I just watched Lorin Cox analysis of the defensive line against the Falcons on YouTube.
He says the Bears entire defensive line had ONE — yes, ONE — pressure on the QB in this game. The Bears have been doing blitz to make up for these clowns, but that isn’t working well, either.
Cox says what butkus and I have been saying: GIVE TACO CHARLTON A SHOT! They obviously recognize the issue, but they are not going to solve it until they bench some of these guys. I want to see if Taco can do anything. We have literally NOTHING to lose by trying him, or even bringing in guys off the practice squad or others from other practice squads. If Poles doesn’t get some legit pass rushers in 2023, it isn’t going to make much difference what he does with the offense. Teams will just outscore us, as they have been doing since he got rid of Quinn and Smith.
Here's some things we completely agree on.
Bears DL is a dumpster fire. It's almost impossible to make it worse.
This is one of the reasons I'm sanguine about 2023 even if Poles has a good offseason and finds some good OL and WR pieces. There's just so many holes on this team. We need at least 2 quality starters on the DL as well. It's a tall order for one offseason.
This is why I’m taking Will Anderson and try to get a couple good run-stopper tackles in FA/draft. Poles can’t ignore this DL issue. People here don’t want to hear it, but our DL is far worse than our OL and, therefore, is the greater need to upgrade to become a contender.
Bears DL is a dumpster fire. It's almost impossible to make it worse.
This is one of the reasons I'm sanguine about 2023 even if Poles has a good offseason and finds some good OL and WR pieces. There's just so many holes on this team. We need at least 2 quality starters on the DL as well. It's a tall order for one offseason.
This is why I’m taking Will Anderson and try to get a couple good run-stopper tackles in FA/draft. Poles can’t ignore this DL issue. People here don’t want to hear it, but our DL is far worse than our OL and, therefore, is the greater need to upgrade to become a contender.
It is going to take 2 off seasons to get the roster healthy. And it will be tweaked/enhanced beyond that. But the heavy lifting will need to be in 2023 and 2024. I think job-1 is protecting Fields in '23 so we don't lose our investment to a serious injury that may harm his career. If we lose our investment in Fields then it's back to the decades of futility... it won't matter anymore what the Bears do. If you don't have the QB piece, you have nothing. Nothing of real value. We have seen that for so many years here in Chicago. Will fixing the OL fix the team? Obviously no. But that is where you begin. That is the foundation, the cornerstone. Protect your QB investment. Move on from there.
Poles is going to be picking off FA from other teams again but with a much larger wallet. Hell, it’s going to look like an expansion draft for a new franchise! They will replace the 10-15 JAGs residing in his “tent” this season. He has to get the right players at the right $$$ in FA and then get a rookie class in the draft in 2023 nearly as good as the Seahawks had in 2022 (4 solid starters). It might work, but he doesn’t get a free pass until 2025-26 just because he CHOSE to start with a tent….at least not from me.
Except it isn't a good analogy. Bears changed regimes and coaches (overdue) and flipped from a 3-4 to a 4-3. Completely different philosophies and schemes on both O and D. Nagy's O failed Fields miserably last season while Getsy's has shown signs of life this year, despite having less talent.
We have covered Mack, Nichols, Daniels, Robinson, Roquan, Hicks, Quinn, Goldman, and Trevathan. Outside of Mack who was prohibitively expensive, tell me who specifically you think he should have invited into the "tent".
[Keep in mind that Roquan and Quinn were indeed "inside the tent" for half a season this year and didn't make a hill of beans worth of difference.]
Lemme repeat: NONE of these guys were building blocks for a new rebuild except Roquan Smith. And he refused to re-sign last August when Poles tried to lock him up. He self-evicted himself from "the tent".
I am not explaining this very well. My point is simply that the team was torn down in 2022 and the heavy lifting of the rebuild begins in 2023. 2024 will be a heavy lifting year too. The roster is more work than (I believe) can be fixed in one off-season. Improved, yes. Fixed, no. LOL, I thought that tent thing was a good way to explain it. But obviously I whiffed on that one :-)
Except it isn't a good analogy. Bears changed regimes and coaches (overdue) and flipped from a 3-4 to a 4-3. Completely different philosophies and schemes on both O and D. Nagy's O failed Fields miserably last season while Getsy's has shown signs of life this year, despite having less talent.
We have covered Mack, Nichols, Daniels, Robinson, Roquan, Hicks, Quinn, Goldman, and Trevathan. Outside of Mack who was prohibitively expensive, tell me who specifically you think he should have invited into the "tent".
[Keep in mind that Roquan and Quinn were indeed "inside the tent" for half a season this year and didn't make a hill of beans worth of difference.]
Lemme repeat: NONE of these guys were building blocks for a new rebuild except Roquan Smith. And he refused to re-sign last August when Poles tried to lock him up. He self-evicted himself from "the tent".
I am not explaining this very well. My point is simply that the team was torn down in 2022 and the heavy lifting of the rebuild begins in 2023. 2024 will be a heavy lifting year too. The roster is more work than (I believe) can be fixed in one off-season. Improved, yes. Fixed, no. LOL, I thought that tent thing was a good way to explain it. But obviously I whiffed on that one :-)
I think the tent analogy works fine. We should call it a tattered tent with several holes leaking in water.
This is why I’m taking Will Anderson and try to get a couple good run-stopper tackles in FA/draft. Poles can’t ignore this DL issue. People here don’t want to hear it, but our DL is far worse than our OL and, therefore, is the greater need to upgrade to become a contender.
It is going to take 2 off seasons to get the roster healthy. And it will be tweaked/enhanced beyond that. But the heavy lifting will need to be in 2023 and 2024. I think job-1 is protecting Fields in '23 so we don't lose our investment to a serious injury that may harm his career. If we lose our investment in Fields then it's back to the decades of futility... it won't matter anymore what the Bears do. If you don't have the QB piece, you have nothing. Nothing of real value. We have seen that for so many years here in Chicago. Will fixing the OL fix the team? Obviously no. But that is where you begin. That is the foundation, the cornerstone. Protect your QB investment. Move on from there.
We differ on a couple things. If Poles is doing his job, he will get WR1, a center, and maybe another WR and LG (depending on what happens with Whitehair and Claypool). He has the resources to do this all in 2023. No excuses. Fields and the offense will be fine.
The defensive front-7 is another story. It is a “tent” right now and will need 2023 and 2024 for Bears to get a championship level front-7. As people keep reminding me, it’s possible to miss drafting a WR in first round. I’m doing it anyway, unless we are #3 and Will Anderson is available. He is very comparable to Mack. Pass rush and run-stop is now easily the greatest weakness on this team, and this would be a great first step to the fix.
It is going to take 2 off seasons to get the roster healthy. And it will be tweaked/enhanced beyond that. But the heavy lifting will need to be in 2023 and 2024. I think job-1 is protecting Fields in '23 so we don't lose our investment to a serious injury that may harm his career. If we lose our investment in Fields then it's back to the decades of futility... it won't matter anymore what the Bears do. If you don't have the QB piece, you have nothing. Nothing of real value. We have seen that for so many years here in Chicago. Will fixing the OL fix the team? Obviously no. But that is where you begin. That is the foundation, the cornerstone. Protect your QB investment. Move on from there.
We differ on a couple things. If Poles is doing his job, he will get WR1, a center, and maybe another WR and LG (depending on what happens with Whitehair and Claypool). He has the resources to do this all in 2023. No excuses. Fields and the offense will be fine.
The defensive front-7 is another story. It is a “tent” right now and will need 2023 and 2024 for Bears to get a championship level front-7. As people keep reminding me, it’s possible to miss drafting a WR in first round. I’m doing it anyway, unless we are #3 and Will Anderson is available. He is very comparable to Mack. Pass rush and run-stop is now easily the greatest weakness on this team, and this would be a great first step to the fix.
I could see that too. I also think it could end up that way depending upon how we end up in the draft order. But who knows, right? Poles may end up doing something off the wall weird.