Chisoxfn

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 28, 2015 -> 04:58 PM) Why weren't these trades just made in the offseason? Presume at that point in time Bears don't know exactly who they are and I'm guessing other teams might be happy with existing team and not ready to give up picks? I presume Willie Young is next (no idea if we can get anything for him or not). I wonder if we held him out for those reasons (we know he isn't a scheme fit and their are a few 4-3 suitors who are happy that he's at least shown he's healthy). I'm not expecting much, but a 6th or 7th rounder is better then nothing (if you can get it). I wonder who else will be dealt? Can't imagine anyone on the offensive side outside of Forte (unless we give up on someone like Bushrod who we don't see being a long-term fit). On the defensive side, more of those pieces. I would imagine Ratliff has some value, but first we need to show he's healthy. In fact, I'd think he's one of the guys we'd be best behooved to move (as I can't imagine him being that helpful when we are good). That said, Fox singled him out in the off-season as a building block so maybe they think his skill-set will hold up well to age.

I am glad Allen gets to go play for a contender. He might have sucked for us, but he was at least a good dude. I'll root for him on the Panthers and I hope it turns into a solid pick for us. I also like the fact that it allows us to give more snaps to younger players. I really want to see Houston step up. He was really good in this system for the Raiders and is still young to where he could turn into a core player if he can get back to the Raider days of 2 years ago (not that long ago, given his age). I hope Houston steps up, along with Shea / Jones and if that happens, that at least gives you 3 serviceable players, along with McPhee from the LB perspective (albeit, you still need to find that "special" player for that core, which to me is a critical part of any successful 3-4 defense. On the secondary, who the hell knows, at least Amos hasn't looked like crap already. We'll have to hope they can get Fuller turned around and make this a solid rebuilding year. Curious how long Sutton will be out for, but at least we have a couple bodies who might be decent on the line. Time will tell, but if you can get those guys to pan out as decent, then you hope with some higher picks (and smart free agency moves) you can add an impact player and hopefully another few starters. That said, it is going to take more then a year of good drafting to get their, however, hopefully next year we get a 2nd impact player in Kevin White (consider it an extra 1st round pick). I don't think we'll even recognize this team 2 years from now, which by and large, is the earlier I expect them to be competitive, although part of that depends on what they do with Jay. If you keep Jay, I think you can be competitive sooner (solid vet QB), but if you dump Jay, then you add QB to the list and it takes time for QB to develop, so at that point, I think 2 years is earliest and even then we are probably talking pipe dream and you are looking for progress 2 years from now, with playoff potential 3 years from now, and ideally you are playoffs or bust 4 years from now. Yes, that is depressing to think that, but probably the reality. However, if you focus more on the D and Oline (and keep Jay), you can probably win a heck of a lot sooner and then patiently target a QB over the coming years who you will add and ideally build around longer term. Use Jay as a bridge to the next level while remaining competitive. Not sure if that will work or not, but the offense has enough weapons where it can be a winner (presuming you invest in the line) and then you can focus most of your high picks on the defense, which should help bring them back to respectability much faster.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2015 -> 03:12 PM) 1. Greg Oden first had to deal with Portland media, not exactly Chicago. 2. Greg Oden probably very much had to deal with those sorts of questions his first 2 years, but no one heard them outside of Portland other than seeing "another injury for Oden". 3. By his 3rd year Greg Oden was no longer getting those questions because there was no chance of him playing any time soon. 4. Greg Oden was never the youngest MVP in league history, so while he had massive hype, Rose actual realized that hype early in his career and was a transcending star and one of the faces of the league (not to mention Adidas).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 28, 2015 -> 12:11 PM) 3 surgeries is a ton of mileage, even before you add in the minutes. The 1st surgery was a big deal. The 2nd / 3rd were far less so, especially the 3rd. I agree he has his own issues, but he is still very young and has flashed explosiveness, especially in the post-season. I don't think it is unrealistic that he could get better explosion (especially in a back to back) after having a normal off-season (plus a season where he built everything back). Could he get hurt again, absolutely, but if he doesn't, I'd be surprised if he doesn't take a step forward. I would expect his game rust would be less, his passing would be improved, and overall conditioning and confidence to be better...let alone explosiveness from enhanced stamina, etc. I also expect Bulls to be smart to give him some occasional rest, etc. Similarly, I think Noah, who was terrible last year, having a regular off-season, should improve. I don't expect the Noah of 2 years ago but I expect a version better then last year.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 28, 2015 -> 12:04 PM) Since it's "Best shape of their lives" time of year, I can even give myself reason to think that. "Noah had basically no offseason last year to recover from his surgery, with a full offseason he's certain to come back a lot stronger!". "Rose finally got a nearly-full season in last year including a taste of the playoffs, he's also not rehabbing for the first time in years, so he'll come back stronger too!" "Hoiberg will do a better job of figuring out matchups and won't force things like Noah and Gasol onto the court together when they're not working". I know, it's not exactly likely, but it's the season where you're allowed to think things like that. Preach it brother!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 28, 2015 -> 12:00 PM) Realistically, I can see one of those three things happening and that is Niko stepping up in his second year. Rose and Noah both have some big mileage on their odometers. At their ages and the condition of their bodies, it is pretty unrealistic to think they both can go back to being their old selves. Technically Rose has almost no mileage on his odometer.

Remember this...this time 3 years ago, Trestman, McCoy and Kelly were the talk of the NFL. Bruce Arians is the one whose getting the last laugh. Not how you start, but how you finish. We didn't hire Fox to win a superbowl this year, we hired him and Pace to build us into a perennial contender. That takes time and I expect we will see improvements (even as pathetic as this team is).

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Sep 28, 2015 -> 11:49 AM) Removing injuries from the equation because the Bulls have just as many potential issues on that front as the other contenders, what makes you think the Bulls could beat the Cavs, Spurs or Warriors in a series? This time last year, who predicted the Warriors would win the title and 65+ regular season games? What about all those titles Lebron was going to win with the Heat? He only won two. Who thought the Mavs and Spurs would get past them? In reality, Spurs should have done it twice? Bulls are a very good team. Are they great, not yet, but whose to say they can't take that step forward. They could also take a step back...but bottom line, they have talent and they belong in the sentence of title contenders...title favorites, no way, but contenders, absolutely.

On a sidenote, I'm sorry that I can at least appreciate the one pro franchise in Chicago, which during my lifetime, has been relevant outside of a ~5 year post Jordan era span. Bears / Sox have failed miserably at being consistent contenders and Blackhawks are great now but they had their own run of supreme futility. I'm a sports fan and the Bulls have been the one franchise who has routinely put a quality product on the court. Its a shame they haven't won the title, but you know what, after all the s*** I've seen from the Bears and Sox, I'm okay watching a team that has routinely had at least a chance (and has consistently been in the playoffs) and one of these years, this team will win a title.

We were all spoiled by the Jordan era, but you know what, this team is pretty good and they have 6th best odds at winning the title. 2nd best odds of Eastern conference teams to make it their (and win). So I'm sorry for being optimistic, but we absolutely have a chance. Favorites, no, but Bulls can definitely win a title. I'm excited what Rose can do after having a relatively healthy season (one where he gained confidence in the playoffs) and also seeing how McD and Mirotic develop as well as hopefully improved chemistry with Butler / Rose on the court at once.

After the Bears and Sox seasons, I'm so excited to cheer for a team that has a shot!!! Plus a like a lot of the guys on the roster.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 25, 2015 -> 10:17 AM) Last two years aside, the defense was more than adequate to win superbowls. That's the point. He didn't have to lead the team himself. He had to play decent football and not s*** the bed. 2009 Bears: Cutler was 7-9. He had some bad games but his best receiver was Devin Hester. Forte rushed for 2010 Bears: Cutler was 10-5 and won a post-season game to give him 11 wins. Bears made it to NFC championship where they lost to Packers (with Jay out). Knox was the #1 ( 2011 Bears: Cutler was 7-3, but got injured in a route of the Chargers (5th straight win and during that stretch they averaged 32.2 ppg). Bears looked like an elite team until they were Caleb Hanied out of the playoffs. 2012 Bears: Cutler was 10-5 as the starter. Marshall had a beast of a season, although he really had on other receiving weapons. No other receivers with even 500 yards. 2013 Bears: Cutler had statistically his best season (Marshall was a beast again and Alshon emerged with Forte playing well). Defense was horrendous and Jay is 5-6. McCown goes 3-2. 2014 Bears: Bears are just an outright disaster. Cutler goes 5-10 and defense was beyond pathetic. The only time we had remotely decent defenses, the Bears were playoff teams (which is what you'd expect with a solid QB). The years where we had awful defenses, the types of D's that only a top 3 QB would get us their, well, we didn't make the playoffs and were bad, but not 2 win bad, why, because Jay is good enough to win a few games on his own, but he isn't good enough to go Aaron Rodgers and just win the whole thing. Bottom line, lets fix this football team. I agree if we can get a top flight Andrew Luck type prospect, you get him, but in the meantime, lets find lots of good football players, cause Jay with good players around him (a good defense and special teams, solid offensive weapons), is a QB that can win.

QUOTE (Jake @ Sep 24, 2015 -> 06:51 PM) There's a near-zero chance that I'd ever vote for somebody who has never held public office to be President. I think being the CEO of a large business is an especially rotten preparation for knowing how to govern if you haven't been on the other side. So Obama had better experience then a CEO of a Fortune 500 company? Yeah, I don't think so. They both might be massive failures but I think you very much underappreciate how much it takes to be a CEO of a large organization. I've met a lot of politicians and I've met a lot of executives...very rarely have I met a politician who was smarter than the executives I've met. Often times, the politicans I've met at various fundraisers / charity events, blow me away their lack of savvy and overall acumen.

I like Boehner.

Julie has written an article about her own rape, which she didn't report. I haven't seen one issue with her reporting and it is sick that she is receiving threats.

QUOTE (shipps @ Sep 24, 2015 -> 03:28 PM) Jas, see Jenksismyb**** post above. He hit it right on the head. Those guys can have stretches of being flat out elite which Jay will never be able to do. Please dont get me wrong. I probably have exaggerated in how much focus should be put into finding a QB but not by much IMO. They need to fill a lot of holes but on Paces big board in his office I want to see finding a Quarterback number 1 and 2 on his to do lists. It has to be of more importance than any other position. I want finding that position to keep him up at night. I want him to rack his brain night and day to find one. LOL I agree that they can have hot stretches where they are very good. More so for Eli then Flacco. Flacco looks really bad more then he looks really good. Jay has had stretches where he has been really good (remember some of those windows where he led the league in td's over 3 game stretches). He also has very strong 4th quarter numbers over his career and is in the top 10 of active players in terms of comeback victories. And I am not saying Jay is amazing and I've already said I'd take Eli over Jay. I am saying that you can win a superbowl with Jay (WITH Jay...not because of Jay).

QUOTE (shipps @ Sep 24, 2015 -> 01:50 PM) Those two are above and beyond far better quarterbacks than Jay. What the hell is everyone else looking at? You may not have to have a top five QB to win a SB but you better be damn sure you have a guy that plays like one in the playoffs if he is average throughout the season. Can Cutler do that..ever? No. I watch a ton of football (when i watch...Bears are just one of the many games I'm watching) and Flacco and Eli at times are horrible. I've said many times, Luck can be horrible (and people are seeing it this year). Would I take Luck over Cutler, no brainer. Do I take Flacco over Jay...I'm not sure. I do take Eli over Jay though (but not by a ton). When it comes to the non top 3 QB's (4 including Luck...who might be getting bashed but if I were building a franchise today, he'd be my 2nd pick...behind Rodgers). You have a very long list of guys who are good, but not great, and who can win on the right teams. Bears fans blow up Jay for what he is, but don't pay attention to what a lot of other QB's do. We expected him to be Rodgers, he isn't, but we think he's a lot worse then he actually is. And I consistently said something similar about Romo (who is better then Jay, but suffered / struggled through some of the same issues Jay did before finally getting a good oline and above average D). We all forget how good Jay was when our D was good (his record was extremely strong and he led us to an NFC championship game). Fact of the matter we constructed pretty s***ty teams and our had horrid coaches during a lot of the tenure. Jay was overrated for a long time, now he is severely underrated. He fits squarely in that 7 - 14 mold as a QB and where he rates their depends on the players around him and the quality of the team around him. What I like about Gase / Fox, they seem to understand this and I think they realize, if they can get a franchise QB, great, go for him, but Jay is the exact type of QB as a head coach you can live with. He doesn't have the hype he used to, so he isn't the coach killer he once was (where people saw a top 3 QB), but he also doesn't suck, so if you give him the right weapons he'll be good, and if Fox can get the defense fixed, Bears will be very good and can contend. They need to figure out how to get very good football players. I'll also say if we get the #1 pick, we better take a QB or trade down. Nothing else is worth the #1 pick, imo. We have so many freaking holes on the defensive side. Not to mention we could use a stud OT.

QUOTE (shipps @ Sep 24, 2015 -> 01:30 PM) This was a decade ago when the league was different. You arent allowed to play defense now as you were then. That team flew around hitting everyone violently. Sure we can cherry pick and find a couple years in the past twenty where a team with a average QB made it to the SB but I personally have seen enough around the league to know that has to be the primary focus of Pace going forward if the Bears are going to be a legitimate threat for the next decade. Joe Flacco and Eli Manning have 3 rings between them. I don't consider either to be elite QB's. In fact, I would argue Jay isn't much different then either of them. I have a very short list of QB's who win no matter what. That list is Peyton / Brady / Rodgers. Brees is on the outside looking in (as he's been a part of some stinkers). The other win no matter what. No one else belongs, imo. Cutler absolutely can win if you have a good team around you. He isn't going to carry you on his back the whole way though...only the other 3 guys can do that. Luck has technically done it every year of his career as well.

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 24, 2015 -> 01:29 PM) You had Whitman and Fiorina run crap campaigns in California, Oberweis and his perpetual nonsense in Illinois, who can forget Linda McMahon. Rick Snyder in Michigan. Corzine. Then you have Romney and GW Bush, who came from political families. And Bloomberg, who was very successful and ran good campaigns. I would say the Romneys probably the best. So Romney and Bloomberg were the two most noteably to win it. Romney is probably the best and he was pretty good in his state. Never won as president but did a good job in his state. I never said CEO's would win the presidency easily, I just said, I think a middle of the road CEO is by and large smarter and more successful then a president.

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 24, 2015 -> 01:17 PM) Possibly, there is a lot of talent in this country and I'm sure many would-be great politicians do not want to risk their families. However, we have seen mediocre CEOs become politicians. It's a much different operation, and they haven't been that impressive. Remarkable to me is how many of them have run terribly run campaign organizations. I think that's the first sign to me if they can be good. If you can run a disciplined campaign, then I think you'll be okay in gov't. Who are you referring to?

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 24, 2015 -> 01:13 PM) I'm sympathetic to NS's claim on this for punishing shareholders who in many ways were defrauded too. They were not provided with information that the company was going to conduct risky behavior which could come at this cost. But I'm not sure I see a great way out of it. While criminal cases should happen for those directly responsible, those cases are difficult to prosecute. At some level, the shareholders profited from fraudulent activity, even unknowningly. Should that profit be protected for them? I think part of this is just the risk of investing in individual companies. I do think there should be recourse for shareholders to claim penalties, in much the same way they can if a company misleads on their ipo filings or reports. That is what will happen. Of course the only party that wins in this is the attorneys, who are looking their chops at all the money they will make litigating these settlements.

She will never win the presidency (and not, not because she was a women, but because of all the layoffs she had, etc...they will hammer her like the democrats hammered her in California). I also would point out I think in many cases a mediocre CEO is probably far better prepared to be a president and far smarter then most of our presidents. But I digress cause most normal CEO's would never want to be president.

BMW's issue was on emissions (not necessarily that they committed the fraud or not). No one knows whether fraudulent or not but they took a pounding on the market today (down 5%+).

BMW was also hit with this issue on their diesels. Wonder how many other car manufacturers are / were doing this?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 23, 2015 -> 03:22 PM) I'm uncertain but that's what he's been worth this year. How much would you be willing to go for him? I would not pay more then 2.5M for him. Maybe another team gives him slightly more, but he isn't getting $5M. Baseball teams don't give out contracts based upon WAR. And I don't even know if I go 2.5M. His previous 2 years he was worth essentially zero WAR.