dll2000 Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 Let’s start with bad news. We are entering season as of today with questions/doubts at basically entire starting OL, outside Whitehair, CB, QB and edge opposite Mack. I mean. That is bad news. I think I have never seen an NFL team with a CB lineup we are rolling out at moment. Maybe ever. Johnson is good not great (yet), but he is one big tackle from popping that bum shoulder loose. The other guys are back ups. All of them. There is no way we go into game 1 without signing or trading for a vet - more draft capital likely gone. Good news: - OL is not without starting talent. Just a lot of IFs at moment that have to come together. - Skill positions of Robinson, Mooney, Goodwin, Kmet, Montey are not bad, but not elite group either. Best we have had in awhile though and we finally have an explosive playmaker in Mooney - though he is awfully slight. - If Goldman can get motivated with Tonga our run game should be 100% better than last season with those two additions alone. Goldman seems to have partially checked out since sitting out last year though. Kind of a good news or bad news situation. Best news: I think it is obvious Bears have a legit young talent at QB. That is great thing we all have hat to hang on at moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blkwdw13 Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 I agree there is so many ifs going into the season, the only thing I want to see when ever it happens is that Fields shows what most think he is. About Goldman, I think he'll be he usual self which is not noticed much until the film gets looked at. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abstract_thought Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 1 hour ago, blkwdw13 said: I agree there is so many ifs going into the season, the only thing I want to see when ever it happens is that Fields shows what most think he is. About Goldman, I think he'll be he usual self which is not noticed much until the film gets looked at. Goldman's presence will help the run game a lot and take pressure off Hicks, who should be rotating more. I think the Bears' front 7 will be dominant again this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dll2000 Posted September 1, 2021 Author Share Posted September 1, 2021 1 hour ago, blkwdw13 said: I agree there is so many ifs going into the season, the only thing I want to see when ever it happens is that Fields shows what most think he is. About Goldman, I think he'll be he usual self which is not noticed much until the film gets looked at. Yes whole point of a smallish WSLB like Smith is to keep him clean so he can knife in and make plays untouched. Without Goldman playing like that it doesn't happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beardown3231 Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 1 hour ago, dll2000 said: Yes whole point of a smallish WSLB like Smith is to keep him clean so he can knife in and make plays untouched. Without Goldman playing like that it doesn't happen. Goldman's absence didn't effect Smith at all last year 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dll2000 Posted September 1, 2021 Author Share Posted September 1, 2021 1 minute ago, beardown3231 said: Goldman's absence didn't effect Smith at all last year I strongly disagree. Our run D was crap for much of year. I don't care how many tackles he made if teams are eating up first downs on us. When and where you make tackles matter. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beardown3231 Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 6 minutes ago, dll2000 said: I strongly disagree. Our run D was crap for much of year. I don't care how many tackles he made if teams are eating up first downs on us. When and where you make tackles matter. I mean, Roquan was easily their best defensive player last year. He should have been an AP. I'm not saying Goldman won't help him even more in 2021, but Smith was a man on a mission last year 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soulman Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 1 hour ago, dll2000 said: I strongly disagree. Our run D was crap for much of year. I don't care how many tackles he made if teams are eating up first downs on us. When and where you make tackles matter. But Goldman is back and from the looks of it he's ready to assume his role as one of the more dominant NT in the NFL. I also believe having both Blackson and Tonga to allow Goldman and Hicks some breathers will help. We lacked backup with their size last season. Tonga is a nice surprise. Now as for the CB situation I concur. It's a mess just as I said when I posted that here we are two weeks from the opener and we still don't have an established LCB or a Slot CB. I really have to question why they released Marqui Christian who can double at S and as a Slot CB unless they plan to bring him back at some point in time. Graham didn't show much with the chances he was given but did Shelley or Vildor do much better? And though I sympathize with the loss of his father signing Trufant proved to be a waste of time. Plus IIRC he was still struggling with an injury. We need more vet help at CB but from the looks of it the cupboard is as bare as Mother Hubbard's with some teams even trading picks for other teams back of the roster types. To be honest I'm not sure where we'd even find any which makes losing Fuller that much harder to understand. So who or what we have are guys who are gonna have to ascend pretty quickly under Desai and Townsends tutelage. Our secondary looks weak. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dll2000 Posted September 1, 2021 Author Share Posted September 1, 2021 2 hours ago, beardown3231 said: I mean, Roquan was easily their best defensive player last year. He should have been an AP. I'm not saying Goldman won't help him even more in 2021, but Smith was a man on a mission last year He is not designed to take on blockers is the point. He is too small and has to avoid them. He is a playmaker. You have to keep guys off of him. It was a credit to him he did as well as he did last year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dll2000 Posted September 1, 2021 Author Share Posted September 1, 2021 Burns is back. That is good news I think. I think he may surprise people if he starts. I say that because he is noticeably fast on the field. I suspect he is not good between the ears and that is what holds him back, but I don't know. They may start Vildor though. I don't have much faith he will surprise as he is both too small and too slow for NFL I think. He is a lot of dog and heart in him (but not a dog's heart), but I think he just lacks the physical talent. I hope I am wrong on Vildor and right on Burns. Either way would be good. That still leaves us with Shelley at slot. He has been bad. I can't sugar coat that. I really,really liked the upside in 6th round because he was a tenacious college player, but like Vildor he is too small and slow for this league it seems. No matter which way you slice it we have at least one hole at CB that teams can exploit as it stands. Not sure why when Burns start looking equal to Vildor they didn't give Vildor some run at slot since that was original plan when they drafted him. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soulman Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 17 minutes ago, dll2000 said: Burns is back. That is good news I think. I think he may surprise people if he starts. I say that because he is noticeably fast on the field. I suspect he is not good between the ears and that is what holds him back, but I don't know. They may start Vildor though. I don't have much faith he will surprise as he is both too small and too slow for NFL I think. He is a lot of dog and heart in him (but not a dog's heart), but I think he just lacks the physical talent. I hope I am wrong on Vildor and right on Burns. Either way would be good. That still leaves us with Shelley at slot. He has been bad. I can't sugar coat that. I really,really liked the upside in 6th round because he was a tenacious college player, but like Vildor he is too small and slow for this league it seems. No matter which way you slice it we have at least one hole at CB that teams can exploit as it stands. Not sure why when Burns start looking equal to Vildor they didn't give Vildor some run at slot since that was original plan when they drafted him. Not a total shock but as hungry as many teams are for CB help it's probably a good thing we brought him back quickly rather than to leave him out there as a FA. He's no prize but given the lack of quality vet CBs available he may be the best we could have done anyway. If they can keep him playing as much man coverage as possible at least he won't forget his assignments. If Burns can be trusted at LCB it would probably be smarter to move Vildor into the slot to compete with Shelley or bring back Christian for the same purpose. I'm surprised they released Christian and this is where having to keep Foles around really hurts. We end up sacrificing depth at another position because of it. Pace's errors always seem to compound themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dll2000 Posted September 1, 2021 Author Share Posted September 1, 2021 1 hour ago, soulman said: Not a total shock but as hungry as many teams are for CB help it's probably a good thing we brought him back quickly rather than to leave him out there as a FA. He's no prize but given the lack of quality vet CBs available he may be the best we could have done anyway. If they can keep him playing as much man coverage as possible at least he won't forget his assignments. If Burns can be trusted at LCB it would probably be smarter to move Vildor into the slot to compete with Shelley or bring back Christian for the same purpose. I'm surprised they released Christian and this is where having to keep Foles around really hurts. We end up sacrificing depth at another position because of it. Pace's errors always seem to compound themselves. Moving to slot isn't that easy. Slots are off the LOS and have a 2 way go. Technique for CB in slot is way different. According to reports Vildor got zero reps at slot. I don't get it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soulman Posted September 1, 2021 Share Posted September 1, 2021 2 minutes ago, dll2000 said: Moving to slot isn't that easy. Slots are off the LOS and have a 2 way go. Technique for CB in slot is way different. According to reports Vildor got zero reps at slot. I don't get it. Yeah I know. But if he has the quickness needed as opposed to long speed that's probably where he should be right? Why they never had him there in camp can only be because they wanted him to get his reps at LCB and own it. He came up short. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBLIII Posted September 2, 2021 Share Posted September 2, 2021 I'm not sure if it's the best idea to throw him to the wolves. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heinz D. Posted September 2, 2021 Share Posted September 2, 2021 1 hour ago, SBLIII said: I'm not sure if it's the best idea to throw him to the wolves. Probably not, I suppose. But the line play will improve. Quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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