Tony

I mean, I want Flus gone as well. But if he ran the table, they would finish the season 12-5, without question make the playoffs, and these last three weeks would be an absolute afterthought.

Was thinking about the recent history at Bears QB, and how what they are doing is borderline criminal. Everyone seems to agree that if Daniels was drafted here, he doesn’t have the same success that he’s having in Washington. I think conversely, if everything else stayed the same but Caleb was in Washington, he would be playing much better. Then you look at what happened with Fields. I believe if Justin was drafted by the 49ers, or Packers, or a bunch of other teams, his career looks a lot different than it does today. How messed up is that? The going rate on QB extensions right now is 4/240. Yes, Caleb signed a contract worth about 65 million dollars total, but dude lived by himself in high school so he could further his football career. Guy has put in a ton of work to get to this point, only to be drafted by a franchise that has no idea what to do with a young QB, is on pace to get sacked over 60 times, and is already on a new OC. I don’t care how much he signed for, are you OK with an organization costing you potentially hundreds of millions of dollars? I don’t know anyway you can fix that, but the draft just seems unfair when it comes to the NFL, as it’s a sport so dependent on the team you go to.

There is also a narrative out there (which may very well be true) that it has been pounded into Caleb's head he needs to be conservative, not turn the ball over under any circumstances. If true, it seems like it's made him incredibly tentative, and given what we saw with Fields...it seems like it's very possible that's the case.

I don't know how any sane individual can trust anything the Bears do moving forward, until ownership is changed. This seemed like they finally got it right. Poles seemed like a great hire, they finally brought in a true team president that has had success elsewhere, they had the No. 1 overall selection and drafted a QB basically everyone was in agreement on that he was the No. 1 QB in the class. After Mitch, Fields, Caleb, Nagy, Eberflus, Getsy, Waldron, Pace, Poles...I just can't bring myself to believe in them until they're in the playoffs in consecutive years and it truly seems like it can't fail (basically the Chiefs) I remember a while back, Parkman was ridiculed on here about saying "Doesn't matter what QB is drafted by the Bears, he won't be good." And while that was sort of a typical post by Parkman back then...I don't think he was very far off in that assessment. This just isn't a quality franchise that gets the best out of people. We've seen it too many times for it to just be bad luck.

The Seattle Seahawks are broken offensively in a way that could not have been anticipated during training camp or even a couple of months ago. Seattle's 31-13 loss to San Francisco on Thursday night was the latest example of an offense that's filled with talent but is awful on third downs, inefficient in the red zone and sometimes has game plans that don't make sense. Coach Pete Carroll sounds fed up. He came as close as he ever does to calling out a member of his coaching staff with his comments about Seattle's offense on Friday. "We have unique talents and we got to make sure we're maximizing that and I feel like we're not," Carroll said. "I feel like we're not seeing stuff." Carroll was then asked if that was a criticism of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and his game plans. "I just want to emphasize in that direction because we're fighting to get it right. I want to emphasize the guys as much as we can, see if we can maximize the players even more so," he said. https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/seahawks-coach-pete-carroll-takes-aim-at-offense-im-concerned-about-our-club

Who can fill in the blanks...

I'm out. Firing no one after the last three weeks is absolutely unacceptable. They are an unserious franchise. Their No.1 focus is not about the team on the field. They don't deserve our attention or time, just like every other franchise in this town.

We got two months to go, but can’t wait for someone to post the final 2024 W-L record for the calendar year in this city. It’s going to be UGLY

I just don’t see how you sit in a Halas Hall war room and argue for keeping him, without money being a huge part of the equation

They have no choice, honestly. You lose at home, to the 2-7 Pats..how much more do you need to see? What are you going to see against the Packers, Lions and Vikings that is going to change your mind? lol They honestly don’t have a choice if they care at all. If they don’t, it’s just more proof there isn’t a “serious” organization in the city

Doesn’t matter what happens the rest of this game, how does Poles think this is moving forward correctly? Your No. 1 Overall pick and franchise QB is totally lost. There is a ton of drama around this team. They need to make a move tomorrow, I’m out on Poles if it doesn’t happen

I have never seen a team have worse series to open a game than the 2024 Bears. It’s like they’ve never played football. WTF do they do all week?

I actually agree with this, but it also goes against what you're arguing with me on Jerry. If the Sox wanted to, they could absolutely find a way to sign Crochet to a long term extension. They won't do it, because they don't want to spend the money.

What's the common theme in all of these? They didn't sign the player. Instead of offering the most money for Machado, they signed his brother in law. Close doesn't count in baseball, close only counts in horseshoes and handgrenades.

Kenny and Rick had a lot of faults, but they also identified bringing in Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Blake Wheeler, among others. They wanted to add them to the team. Why didn't any happen? Money. Is that a Kenny/Rick problem, or an owner and his budget?

You're leaving out key details to help paint the picture you want to paint. The Sox and the "Wherever" A's are the only two franchises not to hand out a $100 million dollar deal to a player. They've dipped their toe in the water on big name FA's, only to be left shocked when a player doesn't sign with them because someone else offered more money. JR may "want to win" but he wants to win his way. 2020 and 2021 was the first time in franchise history the organization went to back to back post seasons, and 2020 was a 60 game season. That same Oakland team I mentioned, have gone to the playoffs 11 times since 2000. The Sox have gone 5. And since 1917, there has only been one year in which the Sox have won a playoff series. Once. In your second post, you say "You sign one big contract" like history is on the Sox side to just sign this big name, franchise altering player. What historical evidence or data are using to come to the conclusion that is what the Sox will do?

They really should try and trade Keenan.

Not every decision carries the same weight, but there has been more good than bad with Poles. He's brought in a good amount of talent via the draft, and while there was luck involved in getting the No. 1 pick from Carolina, there is an element of good fortune or "luck" with most moves GM's make. At the end of the day, luck or not, he hit it right with the trade, one of the best, most lopsided trades in sports history. His two biggest whiffs have been the Claypool trade, and not bringing in a new staff around Caleb during Year 1. I actually didn't even hate the Claypool trade as on paper it was done for the right reasons, they just simply didn't do enough homework on Claypool the person.

It's the one trait truly all the owners share in this town. No one is willing to be aggressive. They make moves only when they are forced to, not when it's simply the right thing to do. There isn't a single fan in this city that would have taken issue with Flus getting canned in the offseason, but they stuck by their guy, and we're seeing the results. Now they'll be forced to make a move when the win 7 games this season, and fall into the same trap every Bears team before them fell into, and wonder how it happened, or why it's not working.

It’s just so fucking exhausting to do this every 3 years. It’s the same thing over and over and over again.

So to be clear, the argument you are making is the World Series Champions had no impact on Michael Kopech, but instead the success he found in LA can all be attributed to his learnings from the 41-121 White Sox? Just want to be on the same page.

The Royals signed Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo. Both were very good for the Royals in 2024. The Royals made a 30 win improvement over their 2023 record. If the White Sox make a 30 game improvement in 2025, they'll be 71-91. The White Sox also don't have anyone in the same stratosphere of Bobby Witt Jr, who coincidentally was drafted 2nd overall by the Royals, after a season where they are bad and "rebuilding"

I could, you're right. I choose not to. I terms of your second paragraph, I really don't think any fans lowered expectations themselves. The Sox have done more than enough to lower expectations to a point where it literally can't get any lower. THEY are responsible for the low expectations, not the fan base.

I know it's your bit to take things to the extreme, but it just makes you look like a clown. Will Venable may be a good hire. Maybe he won't. None of us really know. I agree it's a positive that it isn't a former Royal or someone with close ties to La Russa, but as Ray was pointing out, it's sad the bar is low enough that excitement comes from the Sox not doing what they always do. But that's what happens when you've turned into one of the worst franchises in sports. Expectations become so low, that anything slightly different feels like a huge win. Everyone on this board hopes this is the start of a new chapter of Sox Baseball. But it's absolutely asinine to look down or judge a fan for having doubts about this organization putting in a real effort to turn this franchise into a perennial winner.

Waddle and Silvy had ESPN Stats and Research run the numbers, based on those 4 games and where the win percentage was in the 4th quarter. I don’t totally understand the equation you would use, but the stat guys came back with the odds of that happening were well over 1 in a million.