I’m building up an appetite because I have lunch plans. And while I know I’m playing with fire by typing this, I just don’t think there is anything that can ruin it for me.
From the top, I love this angle from NBC Sports Chicago’s Josh Schrock who highlights how the Bears’ best course of action to successfully develop Justin Fields is to follow the blueprint the Packers laid out for Jordan Love. You know I hate to give Green Bay credit for anything, but Schrock isn’t wrong. We even discussed it the other day when underscoring how the Packers built an offensive line that dominated the trenches in Week 1 over the course of several drafts. For me, it all starts in the trenches. Those bad boys at the line of scrimmage are supposed to be tone-setters. Let them do that by allowing them to build up a lather, then go from there.
Sidebar: Are we at risk of putting too much stock into Week 1? Is this going to be one of those things we look back on and think about how we overreacted because it was Week 1 *AND* Packers Week? Sometimes, I feel like the Bears are chasing ghosts when trying to play catchup with the Packers. Maybe Chicago’s football team should focus on creating its own identity instead of trying to keep up with what’s happening in Packerland. Or maybe I’m just projecting.
CHECK IT OUT: I Have an Idea of How to Unlock Justin Fields’ Potential
You had to know takes like this were coming after Week 1:
Here is a problem I have with modern media and I think it is born out of #takeculture: The default position of “if it isn’t working, stop trying.” That’s the takeaway here … right? The Bears have never gotten it right at quarterback, therefore they should just give up. It’s such a defeatist mentality. It’s the type of talk a lot of #BasketballTwitter had when LeBron James went to the Heat and won two titles in his first three years. Pack up shop and wait til LeBron retires was a real thing psuedosmart NBA people were saying. I’m glad the Warriors didn’t take that memo. And no matter what happens with Justin Fields, I hope the Bears don’t take it either.
Also: Just because it hasn’t happened doesn’t mean it can’t (or won’t). Didn’t the 2016 Cubs teach you people anything?
In a year where we wanted clear and concise answers, Week 1 left me with a yellow pad full of questions about the coaching staff. Is Matt Eberflus on the hot seat? Should he be? What about his staff? Will Ryan Poles get the green light from upper management to make the necessary changes? And when? For all the chatter about firing Defensive Coordinator Alan Williams to the moon, this *IS* Eberflus’ scheme. And while Williams is calling the plays, blaming the play caller feels like a scapegoat move. Is it too early to start looking for offensive coordinator candidates? Luke Getsy and Justin Fields seemed to be vibing after the mini-bye last year. Why didn’t the Week 1 offense look anything like it did when things were clicking in 2022?
There are a bunch of philosophical questions I wrote down. For instance, do the Bears need to re-think their preseason rollout? I found it notable that an offensive line that didn’t work together a ton in the offseason was looking like a group that was still getting to know each other. Sure, we often talk about individuals as being key to the line’s success. However, I tend to think of that group as a collective unit that needs to work cohesively together in order to get it right. Instead of “one band, one sound” the Bears offensive line was looking more like a bunch of individuals picking up instruments for the first time and playing on a whim.
I think we can share a similar sentiment about the Bears’ linebackers. T.J. Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds had too many moments that had me like “I sure wish they would’ve been healthy and available for more of training camp and the preseason.” And don’t even take me down the rabbit hole of the line of thinking behind spending $60 million on off-the-ball linebackers when the defensive line has major holes. This isn’t to say the Bears didn’t add good players at linebacker this offseason. It’s just that the D-line and linebackers work off each other and if one group is short-handed, the other suffers. And if it is the defensive line that is lacking, then it is really noticeable at the second level.
Yours truly is ready to turn the page and move on to the Buccaneers. But first, Matt chimes in on NFL stock watch. And it ain’t pretty for our Chicago Bears:
Just everything and everyone involved in Sunday’s debacle (not including Roschon Johnson; he gave 150%). The coaching staff put together a brutal gameplan. Offensively, they tried to shoehorn Justin Fields into the same offense that didn’t work in the first half of last season. No rollouts, no moving the pocket, no scheming D.J. Moore open. Hell, D.J. Moore takes them down the field in the first half, gets them in goal-to-go, and then gets taken off the field for 1st and 2nd down. Makes no sense.
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FOX’s No. 2 crew will be on the call for Sunday’s Bears-Bucs game, per the Tribune’s Brad Biggs. It’ll be Joe Davis, Daryl “Moose” Johnston, and Pam Oliver making up FOX’s broadcast team in Week 2.
Free agent running back Tarik Cohen is expected to sign with the Carolina Panthers, tweets NFL reporter Jordan Schultz. Cohen, 28, was a Bears fourth-round pick in 2017 and an All-Pro returner in 2018 before an awful knee injury in 2020 took him out of action. We’ll be rooting for Cohen’s comeback story because he was so fun to watch while he was in Chicago.
Pete Crow-Armstrong catches everything:
If PCA was on the Bears, Luke Getsy would put together a game-plan in which he was targeted just twice. That’s how good at catching things the newest Cubs rookie is right now.
Tab writes about how Wyatt Kaiser is in a position to make an impact on the Blackhawks’ blue line. (BN Blackhawks)
The Bulls need to come out of the gates hot:
NEWSLETTER
