Chisoxfn

I'm curious if he has connections to Riley and/or Harbaugh. But I also wonder if they would ever actually pay the money for that sort of move.

Who did he get rid of other than Roquan? I may be forgetting someone, but other than that weren't they aging players. I guess Mack had his 6 sack game (was that Poles who made that move or Pace - I don't even remember). But the defense didn't really have any talent on it. Quinn was already done when they traded him to Eagles. I do think a huge issue on defense is the dline - but what he inherited was awful and it remains just as bad. We are only 1/4th into the season - if at the end of the year it is this bad and the young Dlinemen haven't shown something - than that is a real problem. But Poles had basically nothing to work with in year 1 and it was clear that this was going to be a multi-year rebuild given how bare Pace left things. But Poles made some big mistakes - Claypool being first on that list. I don't know that I'm going to right off Tremaine after 4 games in a new system. Edwards either. I would like to see what they looked at with a top 15 dline vs. the league worse dline they have. How much of that struggle is talent vs. scheme - I don't know, but talent is clearly a problem when it comes to the line.

Poles has done a lot of bad - I go back to - right now, if I were Warren - my focus on evaluating whether Poles needs a quick boot is how the guys he brought in (whether via FA or the draft) do. I would probably prioritize the draft and focus on major FA spends, since more stop gap moves would have lower overall hit rates. If by the end of the year - his 2 draft crops and FA moves are looking pretty poor - than yeah, the fact that he cut a bunch of guys and didn't prematurely give up a ton of draft picks and was able to deal the #1 pick for some good assets (which by the way - most GM's could do) isn't going to be enough for me to keep him. So long story short - if we don't see real player development this year (some young DB's develop, Brisquer actually be productive, some of the young Dlinemen producing, a hit on our oline picks, etc), than that would be enough for me to end the Poles experience. Now if that happens - the question is - what is Warren going to do. Does he go land a whale like Harbaugh or do something else? I really hope it doesn't get there - but you are right, the Bears absolutely have to evaluate that question pretty quickly in the off-season - because you can't hand what could be 2 extremely high draft picks to someone you don't have complete & utter confidence in. I really am hoping we won't be having this debate at the end of the year and instead will be talking about 2 really strong picks and ability to maybe flip one of them for massive assets while still having a ton of assets this year as well, combined with an emerging core, which we are looking to pair with an elite offensive mind and QB (I am assuming not Fields but hoping we see a 275 yd+ / 3 TD+ game on Thursday).

The West Coast Sox, aka the Angels let go of their manager, Phil Nevin today.

Not giving Gavin Sheets another at bat at the major league level would be a significan step in the right direction. How someone that bad has gotten that many at bats is beyond me. You can say the same for some of the other negative WAR guys on the squad, Grandal & Tim Anderson as well. With Tim - I get that he was awful so maybe you get a bounce back, but he was really awful. Grandal we know is gone. Colas I can at least understand giving AB's to cause he's young and has some tools - but even than - when you look at the # of at bats given to guys who clearly were no good - it is just staggering: - Sheets - Grandal - Injured Moncada (I'm differentiating injured Yoan vs. healthy Yoan). Than you add in young players and or players who had really bad season(s), where I will seperate them from the above. Tim Anderson Lenyn Sosa Oscar Colas Romy Gonzalez Zach Remillard Hanser Alberto Korey Lee Trayce Thompson Adam Hasely Clint Frazier Bottom line - the Sox gave a heck of a lot of playing time to really really bad players - shocker - they lost 101 games.

RIP

I keep hoping to hear - and Sox have now informed Grifol he is out. I guess the thing is - he isn't going to set franchise back another 5 years if you stick with him another year, but its pretty evident it will be just 1 year. Bright side is, a baseball manager really can't sent a franchise back 5 years, not like how a head football coach can ruin a QB and set the franchise back a ton.

No doubt - just like the 4th down where they once again gave it to Cole Kmet (and it wasn't like it worked with ease). They literally have a massive QB - why not just do the Eagles sneak approach if you want to do it and shove Fields across or whatever else. I am not defending Flus at all - he is gone at the end of the year. Like it or not - he is here to stay unless they bring in Lovie as some sort of interim coach. They literally have no one who can call the D (not saying Flus is calling it well either). And you certainly can't promote Getsy. Now if Fields goes out and has like 3-4 straight 3-4 TD game that the team loses by giving up 30+ points - than maybe we can talk about a Getsy promotion haha.

For the Bears - this is probably one of those week(s) where it is good it is a short week. But next week might feel real long.

I noticed it this weekend - it probably happened sooner and I just haven't watched much Sox games, but TA's swing is all wrist. It is just a shell of himself. I'm not sure if it is due to injury or what, but the swing is an absolute mess. He always had quick hands and a wristy swing - but the approach, everything is just terrible. He needs a reset and maybe it has to do with a bunch of other stuff / ailments that got him there, but he clearly needs to see someone different and get back to basics from a hitting perspective.

I don't think he is as bad at the lockeroom as say Trestman, but that doesn't say much. And I actually respect him going for it on 4th - cause I too knew the defense is a sieve - but it is his defense, his specialty, so that says everything. The play call though - terrible. But we lost the game when they played to not lose late in the 3rd quarter on down. That was on the coaching staff - not going for the kill in those scenarios. With that said - I saw way more bright spots out of the game - those are likely bright spots that dissipate immediately when Bears face a decent NFL team in Washington, with a respectable defense. With that said - nothing would make me happier than to see Fields have another 275 yd+ / 3 TD+ passing performance.

How could he - they literally didn’t let him do much other than hand it off. Fields played excellent today.

This - I think another team can acquire him and use that exception? Maybe that helps? Maybe I’m wrong too.

Until this front office does something interesting - I am just so complacent. I shouldn't be, because sadly, the Bulls are the best of my 3 teams (Sox / Bears are hopeless). With that said - there is very little to actually look forward for the Bulls - since they are basically a .500 team, who is probably going to start a new rebuild at the end of this season.

Alright Bulls - give up the pick we have from Portland to get Jrue. I'm not saying it makes the Bulls great - but Jrue certainly makes them better.

I truly believe he is a good DC. Whether he is a good HC or not, probably not. One thing I do know - this is a scheme that requires a good dline (not dissimilar to other schemes). The Bears aren't remotely close to having a good d-line. Think about the Bears good D's in the Cover 2 era, whether it was Tommie Harris disrupting the middle or Julius Peppers on the edge - you needed to have one well above average dlinemen and other parts to do the job. Maybe the Bears 2nd and 3rd round picks evolve to that point - but they aren't there yet and they were raw to begin with (which isn't a huge surprise). We are also talking about 2nd & 3rd rounders (with the 2nd rounder being a later"ish" pick). Now Poles needs to hit on his picks, you will have misses, but he also has to have hits across his drafts. I actually think the Bears have players at other levels of the defense - but none of it works without a more disruptive line. Not saying the best line in football - but this is the worse dline in football (or at the very least bottom 3). That is a big problem and I do put some of that on Poles. Or Poles knew that would be an issue, hoped it wouldn't be this bad, but just realized that was all he could do from a team building perspective given all the holes to fill.

The problem is - is Fields so bad that no one around him can develop. Through 3 weeks my answer is yes. Now that doesn’t mean we should stop now, but at some point you need to do something else for the sake of everyone else on the football team if it is that bad. With that said - I really never expected this to be that bad.

There has been a lot of clips floating out there of guys running open, in fact multiple guys running open and Fields not making the plays/reads/throws.

For me it comes down to - should you completely overhaul your offense and completely customize it from anything anyone runs in the NFL. If so - they need to go hire Greg Roman, cause he's about the only guy who has shown any ability to do something that extreme. Because there are very few actual designed plays that Fields runs average (let alone good or above good). The only thing he does well is run. Sure, he can make the ocassional wow throw - the problem is, you have to be decent at the other stuff - he isn't decent, he isn't meh, he is AWFUL at everything else. Either you literally run like a pistol, completely new offense around him, or you move on. The next question is - can you even design an entire offense around him at this point in the season or do you actually think even if you did that, you would have a team capable of going places or would you be looking for a new player anyway? I go back to - the extreme changes that would be needed for Fields are so much greater than that of any good QB we are talking about. Every offense should adjust / tailor for the QB strength(s), but that is tailoring, there is still a ton of vanilla plays that they are expected to be able to execute with a high degree of success. The problem is - Fields doesn't have a lot of vanilla stuff he can do to any degree of success. I think the Bears were hopeful that he would show large improvements in this area - the problem is, he hasn't.

With all that being said - I do not think Poles (nor anyone else in the building), expected Fields to be this downright bad. I think they all expected improvement and the only question was whether they would see enough improvement to make him your franchise QB or not. I think in zero scenario did any of them seeing Fields being as bad of a passer this year (if not worse) than he was last year. The reality is, through 3 games - he has been as bad, if not worse, and that is despite having better wideouts than last year and being in the 2nd year of the system.

I really think if you read between the lines, he was always a bit more cautious. With that said - you can't go out there and state we are going to stink, etc, but he also had talked multiple times where they knew how many holes they had and that the reality was there was no way they could really fix it in one offseason and the reality is - this was really the first off-season where they had resources. His first actual year on the job - the cap situation was a disaster and they had zero draft capital due to the Fields session, so year one was almost like year 0 given how bad it is, so this is actually year 1. I truly believe the offensive side of the roster is materially upgraded, however, the QB is so bad you can't see it. This is why I legitimately wonder what they do because with a QB this bad (and with no real hope) - continuing to put him out there puts a serious limitation on your ability to evaluate others, whether coaches and/or skill position players (kind of key given that Mooney / Claypool are due for extension(s)). I'm guessing at this point - neither of them may get extensions, which than means, do you trade them and if you do, is there any value for them? The Bears also don't have any legitimate option to turn to at QB (other than throwing a DII player to the wolves and hoping he shocks us).

If we get to the halfway point of the season and the defense is still bottom 3rd - than yeah. I would be shocked the defense would be in the top 3rd, but they should be in the middle 3rd. If they don't get there, terrible indictment. But his defenses were good / very good in Indy and he was working for an offensive HC, so he was in charge of them and they developed a lot of players under his watch. Now as a HC - he clearly isn't good. Effort doesn't work. They are awful and he doesn't bring any unique skill to the table. It isn't like he's a brilliant offensive mind or a brilliant defensive tactician.

I'm going off his time with the Colts - they had good defenses and developed players there. That in no means is stating anything he has done with the Bears - but I also think last year he had absolute trash to work with and this year, the trash is a bit better, but not a lot. Now the hope is - the young players and LB's gel and improve, but when you have a Dline this bad - your D is going to struggle to get off the field.

I agree with you and I also don't believe Poles was ever all in on Fields. I just don't think he was all in on Bryce Love and he wasn't ready to rip the bandaid now and bring in another QB, I think he recognized the type of individual Fields was and that it was worth investing in him for one more year and building assets for the following year (and ideally positioning the roster so that it was in a healthier spot for the next QB - if Fields wasn't the guy (and he clearly isn't). Now I would state that if all of his draft picks look like garbage, than I think McCaskey and Warren would have a hard choice to make. But barring that (and god I hope that won't be the case) - than I am pretty committed to giving Poles the opportunity to go forward. I really don't see how you could do something different - unless they are planning to go give a blank check to Harbaugh.

The question is - did Poles actually believe that behind closed doors, or did he know his limitations. I recognize I got hyped up in the off-season, but once I saw the preseason lineups, I literally looked and took a step back and was telling all my friends - this is not going to be good. The dline is awful (signing Ngakakoue was not going to change anything - although it was the right move to make cause they need any help they could get...and if they are lucky, they can maybe trade him at the deadline if he actually is producing for like a 6th rounder). The secondary is young and your LB corps, while they made investments, is going to have a hard time making plays when your dline is this bad. Offensively - I think Poles said it but didn't say it with Fields. I don't think he had the ability to make any choice other than giving Fields one more year (given the draft capital that previous regimes invested and the flash plays that he showed - to see if a 2nd year in the system could bring out the best in him...but we all said - for Fields to be good, he had to take pretty significant steps forward as a passer - it is now clear that the sample size says he is the same guy he was as a rookie, maybe worse and by the way - it is the same thing that he put on college tape - where he never got better in this area). But I think Poles reacted in the off-season as someone who was measured and wasn't ALL in on Fields. Now he didn't throw Fields under the bus either - but that was absolutely the right thing to do. Now if by the end of the year - none of Poles draft picks look like they are worth a darn, than I suppose Warren and McCaskey need to ask themselves the question of whether Poles is gone too - but I'm hoping we will see enough flashes from young DB's and the oline looks solid enough that we aren't talking about that...cause that would really be a bad thing (albeit at least you'd have a pretty attractive gig if you wanted to hire someone - given you'd be talking about multiple high draft picks and tons of cap space).