+1 In my entire lifetime I can't remember a time quite like this for the Bears.
We get an incredible talent with the #1 overall pick of the draft, in Caleb Williams. Poles positioned us for this in last year's trade down that got us D.J. Moore, an incredible WR talent. CW is the best player in this entire 2024 draft class. I still can't quite get my head around that one. Best player in this entire draft class.
Then we get the perfect match for Caleb, in WR Rome Odunze. The WR room now has D.J. Moore, Rome Odunze, Our 4th round pick this year got us future Hall of Fame WR Keenan Allen. A seasoned vet who will be an incredible help to a rookie QB1.
Our 2nd round draft pick this year got us Montez Sweat who is a multiplier elevating the defense to a top-5 D in the NFL in the last half of the season. And we already have Cole Kmet and newly signed TE Gerald Everett.
Our 5th round pick got us OL center, Ryan Bates. Our 6th round pick got us OL center/guard Dan Feeney.
We still have the #75 pick in this draft. We also have a 4th round pick. We also could sign a vet or two post-draft.
Yes, the Bears are going to be fun to watch this year. Should be incredible.
I've been going through a lot of stuff on X and YT this morning. There is a YT link below with Ryan Poles on his feelings about the Bears and the progress made last night. Prior to the video link is a quote from that video this really knocked me out. It starts around 4 minutes into the video.
Anyone who has read my posts knows I have been dreaming of a truly fundamental change in how the team has been run. Like any other fan, I would be overjoyed in having another SB trophy up at 1920 Football Drive. But I want to see the Bears build a dynasty. I want them to be the team that every free agent would give sensitive parts of their anatomy to play for. Hopefully it is actually happening.
“The history is the history. I’m kind of done talking about it. We go back so much all the time, and those days are over…. Obviously, we love our history here, but it hasn't been smooth recently. And it's time to change. So I just feel like we've got to stop going backwards.”
I think that is the very essence of how every single poster on this messageboard feels. The past history is past. Time to move on from the past and build something special here - NOW - and yes, build a dynasty. That should be the goal. Yes, that means taking it one step at a time... like winning the division, winning the conference, winning a 2nd Super Bowl... etc. etc. etc.
But successful people and businesses - and the best professional sports franchises - have big visions for big accomplishments. Tiny minds have weak goals and achieve little. I love this Ryan Poles guy. I don't know if he can pull this off. But I love his mindset, his plan and how he is all-in for swinging for the fences.
No "tiny mind" duct taping this thing. Dude is all-in for greatness. Will he achieve it? Who knows. But at least we have a guy who seems like a young and very talented GM... maybe (arguably) the best young talent in the NFL right now at GM. Oh, and one other thing. If this dude believes in Matt Eberflus, then I do too. The team is improving under him. I don't care if he's a D background coach, O background coach, Special Teams background coach... I don't care if he's an alien from planet Mars... If Ryan Poles believes in this dude - then I do too.
I've been going through a lot of stuff on X and YT this morning. There is a YT link below with Ryan Poles on his feelings about the Bears and the progress made last night. Prior to the video link is a quote from that video this really knocked me out. It starts around 4 minutes into the video.
Anyone who has read my posts knows I have been dreaming of a truly fundamental change in how the team has been run. Like any other fan, I would be overjoyed in having another SB trophy up at 1920 Football Drive. But I want to see the Bears build a dynasty. I want them to be the team that every free agent would give sensitive parts of their anatomy to play for. Hopefully it is actually happening.
I think that is the very essence of how every single poster on this messageboard feels. The past history is past. Time to move on from the past and build something special here - NOW - and yes, build a dynasty. That should be the goal. Yes, that means taking it one step at a time... like winning the division, winning the conference, winning a 2nd Super Bowl... etc. etc. etc.
But successful people and businesses - and the best professional sports franchises - have big visions for big accomplishments. Tiny minds have weak goals and achieve little. I love this Ryan Poles guy. I don't know if he can pull this off. But I love his mindset, his plan and how he is all-in for swinging for the fences.
No "tiny mind" duct taping this thing. Dude is all-in for greatness. Will he achieve it? Who knows. But at least we have a guy who seems like a young and very talented GM... maybe (arguably) the best young talent in the NFL right now at GM. Oh, and one other thing. If this dude believes in Matt Eberflus, then I do too. The team is improving under him. I don't care if he's a D background coach, O background coach, Special Teams background coach... I don't care if he's an alien from planet Mars... If Ryan Poles believes in this dude - then I do too.
Go Bears!
With you all the way except for the. Flus stuff. I’m going to withhold judgement on that
I think that is the very essence of how every single poster on this messageboard feels. The past history is past. Time to move on from the past and build something special here - NOW - and yes, build a dynasty. That should be the goal. Yes, that means taking it one step at a time... like winning the division, winning the conference, winning a 2nd Super Bowl... etc. etc. etc.
But successful people and businesses - and the best professional sports franchises - have big visions for big accomplishments. Tiny minds have weak goals and achieve little. I love this Ryan Poles guy. I don't know if he can pull this off. But I love his mindset, his plan and how he is all-in for swinging for the fences.
No "tiny mind" duct taping this thing. Dude is all-in for greatness. Will he achieve it? Who knows. But at least we have a guy who seems like a young and very talented GM... maybe (arguably) the best young talent in the NFL right now at GM. Oh, and one other thing. If this dude believes in Matt Eberflus, then I do too. The team is improving under him. I don't care if he's a D background coach, O background coach, Special Teams background coach... I don't care if he's an alien from planet Mars... If Ryan Poles believes in this dude - then I do too.
Go Bears!
With you all the way except for the. Flus stuff. I’m going to withhold judgement on that
Flus are contagious. Maybe you just need more exposure? But I agree, I'm not on the Flus bandwagon yet, but I am over my Fire Flus phase. Let's see how he does with a more talented team now.
With you all the way except for the. Flus stuff. I’m going to withhold judgement on that
Flus are contagious. Maybe you just need more exposure? But I agree, I'm not on the Flus bandwagon yet, but I am over my Fire Flus phase. Let's see how he does with a more talented team now.
Same here. I’ve got an open mind. You can even see to the other side when you look in my ear
I think that is the very essence of how every single poster on this messageboard feels. The past history is past. Time to move on from the past and build something special here - NOW - and yes, build a dynasty. That should be the goal. Yes, that means taking it one step at a time... like winning the division, winning the conference, winning a 2nd Super Bowl... etc. etc. etc.
But successful people and businesses - and the best professional sports franchises - have big visions for big accomplishments. Tiny minds have weak goals and achieve little. I love this Ryan Poles guy. I don't know if he can pull this off. But I love his mindset, his plan and how he is all-in for swinging for the fences.
No "tiny mind" duct taping this thing. Dude is all-in for greatness. Will he achieve it? Who knows. But at least we have a guy who seems like a young and very talented GM... maybe (arguably) the best young talent in the NFL right now at GM. Oh, and one other thing. If this dude believes in Matt Eberflus, then I do too. The team is improving under him. I don't care if he's a D background coach, O background coach, Special Teams background coach... I don't care if he's an alien from planet Mars... If Ryan Poles believes in this dude - then I do too.
Go Bears!
With you all the way except for the. Flus stuff. I’m going to withhold judgement on that
No worries because that's the fun of being here as Bears fans... we have a LOT of fun going back-and-forth on all this stuff. We sure don't have to be in lock-step on how we feel about Eberflus. Keeping an open mind about Eberflus is a good thing... I'm just an overly emotional fan and on top of the world right now with Ryan Poles... LOL, so don't mind me. I've gone from the depths of despair to feeling like I'm on the mountaintop of hope right now. But, I 100% feel like witholding judgment is absolutely fair.
Flus are contagious. Maybe you just need more exposure? But I agree, I'm not on the Flus bandwagon yet, but I am over my Fire Flus phase. Let's see how he does with a more talented team now.
I agree that we can watch and see how he does with the team this year. That is 100% valid. But it was not that long ago (less than a year ago) people (a lot of Bears fans on social media) were wanting Ryan Poles fired. SMH. I'm more about giving people a BIT more time than a tank season and the 1st rebuild season to show what they can - or can't do here. That just seems reasonable. And for a long time I am going to remember what riczaj01 said about how the Bears can't achieve success as long as we are cycling through GMs and HCs. Nothing good CAN come of that. I believe he is right. Especially with a rookie GM and a rookie HC in their first NFL gig.
That just seems right and reasonable thinking. And I am so "on the Poles bandwagon" that if Poles says Eberflus is "The Guy" then I'm good with that. LOL, at least until the wheels fall off here.
Oh, and one other thing... I keep looking at the successful D coaches who are head coaches in the NFL right now - who are successful. Look no further than Houston for one of those. And there are other current good HCs who are not O background guys. A head coach is a HC, not a coordinator. I think as fans we fail to grasp that these are different positions in the NFL. There is more than one way to do this. LOL, yes, I wish we had Andy Reid here as our HC. But we don't. I am trusting that Ryan Poles is right about his HC, coach Eberflus.
Post by bearsinhouston on Apr 26, 2024 7:53:21 GMT -6
Honestly, I only half care who we get with the last two picks. I consider the draft a success for us even at this early point. Anything else we get I consider a bonus
We do have to address the D at some point in the future though. It needs help bad
Well we are now past both of our picks and I don't think we will make a move up into the first round again so I think we are done for the first round.
What a draft! I hope I was right in wanting a WR instead of a DT or DE. My thought was that Allen is a one year guy and we need someone opposite of Moore. Of course, I wanted MJH more and even Nabors, but they were both gone as we thought they would be. I was not sure that Odunze would still be there but he was! Honestly, I think we may have the best WR corp in the league. Williams should be estatic.
So.... looking past the first round. We may trade into the 2nd round... not sure.
But we have glaring needs at DE for sure. I believe we have a need at DT also, and possibly OL.
So, looking at the 3rd round, assuming we don't move up... any impact players at those positions that anyone likes?
Couple of major takeaways from last night's 1st round:
After the "big 3" WRs, there wasn't any more taken until a mini-run late in the night. This tends to confirm what we believed that there was a clear drop-off between the big-3 and all the rest. Adonai Mitchell and Keon Coleman fell completely out of the first as did McConkey.
There was only 1 minor trade in the first 15 picks. This tends to confirm what we suspected before -- its a thin and top-heavy draft and no one was willing to move off their guy early. Schefter reported that Minn, LV, and NYG were wanting to move up but couldn't find a partner.
There was a ridiculous number of OTs and QBs taken, several of which were clear desperation reaches. This also speaks to how thin this draft is overall. Poles was genius to use his picks like he did knowing that 4th-7th rounders this year don't hold much value.
No defensive players were taken in the top 15! And the first one off the board was the only D guy I was really interested in--Latu. Kudos to Poles for not giving in to pressure from Flus to reach for a DT/DE at #9 when the defensive talent just wasn't that great this year.
I'm really stoked as Poles has nailed this offseason. This offense should be top-10 even with a rookie QB learning the ropes and Shane Waldron has zero excuses for not delivering.
I think that is the very essence of how every single poster on this messageboard feels. The past history is past. Time to move on from the past and build something special here - NOW - and yes, build a dynasty. That should be the goal. Yes, that means taking it one step at a time... like winning the division, winning the conference, winning a 2nd Super Bowl... etc. etc. etc.
But successful people and businesses - and the best professional sports franchises - have big visions for big accomplishments. Tiny minds have weak goals and achieve little. I love this Ryan Poles guy. I don't know if he can pull this off. But I love his mindset, his plan and how he is all-in for swinging for the fences.
No "tiny mind" duct taping this thing. Dude is all-in for greatness. Will he achieve it? Who knows. But at least we have a guy who seems like a young and very talented GM... maybe (arguably) the best young talent in the NFL right now at GM. Oh, and one other thing. If this dude believes in Matt Eberflus, then I do too. The team is improving under him. I don't care if he's a D background coach, O background coach, Special Teams background coach... I don't care if he's an alien from planet Mars... If Ryan Poles believes in this dude - then I do too.
Go Bears!
This is what I have meant when I have posted about Poles "playing the long game". I've been watching so much stuff this morning, I am kind of losing track of what has been said in a specific video. But I think this is on that Poles post 1st round presser upstream. When asked about when exactly he had Caleb Williams on his radar, Poles said the game he played in Oklahoma vs Texas. This was Williams' first significant time in a game as a freshman. Poles indicated that he saw something really special in Williams and that Williams was on Poles' short list ever afterwards.
This kind of attention to detail (and secondarily, the amount of time and effort required) is what makes a GM like Poles so special. We all love players who are intelligent and have impeccable work habits. Well, it goes for GMs too.
Well we are now past both of our picks and I don't think we will make a move up into the first round again so I think we are done for the first round.
What a draft! I hope I was right in wanting a WR instead of a DT or DE. My thought was that Allen is a one year guy and we need someone opposite of Moore. Of course, I wanted MJH more and even Nabors, but they were both gone as we thought they would be. I was not sure that Odunze would still be there but he was! Honestly, I think we may have the best WR corp in the league. Williams should be estatic.
So.... looking past the first round. We may trade into the 2nd round... not sure.
But we have glaring needs at DE for sure. I believe we have a need at DT also, and possibly OL.
So, looking at the 3rd round, assuming we don't move up... any impact players at those positions that anyone likes?
Couple of major takeaways from last night's 1st round:
After the "big 3" WRs, there wasn't any more taken until a mini-run late in the night. This tends to confirm what we believed that there was a clear drop-off between the big-3 and all the rest. Adonai Mitchell and Keon Coleman fell completely out of the first as did McConkey.
There was only 1 minor trade in the first 15 picks. This tends to confirm what we suspected before -- its a thin and top-heavy draft and no one was willing to move off their guy early. Schefter reported that Minn, LV, and NYG were wanting to move up but couldn't find a partner.
There was a ridiculous number of OTs and QBs taken, several of which were clear desperation reaches. This also speaks to how thin this draft is overall. Poles was genius to use his picks like he did knowing that 4th-7th rounders this year don't hold much value.
No defensive players were taken in the top 15! And the first one off the board was the only D guy I was really interested in--Latu. Kudos to Poles for not giving in to pressure from Flus to reach for a DT/DE at #9 when the defensive talent just wasn't that great this year.
I'm really stoked as Poles has nailed this offseason. This offense should be top-10 even with a rookie QB learning the ropes and Shane Waldron has zero excuses for not delivering.
I was hearing a lot on this (the thin draft assessment) as we got closer to the draft. We had 2 top 10 picks and Poles wanted to ghet the most out of them. And he did.
I'm starting to hear buzz on social media that Poles is shopping Khalil Herbert. He might have a surprise where we maybe get a 3rd round pick for Khalil this year. But more likely, a conditional 2025 draft pick. IMO Poles is basically done in the draft. Not that he won't get all he can with or remaining 2 picks this year. Just that his major projects are done.
I am hoping that Carolina gives us another gift in 2025 by having a poor record so the 2nd round pick we have from them is very close to a late 1st round pick. I hope we can get long DE or 3Tech DL help and maybe OT help so we can have realy solid lines with depth on both sides of the ball.
