***Chicago Bears Thread*** Ben Johnson hired. The Resurrection Begins! (4 Viewers)

[Chreesto]

I am very pleased with the way this process played out. Even if Ben Johnson isn't the coach that I think he will be, the Bears management went about this the right way. Watching that introductory press conference I found myself wondering "Who would I rather have for Caleb and this team right now?" - I can't think of anyone. Maybe Sean Payton? There are coaches who are more established, but none who have the "swing for the fences" upside of Ben Johnson. Whether he is able to live up to this initial impression remains to be seen but when he said "get comfortable being uncomfortable" I felt like he demonstrated the mindset that will shape the Bears into the best version of themselves. I spend a lot of my time frustrated by this team, and no games are ever won in the offseason, but today is a day for me to celebrate a victory of process, and for the Bears that is a rare accomplishment.

 

[nysfl2]

bump Williams, Odunze, Swift at a minimum

I'd be very surprised if Swift didn't face significantly more competition for the starting job. I'd be there is a good chance Swift goes right back to his Detroit role.

Ben Johnson had swift in Detroit and sent him packing for a bag of magic beans. Swift may be in for a much smaller role next year.

 

[Sunday Gravy]

"Caleb and I are going to be spending a lot of time together"

"The qb has to see the offense through the eyes of the play caller"

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

Fellow Bears Fans: PLEASE give this guy some rope. He won't come in and turn this motley crew into contenders overnight.

I believe this is also his first head coaching gig ANYWHERE. He's going to have a lot of duties he didn't have as an OC and he's learning on the job.

Ben Johnson: PLEASE do not think you can be the OC and HC. We just watched Eberflus try to be the HC and the DC. It doesn't work. I'm not saying you can't be the playcaller. Sean Payton did it for years in NO. But for the day to day OC things, bring one of your guys over from DET - even if it's something like TE coach. Someone that knows your general system that you can work with.

Ben Johnson was a great hire. The best young coach available on the market and could easily turn into a McVey-type. Kuddos to the Bears for scooping him up in a hot market. But the kid is raw, and the Bears are oozing with malcontents in the locker room. Don't get me wrong, most of the team is just guys shutting up and playing ball. But there's plenty of finger-pointers on this Bears team that are itching to throw their coach under the bus on a tweet or a Podcast. Johnson's no longer in the land of "everybody wants to have a beer with the HC" land of Dan Campbell's Detroit. How he deals with the bad apples on the team will dictate his tenure in CHI.

I disagree with the idea the Bears have locker room problems. The past two years have seen coaching incompetence that may be unique in all of NFL history.

- 2023: Justin Fields publicly calls out the coaching staff for game planning and preparation. If this sounds like finger-pointing, just wait.
- 2023: Justin Fields gets hurt against Minnesota. In comes Tyson Bagent, and suddenly the playbook opens up...for the back up QB.
- 2023: the coaching staff is publicly ecstatic about the opportunity to play Tyson Bagent at QB when Fields is injured. We are treated to a national broadcast extolling Bagent's virtues and how Justin Fields needs to learn from a guy who last played against the Colorado School of Mines. The Bears lose 40-7 to an eventual 5-12 team, when the coaching staff finally got to play "their guy."
- 2023: Rodney Harrison publicly calls out Justin Fields on Sunday Night Football for wearing sunglasses on the sidelines, saying he's only concerned about looking cool and isn't interested in learning and improving. Fields has epilepsy and wears glasses or a visor to deal with bright/flashing stadium lights. No one on the Bears coaching staff says a word about their at-the-time franchise QB.

- 2024: Bears players force a meeting with the coaching staff to call out the fact that the offensive coordinator is not scripting the first 15 plays.
- 2024: Bears players try to get Caleb Williams benched to protect him from the coaching staff. I've never heard of this in any sport, ever.
- 2024: Bears GM Ryan Poles publicly acknowledges training camp was a complete mess

When you have players repeatedly calling out their coaches for failure of preparation, what do you think is going on? I would argue this points to a positive culture, sick of losing and wanting to win. Yes, players checked out after the Eberflus firing. Yes, they have been through a lot under his moronic tenure.

I think a lot of non Bears fans just didn't see the day in and day out disfunction that occurred under Flus' watch. For 3 years now, the Bears have been ill prepared in nearly all phases of the game going into the season. The OL was one of the worst. It was literally Keystone Cop-ish out there for the first few games of the season. That's inexcusable multiple years running. Caleb and Rome/DJ/Keenan/Cole should have been much more in sync than they were in the beginning of the season. There are just so many little things that are noticeable if you follow the team year round that were just off and in the end it all falls on the leadership.

Disfunction happens in all organizations. Some teams are just better at settling those things in-house than others.

I was in Illinois for the Flus tenure and he was in way over his head as a head coach. He made some blunders that D-II coaches don't make. I'm not shilling him as a great coach or anything.

The problem is that Ben Johnson gets a squad that will have no problems crying to the media/x/podcasts because when they did it regarding problems with Eberflus, something was done about those problems. When bad behavior is rewarded, it usually gets repeated. Especially when young players see veteran players doing the bad behavior.

Johnson is a rookie NFL head coach. He's never been a head coach at any level. Lots of learning on the job. He's going to screw up from time to time. We'll see how the players react to those miscues. I would 100% love to be wrong and have Johnson have his players rally around him like Campbell has in Detroit, with nary a negative peep coming from social media. Hopefully the coaches coach and the players play and everyone is in full-on Kumbaya mode all season. I'd love it.

I'm a Bears fan, I've been here since the bridge from Butkus to Payton, I could pick Brian Baschnagel out of a lineup, I did shots with a guy who said he was Maury Buford, I wore half shirts briefly in the 80's because it's what Otis Wilson did (Otis can pull that look off, me - I found - not so much). Bears fans have suffered through a LOT of Bears coaching incompetence over the years, but I've never seen the Bears players get as bitchy about it as the 2024 group. 2025 is a new year, a fresh start. Let's go Bears!

Yep, I don't think many of us have illusions of Ben being the end all be all from the start. I'm sure it will take some time to get his head coach feet under him. The biggest difference between him and Flus is accountability. Flus often spoke in platitudes and dodged taking responsibility for any of the team's missteps. He also threw players or units under the bus from time to time. I'm sure that pissed off many in the locker room. In contrast, Caleb took ownership of his mistakes and often took on responsibility for things that weren't necessarily under his control (like the clock management fiasco vs DET).

 

[Deranged Hermit]

"Caleb and I are going to be spending a lot of time together"

"The qb has to see the offense through the eyes of the play caller"

I'm not sure what FA rbs are available this year, but it would not shock me to see a RB come in. Maybe like a David Montgomery (see what I did there )

 

[Sunday Gravy]

"Caleb and I are going to be spending a lot of time together"

"The qb has to see the offense through the eyes of the play caller"

I'm not sure what FA rbs are available this year, but it would not shock me to see a RB come in. Maybe like a David Montgomery (see what I did there )

Javonte Williams from Denver might be interesting. Still real young.

 

[Max Power]

I know its not good to force a position at a certain draft pick, but 71 looks perfect in this draft to get a high end RB. Singleton going back hurts this a bit, but there is so much talent and depth at RB this year, I see excellent value late day 2.

 

[opensourcebeer]

Sounds like the Bears are cleaning house.

Interim HC Thomas Brown, DC Eric Washington, interim OC/WR Chris Beatty, QB coach Kerry Washington, and O-Line/run game coordinator Chris Morgan out the door.

 

[Max Power]

Sounds like the Bears are cleaning house.

Interim HC Thomas Brown, DC Eric Washington, interim OC/WR Chris Beatty, QB coach Kerry Washington, and O-Line/run game coordinator Chris Morgan out the door.

So happy to see Ben is bringing the Detroit OL coach along. Instant improvement as Morgan was trash and only looked good on paper because Fields was a running QB.

 

[miqws]

Sorry - old article on prior post (deleted)! Here is what I found for Hank Fraley and Bears:

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/bears/2025/01/22/hank-fraley-not-expected-to-join-bears-ben-johnson-coaching-staff/77887009007/

 

[BassNBrew]

At the introductory press conference Johnson said he wanted to stay in the NFC North because he really enjoys beating Matt LaFleur twice a year.

did he really say that?

x.com

x.com

Well that was kind of awkward. I didn't even hear a chuckle. Probably should have said Packers and not called out a collegue. Gonna be fun when he chokes in the playoffs to the Packers and that gets replayed..

 

[Max Power]

Ideally with the coach in place now, I'd still like to see Chicago break the bank on G Trey Smith, and also sign KC WR Hollywood Brown. Add stability up front and get the field stretcher.

Draft...

OL at 10
DL at 39
OL at 41
RB at 72

 

[Statorama]

At the introductory press conference Johnson said he wanted to stay in the NFC North because he really enjoys beating Matt LaFleur twice a year.

did he really say that?

x.com

x.com

Well that was kind of awkward. I didn't even hear a chuckle. Probably should have said Packers and not called out a collegue. Gonna be fun when he chokes in the playoffs to the Packers and that gets replayed..

While I like the confidence, I don't like calling LaFleur out specifically. He already does just fine coaching against (and getting his team prepared for) the Bears without giving him some bulletin board material.

"New Bears Coach" 101 playbook - talk about how you're going to beat the Packers.

 

[Deranged Hermit]

Sorry - old article on prior post (deleted)! Here is what I found for Hank Fraley and Bears:

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/bears/2025/01/22/hank-fraley-not-expected-to-join-bears-ben-johnson-coaching-staff/77887009007/

I remember Fraley from when he played for Philadelphia. Tough, no nonsense type. I always liked him.

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

I could pick Brian Baschnagel out of a lineup

What about Golden Richards?

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

I'm never happy to see another man lose his job, but I think moving on from Chris Morgan was the right thing to do.

x.com

x.com

 

[Statorama]

I could pick Brian Baschnagel out of a lineup

What about Golden Richards?

I think Golden Richards has been picked out of an actual lineup
(RIP)

 

[travdogg]

Ideally with the coach in place now, I'd still like to see Chicago break the bank on G Trey Smith, and also sign KC WR Hollywood Brown. Add stability up front and get the field stretcher.

Draft...

OL at 10
DL at 39
OL at 41
RB at 72

Positional value being what it is and all, but I wouldn't hate Jeanty at 10. He feels like a top-5 in the NFL level prospect, and I have always felt Swift is just a COP/3rd down caliber player. Not saying RB is THE biggest need, but Jeanty could be the top talent available.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

Ideally with the coach in place now, I'd still like to see Chicago break the bank on G Trey Smith, and also sign KC WR Hollywood Brown. Add stability up front and get the field stretcher.

Draft...

OL at 10
DL at 39
OL at 41
RB at 72

Positional value being what it is and all, but I wouldn't hate Jeanty at 10. He feels like a top-5 in the NFL level prospect, and I have always felt Swift is just a COP/3rd down caliber player. Not saying RB is THE biggest need, but Jeanty could be the top talent available.

While jeanty would be awesome, I can't imagine Poles choosing a position other than OT or Edge at 10. That where the real need and positional value meet. I think Johnson can get the most out of a combo of swift and roschon. I'd be fine with taking an edge at 10 if one of the top 2 OT isn't available. If the Bears do that, then they need to go IOL, IOL in the 2nd. 2 highly regarded rookies and a vet FA would go a long way to helping out this OL.

 

[travdogg]

Ideally with the coach in place now, I'd still like to see Chicago break the bank on G Trey Smith, and also sign KC WR Hollywood Brown. Add stability up front and get the field stretcher.

Draft...

OL at 10
DL at 39
OL at 41
RB at 72

Positional value being what it is and all, but I wouldn't hate Jeanty at 10. He feels like a top-5 in the NFL level prospect, and I have always felt Swift is just a COP/3rd down caliber player. Not saying RB is THE biggest need, but Jeanty could be the top talent available.

While jeanty would be awesome, I can't imagine Poles choosing a position other than OT or Edge at 10. That where the real need and positional value meet. I think Johnson can get the most out of a combo of swift and roschon. I'd be fine with taking an edge at 10 if one of the top 2 OT isn't available. If the Bears do that, then they need to go IOL, IOL in the 2nd. 2 highly regarded rookies and a vet FA would go a long way to helping out this OL.

I know its considered a hot take, but I actually think the OL isn't really that big of an issue. I think the horrible play calling made the OL look WAY worse than it is. Its a league average OL, if Jenkins stays, with upside. Jones/Wright is a legit good OT combo.

I will agree DL is a huge need, Its Sweat and...

An ideal draft for me, would be:
10-James Pearce EDGE
39-Tyleik Williams DT
41-Omarion Hampton RB
72-Darion Porter CB

 

[Deranged Hermit]

Ideally with the coach in place now, I'd still like to see Chicago break the bank on G Trey Smith, and also sign KC WR Hollywood Brown. Add stability up front and get the field stretcher.

Draft...

OL at 10
DL at 39
OL at 41
RB at 72

Positional value being what it is and all, but I wouldn't hate Jeanty at 10. He feels like a top-5 in the NFL level prospect, and I have always felt Swift is just a COP/3rd down caliber player. Not saying RB is THE biggest need, but Jeanty could be the top talent available.

CBS just mocked Jeanety to Chicago in their latest draft. I wouldn't hate it. That would definitely take pressure off Williams.

 

[Sunday Gravy]

If we don't address the lines with our first two picks we deserve more of the usual misery.

 

[Sunday Gravy]

Ideally with the coach in place now, I'd still like to see Chicago break the bank on G Trey Smith, and also sign KC WR Hollywood Brown. Add stability up front and get the field stretcher.

Draft...

OL at 10
DL at 39
OL at 41
RB at 72

Positional value being what it is and all, but I wouldn't hate Jeanty at 10. He feels like a top-5 in the NFL level prospect, and I have always felt Swift is just a COP/3rd down caliber player. Not saying RB is THE biggest need, but Jeanty could be the top talent available.

While jeanty would be awesome, I can't imagine Poles choosing a position other than OT or Edge at 10. That where the real need and positional value meet. I think Johnson can get the most out of a combo of swift and roschon. I'd be fine with taking an edge at 10 if one of the top 2 OT isn't available. If the Bears do that, then they need to go IOL, IOL in the 2nd. 2 highly regarded rookies and a vet FA would go a long way to helping out this OL.

I know its considered a hot take, but I actually think the OL isn't really that big of an issue. I think the horrible play calling made the OL look WAY worse than it is. Its a league average OL, if Jenkins stays, with upside. Jones/Wright is a legit good OT combo.

I will agree DL is a huge need, Its Sweat and...

An ideal draft for me, would be:
10-James Pearce EDGE
39-Tyleik Williams DT
41-Omarion Hampton RB
72-Darion Porter CB

This is hard to fathom from someone that I assume watched this team this year.

Why would we want to keep Jenkins? He's always a problem.... ALWAYS. The interior of our line was the worst I've ever seen in my 35+ years watching this team. Simply put, if we don't add 3 new starters to this line we are just not giving Johnson or Caleb any chance to succeed.

 

[travdogg]

Ideally with the coach in place now, I'd still like to see Chicago break the bank on G Trey Smith, and also sign KC WR Hollywood Brown. Add stability up front and get the field stretcher.

Draft...

OL at 10
DL at 39
OL at 41
RB at 72

Positional value being what it is and all, but I wouldn't hate Jeanty at 10. He feels like a top-5 in the NFL level prospect, and I have always felt Swift is just a COP/3rd down caliber player. Not saying RB is THE biggest need, but Jeanty could be the top talent available.

While jeanty would be awesome, I can't imagine Poles choosing a position other than OT or Edge at 10. That where the real need and positional value meet. I think Johnson can get the most out of a combo of swift and roschon. I'd be fine with taking an edge at 10 if one of the top 2 OT isn't available. If the Bears do that, then they need to go IOL, IOL in the 2nd. 2 highly regarded rookies and a vet FA would go a long way to helping out this OL.

I know its considered a hot take, but I actually think the OL isn't really that big of an issue. I think the horrible play calling made the OL look WAY worse than it is. Its a league average OL, if Jenkins stays, with upside. Jones/Wright is a legit good OT combo.

I will agree DL is a huge need, Its Sweat and...

An ideal draft for me, would be:
10-James Pearce EDGE
39-Tyleik Williams DT
41-Omarion Hampton RB
72-Darion Porter CB

This is hard to fathom from someone that I assume watched this team this year.

Why would we want to keep Jenkins? He's always a problem.... ALWAYS. The interior of our line was the worst I've ever seen in my 35+ years watching this team. Simply put, if we don't add 3 new starters to this line we are just not giving Johnson or Caleb any chance to succeed.

I couldn't disagree more about Jenkins. He's the team's best lineman, and one of the best Guards in the NFL. Durability is his only issue. He's a great run blocker, and a good enough pass blocker. He's given up 11 sacks in over 2200 snaps. 1 sack per 200 snaps is pretty solid, considering how long the QBs have held the ball, which I'd attribute mostly to poor play design.

I'd also strongly disagree about this being the worst interior of the last 35 years. I'd actually argue it was much better than the 2023 team, which featured the corpse of Cody Whitehair, and the never good Lucas Patrick. Matt Pryor and Coleman Shelton were upgrades from those guys, if still nothing special. If anything, I credit Justin Fields for having more escape ability than Caleb Williams (which isn't a shot at Williams, more a credit to Fields) but the OL, to me, is actually a thing that doesn't really need an upgrade.

It could be better (at C especially) but its not this gigantic hole killing the offense. Its better than Minnesota's (post Darrisaw injury) or Green Bay's. Those teams just have quality play callers not sinking everything. Far too often plays just had no logic to them, with terrible route concepts and that often led to the ball not coming it on time, because nobody was really open, or running routes that made no situational sense. Caleb Williams had the 6th (Hurts, Lamar, Fields, Darnold, Watson) longest time to throw of any QB in the NFL, and the 2nd (Levis) highest pressure to sack rate in the NFL. Much of that is on him, but more so on bad coaching.

The whole "most sacks allowed in the NFL" stat, in my opinion does not condemn the OL at all. The Rams were the 6th least sacked team in the NFL, and their pass blocking was much worse than the Bears, but their QB/play caller were assets (might not be fair to hold many to McVay's standard) and they had 37 fewer sacks.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

Ideally with the coach in place now, I'd still like to see Chicago break the bank on G Trey Smith, and also sign KC WR Hollywood Brown. Add stability up front and get the field stretcher.

Draft...

OL at 10
DL at 39
OL at 41
RB at 72

Positional value being what it is and all, but I wouldn't hate Jeanty at 10. He feels like a top-5 in the NFL level prospect, and I have always felt Swift is just a COP/3rd down caliber player. Not saying RB is THE biggest need, but Jeanty could be the top talent available.

While jeanty would be awesome, I can't imagine Poles choosing a position other than OT or Edge at 10. That where the real need and positional value meet. I think Johnson can get the most out of a combo of swift and roschon. I'd be fine with taking an edge at 10 if one of the top 2 OT isn't available. If the Bears do that, then they need to go IOL, IOL in the 2nd. 2 highly regarded rookies and a vet FA would go a long way to helping out this OL.

I know its considered a hot take, but I actually think the OL isn't really that big of an issue. I think the horrible play calling made the OL look WAY worse than it is. Its a league average OL, if Jenkins stays, with upside. Jones/Wright is a legit good OT combo.

I will agree DL is a huge need, Its Sweat and...

An ideal draft for me, would be:
10-James Pearce EDGE
39-Tyleik Williams DT
41-Omarion Hampton RB
72-Darion Porter CB

This is hard to fathom from someone that I assume watched this team this year.

Why would we want to keep Jenkins? He's always a problem.... ALWAYS. The interior of our line was the worst I've ever seen in my 35+ years watching this team. Simply put, if we don't add 3 new starters to this line we are just not giving Johnson or Caleb any chance to succeed.

I couldn't disagree more about Jenkins. He's the team's best lineman, and one of the best Guards in the NFL. Durability is his only issue. He's a great run blocker, and a good enough pass blocker. He's given up 11 sacks in over 2200 snaps. 1 sack per 200 snaps is pretty solid, considering how long the QBs have held the ball, which I'd attribute mostly to poor play design.

I'd also strongly disagree about this being the worst interior of the last 35 years. I'd actually argue it was much better than the 2023 team, which featured the corpse of Cody Whitehair, and the never good Lucas Patrick. Matt Pryor and Coleman Shelton were upgrades from those guys, if still nothing special. If anything, I credit Justin Fields for having more escape ability than Caleb Williams (which isn't a shot at Williams, more a credit to Fields) but the OL, to me, is actually a thing that doesn't really need an upgrade.

It could be better (at C especially) but its not this gigantic hole killing the offense. Its better than Minnesota's (post Darrisaw injury) or Green Bay's. Those teams just have quality play callers not sinking everything. Far too often plays just had no logic to them, with terrible route concepts and that often led to the ball not coming it on time, because nobody was really open, or running routes that made no situational sense. Caleb Williams had the 6th (Hurts, Lamar, Fields, Darnold, Watson) longest time to throw of any QB in the NFL, and the 2nd (Levis) highest pressure to sack rate in the NFL. Much of that is on him, but more so on bad coaching.

The whole "most sacks allowed in the NFL" stat, in my opinion does not condemn the OL at all. The Rams were the 6th least sacked team in the NFL, and their pass blocking was much worse than the Bears, but their QB/play caller were assets (might not be fair to hold many to McVay's standard) and they had 37 fewer sacks.

I'm not a fan of blanket grading, but PFF does give a #15 grade to the Bears OL. In that regard, I see your point. I think most of us saw the downright hysterical antics of the OL in the first 4-5 games of the season and call it a day. Both Wright and Jones scored above average on the PFF grade (again, not the end all be all of analysis). But the IOL was a mess, partially because Nate Davis become such a gigantic bust. I'd like to see another OT in the rotation and at least 2-3 IOL to add to the rotation from the draft or free agency. The OL was hit with the injury bug throughout the season and we were razor thin in depth.

I agree, another DT and Edge are priority.

 

[FairWarning]

Fellow Bears Fans: PLEASE give this guy some rope. He won't come in and turn this motley crew into contenders overnight.

I believe this is also his first head coaching gig ANYWHERE. He's going to have a lot of duties he didn't have as an OC and he's learning on the job.

Ben Johnson: PLEASE do not think you can be the OC and HC. We just watched Eberflus try to be the HC and the DC. It doesn't work. I'm not saying you can't be the playcaller. Sean Payton did it for years in NO. But for the day to day OC things, bring one of your guys over from DET - even if it's something like TE coach. Someone that knows your general system that you can work with.

Ben Johnson was a great hire. The best young coach available on the market and could easily turn into a McVey-type. Kuddos to the Bears for scooping him up in a hot market. But the kid is raw, and the Bears are oozing with malcontents in the locker room. Don't get me wrong, most of the team is just guys shutting up and playing ball. But there's plenty of finger-pointers on this Bears team that are itching to throw their coach under the bus on a tweet or a Podcast. Johnson's no longer in the land of "everybody wants to have a beer with the HC" land of Dan Campbell's Detroit. How he deals with the bad apples on the team will dictate his tenure in CHI.

I disagree with the idea the Bears have locker room problems. The past two years have seen coaching incompetence that may be unique in all of NFL history.

- 2023: Justin Fields publicly calls out the coaching staff for game planning and preparation. If this sounds like finger-pointing, just wait.
- 2023: Justin Fields gets hurt against Minnesota. In comes Tyson Bagent, and suddenly the playbook opens up...for the back up QB.
- 2023: the coaching staff is publicly ecstatic about the opportunity to play Tyson Bagent at QB when Fields is injured. We are treated to a national broadcast extolling Bagent's virtues and how Justin Fields needs to learn from a guy who last played against the Colorado School of Mines. The Bears lose 40-7 to an eventual 5-12 team, when the coaching staff finally got to play "their guy."
- 2023: Rodney Harrison publicly calls out Justin Fields on Sunday Night Football for wearing sunglasses on the sidelines, saying he's only concerned about looking cool and isn't interested in learning and improving. Fields has epilepsy and wears glasses or a visor to deal with bright/flashing stadium lights. No one on the Bears coaching staff says a word about their at-the-time franchise QB.

- 2024: Bears players force a meeting with the coaching staff to call out the fact that the offensive coordinator is not scripting the first 15 plays.
- 2024: Bears players try to get Caleb Williams benched to protect him from the coaching staff. I've never heard of this in any sport, ever.
- 2024: Bears GM Ryan Poles publicly acknowledges training camp was a complete mess

When you have players repeatedly calling out their coaches for failure of preparation, what do you think is going on? I would argue this points to a positive culture, sick of losing and wanting to win. Yes, players checked out after the Eberflus firing. Yes, they have been through a lot under his moronic tenure.

I think a lot of non Bears fans just didn't see the day in and day out disfunction that occurred under Flus' watch. For 3 years now, the Bears have been ill prepared in nearly all phases of the game going into the season. The OL was one of the worst. It was literally Keystone Cop-ish out there for the first few games of the season. That's inexcusable multiple years running. Caleb and Rome/DJ/Keenan/Cole should have been much more in sync than they were in the beginning of the season. There are just so many little things that are noticeable if you follow the team year round that were just off and in the end it all falls on the leadership.

To expand on the assistants, it was nonstop changes in-season. The Bears were rarely prepared, and there was little attention to detail. The little mistakes that Houston made vs KC? Those happened with Chicago most every week. A team learning to win cannot perform like that - that is 100% on coaching.

 

[Deranged Hermit]

Ideally with the coach in place now, I'd still like to see Chicago break the bank on G Trey Smith, and also sign KC WR Hollywood Brown. Add stability up front and get the field stretcher.

Draft...

OL at 10
DL at 39
OL at 41
RB at 72

Positional value being what it is and all, but I wouldn't hate Jeanty at 10. He feels like a top-5 in the NFL level prospect, and I have always felt Swift is just a COP/3rd down caliber player. Not saying RB is THE biggest need, but Jeanty could be the top talent available.

While jeanty would be awesome, I can't imagine Poles choosing a position other than OT or Edge at 10. That where the real need and positional value meet. I think Johnson can get the most out of a combo of swift and roschon. I'd be fine with taking an edge at 10 if one of the top 2 OT isn't available. If the Bears do that, then they need to go IOL, IOL in the 2nd. 2 highly regarded rookies and a vet FA would go a long way to helping out this OL.

I know its considered a hot take, but I actually think the OL isn't really that big of an issue. I think the horrible play calling made the OL look WAY worse than it is. Its a league average OL, if Jenkins stays, with upside. Jones/Wright is a legit good OT combo.

I will agree DL is a huge need, Its Sweat and...

An ideal draft for me, would be:
10-James Pearce EDGE
39-Tyleik Williams DT
41-Omarion Hampton RB
72-Darion Porter CB

This is hard to fathom from someone that I assume watched this team this year.

Why would we want to keep Jenkins? He's always a problem.... ALWAYS. The interior of our line was the worst I've ever seen in my 35+ years watching this team. Simply put, if we don't add 3 new starters to this line we are just not giving Johnson or Caleb any chance to succeed.

I couldn't disagree more about Jenkins. He's the team's best lineman, and one of the best Guards in the NFL. Durability is his only issue. He's a great run blocker, and a good enough pass blocker. He's given up 11 sacks in over 2200 snaps. 1 sack per 200 snaps is pretty solid, considering how long the QBs have held the ball, which I'd attribute mostly to poor play design.

I'd also strongly disagree about this being the worst interior of the last 35 years. I'd actually argue it was much better than the 2023 team, which featured the corpse of Cody Whitehair, and the never good Lucas Patrick. Matt Pryor and Coleman Shelton were upgrades from those guys, if still nothing special. If anything, I credit Justin Fields for having more escape ability than Caleb Williams (which isn't a shot at Williams, more a credit to Fields) but the OL, to me, is actually a thing that doesn't really need an upgrade.

It could be better (at C especially) but its not this gigantic hole killing the offense. Its better than Minnesota's (post Darrisaw injury) or Green Bay's. Those teams just have quality play callers not sinking everything. Far too often plays just had no logic to them, with terrible route concepts and that often led to the ball not coming it on time, because nobody was really open, or running routes that made no situational sense. Caleb Williams had the 6th (Hurts, Lamar, Fields, Darnold, Watson) longest time to throw of any QB in the NFL, and the 2nd (Levis) highest pressure to sack rate in the NFL. Much of that is on him, but more so on bad coaching.

The whole "most sacks allowed in the NFL" stat, in my opinion does not condemn the OL at all. The Rams were the 6th least sacked team in the NFL, and their pass blocking was much worse than the Bears, but their QB/play caller were assets (might not be fair to hold many to McVay's standard) and they had 37 fewer sacks.

I'm not a fan of blanket grading, but PFF does give a #15 grade to the Bears OL. In that regard, I see your point. I think most of us saw the downright hysterical antics of the OL in the first 4-5 games of the season and call it a day. Both Wright and Jones scored above average on the PFF grade (again, not the end all be all of analysis). But the IOL was a mess, partially because Nate Davis become such a gigantic bust. I'd like to see another OT in the rotation and at least 2-3 IOL to add to the rotation from the draft or free agency. The OL was hit with the injury bug throughout the season and we were razor thin in depth.

I agree, another DT and Edge are priority.

DT is deep in this draft. Carter from Penn state is obviously ideal, but their win against GB the last week of the season probably screwed that up. The DTs from Michigan intrugue me as well.
The top o-linemen I'm not so sure about. I think most of the top Tackles will probably be moved inside, so they might drop more than we think.
Jeanty can't be dismissed considering Johnson's use of RBs in Detroit. I don't think that's where we go, but I can't totally rule it out either.

 

[rschroeder1]

Ideally with the coach in place now, I'd still like to see Chicago break the bank on G Trey Smith, and also sign KC WR Hollywood Brown. Add stability up front and get the field stretcher.

Draft...

OL at 10
DL at 39
OL at 41
RB at 72

Positional value being what it is and all, but I wouldn't hate Jeanty at 10. He feels like a top-5 in the NFL level prospect, and I have always felt Swift is just a COP/3rd down caliber player. Not saying RB is THE biggest need, but Jeanty could be the top talent available.

While jeanty would be awesome, I can't imagine Poles choosing a position other than OT or Edge at 10. That where the real need and positional value meet. I think Johnson can get the most out of a combo of swift and roschon. I'd be fine with taking an edge at 10 if one of the top 2 OT isn't available. If the Bears do that, then they need to go IOL, IOL in the 2nd. 2 highly regarded rookies and a vet FA would go a long way to helping out this OL.

I know its considered a hot take, but I actually think the OL isn't really that big of an issue. I think the horrible play calling made the OL look WAY worse than it is. Its a league average OL, if Jenkins stays, with upside. Jones/Wright is a legit good OT combo.

I will agree DL is a huge need, Its Sweat and...

An ideal draft for me, would be:
10-James Pearce EDGE
39-Tyleik Williams DT
41-Omarion Hampton RB
72-Darion Porter CB

This is hard to fathom from someone that I assume watched this team this year.

Why would we want to keep Jenkins? He's always a problem.... ALWAYS. The interior of our line was the worst I've ever seen in my 35+ years watching this team. Simply put, if we don't add 3 new starters to this line we are just not giving Johnson or Caleb any chance to succeed.

I couldn't disagree more about Jenkins. He's the team's best lineman, and one of the best Guards in the NFL. Durability is his only issue. He's a great run blocker, and a good enough pass blocker. He's given up 11 sacks in over 2200 snaps. 1 sack per 200 snaps is pretty solid, considering how long the QBs have held the ball, which I'd attribute mostly to poor play design.

I'd also strongly disagree about this being the worst interior of the last 35 years. I'd actually argue it was much better than the 2023 team, which featured the corpse of Cody Whitehair, and the never good Lucas Patrick. Matt Pryor and Coleman Shelton were upgrades from those guys, if still nothing special. If anything, I credit Justin Fields for having more escape ability than Caleb Williams (which isn't a shot at Williams, more a credit to Fields) but the OL, to me, is actually a thing that doesn't really need an upgrade.

It could be better (at C especially) but its not this gigantic hole killing the offense. Its better than Minnesota's (post Darrisaw injury) or Green Bay's. Those teams just have quality play callers not sinking everything. Far too often plays just had no logic to them, with terrible route concepts and that often led to the ball not coming it on time, because nobody was really open, or running routes that made no situational sense. Caleb Williams had the 6th (Hurts, Lamar, Fields, Darnold, Watson) longest time to throw of any QB in the NFL, and the 2nd (Levis) highest pressure to sack rate in the NFL. Much of that is on him, but more so on bad coaching.

The whole "most sacks allowed in the NFL" stat, in my opinion does not condemn the OL at all. The Rams were the 6th least sacked team in the NFL, and their pass blocking was much worse than the Bears, but their QB/play caller were assets (might not be fair to hold many to McVay's standard) and they had 37 fewer sacks.

I just disagree with the premise that "fine" is acceptable on the offensive line. In a salary capped league, you do have to accept "fine" or "ok" at some positions, but perennially the teams that reach the last 8 and last 4 in the playoffs are teams with dominant offensive and defensive lines, or at least individuals in those spots who are dominant. The Bears don't have anyone on the O-line that you would describe as dominant. Jenkins doesn't count - you can't be dominant if you don't play.

The Bears' primary problem from a personnel view (outside of QB) is rosters full of players who are fine or good, but very few blue chip players.

 

[ZWK]

I hope the Bears extend Braxton Jones, who has played pretty well and is going into the last year of his rookie deal.

And if Jones+Wright are going to be the OT duo long-term then there's no need for an OT pick at 10. There was a sack problem last year, which was partly on Caleb holding onto the ball too long, partly on backups like Larry Borom playing badly, partly on the coaching staff. But that doesn't mean that you have to force an OL pick in the first round, especially if it doesn't make sense given the guys you already have.

It is worth trying to find better depth behind their starters - do they expect Amegadjie to develop into a competent swing tackle (he was worse than Borom last year, as a rookie), or was Matt Pryor good enough at tackle if they bring him back, or should they bring someone in? But that's not a first-round-of-the-draft level priority.

IOL is up in the air, with all 3 of last year's starters going into free agency (Jenkins, Pryor, Shelton). Might be worth using an earlyish pick there, but that should be a day 2 pick or maybe a late 1st after a trade-down since (absent a Quenton Nelson level prospect) a guard isn't worth pick 10.

 

[FairWarning]

I hope the Bears extend Braxton Jones, who has played pretty well and is going into the last year of his rookie deal.

And if Jones+Wright are going to be the OT duo long-term then there's no need for an OT pick at 10. There was a sack problem last year, which was partly on Caleb holding onto the ball too long, partly on backups like Larry Borom playing badly, partly on the coaching staff. But that doesn't mean that you have to force an OL pick in the first round, especially if it doesn't make sense given the guys you already have.

It is worth trying to find better depth behind their starters - do they expect Amegadjie to develop into a competent swing tackle (he was worse than Borom last year, as a rookie), or was Matt Pryor good enough at tackle if they bring him back, or should they bring someone in? But that's not a first-round-of-the-draft level priority.

IOL is up in the air, with all 3 of last year's starters going into free agency (Jenkins, Pryor, Shelton). Might be worth using an earlyish pick there, but that should be a day 2 pick or maybe a late 1st after a trade-down since (absent a Quenton Nelson level prospect) a guard isn't worth pick 10.

They have enough areas where the best available player should be a major contributor. I don’t want them to take an injured prospect and think they have value.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

I hope the Bears extend Braxton Jones, who has played pretty well and is going into the last year of his rookie deal.

And if Jones+Wright are going to be the OT duo long-term then there's no need for an OT pick at 10. There was a sack problem last year, which was partly on Caleb holding onto the ball too long, partly on backups like Larry Borom playing badly, partly on the coaching staff. But that doesn't mean that you have to force an OL pick in the first round, especially if it doesn't make sense given the guys you already have.

It is worth trying to find better depth behind their starters - do they expect Amegadjie to develop into a competent swing tackle (he was worse than Borom last year, as a rookie), or was Matt Pryor good enough at tackle if they bring him back, or should they bring someone in? But that's not a first-round-of-the-draft level priority.

IOL is up in the air, with all 3 of last year's starters going into free agency (Jenkins, Pryor, Shelton). Might be worth using an earlyish pick there, but that should be a day 2 pick or maybe a late 1st after a trade-down since (absent a Quenton Nelson level prospect) a guard isn't worth pick 10.

Amegadjie's PFF grade (again, objectivity concerns) was 136th out of 144 graded tackles. He was bad in 2024. Maybe things start to click and he become a good rotational tackle, maybe not. I do think there's a need to draft OT. I'm partial to Banks because of his measurables, but Campbell was just plain dominant. I'd like us to target a guy like Rutledge/Booker in the 2nd to secure another rotational piece (potential starter) on the IOL. We also need a center. Aside from a 32 year old Ryan Kelly, there's not much on the FA market at C. That's probably a spot where we draft a C early on day 3 and pick up a depth piece in free agency.

 

[Sunday Gravy]

Ideally with the coach in place now, I'd still like to see Chicago break the bank on G Trey Smith, and also sign KC WR Hollywood Brown. Add stability up front and get the field stretcher.

Draft...

OL at 10
DL at 39
OL at 41
RB at 72

Positional value being what it is and all, but I wouldn't hate Jeanty at 10. He feels like a top-5 in the NFL level prospect, and I have always felt Swift is just a COP/3rd down caliber player. Not saying RB is THE biggest need, but Jeanty could be the top talent available.

While jeanty would be awesome, I can't imagine Poles choosing a position other than OT or Edge at 10. That where the real need and positional value meet. I think Johnson can get the most out of a combo of swift and roschon. I'd be fine with taking an edge at 10 if one of the top 2 OT isn't available. If the Bears do that, then they need to go IOL, IOL in the 2nd. 2 highly regarded rookies and a vet FA would go a long way to helping out this OL.

I know its considered a hot take, but I actually think the OL isn't really that big of an issue. I think the horrible play calling made the OL look WAY worse than it is. Its a league average OL, if Jenkins stays, with upside. Jones/Wright is a legit good OT combo.

I will agree DL is a huge need, Its Sweat and...

An ideal draft for me, would be:
10-James Pearce EDGE
39-Tyleik Williams DT
41-Omarion Hampton RB
72-Darion Porter CB

This is hard to fathom from someone that I assume watched this team this year.

Why would we want to keep Jenkins? He's always a problem.... ALWAYS. The interior of our line was the worst I've ever seen in my 35+ years watching this team. Simply put, if we don't add 3 new starters to this line we are just not giving Johnson or Caleb any chance to succeed.

I couldn't disagree more about Jenkins. He's the team's best lineman, and one of the best Guards in the NFL. Durability is his only issue. He's a great run blocker, and a good enough pass blocker. He's given up 11 sacks in over 2200 snaps. 1 sack per 200 snaps is pretty solid, considering how long the QBs have held the ball, which I'd attribute mostly to poor play design.

I'd also strongly disagree about this being the worst interior of the last 35 years. I'd actually argue it was much better than the 2023 team, which featured the corpse of Cody Whitehair, and the never good Lucas Patrick. Matt Pryor and Coleman Shelton were upgrades from those guys, if still nothing special. If anything, I credit Justin Fields for having more escape ability than Caleb Williams (which isn't a shot at Williams, more a credit to Fields) but the OL, to me, is actually a thing that doesn't really need an upgrade.

It could be better (at C especially) but its not this gigantic hole killing the offense. Its better than Minnesota's (post Darrisaw injury) or Green Bay's. Those teams just have quality play callers not sinking everything. Far too often plays just had no logic to them, with terrible route concepts and that often led to the ball not coming it on time, because nobody was really open, or running routes that made no situational sense. Caleb Williams had the 6th (Hurts, Lamar, Fields, Darnold, Watson) longest time to throw of any QB in the NFL, and the 2nd (Levis) highest pressure to sack rate in the NFL. Much of that is on him, but more so on bad coaching.

The whole "most sacks allowed in the NFL" stat, in my opinion does not condemn the OL at all. The Rams were the 6th least sacked team in the NFL, and their pass blocking was much worse than the Bears, but their QB/play caller were assets (might not be fair to hold many to McVay's standard) and they had 37 fewer sacks.

I just disagree with the premise that "fine" is acceptable on the offensive line. In a salary capped league, you do have to accept "fine" or "ok" at some positions, but perennially the teams that reach the last 8 and last 4 in the playoffs are teams with dominant offensive and defensive lines, or at least individuals in those spots who are dominant. The Bears don't have anyone on the O-line that you would describe as dominant. Jenkins doesn't count - you can't be dominant if you don't play.

The Bears' primary problem from a personnel view (outside of QB) is rosters full of players who are fine or good, but very few blue chip players.

Well said. But the line isn't fine. It's below fine.

 

[Sunday Gravy]

I hope the Bears extend Braxton Jones, who has played pretty well and is going into the last year of his rookie deal.

And if Jones+Wright are going to be the OT duo long-term then there's no need for an OT pick at 10. There was a sack problem last year, which was partly on Caleb holding onto the ball too long, partly on backups like Larry Borom playing badly, partly on the coaching staff. But that doesn't mean that you have to force an OL pick in the first round, especially if it doesn't make sense given the guys you already have.

It is worth trying to find better depth behind their starters - do they expect Amegadjie to develop into a competent swing tackle (he was worse than Borom last year, as a rookie), or was Matt Pryor good enough at tackle if they bring him back, or should they bring someone in? But that's not a first-round-of-the-draft level priority.

IOL is up in the air, with all 3 of last year's starters going into free agency (Jenkins, Pryor, Shelton). Might be worth using an earlyish pick there, but that should be a day 2 pick or maybe a late 1st after a trade-down since (absent a Quenton Nelson level prospect) a guard isn't worth pick 10.

Amegadjie's PFF grade (again, objectivity concerns) was 136th out of 144 graded tackles. He was bad in 2024. Maybe things start to click and he become a good rotational tackle, maybe not. I do think there's a need to draft OT. I'm partial to Banks because of his measurables, but Campbell was just plain dominant. I'd like us to target a guy like Rutledge/Booker in the 2nd to secure another rotational piece (potential starter) on the IOL. We also need a center. Aside from a 32 year old Ryan Kelly, there's not much on the FA market at C. That's probably a spot where we draft a C early on day 3 and pick up a depth piece in free agency.

Isn't the center from Atlanta a FA? Can't remember his name.

 

[nirad3]

I hope the Bears extend Braxton Jones, who has played pretty well and is going into the last year of his rookie deal.

And if Jones+Wright are going to be the OT duo long-term then there's no need for an OT pick at 10. There was a sack problem last year, which was partly on Caleb holding onto the ball too long, partly on backups like Larry Borom playing badly, partly on the coaching staff. But that doesn't mean that you have to force an OL pick in the first round, especially if it doesn't make sense given the guys you already have.

It is worth trying to find better depth behind their starters - do they expect Amegadjie to develop into a competent swing tackle (he was worse than Borom last year, as a rookie), or was Matt Pryor good enough at tackle if they bring him back, or should they bring someone in? But that's not a first-round-of-the-draft level priority.

IOL is up in the air, with all 3 of last year's starters going into free agency (Jenkins, Pryor, Shelton). Might be worth using an earlyish pick there, but that should be a day 2 pick or maybe a late 1st after a trade-down since (absent a Quenton Nelson level prospect) a guard isn't worth pick 10.

Amegadjie's PFF grade (again, objectivity concerns) was 136th out of 144 graded tackles. He was bad in 2024. Maybe things start to click and he become a good rotational tackle, maybe not. I do think there's a need to draft OT. I'm partial to Banks because of his measurables, but Campbell was just plain dominant. I'd like us to target a guy like Rutledge/Booker in the 2nd to secure another rotational piece (potential starter) on the IOL. We also need a center. Aside from a 32 year old Ryan Kelly, there's not much on the FA market at C. That's probably a spot where we draft a C early on day 3 and pick up a depth piece in free agency.

Isn't the center from Atlanta a FA? Can't remember his name.

Drew Dalman? If that's who you're thinking of, yes he's an UFA in '25.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

I hope the Bears extend Braxton Jones, who has played pretty well and is going into the last year of his rookie deal.

And if Jones+Wright are going to be the OT duo long-term then there's no need for an OT pick at 10. There was a sack problem last year, which was partly on Caleb holding onto the ball too long, partly on backups like Larry Borom playing badly, partly on the coaching staff. But that doesn't mean that you have to force an OL pick in the first round, especially if it doesn't make sense given the guys you already have.

It is worth trying to find better depth behind their starters - do they expect Amegadjie to develop into a competent swing tackle (he was worse than Borom last year, as a rookie), or was Matt Pryor good enough at tackle if they bring him back, or should they bring someone in? But that's not a first-round-of-the-draft level priority.

IOL is up in the air, with all 3 of last year's starters going into free agency (Jenkins, Pryor, Shelton). Might be worth using an earlyish pick there, but that should be a day 2 pick or maybe a late 1st after a trade-down since (absent a Quenton Nelson level prospect) a guard isn't worth pick 10.

Amegadjie's PFF grade (again, objectivity concerns) was 136th out of 144 graded tackles. He was bad in 2024. Maybe things start to click and he become a good rotational tackle, maybe not. I do think there's a need to draft OT. I'm partial to Banks because of his measurables, but Campbell was just plain dominant. I'd like us to target a guy like Rutledge/Booker in the 2nd to secure another rotational piece (potential starter) on the IOL. We also need a center. Aside from a 32 year old Ryan Kelly, there's not much on the FA market at C. That's probably a spot where we draft a C early on day 3 and pick up a depth piece in free agency.

Isn't the center from Atlanta a FA? Can't remember his name.

Drew Dalman? If that's who you're thinking of, yes he's an UFA in '25.

Do you think ATL will let him walk? I'd be surprised...

 

[nirad3]

I hope the Bears extend Braxton Jones, who has played pretty well and is going into the last year of his rookie deal.

And if Jones+Wright are going to be the OT duo long-term then there's no need for an OT pick at 10. There was a sack problem last year, which was partly on Caleb holding onto the ball too long, partly on backups like Larry Borom playing badly, partly on the coaching staff. But that doesn't mean that you have to force an OL pick in the first round, especially if it doesn't make sense given the guys you already have.

It is worth trying to find better depth behind their starters - do they expect Amegadjie to develop into a competent swing tackle (he was worse than Borom last year, as a rookie), or was Matt Pryor good enough at tackle if they bring him back, or should they bring someone in? But that's not a first-round-of-the-draft level priority.

IOL is up in the air, with all 3 of last year's starters going into free agency (Jenkins, Pryor, Shelton). Might be worth using an earlyish pick there, but that should be a day 2 pick or maybe a late 1st after a trade-down since (absent a Quenton Nelson level prospect) a guard isn't worth pick 10.

Amegadjie's PFF grade (again, objectivity concerns) was 136th out of 144 graded tackles. He was bad in 2024. Maybe things start to click and he become a good rotational tackle, maybe not. I do think there's a need to draft OT. I'm partial to Banks because of his measurables, but Campbell was just plain dominant. I'd like us to target a guy like Rutledge/Booker in the 2nd to secure another rotational piece (potential starter) on the IOL. We also need a center. Aside from a 32 year old Ryan Kelly, there's not much on the FA market at C. That's probably a spot where we draft a C early on day 3 and pick up a depth piece in free agency.

Isn't the center from Atlanta a FA? Can't remember his name.

Drew Dalman? If that's who you're thinking of, yes he's an UFA in '25.

Do you think ATL will let him walk? I'd be surprised...

I'm not super up on how good the guy is but if he performed well I don't see why they wouldn't try to keep him in place.

E2A: here is a list of UFAs at Center for '25. Looks like the Bolts have two, both of whom I've heard of so maybe one of them would fit the bill?

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

I hope the Bears extend Braxton Jones, who has played pretty well and is going into the last year of his rookie deal.

And if Jones+Wright are going to be the OT duo long-term then there's no need for an OT pick at 10. There was a sack problem last year, which was partly on Caleb holding onto the ball too long, partly on backups like Larry Borom playing badly, partly on the coaching staff. But that doesn't mean that you have to force an OL pick in the first round, especially if it doesn't make sense given the guys you already have.

It is worth trying to find better depth behind their starters - do they expect Amegadjie to develop into a competent swing tackle (he was worse than Borom last year, as a rookie), or was Matt Pryor good enough at tackle if they bring him back, or should they bring someone in? But that's not a first-round-of-the-draft level priority.

IOL is up in the air, with all 3 of last year's starters going into free agency (Jenkins, Pryor, Shelton). Might be worth using an earlyish pick there, but that should be a day 2 pick or maybe a late 1st after a trade-down since (absent a Quenton Nelson level prospect) a guard isn't worth pick 10.

Amegadjie's PFF grade (again, objectivity concerns) was 136th out of 144 graded tackles. He was bad in 2024. Maybe things start to click and he become a good rotational tackle, maybe not. I do think there's a need to draft OT. I'm partial to Banks because of his measurables, but Campbell was just plain dominant. I'd like us to target a guy like Rutledge/Booker in the 2nd to secure another rotational piece (potential starter) on the IOL. We also need a center. Aside from a 32 year old Ryan Kelly, there's not much on the FA market at C. That's probably a spot where we draft a C early on day 3 and pick up a depth piece in free agency.

Isn't the center from Atlanta a FA? Can't remember his name.

Drew Dalman? If that's who you're thinking of, yes he's an UFA in '25.

Do you think ATL will let him walk? I'd be surprised...

I'm not super up on how good the guy is but if he performed well I don't see why they wouldn't try to keep him in place.

He is by all rights a top 5 C in the league at 26. He and the dude from KC will likely reset the market for the C position in 2025.

 

[Sunday Gravy]

I hope the Bears extend Braxton Jones, who has played pretty well and is going into the last year of his rookie deal.

And if Jones+Wright are going to be the OT duo long-term then there's no need for an OT pick at 10. There was a sack problem last year, which was partly on Caleb holding onto the ball too long, partly on backups like Larry Borom playing badly, partly on the coaching staff. But that doesn't mean that you have to force an OL pick in the first round, especially if it doesn't make sense given the guys you already have.

It is worth trying to find better depth behind their starters - do they expect Amegadjie to develop into a competent swing tackle (he was worse than Borom last year, as a rookie), or was Matt Pryor good enough at tackle if they bring him back, or should they bring someone in? But that's not a first-round-of-the-draft level priority.

IOL is up in the air, with all 3 of last year's starters going into free agency (Jenkins, Pryor, Shelton). Might be worth using an earlyish pick there, but that should be a day 2 pick or maybe a late 1st after a trade-down since (absent a Quenton Nelson level prospect) a guard isn't worth pick 10.

Amegadjie's PFF grade (again, objectivity concerns) was 136th out of 144 graded tackles. He was bad in 2024. Maybe things start to click and he become a good rotational tackle, maybe not. I do think there's a need to draft OT. I'm partial to Banks because of his measurables, but Campbell was just plain dominant. I'd like us to target a guy like Rutledge/Booker in the 2nd to secure another rotational piece (potential starter) on the IOL. We also need a center. Aside from a 32 year old Ryan Kelly, there's not much on the FA market at C. That's probably a spot where we draft a C early on day 3 and pick up a depth piece in free agency.

Isn't the center from Atlanta a FA? Can't remember his name.

Drew Dalman? If that's who you're thinking of, yes he's an UFA in '25.

Do you think ATL will let him walk? I'd be surprised...

Can't see a center getting the franchise tag. I'm sure they'd like him back but I don't know their cap situation. They need to deal with the Cousins situation first and foremost.

 

[Sunday Gravy]

Ben bringing Antwan Randel El over from Detroit. Assistant head coach/wr coach.

Al Harris coming over to be defensive passing game coordinator. Didn't know that was a thing. I always hated that guy.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

Ben bringing Antwan Randel El over from Detroit. Assistant head coach/wr coach.

Al Harris coming over to be defensive passing game coordinator. Didn't know that was a thing. I always hated that guy.

Harris did well with the secondary in Dallas and is considered an up and comer. THIS is how you future proof your staff!

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

I hope the Bears extend Braxton Jones, who has played pretty well and is going into the last year of his rookie deal.

And if Jones+Wright are going to be the OT duo long-term then there's no need for an OT pick at 10. There was a sack problem last year, which was partly on Caleb holding onto the ball too long, partly on backups like Larry Borom playing badly, partly on the coaching staff. But that doesn't mean that you have to force an OL pick in the first round, especially if it doesn't make sense given the guys you already have.

It is worth trying to find better depth behind their starters - do they expect Amegadjie to develop into a competent swing tackle (he was worse than Borom last year, as a rookie), or was Matt Pryor good enough at tackle if they bring him back, or should they bring someone in? But that's not a first-round-of-the-draft level priority.

IOL is up in the air, with all 3 of last year's starters going into free agency (Jenkins, Pryor, Shelton). Might be worth using an earlyish pick there, but that should be a day 2 pick or maybe a late 1st after a trade-down since (absent a Quenton Nelson level prospect) a guard isn't worth pick 10.

Amegadjie's PFF grade (again, objectivity concerns) was 136th out of 144 graded tackles. He was bad in 2024. Maybe things start to click and he become a good rotational tackle, maybe not. I do think there's a need to draft OT. I'm partial to Banks because of his measurables, but Campbell was just plain dominant. I'd like us to target a guy like Rutledge/Booker in the 2nd to secure another rotational piece (potential starter) on the IOL. We also need a center. Aside from a 32 year old Ryan Kelly, there's not much on the FA market at C. That's probably a spot where we draft a C early on day 3 and pick up a depth piece in free agency.

Isn't the center from Atlanta a FA? Can't remember his name.

Drew Dalman? If that's who you're thinking of, yes he's an UFA in '25.

Do you think ATL will let him walk? I'd be surprised...

Can't see a center getting the franchise tag. I'm sure they'd like him back but I don't know their cap situation. They need to deal with the Cousins situation first and foremost.

I didn't know that the franchise tag isn't completely positional. For instance, the tag for a C is based on the average salary of all offensive linemen, which was ~20mil in 2024. Transition tag isn't much better at 19mil. As of right now, the Falcons will be over the cap by roughly 7.5mil at the start of the 2025 season. They definitely have some big time decisions to make. As for Cousins, his 25 cap hit is $40mil. If they cut him, there's $65mil in dead cap space. Unless they are prepared to shed $72mil in cap, they are keeping Cousins until the 2026 season. Trades, obviously can change that (somewhat).

 

[Deranged Hermit]

I hope the Bears extend Braxton Jones, who has played pretty well and is going into the last year of his rookie deal.

And if Jones+Wright are going to be the OT duo long-term then there's no need for an OT pick at 10. There was a sack problem last year, which was partly on Caleb holding onto the ball too long, partly on backups like Larry Borom playing badly, partly on the coaching staff. But that doesn't mean that you have to force an OL pick in the first round, especially if it doesn't make sense given the guys you already have.

It is worth trying to find better depth behind their starters - do they expect Amegadjie to develop into a competent swing tackle (he was worse than Borom last year, as a rookie), or was Matt Pryor good enough at tackle if they bring him back, or should they bring someone in? But that's not a first-round-of-the-draft level priority.

IOL is up in the air, with all 3 of last year's starters going into free agency (Jenkins, Pryor, Shelton). Might be worth using an earlyish pick there, but that should be a day 2 pick or maybe a late 1st after a trade-down since (absent a Quenton Nelson level prospect) a guard isn't worth pick 10.

Amegadjie's PFF grade (again, objectivity concerns) was 136th out of 144 graded tackles. He was bad in 2024. Maybe things start to click and he become a good rotational tackle, maybe not. I do think there's a need to draft OT. I'm partial to Banks because of his measurables, but Campbell was just plain dominant. I'd like us to target a guy like Rutledge/Booker in the 2nd to secure another rotational piece (potential starter) on the IOL. We also need a center. Aside from a 32 year old Ryan Kelly, there's not much on the FA market at C. That's probably a spot where we draft a C early on day 3 and pick up a depth piece in free agency.

Isn't the center from Atlanta a FA? Can't remember his name.

Drew Dalman? If that's who you're thinking of, yes he's an UFA in '25.

Do you think ATL will let him walk? I'd be surprised...

Can't see a center getting the franchise tag. I'm sure they'd like him back but I don't know their cap situation. They need to deal with the Cousins situation first and foremost.

I didn't know that the franchise tag isn't completely positional. For instance, the tag for a C is based on the average salary of all offensive linemen, which was ~20mil in 2024. Transition tag isn't much better at 19mil. As of right now, the Falcons will be over the cap by roughly 7.5mil at the start of the 2025 season. They definitely have some big time decisions to make. As for Cousins, his 25 cap hit is $40mil. If they cut him, there's $65mil in dead cap space. Unless they are prepared to shed $72mil in cap, they are keeping Cousins until the 2026 season. Trades, obviously can change that (somewhat).

I read an article right after Penix was drafted that listed all the reasons Cousins' contract screwed the team. Long story short, they're stuck with him for one more year.
As for the franchise tag for lineman, you're spot on. That means there's almost zero chance a non-OT gets franchised.

 

[Max Power]

Jenkins comes down to salary demands. He's a player who hasn't been available for roughly 40% of potential offensive snaps during his career. If the Bears can pay him fair markerlt value and retain him, go for it.

He's being ranked as high as the third best OG this FA cycle which means he's likely to see an above market offer at which point I don't think the Bears should match.

I like the idea of drafting Will Campbell as he has OG reps. Slide him to G as a rookie and if he outplays Braxton Jones we bump him to OT next year.

I like Braxton, but he's an average starting OT. Give him 1 more year to evaluate. If he isn't the guy the Bears have a replacement already. If he excels, you'd have to think the OL is looking strong.

 

[need2know]

Not sure about johnson but at the very least you guys weakened detroit. Which is a victory

 

[Sunday Gravy]

Both coordinators are done. Dennis Allen and Declan Doyle.

 

[Sunday Gravy]

Bears hiring Dennis Allen as defensive coordinator, Declan Doyle as offensive coordinator

 

[Deranged Hermit]

Bears hiring Dennis Allen as defensive coordinator, Declan Doyle as offensive coordinator

Love the Allen signing. I don't know much about Doyle.

 

[Tha Guru]

Allen is a good coordinator but is hard headed. Ask Saints fans how he continuously played Zack Baun on the edge when most scouts saw him at an off the ball LB spot. Baun goes to Philly, plays him where he should have been playing and jackpot.

 

[fatness]

Bears hiring Dennis Allen as defensive coordinator, Declan Doyle as offensive coordinator

Love the Allen signing. I don't know much about Doyle.

I was just reading about Doyle. It seems like his father was in football and was a real POS (Urban Meyer hired him an Jacksonville and then fired him a day later).
It didn't really give much info about Doyle himself.

 

[Chreesto]

Bears hiring Dennis Allen as defensive coordinator, Declan Doyle as offensive coordinator

Love the Allen signing. I don't know much about Doyle.

I was just reading about Doyle. It seems like his father was in football and was a real POS (Urban Meyer hired him an Jacksonville and then fired him a day later).
It didn't really give much info about Doyle himself.

I trust Ben Johnson to get the OC that he wants. The way I am thinking about this hire is different than most; Ben Johnson is the offensive play caller and designer, his OC will basically be an extension of him. He needs someone young and hungry (ie - easy to abuse with ridiculous hours) to grind film and project Ben Johnson's offense into the voids that Ben Johnson's HC duties will create. His DC needs to be a senior guy that he can just trust with all things defense, I really like Dennis Allen for that. On offense, however, he needs a tireless and ambitious offensive protege who he can overwork in exchange for guaranteed credibility. The only other OCs this young were sean mcvey and kyle shanahan - I am sure that Declan Doyle is aware of that fact and aware of where those guys are now. How hard would you work for a fast track to NFL Head Coach?