Tony

I would hope Poles would agree with this as well.

I said this a few weeks ago, but they need to find out, and most likely will, if Caleb is the guy. He had a good but flawed rookie season. Some of that was on Caleb, some of it was on the situation. The offensive line situation was a mess, and Caleb exacerbated it. They also had a coaching staff that voted worst in the league and there were public criticisms about a lack of preparation from the staff. Coaching hopefully will not be an issue moving forward. They also have significantly upgraded the offensive line, as you noted. Caleb should have the tools and infrastructure to be successful. If he isn't, and stays healthy for a majority of the season, we should find out if this is the guy for the Bears or not. And if he isn't....then this offseason was meaningless, as will the next couple of offseasons. But if he IS the guy, it's not even about 2025 W-L's. You had three teams in your division win double digit games. That won't last forever, but if you found your QB for the next decade, then it's a W.

1. They needed a bunch of things. 2. If the Bengals want a 1st and 2nd for Hendrickson, should he have done it? You seem to not agree with trading draft picks. They called on Garret, and the Browns decided to pay him. And there is a reason Hendrickson hasn’t moved yet. You want to lay out a specific road map for how they should have approached the offseason, different than what they did…I’m all ears. But if you’re going to complain about moves then state “I’m mad but also don’t know what I’m talking about because I made the choice to be uneducated on the topic I’m talking about” then you open yourself up to be called a fool.

Wait, so you said word for word “I’m not impressed with how Poles spent his money” but you also “didn’t follow free agency that closely” so how would you know what he could spend his money on? By definition, using your own words, you’re uneducated on the topic. Why are you comfortable forming an opinion on something you are uneducated on? I know it’s 2025 and that’s what so many do…but doesn’t seem like the most logical decision making.

Seriously. Has nothing to do with the player himself, just embarrassing Sean Burke is the best an organization can throw out there Opening Day. If you didn’t announce the starter until the day of the game, 90% in attendance would say “Who?”

It's not an organizational philosophy, it's a sport philosophy. And one organization can't really change it, when the development process across the sport is being impacted the way it has. This "process" of max velocity is starting with 12-13 year olds. You can only draft and develop the players available to draft, and there isn't a generation of soft tossing lefties shooting up draft boards.

I mean the only realistic answer that qualifies is a pass-wrecking DE. That could seemingly make a bigger and more meaningful impact than Jeanty over Swift (it's not like Swift would be giving you 0) But I agree with the premise that a player like Jeanty could/would make an immediate and noticeable impact. The pick will be telling depending on what direction they take. An OL/DL being drafted at 10, after the free agency spree they went on..would tell me they are trying to balance the short term and long term stability of the team. Drafting Jeanty tells me they got a little greedy and over their collective skis, similar to the arrgoance showed by Poles last draft, thinking his team was a great punter away from being elite, and decided to burn a 4th on Tory Taylor.

That's my thing. We all banged our fists on the table that both lines sucked. They made 5 FA/Trades and all 5 were OL/DL. How many times as fans do we watch our team not address key areas that seem so obvious? Was it PERFECT? Probably not, but time will tell. But sometimes doing the most obvious thing is also right...and it seems like that's what they did.

Easy to say that, but what would have been your alternative to what they did? None of this matters if Caleb isn’t the guy, and they have to figure that out this year. By the end of this year, they need to know if he’s it. So you need to give him an OL/team in order to make an accurate assessment. What would you have done differently? What names?

I get it totally, and I'm going to stick with the idea from after last season. We can like what they are doing, but we gotta see it on the field. We've been fooled way too many times. It seems like they are doing smart things, but doesn't mean much until it translates into wins, and they just don't deserve any benefit of the doubt right now. But unfortunately, they are the only team in Chicago seemingly trying to win, so they extra interest right now.

They are throwing around A LOT of money, whooo boy. And yeah, this really is shaping up like they are going to target Jeanty at 10.

I hope so for the Bears sake lol.

DT Javon Kinlaw just signed a 3/45 deal with Washington. Had 4.5 sacks last year as a rotational player with the Jets. Draft DL/DT. It's stupid expensive in FA.

Seems like there is a lot of DT/DE talent in this draft, and a lot of guys in that 15-40 range. Right now, they have 10, 39, 41, 72. I think I'd rather them to have like 20, 39, 41, 50, 72

I love it. Opens up the draft a lot more now that he's actually signed. This goes against the MO of Poles, but if there is a willing taker, I think trading down from 10 makes a lot of sense

https://bsky.app/profile/diannarussini.bsky.social/post/3ljzxf73y7c2z

Seriously, it is made for days like this, and it not being reliable really makes the day less fun

Twitter being s%*# for anyone else today? Brutal day for it 😂

A giant, "can't miss" LT should be added to that list. And I'd rank it above Shut Down Corner, simply because even a shot down corner is still somewhat reliant on a pass rush. I don't care how good a CB may be, you give a QB 4 seconds in the pocket, that CB doesn't have much of a chance. But I generally agree with the list. No team has ever said "We have too many good pash rushers on the team"

Doesn’t tell the whole story, but simply looked at the last 10 years in the NFL and the 5 teams that had the five highest winning percentages. Was the Chiefs, Steelers, Bills, Ravens and Packers. Then looked at what they did in the first round over the last 10 years. Chiefs (CB-QB-RB-CB-DE-DE-WR) Steelers (LB-CB-LB-S-LB-RB-QB-OL-OL) Bills (DE-CB-QB-LB-DT-DE-CB-TE) Packers (S-DT-CB-DE-S-QB-CB-LB-DE-DE-OT) Ravens (WR-OT-CB-TE-QB-WR-LB-WR-LB-CB-C-WR-CB) Out of 48 selections by the 5 best teams in football the last year, 2 were RB. The two RB’s taken were Clyde Edwards-Helarie and Najee Harris, both picks I suspect the teams might want back in a re-draft. Harris was good his rookie year but pretty pedestrian the last few seasons.

I do too. And will be interesting to see that contract, at his age the length can't get crazy, and you're paying for his past production not what you project, so could get a little dicey...but I agree that the odds heavily favor him not just being here for 2025. If he is, it wasn't the best use of a 4th round pick any way you slice it

They had 8 captains last year and none of them were on the O-Line. It's the most important "unit" in football and it needed a massive upgrade. They have taken steps to do that, and free agency and the draft aren't here yet. Let's see what it looks like in July, but I think they've done some good work thus far.

I'll use a slightly more recent example in John Tait. He came in at 29, so slightly different, but came from the Chiefs, and was a very welcome addition and played well in his 5 years here

I'm on the Ben Johnson train but I'll jump off quickly if they use the 10th overall on a RB. Just because Gibbs "worked out" doesn't mean it was the right selection, even then. Just can't get on board with it. And they could take him, and it could all work out, and I'll be happy the Bears are winning. But philosophically, it's still the wrong pick at 10.