JUSTgottaBELIEVE

Joe Burrow went to the Super Bowl in his second season. Patrick Mahomes went to the AFC title game in his second season and won the Super Bowl the season after. If you actually build a strong roster before drafting the QB, there’s no reason why the QB can’t succeed and Bears can’t contend for a title by 2025. They aren’t going anywhere in 2023, “maybe” they’re competitive in 2024 so they’re effectively punting to 2025 already.

And here’s the thing. Even if the Bears traded fields and tanked in 2023 and yet somehow don’t get the top pick, Drake Maye is one hell of a consolation prize after Williams if they want to go QB in 2024. I’d take him over any of the QBs in the 2023 draft. Then of course there’s Brock Bowers and Marvin Harrison Jr. Yea, there’s no question you want a top 2 or 3 pick in the 2024 draft if you’re the Bears.

The Packers? Don’t see it. The Broncos? Perhaps but they’re committed to Wilson. The Raiders? Maybe but they’re still a 6 win team this season with poor QB play and will be in play for a veteran QB this offseason. The odds of Williams suffering a major injury are less than Fields btw. Of course anything can happen but odds favor Williams staying healthy in 2023 over Fields.

Start Nathan Peterman or similar anll season and you’re a lock for the top pick in 2024. What team would be worse?

Only winning a couple games is a recipe for the first overall pick.

You don’t think starting Nathan Peterman at QB for a full season makes the Bears a lock for the top pick?

If you can get the Jets’ first two picks in the 2023 draft for Fields, you absolutely have to make that trade. Spend the newfound capital on building up the line and then draft Caleb Williams in 2024 after another tank year in 2023. This is the way. Doubt Poles has the guts or foresight to do it though.

So, I’ll take that as you’re backtracking on your expectation that the Bears will be division favorites in 2024? Got it. Because if you actually believed the garbage you’re spewing you’d take the bet. Talk about moving the goalposts!

Suddenly @Tonygot real quiet. Don’t want to take the bet eh? Bad showing by you…just bad.

Here’s the bet… @Tonysays he expects the Bears will be division favorites going into the 2024 season. We can use draftkings for odds. On September 1, 2024, I say the Bears will NOT be favored to win the NFC North. Loser of the bet admits the other was right and is banned from the site for 6 months (duration of 2024 NFL season). We have a deal @Tony?

Current Bengals starters that have been with the team since Burrow was drafted: Jonah Williams, Joe Mixon, Tyler Boyd, Hakeem Adeniji, Sam Hubbard, DJ Reader, Logan Wilson, Germaine Pratt, Akeem Davis-Gaither, Vonn Bell, Jessie Bates you still haven’t answered my question. Not surprising. You only like to nitpick others but not allow others to nitpick you. You said you expect the bears to be division favorites in 2024. Your words. I’ll bet you they won’t be. Whoever loses, admits the other was right and stays off soxtalk for 6 months. Deal? Or do you just talk a big game and have nothing to back it up?

The Bengals drafted Burrow in 2020. Looking at their current offensive and defensive depth chart as shown on ESPN, 10 of the 21 starting positions are players that have been with the Bengals since at least 2020. How many starters in 2024 (the year you say the Bears will be division favorites) will have been with the Bears since at least 2021 (the year Fields was drafted)? You don’t think the foundation for that next competitive Bengals team was much further along than what the Bears built when drafting Fields? LOL. Which players that have been with the Bears since 2021 do you see as starters in 2024? Now you answer my question too sir.

What question are you talking about?

All that cap space is nice but unfortunately in the NFL star players rarely hit free agency these days. And when they do, you have to massively overpay to sign them. The only way to sustain a winning franchise in the NFL is to build through the draft. Supplementing with free agents is fine but it should not be relied on as the primary option for filling roster holes.

This entire discussion is based on my belief that this rebuild that the bears are attempting will fall flat on its face because they’re going about it all wrong. You disagree, clearly, based on your statement that you expect the bears to be division favorites in 2024. Wanna bet on that???

LOL. Well, you’re certainly setting yourself up for disappointment then.

No, the entire rebuild approach that the Bears have taken is completely flawed. You don’t trade a bunch of draft capital to draft a QB, insert him as the starter his rookie season, and then tear down the roster. It’s such a terrible process. Answer this…when do you expect the Bears to be contenders again?

Was the 2021 Bengals roster ahead of the 2022 Bears roster? Yes or no? The Bengals drafted Burrow in 2020, the Bears drafted Fields in 2021. The Bears will be lucky to the the 2021 Bengals in 2025.

There’s always a guy available if you’re either drafting high (which the bears will be for a few years) or willing to trade for an established QB when the time is right. There’s no reason to reach for a QB in the draft and deplete draft capital unless the rest of your roster is already in really good shape. Bears would be in a better position in the future if they didn’t trade all those picks for Fields and simply waited to draft a QB in 2023 or 2024. Now they’ve already burned two years of a QB’s rookie contract and have more holes to fill because they traded away picks to draft him. Why does everyone think you need a “franchise” QB to win? What is that anyways? Is Brock Purdy a franchise QB? 49ers are the best team in the NFC with a 7th round rookie QB. I doubt Jalen Hurts is anything special outside of a loaded Eagles roster. Stafford won a Super Bowl last year and is nothing special.

They’ve drafted all of their top players as far as I’m aware.

Exactly my point. Why start the clock on a young QB when the rest of the team is in shambles? Not only do you risk destroying that young QB in the process but you also waste valuable years of his rookie contract dwelling in the cellar.

Again, how does this Bears roster look in year 2 of Justin Fields compared to year 2 of Burrow. If the Bengals roster sucked so bad and simply adding Burrow made that much of a difference why hasn’t Fields had the same success with the Bears?

Bengals had been building and drafting high for years before Burrow. It’s a big reason why Burrow was able to make the Super Bowl in year 2. Does the bears roster look anything near the 2021 Bengals roster in Justin Fields’ year 2?

Neither were drafted in the past two decades though

Someone give me an example where a total rebuild that was kickstarted by drafting a QB actually resulted in team success. Seems to me that most teams trying this are teams like the Texans, Jaguars, and Cardinals. Heck, even the Bengals built out much of their roster before they drafted Burrow. I don’t know, it seems drafting the QB first results in outcomes like David Carr, Blake Bortles, and Kyler Murray more often than they do Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, and Aaron Rodgers.