Poles would be paying Fields LESS than a new QB in 2024. If he plays as badly as you guys predict, then screw it. Let him go FA or trade. But if we’re looking near Super Bowl ready in 2024, go ahead with the 5th year option in 2025. By then, we know his true ceiling because we have seen two years of playoff games. If he looks like Dak in those games, he gets NO big extension. Seems to me this meets your concerns.
and by the time that new qb was in his 3rd year significantly less then JF if he's still here. Stop being you.
My position is that Fields is GONE if Bears are not Super Bowl ready by 2025.
Your QB will cost about $22 million by then. Fields will cost about $38 million more by then. That’s $16 million difference. Poles can manage that without breaking the bank.
You have to go with Williams. As much as I would love to have DJ Moore + Harrison Jr. You can't move forward in the NFL with a Tier 2 at best QB and expect to be consistent every year. Building around Fields helps you for 1-2 years before we have to draft another QB. Fields is at best a Dak type player. Do you want to give him 40 million a year in a few years?
We have two top 10 picks. Pick Williams #1 and what ever best graded WR that is left at #9.
Solves two problems.
It's a complete no-brainer.
There would have to a D-player that is absolutely freakin sick as a prospect fall to me at #9 for me to look elsewhere. That's really unlikely with how stacked this draft class is at WR. You even may be able to trade down a little from 9 to get an extra pick and still nab a stud WR (or Bowers). Prob gonna be 3 WRs in the top-15 this year.
That is exactly how I see it too. The ship has sailed with Eberflus as our coach. I would have preferred an O minded HC but that did not happen. Can't undo the past. But the Bears best path forward is to - as you put it, Ric - "stop the bleeding of starting over every 4-5 years" and ride this out with Eberflus, giving him time to screw up and learn and show growth. Constant turnover is killing us.
I disagree, they did it for money reasons. Bears don't like paying 2 HC at the same time. When you have Jim Harbaugh interviewing for NFL jobs right now and didn't even attempt to reach out to him says something about ownership. CHEAP!
I'm with MOTM on this one. I would have reset everything to align the HC-OC-QB triumvirate and tie them all together. Then leave it alone and let the stew marinate.
There were/are way better HC candidates out there this year than Flus. I generally support Poles enthusiastically as he was finally a GM that had the balls to tear it down rather slap band-aids on like Pace did, but man he's got a bad case of loving Flus too much. Guys like Flus are in every NFL rolodex. Harbaugh was a proven success and large upgrade.
Poles would be paying Fields LESS than a new QB in 2024. If he plays as badly as you guys predict, then screw it. Let him go FA or trade. But if we’re looking near Super Bowl ready in 2024, go ahead with the 5th year option in 2025. By then, we know his true ceiling because we have seen two years of playoff games. If he looks like Dak in those games, he gets NO big extension. Seems to me this meets your concerns.
Don't think you're understanding how this works.
Fields 5th yr option must be exercised by May 5th THIS YEAR. You don't get another season to evaluate him beforehand. That's why 2023 was so critical and Fields failed to make meaningful improvements as I cited to you in another thread laying out all his 2022 & 2023 stats side by side. And BTW the 5th yr option becomes fully guaranteed when you enact it; you can't rescind it later.
Its not a backbreaker cost-wise but also not something insignificant you want to waste either. Fields didn't show enough to waste the money IMO.
I repeat, JF1 has a career rating of ~85 which is slightly lower than Mitch. He "improved" year 2 to year 3 only from 85 to 86.
Not good enough
His rating is a lot higher than 85 when he gets decent performance by the OL and the WRs. He has 5 of his games this year at 97 or higher. That is a better yardstick to project next year with Harrison coming and Getsy & Patrick gone.
Harrison and Moore would be one of the very best WR duos in the NFL. Like Moore, Harrison will get quick separation which allows Fields to throw quicker and reduce sacks and turnovers. Those are all the problems that have been holding back his QBR — along with Getsy’s stupid horizontal passing game. With the new OC and Harrison, the passing game will go downfield (Field’s strength) rather than endless screen passes. I can’t imagine all of these changes not increasing Fields yards and QBR significantly— at least the 15% Chris Long predicts.
I want Fields and a trade down to build a power house of a team in the trenches and beyond. Caleb Williams looks good but MHJ looks generational. I want as many blue chip generational players as possible. Give me Alt and MHJ or Bowers or some combo of day 1 contributors.
At the same time I'm pretty comfortable with Poles drafting (so far) and if his eval for CWill is that he's worth #1 and is gonna be a monster top tier QB then I'll root for him and believe in him.
Prefer Fields and no matter what I'll always root for the dude. Unbelievable mental fortitude and he was done dirty by our organization.
and by the time that new qb was in his 3rd year significantly less then JF if he's still here. Stop being you.
My position is that Fields is GONE if Bears are not Super Bowl ready by 2025.
Your QB will cost about $22 million by then. Fields will cost about $38 million more by then. That’s $16 million difference. Poles can manage that without breaking the bank.
And where are you going to get this new franchise QB when Fields doesn't work out? What's going to happen is you're going to have to cough up at least 2+ 1st rounders and change to maybe get your choice of QBs, and now your out a bunch of picks you could've used to build around him. Not to mention drafts can vary greatly in talent and there may not be a QB with these kind of prospects available then. What if you get a draft like 2019 or 2022?
I'm starting to feel like I'm living in Bizarro world. At any other time Bears fans would be high fiving each other in the streets having the opportunity to select the best QB in the draft with the current prospects. Instead a significant number of fans have jedi-mind-tricked themselves into thinking a flashy inconsistent QB who has proven little in the last 3 years is somehow a safer bet than a consensus number one pick with this potential.
I don't think some people appreciate how rare this situation is. There is a reason teams give up so much to get this pick. We're not likely to get another chance like this again.
I know there was a lot of blowback about the Bears drafting Caleb Williams. Are you still feeling that way or are you beginning to like the idea of drafting him?
I've been resigned to the belief they are drafting for the past few months, but I'm still sad about it and I still think the better team building move is to trade down and add weapons for Fields. I have also always said that Caleb is a TREMENDOUS talent and I get why they'd move on if they did. I just want to keep warning you all that Caleb does a lot of the things that people complain about with Fields...so some of you better buckle up for that.
My position is that Fields is GONE if Bears are not Super Bowl ready by 2025.
Your QB will cost about $22 million by then. Fields will cost about $38 million more by then. That’s $16 million difference. Poles can manage that without breaking the bank.
And where are you going to get this new franchise QB when Fields doesn't work out? What's going to happen is you're going to have to cough up at least 2+ 1st rounders and change to maybe get your choice of QBs, and now your out a bunch of picks you could've used to build around him. Not to mention drafts can vary greatly in talent and there may not be a QB with these kind of prospects available then. What if you get a draft like 2019 or 2022?
I'm starting to feel like I'm living in Bizarro world. At any other time Bears fans would be high fiving each other in the streets having the opportunity to select the best QB in the draft with the current prospects. Instead a significant number of fans have jedi-mind-tricked themselves into thinking a flashy inconsistent QB who has proven little in the last 3 years is somehow a safer bet than a consensus number one pick with this potential.
I don't think some people appreciate how rare this situation is. There is a reason teams give up so much to get this pick. We're not likely to get another chance like this again.
