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lol this reminds me so much of that video from the trubisky draft where all the scouts showed him #1 on their board.

MN

There is real dialogue and give and take now. What a breath of fresh air. Please keep it going.

True, but Arians took an actual year off. If he would have retired and then signed with the bucs I'm pretty sure they'd have demanded more since that's just sidestepping a contract.

You definitely look into it, and considering his service to the Saints maybe they do him a solid. But I think he probably is looking for a break.

The Bears would still need to send draft capital to the Saints, as the bucs still did with Arians since he was under contract.

Honestly I've been Dan Quinn-pilled. Wouldn't have guessed. He definitely needs horses for his defense, but his ATL defenses were a reverse bears, where nearly all of their cap was in offense. When it had keanu neal and deion jones, it was fine, without they were awful. But with Cowboys, obviously were great. Not since dave wannstedt have we targeted a coach so universally in demand. Everyone wants Quinn. The takeaway for me - people want to work for that guy. I think his staff will be as good as rumored. Otherwise, I like don't mind Eberflus, Leftwich, Daboll. I really don't know what to make of Caldwell. I'm not sure a coach got more screwed over than him in DET, but I kinda felt that about Fox. But Kubiak went on to take that team to a superbowl, the lions were awful after he left. The players loved him. Everyone loves him. But the lions still felt like such a sloppy team. The most unlikely, greatest thing would be Ryan Day being disillusioned with the NLI stuff in college and the bears throwing $30 million at their coaching staff for a Quinn/Day combo.

Remember how the bears were smitten with Flores and were going to make him GM and trade Fields? Good times.

Not surprised, it would have been very surprising given how he could choose between either job.

Poles is a bigger wild card than I would have targeted, as I said. I think Adofo-Mensah can do great in Minny which has a much better infrastructure left to him post Spielman. But, after weeks of constant sniping about stuff that didn't happen, they didn't hire a coach first, they didn't hire a "polian" connection or colts west. It's possible now that Caldwell will be forced on this guy. But considering he had the pick of two orgs I'd be surprised. That would be a bad sign, however.

Ah, I see we've moved on to the fresh new panic. "Some in league circles" has been kicking ass as a source, I'm expecting it to continue to kill it on accuracy.

Yeah, I mean cool but sox can you just send out an effing press release on your INTL class?

I wouldn’t be shocked given the excitement around the staff rumors with Quinn if he’s able to pull a McDaniel or OConnell into OC duties, or maybe the excitement is Doug Pederson as OC.

So as resident Bears Shill, apparently, it seems things are circling around Ryan Poles - VP of Player Personnel as next GM. There are things that I like and things that disappoint me. First - I was hoping this was going to be an opportunity for Bears to bring in a strong team with experience, because their org lacks guidance. Harbaugh was very attractive there, and obviously I started wanting a Full court press for Sean Payton. Omar Khan was my numero uno. And it seems he's out. I still think it's crazy not to trust that he made it that high up, in that org. But I also cannot know much about these guys. And I have to include that he interviewed last cycle and did not get a job. He is likely to be passed over in PIT when Colbert retires, and now once again likely to be passed over in cycle. Rick Smith apparently isn't ready to jump into things, and Dodds seems like a maniac and the bears are wimps. I'm a bit shocked that Morocco Brown is not a finalist. Finalists: Monti Ossenfort is resume-interesting but I can't help but notice that despite me being uber impressed by what TN has been doing - that since he's been there their drafts and pro acquisitions haven't been anything to write home about. The Tannehill resurgence was before he arrived, as well as Henry draft. Last year they drafted Isaiah Wilson despite character concerns and he character concerned his way out. Then Caleb Fairly this year despite injury concerns and well, he's injured. Elliot Wolf was passed over in GB despite being an heir apparent, was part of the Dorsey years in CLE that were tumultuous and stunted a rising team, and then had an inspired run in NE. His background is incredible, but ...that Cleveland Tenure. The Packers passed over him. The NFL is often stupid, but I don't know. Now, I do think he's a person that can define the franchise and get away from the bumblingness of the mccaskeys. He's a strong NFL brand in that respect. And lastly poles. I had some heuristics for NFL GM after Pace. I wanted someone who had been in multiple orgs, held multiple positions, and their success could be isolated outside of just a great coach or QB. So he's none of that. He's also young, and it scares me that he wowed the mccaskeys in an interview because they are idiots. BUT - he's been a finalist now for every job he's interviewed for. He's apparently also a favorite in MN, and I admire that franchise a lot. His recommendations must be sterling. Brad Spielberger (PFF) did a podcast in december on likely GM candidates and listed Poles as his favorite because when he met him he was genuinely curious asking questions. He was hired up through 4 GMs in KC. He DID run multiple roles, handling scouting and now on both pro and contracts. His curiosity is good and sounds like someone who wants to bring the smartest people in the room together including analytics. But he is a huge wild card. The pros of Dodds and M Brown are coming from Ballard where they have not been amazing but ran with strong discipline as a front office in terms of managing assets - which is key to me to be a sustained winner. What can we really tell from KC there? I don't really know the KC front office philosophy. I do know that for more than a decade they have been incredible drafters. Pre-Reid they seemed loaded with talent but poorly coached and quarterbacked. They've propelled multiple personnel to front offices. They have drafted loud athletes. But they have had Reid to develop them, especially the ones with character concerns that they've been burned less harshly than you'd expect. They don't hoard picks, they don't put themselves in terrible cap situations like the Saints. They've been very well balanced. That's good...but it also means I have no idea what this guy will do. That's a scary proposition.

Well one thing here - the assumption that an offensive head coach will consistently maintain a good offense. You should find a defensive guy that isn’t bored by dealing with the other side of the ball and have some point of view, and vice versa. And my main thing is what part of a wave are we at with offensive coaches? Guys are getting picked over with a year of success - whereas guys like Shanahan were able to develop for years before honing it in. But as for OCs Obviously Caldwell would be a slam dunk, and pains me to say it but Darrell Bevell would be a good choice for Fields. Kevin OConnel could be lured with PC duties. Honestly Dan Mullen would be intriguing to me. I still like Joe Brady. The offensive personnel in Carolina was ass and didn’t get better after he left. They just seemed like a poisonous culture. I do want Pep Hamilton somewhere on staff. But ultimately I don’t know these guys. I think stefanskis offense would work really well for Fields. But I want a staff that organizes around what’s good for him.

I’m just happy there is progress. The game will survive all these dudes.

I guess I just think this argument loses steam with me when you look at buffalo and that’s a defensive head coach, and then McVay just had to trade for an established vet. Shanahan bristling at dealing with Lance. The one problem is Eberflus defense get a lot of takeaways but they scheme doesn’t seem amazing at confusing great QBs who take what it gives them and can execute easily

I think Quinn is like 2:1 favorite for Denver. I do think at this point we are looking at Eberflus as a strong favorite here. If the Raiders land Dodds/Harbaugh I'll be pretty bummed. Bummed by the raiders.

This seems contradictory. First you are complaining these are all just Polians guys, then that he should have narrowed his list prior to the interviewing. They've interviewed 12 GM candidates from 11 different orgs by my count. They only interviewed 4 guys when Pace was selected.

I think the surprise/disappointment here is Daboll NOT being there. Either they know he's gone or their GM feedback outside Schoen hasn't been as high on him for some reason, probably the former. For the interviews, I'd point out that like Eberflus, Quinn already has a second interview with Denver lined up. Caldwell does not have an official one, but is likely to get one from Jacksonville. This is likely just ensuring the GM has the opportunity to interview these candidates by letting them know they are still interested and not to just take the jobs elsewhere. And my expectation - that I will be surprised if is not the case - is that we will have Morocco brown, Khan (both interviewed today) with Poles as finalists, and Glen Cook as a possible 4th. I'd hope that these happen pretty soon and get them to interviewing these coaches before anyone but Eberflus is scheduled.

Actually no, but I guess pringle is even faster. Point is - it's a toub team, they are good. But I'd still have squibbed but it's really nuts that they had such an easy time on that second play after a time out.

Wasn't there :17 seconds? They had two time outs, so if you get 9 seconds you definitely have time for a 25 yard pass plus time out. Basically nothing is guaranteed but 40 yards in 2 plays should be quite difficult, but for whatever reason they ran the defense Fangio would do when teams only needed the end zone. It was very bad. Obviously 1 play for 25 should also be difficult. That play they executed to Kelce is just unbelievable, it's insane they wouldn't have guys at each level for him.

Also I'm with Jack here - there is an assumption that squib kick just ends up with them at the 25 to 30 with time ran off. But the Chiefs could throw Hill and Hardiman back there - two incredible returners - who could end up much deeper or worse. You can say they just need to execute the squib kick, but you can also say they just need to execute by not giving up 40 yards in two plays. I probably would have squibbed, but I've had squib kicks backfire on my teams I follow a lot enough where I've definitely said "JUST KICK IT STRAIGHT"

So it doesn't sound like they are 100% going to sign a coach before a GM

One thing I'll be watching is if Bears can grab back Pep Hamilton as QB coach now that Culley is gone with whomever takes over. He has done some incredibly strong work recently in that role with Herbert and Davis Mills.