That is true, but my point is that with this offense and defense, the Bears TEAM should be better than 9-8. People are leaning on the “rookie QB” idea pretty hard to pre-justify a 9-8 record.
Not sure what you are getting at David. Yes, it is a team and the Qb is part of that team. If that particular component is not doing well, the whole team wins less.
If Williams is “not doing well”, we’re going to be 9-8. He doesn’t have to play great to get 10 wins. The standard for this TEAM and THIS year should be 10-12 wins.
Not sure what you are getting at David. Yes, it is a team and the Qb is part of that team. If that particular component is not doing well, the whole team wins less.
If Williams is “not doing well”, we’re going to be 9-8. He doesn’t have to play great to get 10 wins. The standard for this TEAM and THIS year should be 10-12 wins.
I am expecting the same number of wins, but as always.... we will see. Things rarely unfold as they are supposed to.
Not sure what you are getting at David. Yes, it is a team and the Qb is part of that team. If that particular component is not doing well, the whole team wins less.
If Williams is “not doing well”, we’re going to be 9-8. He doesn’t have to play great to get 10 wins. The standard for this TEAM and THIS year should be 10-12 wins.
The NFCN is much tougher now... a lot of people believe it will be one of the better divisions in the NFL. I think the odds-makers are probably right with the over/under of 8.5 wins:
HOME
Detroit Lions Green Bay Packers Minnesota Vikings Los Angeles Rams Seattle Seahawks Jacksonville Jaguars Tennessee Titans Carolina Panthers New England Patriots
AWAY
Detroit Lions Green Bay Packers Minnesota Vikings Arizona Cardinals San Francisco 49ers Houston Texans Indianapolis Colts Washington Commanders
If Williams is “not doing well”, we’re going to be 9-8. He doesn’t have to play great to get 10 wins. The standard for this TEAM and THIS year should be 10-12 wins.
The NFCN is much tougher now... a lot of people believe it will be one of the better divisions in the NFL. I think the odds-makers are probably right with the over/under of 8.5 wins:
HOME
Detroit Lions Green Bay Packers Minnesota Vikings Los Angeles Rams Seattle Seahawks Jacksonville Jaguars Tennessee Titans Carolina Panthers New England Patriots
AWAY
Detroit Lions Green Bay Packers Minnesota Vikings Arizona Cardinals San Francisco 49ers Houston Texans Indianapolis Colts Washington Commanders
The NFCN is much tougher, but so are the Bears — or at least they are supposed to be, thanks to our genius GM. Right? The odds-makers might be right about 9-8, but that doesn’t make it acceptable. Poles and Warren talk about championship team. This is the year to start showing some signs, if we are to be Super Bowl ready 2025-26. The time to excuse mediocrity is running short, my friend. 10-12 wins should be the standard.
The NFCN is much tougher, but so are the Bears — or at least they are supposed to be, thanks to our genius GM. Right?
But keep in mind the other 3 teams in the NFCN have GMs, FA's and get to draft too - trying to get better also. Each season is an evolving situation where it is possible for everyone to improve... or at least trying to. We are not playing the 2023 version of those teams. Bears are trying to hit a moving target here - where they are playing catch-up as the dead-last team in the division. I'm not saying they can't win 10 games. They could. But I wouldn't discount the odds makers 8.5 over/under on wins, either. The Bears can end up a better team than last year, but the other NFCN teams can ALSO be much improved too. Green Bay and the Lions will be a tough out for us I think. Not sure about the Vikings... they seem to be looking at a rough season. At least that's my gut feeling on it all.
It is not only Williams. We have Keenan Allen, a new (competent) offensive coordinator, two FA centers. and presumably a very good WR or edge rusher from the #9 pick. With all these additions, 9-8 is not much improvement.
I agree, but the new QB is a wildcard. We don't know how much having a new QB in there is going to hold us back.
Seeing that we're replacing a bottom Tier QB in every meaningful stat to one of the best prospects since Andrew Luck. I don't expect a Luck or Stroud performance but I do see improvements happening.
The NFCN is much tougher, but so are the Bears — or at least they are supposed to be, thanks to our genius GM. Right?
But keep in mind the other 3 teams in the NFCN have GMs, FA's and get to draft too - trying to get better also. Each season is an evolving situation where it is possible for everyone to improve... or at least trying to. We are not playing the 2023 version of those teams. Bears are trying to hit a moving target here - where they are playing catch-up as the dead-last team in the division. I'm not saying they can't win 10 games. They could. But I wouldn't discount the odds makers 8.5 over/under on wins, either. The Bears can end up a better team than last year, but the other NFCN teams can ALSO be much improved too. Green Bay and the Lions will be a tough out for us I think. Not sure about the Vikings... they seem to be looking at a rough season. At least that's my gut feeling on it all.
Poles put himself in last place in the division, so I’m not accepting that as a valid excuse for 9-8 in the 3rd year of the “rebuild”. Lions were worse than Bears in 2021, but followed a normal approach to get ahead of the Bears despite Bears getting incredibly LUCKY two years in a row to get #1 pick. So I am not accepting excuses this year. The standard should be 10-12 wins this year.
But keep in mind the other 3 teams in the NFCN have GMs, FA's and get to draft too - trying to get better also. Each season is an evolving situation where it is possible for everyone to improve... or at least trying to. We are not playing the 2023 version of those teams. Bears are trying to hit a moving target here - where they are playing catch-up as the dead-last team in the division. I'm not saying they can't win 10 games. They could. But I wouldn't discount the odds makers 8.5 over/under on wins, either. The Bears can end up a better team than last year, but the other NFCN teams can ALSO be much improved too. Green Bay and the Lions will be a tough out for us I think. Not sure about the Vikings... they seem to be looking at a rough season. At least that's my gut feeling on it all.
Poles put himself in last place in the division, so I’m not accepting that as a valid excuse for 9-8 in the 3rd year of the “rebuild”. Lions were worse than Bears in 2021, but followed a normal approach to get ahead of the Bears despite Bears getting incredibly LUCKY two years in a row to get #1 pick. So I am not accepting excuses this year. The standard should be 10-12 wins this year.
I look at it like this is year 2 of the "rebuild". Year 1 was a tear-down.
But keep in mind the other 3 teams in the NFCN have GMs, FA's and get to draft too - trying to get better also. Each season is an evolving situation where it is possible for everyone to improve... or at least trying to. We are not playing the 2023 version of those teams. Bears are trying to hit a moving target here - where they are playing catch-up as the dead-last team in the division. I'm not saying they can't win 10 games. They could. But I wouldn't discount the odds makers 8.5 over/under on wins, either. The Bears can end up a better team than last year, but the other NFCN teams can ALSO be much improved too. Green Bay and the Lions will be a tough out for us I think. Not sure about the Vikings... they seem to be looking at a rough season. At least that's my gut feeling on it all.
Poles put himself in last place in the division, so I’m not accepting that as a valid excuse for 9-8 in the 3rd year of the “rebuild”. Lions were worse than Bears in 2021, but followed a normal approach to get ahead of the Bears despite Bears getting incredibly LUCKY two years in a row to get #1 pick. So I am not accepting excuses this year. The standard should be 10-12 wins this year.
The Lions ceiling may not be as high as the Bears. Only time will tell which approach will be the most successful long term.
Let's be fair here. Poles took over a team that was in a bad way financially and talent wise in 2022. By 2023 he had restored our cap to a healthy status. In 2023 he added a number of good solid young ascending players... guys like D.J. Moore and Montez Sweat among others. He was masterful in orchestrating the soft-tank season. He has the table set for his 1st QB draft as our GM, with the #1 pick of this upcoming draft. Certainly there is always an element of luck involved in sports. But what Poles has accomplished is far more than luck alone. No other Gm in the entire NFL has done what he has done in these two most recent seasons. Two top-10 picks including the #1 pick of the entire draft - that will add to a roster that already has a solid foundation laid in 2023. This isn't your typical team that drafts #1 that is usually the worst team in the NFL. We do have a nice start to the rebuild already. In 2025 the Bears will build the final layer on this roster and be pretty special.
But I don't know if the team will have a 10-12 win season this 1st rookie year for our new quarterback.
Some of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the NFL, have not had 10-12 wins their rookie season. Yet, they had remarkable careers - Hall of Fame careers. While it is okay to hope we hit a milestone like that, it's not a failure if the team has a 8 or 9 win season his rookie year. Let's just relax and watch this season unfold. I'll bet we will all be happy with the outcome.
