....they are going to have a hard time. Especially because they still massively lack playmakers on the defense who can create turnovers.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 17, 2017 -> 10:30 AM) And thus ends Chicago's love affair with Tarik Cohen. Such a bad decision Very bad decision...yes...still a really good and exciting player. Awful decision in an awful game. I know this is not all on Glennon but I'm ready for Trubisky to come in haha.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Sep 14, 2017 -> 05:45 PM) How many top 50 position player prospects does it take to produce one guy, who ever puts up a year like the one Avi is having? Look, I love these young prospects and the whole rebuild, as much as anyone, but at some point, it seems like you have to appreciate the rare successes and try to hang on to them. Avi is a young guy, and has many years of his prime before him. I hope that they extend him and lock him up for the next 5 or 6 years, to take him through his prime. He and Abreu, who could ultimately move to DH, could comprise half of the middle of the order, for the upcoming window of contention, beginning in 2019. I want both of them on that roster. I hope that Moncada becomes a Tim Raines, Ricky Henderson type lead off guy. If you plug Jimenez into the middle of the order and add one big left handed bat, you have the run production needed to win a lot of games. Beyond the production, there are a also few intangibles that come with keeping guys like Jose and Avi. Jose is a terrific leader and club house guy. Both could provide some important veteran presence, on what will be a very young team. There is also something about the camaraderie of maintaining a core of guys, and not turning over the entire roster. It is also difficult to build fan loyalty to a revolving door of prospects. I just don't think that the success rate of prospects is high enough to trade away every prospect that works out, for the hope and "promise" of more and more prospects I think the key point is you get to a spot where to get better, you can't keep removing guys on the roster who are already solid players...if you do that you are in a neverending process where you aren't getting the talent. With Abreu, I understand the concept of moving him because he will get older, that said, his bat is really good and if you move him without getting pieces who can get plugged into the lineup (relatively near-term), you are just subtracting from your team and shooting your rebuild in the foot. With Avi, that argument is even clearer, especially since, we should have capacity from a pure contract perspective. The interesting point with Avi is how do you project him out long-term and how much do you view this season as a mirage (and what is the league worth). I can see scenarios to move him, but I also see a guy at his age who this could be the first year of an ascent to being a really good hitter (a tool that he has always had). While his BAPIP is inflated, he has hit the ball hard and seen some improvements in other offensive trends..including better walks rates, etc. Additionally, his defense has taken a major step forward (from how bad it was) which also enables him to be a more effective player then before. Being able to have an Avi in your lineup when your other guys come up, allows you to actually have a deep roster and he very much can be a valid contributor to the team during periods where we anticipate contending.