I see Walker has a 3-yr., $21 million contract. That’s not huge, but it’s not chicken feed. For that, Poles should expect to see SOME production.
I'll put it this way:
I'm sure we will see some improvement overall in the defense and particularly the pass rush (which was historically bad last season). Anything beyond mediocre is gravy in my mind.
This season is 95% about Fields and the passing game -- saw a stat where the Bears were 20th or worse in passing something crazy like 17 of the last 22 seasons. I'm with Hoge -- I want Fields getting 4000 combined yards between throwing and running. That's the floor he needs to hit in my mind. I'm sick of watching an inept passing game where we are 28th or worse in the league.
Flus said yesterday that only Jenkins is in doubt for opening day. So, minus one guard, the offense should be full strength. No more excuses.
Let's go! Bears win 24-17.
I agree with Ric that this will be a run-oriented offense but with enough passing to keep the defense from loading up the line of scrimmage. Fields will be fine...no excuses needed. The offense will be very good. I expect 28-30 PPG. The defense will continue to struggle from what I have seen so far. We will never be Super Bowl ready even with this offense until we have a SB ready front-7, and Poles has a way to go on that!
I'm sure we will see some improvement overall in the defense and particularly the pass rush (which was historically bad last season). Anything beyond mediocre is gravy in my mind.
This season is 95% about Fields and the passing game -- saw a stat where the Bears were 20th or worse in passing something crazy like 17 of the last 22 seasons. I'm with Hoge -- I want Fields getting 4000 combined yards between throwing and running. That's the floor he needs to hit in my mind. I'm sick of watching an inept passing game where we are 28th or worse in the league.
Flus said yesterday that only Jenkins is in doubt for opening day. So, minus one guard, the offense should be full strength. No more excuses.
Let's go! Bears win 24-17.
I agree with Ric that this will be a run-oriented offense but with enough passing to keep the defense from loading up the line of scrimmage. Fields will be fine...no excuses needed. The offense will be very good. I expect 28-30 PPG. The defense will continue to struggle from what I have seen so far. We will never be Super Bowl ready even with this offense until we have a SB ready front-7, and Poles has a way to go on that!
We are a minimum of a year away from being a real playoff team or contender. We have 2 1sts, 2 4ths, and a ton of cap to work with next offseason. This year is laying the foundation. Next spring is time to go all-in. (Assuming Fields doesn't bust of course.)
I'm not gonna quibble with calling the O "run-oriented". Don't care what you call it. It just can't be "run only" which is what it was last season. Poles has made substantial investments in the O in the short time he's been here, no matter whether Ric wants to admit it or not, and we need to produce a competent PASSING OFFENSE here this season. There is no excuse not to. If we don't, Getsy needs to be canned and Fields simply may not be THE GUY.
Get the offense, the WHOLE offense, to respectable this season and we can worry about the defensive front-7 next spring. For right now, I'd gladly trade a much improved DL for a much improved passing attack.
I'm sure we will see some improvement overall in the defense and particularly the pass rush (which was historically bad last season). Anything beyond mediocre is gravy in my mind.
This season is 95% about Fields and the passing game -- saw a stat where the Bears were 20th or worse in passing something crazy like 17 of the last 22 seasons. I'm with Hoge -- I want Fields getting 4000 combined yards between throwing and running. That's the floor he needs to hit in my mind. I'm sick of watching an inept passing game where we are 28th or worse in the league.
Flus said yesterday that only Jenkins is in doubt for opening day. So, minus one guard, the offense should be full strength. No more excuses.
Let's go! Bears win 24-17.
I agree with Ric that this will be a run-oriented offense but with enough passing to keep the defense from loading up the line of scrimmage. Fields will be fine...no excuses needed. The offense will be very good. I expect 28-30 PPG. The defense will continue to struggle from what I have seen so far. We will never be Super Bowl ready even with this offense until we have a SB ready front-7, and Poles has a way to go on that!
we'll be closer to 24-26ish points on average. they are going to try and burn the clock. They won't be averaging anywhere near 30 points game in game out until they have multiple targets that worry defenses, and an OL that can protect Fields long enough to use those targets.
They are closer to a SB front 7 then they are a SB O.
Burn clock win close/lower scoring games. That's going to be the gameplan by a Lovie disciple. Cannot believe people are happy w/this.
I agree with Ric that this will be a run-oriented offense but with enough passing to keep the defense from loading up the line of scrimmage. Fields will be fine...no excuses needed. The offense will be very good. I expect 28-30 PPG. The defense will continue to struggle from what I have seen so far. We will never be Super Bowl ready even with this offense until we have a SB ready front-7, and Poles has a way to go on that!
we'll be closer to 24-26ish points on average. they are going to try and burn the clock. They won't be averaging anywhere near 30 points game in game out until they have multiple targets that worry defenses, and an OL that can protect Fields long enough to use those targets.
They are closer to a SB front 7 then they are a SB O.
Burn clock win close/lower scoring games. That's going to be the gameplan by a Lovie disciple. Cannot believe people are happy w/this.
I should have factored in the clock. So I will cut it back to 27 ppg.
I agree with Ric that this will be a run-oriented offense but with enough passing to keep the defense from loading up the line of scrimmage. Fields will be fine...no excuses needed. The offense will be very good. I expect 28-30 PPG. The defense will continue to struggle from what I have seen so far. We will never be Super Bowl ready even with this offense until we have a SB ready front-7, and Poles has a way to go on that!
we'll be closer to 24-26ish points on average. they are going to try and burn the clock. They won't be averaging anywhere near 30 points game in game out until they have multiple targets that worry defenses, and an OL that can protect Fields long enough to use those targets.
They are closer to a SB front 7 then they are a SB O.
Burn clock win close/lower scoring games. That's going to be the gameplan by a Lovie disciple. Cannot believe people are happy w/this.
My gut feeling is that we will be in that 24-26ppg that you mentioned. The team scored 19.2ppg last year and that was 23rd in the league last year. #1 in ppg was KC at 29.2ppg. The Bills were #2 at 28.4ppg. The Eagles were #3 at 28.1ppg.
If the Bears score 24ppg then that would be last year's Seahawks who were 9th in the league in ppg. I'm thinking that's probably the Bears' ceiling for this year. If they COULD get to 26ppg, then that would have been good for 7th in the league (the Bengals last season). LINK
For what it's worth, the scoring was higher in 2021. Dallas led the league at 31.2ppg that year. Second team was the Bucs at 30.1. The Bills and Chiefs were in that 28ppg that year.
we'll be closer to 24-26ish points on average. they are going to try and burn the clock. They won't be averaging anywhere near 30 points game in game out until they have multiple targets that worry defenses, and an OL that can protect Fields long enough to use those targets.
They are closer to a SB front 7 then they are a SB O.
Burn clock win close/lower scoring games. That's going to be the gameplan by a Lovie disciple. Cannot believe people are happy w/this.
My gut feeling is that we will be in that 24-26ppg that you mentioned. The team scored 19.2ppg last year and that was 23rd in the league last year. #1 in ppg was KC at 29.2ppg. The Bills were #2 at 28.4ppg. The Eagles were #3 at 28.1ppg.
If the Bears score 24ppg then that would be last year's Seahawks who were 9th in the league in ppg. I'm thinking that's probably the Bears' ceiling for this year. If they COULD get to 26ppg, then that would have been good for 7th in the league (the Bengals last season). LINK
For what it's worth, the scoring was higher in 2021. Dallas led the league at 31.2ppg that year. Second team was the Bucs at 30.1. The Bills and Chiefs were in that 28ppg that year.
That is just sad on all fronts. Worse is the fact that the GM/Coaches are intentionally gunning for it. 24-26 in 2021 is 12-16 range. So I'm probably guessing to high even at that. Going to be a long year for this O; that didn't need much help.
My gut feeling is that we will be in that 24-26ppg that you mentioned. The team scored 19.2ppg last year and that was 23rd in the league last year. #1 in ppg was KC at 29.2ppg. The Bills were #2 at 28.4ppg. The Eagles were #3 at 28.1ppg.
If the Bears score 24ppg then that would be last year's Seahawks who were 9th in the league in ppg. I'm thinking that's probably the Bears' ceiling for this year. If they COULD get to 26ppg, then that would have been good for 7th in the league (the Bengals last season). LINK
For what it's worth, the scoring was higher in 2021. Dallas led the league at 31.2ppg that year. Second team was the Bucs at 30.1. The Bills and Chiefs were in that 28ppg that year.
That is just sad on all fronts. Worse is the fact that the GM/Coaches are intentionally gunning for it. 24-26 in 2021 is 12-16 range. So I'm probably guessing to high even at that. Going to be a long year for this O; that didn't need much help.
One thing I hope we don't see this season is Fields running as much as last year. Sure, make some plays here and there in games. Just don't make that a main part of your game. If Fields does that this year then Bagent will be our QB and Fields will be on IR. The tragedy in that is that we could end up with another year of not really knowing what we have in Fields (if he's IR'd earlier in the season and we don't get to see what he can do this year). Then do you draft a QB in 2024? Do we need one? I'd hate to draft a QB with our 1st pick of the draft next year if our problem is not the QB. But who will even know, if Fields is hurt and doesn't play much this year? Fields needs this year to be focused on showcasing a passing game talent. Not just showcasing he can be a RB in the league.
That is just sad on all fronts. Worse is the fact that the GM/Coaches are intentionally gunning for it. 24-26 in 2021 is 12-16 range. So I'm probably guessing to high even at that. Going to be a long year for this O; that didn't need much help.
One thing I hope we don't see this season is Fields running as much as last year. Sure, make some plays here and there in games. Just don't make that a main part of your game. If Fields does that this year then Bagent will be our QB and Fields will be on IR. The tragedy in that is that we could end up with another year of not really knowing what we have in Fields (if he's IR'd earlier in the season and we don't get to see what he can do this year). Then do you draft a QB in 2024? Do we need one? I'd hate to draft a QB with our 1st pick of the draft next year if our problem is not the QB. But who will even know, if Fields is hurt and doesn't play much this year? Fields needs this year to be focused on showcasing a passing game talent. Not just showcasing he can be a RB in the league.
Everyone fully agree Fields has to take that next step in the passing game. No doubt about it.
But I think he's still gonna run a fair amount too. It's an elite part of his game that gives defenses fits and him running or the threat thereof will open a lot more opportunities in the passing game this year. You can bet opposing DCs are gonna be very reluctant to not account for him.
And now he finally has decent receiving options to exploit that.
That is just sad on all fronts. Worse is the fact that the GM/Coaches are intentionally gunning for it. 24-26 in 2021 is 12-16 range. So I'm probably guessing to high even at that. Going to be a long year for this O; that didn't need much help.
One thing I hope we don't see this season is Fields running as much as last year. Sure, make some plays here and there in games. Just don't make that a main part of your game. If Fields does that this year then Bagent will be our QB and Fields will be on IR. The tragedy in that is that we could end up with another year of not really knowing what we have in Fields (if he's IR'd earlier in the season and we don't get to see what he can do this year). Then do you draft a QB in 2024? Do we need one? I'd hate to draft a QB with our 1st pick of the draft next year if our problem is not the QB. But who will even know, if Fields is hurt and doesn't play much this year? Fields needs this year to be focused on showcasing a passing game talent. Not just showcasing he can be a RB in the league.
Run like Steve Young, or Romo, not LJax. Use it as a way to mess w/the Def if the OL breaks down. If he's running for 1k+ yards, and that was the plan, that's a terrible plan and you are going to kill him. RB's dont last long in this league and that's what you'd be asking him to do.
