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Season in review thread:


Epyon

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I realize we technically have a game left, but I also realize this season probably ended before the Detroit game last week, and definitely ended with Fields getting put on IR.  So my thoughts on the year as a whole.

Offense:

OL: Everything starts up front, and I don't really know that we got started this year.  Braxton Jones and Tevin Jenkins are the ONLY two bright spots for this team on the offensive line, and I have pretty massive doubts about both by the end of the year. Jones got run the hell over by Detroit in a way that makes me question whether he can be the guy at LT and Jenkins would be a solid guy going forward if I had -=ANY=- faith he can or will stay healthy......    AFAIC we need all 5 OL replaced right now.  I'd add I don't understand to this day how Deiter Eislin never got a chance at center.... it would be impossible to be worse.   GRADE: F

RB: I can't properly evaluate this until I can really tell what is going on with the offensive line.  Does Monty underperform because he's an underperformer, or because the OL is a dumpster fire? I'm genuinely not sure. I feel like Monty is roughly as talented as Forte, and yet he just isn't the kind of offensive contributor that Forte was. Overall, I'm leaning towards letting him go in the off season still, even if he was outperforming Herbert while herbert was out and when herbert came back. Herbert manages to be even harder to evaluate for me. He's better at hitting more impactful plays on the ground, but he's a liability in pass pro and hasn't really shown out catching the ball.  I also get the feeling that his consistency is worse than Monty. Monty may only get 3 yards, but you can count on those 3 yards.... Herbert has a larger average, but it feels like he's going 0,0,0,1, 19  then claiming a 5 yard average (I'd be curious if that is backed up by stats as well).... Our #3 RB spot is a black hole. Ebner isn't it. Darrington Evans showed a couple of flashes, but I'd call RB a low key need in the draft, even if we upgrade in FA (and I'm favor of that as well).  Grade C-

WR: Remember when we used to make fun of Matt Nagy and his offense? Yeah Matt Nagy, for all his faults, could at least get a pass complete to Darnell Mooney consistently.  I'm inclined to this this is scheme related but man has this been a rough spot for us this year. Chase Claypool thus far looks like an abysmal trade for us, and I'm one of the people who liked Chase coming out, and was happy when that trade was announced..... RN that 33rd pick looks like it would easily net us Njigba or Hyatt and I can't for a second believe either of them could do worse, even as rookies than Claypool has been doing here.   The worst part is, that's it. Those are the only two WR I have anything positive to say about. EqSB is a bottom of roster guy.... Velus so far is a near complete bust. Pringle was an atrocious FA signing. That basically leaves NKeal Harry, but he's inexplicably the "Deiter Eislin" of the WR room in that I genuinely can't understand how he isn't getting more looks... It just can't possibly be any worse.   Grade D (only because I know Mooney can do better, and Claypool should be doing more)

QB: I'm only going to acknowledge Fields existing here, because the other two aren't even Journeymen.  I still have absolutely no idea if Fields is the guy long term. Yeah, he can run..... and for a number of games he's looked like the best player on the field -=BY FAR=-....... but our overall passing stats where abysmal this year..... There's plenty of flashes, but man, I'm thrilled we don't have to decide whether to pay him for a few years because you simply can't look at our passing offense and then want to drop $$ on anything going on right now.  The worst part is, I think end of next season is the deadline to make that call, and I don't see how we can revamp the entire OL, the entire WR room, and fix the defense in one offseason, all to properly evaluate him. I need to see a BIG jump from him as a passer next year, or I'm drafting someone in '24.

Grade (rushing) A+  Grade Passing D

Defense:

DL: Everything starts up front here as well, and man did the swap from 3-4 to 4-3 kill us, and that was when we still had Robert Quinn. I can't sugar coat this, there are ZERO players on the DL right now that deserve a job next year. We need at least 4 new ones.   Grade F

LB: Sanborn is the only thing I can say here and maybe even more than Fields' near record setting rushing abiility is the largest bright spot on the season.... which means we need 2 linebackers around him Grade B

DB: Brisker has been good, but no where near the hype..... Jackson looked better, but damn if a Lisfranc isn't a really really really bad injury..... Luckily he apparently doesn't need surgery for his, but he's a medical question mark for me until proven otherwise....  Jaylon Johnson is solid.... and Gordon had some moments but a lot of really bad lowlights as well. This season seemed like it was a bit tooo much for him and we gotta see if he can step up in year 2 or he's getting replaced.   I can't even remember who the third corner is without cheating and that's either a good thing or a bad thing. In a number of my mocks I try and target a corner, however, and I think it'd be wise we get 1 new body in this off season.  Grade B-

ST:

K: Cairos "Carlos" Santos had a rough year. I think we try and ride it out next year, but I might bring some camp competition if Santos is still missing extra points. Grade D

P: Gill's been good. Grade A-

R: Velus is the only one who seems to know HOW to return a kick (I was expecting more from Pettis) but he can't hold on to the ball so there's that. Job's wide open AFAIC. Grade D+


COACHING/STAFF

HC:  My opinion of the Flus is lower than when the season started. He's a guy who forced us into a 4-3 and the defense looks massively unprepared week in and week out with players not knowing their assignments or gaps..... That's also on the DC (or even MOSTLY on the DC) but Flus is still a defensive guy, he should be able to help.  His game awareness and management hasn't really been too hot either imo and I'm kinda getting the vibe he's like Vic Fangio where he should have stayed a DC.... I'd add his personnel decisions this year have been largely baffling. Not getting reps for Claypool, Velus, Harry in the passing game. Running Fields twice as much as your two running backs when Fields is already hurt...... Tevin Jenkins' whole debacle a the start of the season. Mustipher being handed a job he BLATANTLY SUCKS AT.    Grade C-

DC: The defense sucks. It plays with poor discipline, is allergic to generating pressure, and frankly is playing worse than their already low talent level. This has been a "Mel Tucker under Trestman" kind of year for the defense.    Grade F

OC: Not done throwing shade here, and I'm going to sound full on meathead for this one..... I'm gonna come out and preface this by admitting that I HATE this scheme. I don't like "finesse" schemes that spend all their time trying to be cute.  This team can't score points consistently because it keeps drafting OL who are good at running away, and not good at winning a damn fight in front of them. You're an outside zone team because you have to run around the middle because you're too damn soft to just take the middle..... The play last week where Kmet motions in, takes the snap, the pitches to Fields. That was a cute play. That was a good play. It worked. Once. And the next time you try and run it your QB is going to get smashed. Nagy had cute plays too... Nagy didn't have an offense... and neither do we until I don't look at 3rd (and then 4th) and 1 yard to go and expect a punt afterwards. I don't care if our playbook has 5 plays in it, so long as the offense executes those 5 plays like clockwork.  I'd add we where really good at scoring on opening drives, running scripted plays. And then the offense gets worse the longer the game goes on. Getsy sucks at making adjustments.. Our opponents are adapting to us mid game and then shutting us down completely. Our entire offense this season largely consisted of Justin Fields running for his life and eating big chunks of yardage because of it. That isn't an offense.  Grade F

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8 hours ago, Epyon said:

I realize we technically have a game left, but I also realize this season probably ended before the Detroit game last week, and definitely ended with Fields getting put on IR.  So my thoughts on the year as a whole.

Offense:

OL: Everything starts up front, and I don't really know that we got started this year.  Braxton Jones and Tevin Jenkins are the ONLY two bright spots for this team on the offensive line, and I have pretty massive doubts about both by the end of the year. Jones got run the hell over by Detroit in a way that makes me question whether he can be the guy at LT and Jenkins would be a solid guy going forward if I had -=ANY=- faith he can or will stay healthy......    AFAIC we need all 5 OL replaced right now.  I'd add I don't understand to this day how Deiter Eislin never got a chance at center.... it would be impossible to be worse.   GRADE: F

Braxton I think I may need to go back and watch more closely.   He definitely left a bad taste last week.   He has not been nearly as good as press he has been getting, but I am not sure he has been awful either.   He is defintely been unable to anchor effectively in pass game all year.   Weird that he is so much stronger going forward direction.  

Whitehair was bad more than he was good in 2022. 

Mustipher was really bad and then was not awful down stretch, but he has so much bad tape I have to say been ready to move on from him.   

Patrick was brought in to play center, he has shown he can't play guard.   He might be a passable center with help on either side.   Kind of a bust of a FA.  

 Tevin in limited play put up a highlight reel which is kind of crazy.  He also had some bad plays, but it was his first year at position.   Everyone is worried about his durability at this point.  I think he needs to drop some weight and get in better condition and that will help. 

 I think we need to move Borom to guard this offseason and see what he can do. 

Leatherwood looks to be a total waste of time - maybe guard?  It was telling they didn't put him there last week - maybe this week?  I think if we don't see Leatherwood this week he may be done.   

I think we get at least two new starting faces on OL via FA and draft.   Could end up being complete overhaul if there are injuries.  Will be interesting.

RB: I can't properly evaluate this until I can really tell what is going on with the offensive line.  Does Monty underperform because he's an underperformer, or because the OL is a dumpster fire? I'm genuinely not sure. I feel like Monty is roughly as talented as Forte, and yet he just isn't the kind of offensive contributor that Forte was. Overall, I'm leaning towards letting him go in the off season still, even if he was outperforming Herbert while herbert was out and when herbert came back. Herbert manages to be even harder to evaluate for me. He's better at hitting more impactful plays on the ground, but he's a liability in pass pro and hasn't really shown out catching the ball.  I also get the feeling that his consistency is worse than Monty. Monty may only get 3 yards, but you can count on those 3 yards.... Herbert has a larger average, but it feels like he's going 0,0,0,1, 19  then claiming a 5 yard average (I'd be curious if that is backed up by stats as well).... Our #3 RB spot is a black hole. Ebner isn't it. Darrington Evans showed a couple of flashes, but I'd call RB a low key need in the draft, even if we upgrade in FA (and I'm favor of that as well).  Grade C-

I still love Monty.  I would resign him for market value which I think is not that high.  You need players like Monty on your team.  Hard nosed and hard working.  He can get you 3 tough yards and he has good hands.

Herbert is more explosive because he is faster.  But he can't pass block that well.  

The rest of group is expendable.   Here is thing that sucks for RBs.   This might be best and deepest RB draft class in many years.  And many FA RBs are out there.   Will keep price of Monty down.

WR: Remember when we used to make fun of Matt Nagy and his offense? Yeah Matt Nagy, for all his faults, could at least get a pass complete to Darnell Mooney consistently.  I'm inclined to this this is scheme related but man has this been a rough spot for us this year. Chase Claypool thus far looks like an abysmal trade for us, and I'm one of the people who liked Chase coming out, and was happy when that trade was announced..... RN that 33rd pick looks like it would easily net us Njigba or Hyatt and I can't for a second believe either of them could do worse, even as rookies than Claypool has been doing here.   The worst part is, that's it. Those are the only two WR I have anything positive to say about. EqSB is a bottom of roster guy.... Velus so far is a near complete bust. Pringle was an atrocious FA signing. That basically leaves NKeal Harry, but he's inexplicably the "Deiter Eislin" of the WR room in that I genuinely can't understand how he isn't getting more looks... It just can't possibly be any worse.   Grade D (only because I know Mooney can do better, and Claypool should be doing more)

Even though Robinson played poorly in 2021 he still commanded respect from past play and Mooney was still an unknown.  It was a lot easier to take away Mooney in 2022 with no one else to respect and Mooney having earned respect and attention.  That was big difference I think.  

Claypool is a little baffling.  He is kind of a tweener.  Still a good player, but not close to great.  An offseason with Fields may do wonders for him - hopefully.  Kind of sucks in my mind that Pickens being so good basically made Claypool expendable in Pittsburgh and he was on board for us twice and we then traded a higher pick to get the lesser of the two.  The irony.  

I think is just Mooney, Claypool, St. Brown and Velus back next year.   

Coaching staff should have concentrated on coaching up Velus way GB did with Watson and getting him reps.  Watson dropped a LOT of balls and GB stayed with him.   More than Velus did.  They could have dog housed him way Bears did with Velus.   He is more talented than Velus, but still,  Velus is an explosive player that can be a #3 with proper training and has speed to open up more grass for others.   Fans and coaches are way too quick to dump people I think.  

 

QB: I'm only going to acknowledge Fields existing here, because the other two aren't even Journeymen.  I still have absolutely no idea if Fields is the guy long term. Yeah, he can run..... and for a number of games he's looked like the best player on the field -=BY FAR=-....... but our overall passing stats where abysmal this year..... There's plenty of flashes, but man, I'm thrilled we don't have to decide whether to pay him for a few years because you simply can't look at our passing offense and then want to drop $$ on anything going on right now.  The worst part is, I think end of next season is the deadline to make that call, and I don't see how we can revamp the entire OL, the entire WR room, and fix the defense in one offseason, all to properly evaluate him. I need to see a BIG jump from him as a passer next year, or I'm drafting someone in '24.

Grade (rushing) A+  Grade Passing D

Fields was in impossible situation and made something of it.  Poles screwed him in 2022.  It may pay off in future now that we have a top 2 pick.  But he cost us a quality year of a rookie deal and a lot of development.   It wasn't free.   Also put a lot of wear and tear on Fields body not having adequate protection or weapons. 

Defense:

DL: Everything starts up front here as well, and man did the swap from 3-4 to 4-3 kill us, and that was when we still had Robert Quinn. I can't sugar coat this, there are ZERO players on the DL right now that deserve a job next year. We need at least 4 new ones.   Grade F

I would say Justin Jones played adequately.  He was only one on entire front who did, which is sad.  

Gipson was a huge disappointment, another example of non-linear NFL development that is often surprising.  He may be much better next year - that would be hope.  

We knew or should have known Robinson was/is a project, but kind of sucks he peaked in game 1.   I would say his story isn't over, but we are in instant gratification age.  

Muhammad was a bust.

Other guys are journeyman, PS players or just not good enough for league at all.

LB: Sanborn is the only thing I can say here and maybe even more than Fields' near record setting rushing abiility is the largest bright spot on the season.... which means we need 2 linebackers around him Grade B

Sanborn was really good.  Not just fill in good.  But good good.  Extra impressive with a horrible DL in front of him as DL makes ILB look good in same way that OL makes RBs look good.   I wish every time someone spoke about him on TV or in print they wouldn't say he was slow though.   On film he isn't slow.  I don't know that to say about that.  I know his 4o time was slow, but it is showing up on grass.   It is a type of racism I think, but that is human nature.  Same as so many saying Fields is a RB and not a QB when he has a better and more accurate arm than 3/4 of league.  I think you could say that more about Jackson as he is inaccurate a lot.  

DB: Brisker has been good, but no where near the hype..... Jackson looked better, but damn if a Lisfranc isn't a really really really bad injury..... Luckily he apparently doesn't need surgery for his, but he's a medical question mark for me until proven otherwise....  Jaylon Johnson is solid.... and Gordon had some moments but a lot of really bad lowlights as well. This season seemed like it was a bit tooo much for him and we gotta see if he can step up in year 2 or he's getting replaced.   I can't even remember who the third corner is without cheating and that's either a good thing or a bad thing. In a number of my mocks I try and target a corner, however, and I think it'd be wise we get 1 new body in this off season.  Grade B-

Secondary has talent.  Jackson can play at level he played before injury I think we have a nice young group - you always need another body, so does everyone.   

What people don't realize is mental and physical damage we put on our secondary by forcing them to make so many open field tackles on big RBs and TEs with a full head of steam.  All because our front was so poor.   A lot of tackles are supposed to be just helping and with a guy slowed or not have to make tackle at all.  DBs give up a lot of size and body mass.  You can't ask them to do that week in and week out.  

ST:

K: Cairos "Carlos" Santos had a rough year. I think we try and ride it out next year, but I might bring some camp competition if Santos is still missing extra points. Grade D

P: Gill's been good. Grade A-

Special teams was good enough.  

R: Velus is the only one who seems to know HOW to return a kick (I was expecting more from Pettis) but he can't hold on to the ball so there's that. Job's wide open AFAIC. Grade D+

Velus did really good on KRs.  

COACHING/STAFF

HC:  My opinion of the Flus is lower than when the season started. He's a guy who forced us into a 4-3 and the defense looks massively unprepared week in and week out with players not knowing their assignments or gaps..... That's also on the DC (or even MOSTLY on the DC) but Flus is still a defensive guy, he should be able to help.  His game awareness and management hasn't really been too hot either imo and I'm kinda getting the vibe he's like Vic Fangio where he should have stayed a DC.... I'd add his personnel decisions this year have been largely baffling. Not getting reps for Claypool, Velus, Harry in the passing game. Running Fields twice as much as your two running backs when Fields is already hurt...... Tevin Jenkins' whole debacle a the start of the season. Mustipher being handed a job he BLATANTLY SUCKS AT.    Grade C-

Above bold was disgusting to me.   As was not designing more a quick passing game and I formation running with Monty to counter poor protection.  Student body right and left with Fields was stupid - fun to watch at times - but stupid.  To large extent it was used.  You have good RBs.  

DC: The defense sucks. It plays with poor discipline, is allergic to generating pressure, and frankly is playing worse than their already low talent level. This has been a "Mel Tucker under Trestman" kind of year for the defense.    Grade F

I think with talent of that front I am not sure how much better they could have done.  

OC: Not done throwing shade here, and I'm going to sound full on meathead for this one..... I'm gonna come out and preface this by admitting that I HATE this scheme. I don't like "finesse" schemes that spend all their time trying to be cute.  This team can't score points consistently because it keeps drafting OL who are good at running away, and not good at winning a damn fight in front of them. You're an outside zone team because you have to run around the middle because you're too damn soft to just take the middle..... The play last week where Kmet motions in, takes the snap, the pitches to Fields. That was a cute play. That was a good play. It worked. Once. And the next time you try and run it your QB is going to get smashed. Nagy had cute plays too... Nagy didn't have an offense... and neither do we until I don't look at 3rd (and then 4th) and 1 yard to go and expect a punt afterwards. I don't care if our playbook has 5 plays in it, so long as the offense executes those 5 plays like clockwork.  I'd add we where really good at scoring on opening drives, running scripted plays. And then the offense gets worse the longer the game goes on. Getsy sucks at making adjustments.. Our opponents are adapting to us mid game and then shutting us down completely. Our entire offense this season largely consisted of Justin Fields running for his life and eating big chunks of yardage because of it. That isn't an offense.  Grade F

 

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34 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

 

I agree with almost all of what you responded with, the only thing I will add that isn't mentioned anywhere is the TE position. I think it will or should have a near complete overhaul, meaning one FA and one draft pick added to the roster. Kmet is adequate but there needs a lot more from that position.

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13 minutes ago, blkwdw13 said:

I agree with almost all of what you responded with, the only thing I will add that isn't mentioned anywhere is the TE position. I think it will or should have a near complete overhaul, meaning one FA and one draft pick added to the roster. Kmet is adequate but there needs a lot more from that position.

TEs who can both block and catch are rare.   Most are basically just small OL or big WRs.  Not a lot are providing mismatches as the WR types are getting guarded by good cover guys and the blockers nobody cares all that much about.   Only a large advantage is if you can force a TE on an ILB or 3-4 OLB.   

Kmet is kind of avg. at both blocking and catching.

Guys like Kelce can completely wreck you, but he is arguably best ever or top 3.    They are rare.  Pitts is just a really big WR now and is good as a WR, but not ultra special like he would have been as a TE.  

I don't think about TEs much.  You need them, and they are great to have, but finding the really good ones is hard and they take a lot of development time often.    Kind of a deep position in draft I am told as well.  I imagine Poles drafts a TE this year before 6th.

 

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4 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

TEs who can both block and catch are rare.   Most are basically just small OL or big WRs.  Not a lot are providing mismatches as the WR types are getting guarded by good cover guys and the blockers nobody cares all that much about.   Only a large advantage is if you can force a TE on an ILB or 3-4 OLB.   

Kmet is kind of avg. at both blocking and catching.

Guys like Kelce can completely wreck you, but he is arguably best ever or top 3.    They are rare.  Pitts is just a really big WR now and is good as a WR, but not ultra special like he would have been as a TE.  

I don't think about TEs much.  You need them, and they are great to have, but finding the really good ones is hard and they take a lot of development time often.    Kind of a deep position in draft I am told as well.  I imagine Poles drafts a TE this year before 6th.

 

All of what you are saying is why I am keeping going after them until you get one that is up there. I am not putting a first or second rounder there yet, but I am swing until it hits. One day I will put up the mock I have going.

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Hard to argue any of those points really.  Very few roster groups that couldn't be completely turned over. 

QB has earned enough to build around (to paraphrase the climate change people: what if we built a solid roster around a QB for no reason? Then you at least have a solid roster to fill in the one guy...)

DB could be good with a couple of veteran additions to stop us from seeing the bottom of the roster again.

On OL the one guy I really sure seems like we'll be lucky to get 17 games out of.  The other plus guy is mostly plus because he's a steal for an LT.

If everything goes right off-season wise this team could really be decent-good next year. That said....

Is there ANY reason to like what the coaches and front office have done with their time here?

Poles' tenure so far has been characterized by making the "hard" decision to tear down the roster.  If that's to be commended, ask yourself if any other new GM hire would have had any different approach being relatively ruthless with the roster and taking what we could get for trades?  The move seems obvious so I'm not certain there's anything special to like there.  What would have been special is if a couple of his bargain bin contracts had turned into starters.  Instead I feel like we've taken depth guys and either underlined the word "depth" or made them look worse than they were by being in such a limp cast.  Flyers are low risk signings with the hope of a couple of gems coming out of the wash, and we mostly have to start over at every position he picked up.   The one spot the Bears seemed to be prepared to spend on was DT, and even that decision turned out to be a waste as the guy wouldn't pass physical.  It all adds up to an incoherent plan, with a lower than normal success rate.  Not great.  

If you really like these coaches, what is it that they do well to you?  The team has mostly looked engaged for most of the games, although I don't know how you address the effort on the last Lions game.  I guess they waited until the end of the season to really quit?  Being above joke-level is not a huge accomplishment.  Tough to execute a defense without the players, but it's still a historically bad defense especially for the Bears.  The offense had a nice spurt there, so give them credit for recognizing what the QB could do without help and focusing on that, but just because Nagy couldn't do it doesn't mean it's any kind of cunning strategy to lean on your best player.  The play calling is just weird, alternating between clever, cowardly and the occasionally confounding.  2nd and ten run should not be your staple play.  Remeber when the Bears' internet was worried about what to do if Getsy got a HC job? JFC I think we'll be OK guys.  If you like anything the O staff have done on the field, ask yourself how it would look without Justin Fields?  

The bright spots to the year are mostly finally feeling like we have a QB that could turn out to be really good, and then second place is way way down the list.  Not saying these guys are the worst in the league, they're not dry humping their way through sports bars and kicking punters around, but I haven't seen much to say there's much upside beyond average. 

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5 hours ago, blkwdw13 said:

the only thing I will add that isn't mentioned anywhere is the TE position

Yeah I completely forgot to list TE and also forgot to review Poles as well. Been sick as hell all week, and in a Nyquil haze for most of it.

TE: Kmet has shown flashes of being good, but they are few and far between. "Just a Guy" I think is a term that applies, though TE tend too take longer to develop, so maybe there's still hope he can be more than that. The depth here felt non existent all year.  KMet himself I'd grade a C, but the position as a whole I'd say is a D

Poles: It's too early to accurately grade the guy overall, but the early returns aren't great. Free Agency has been a near total disaster for us. We did the right thing moving on from valuable assets in order to rebuild, but then squandered one of our biggest assets trading for Claypool, who thus far wouldn't have been worth a 5th rounder, let alone pick 32 or 33.  The guy is a former Linemen who wants to build the trenches, and yet ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL, the trenches are among the league's worst.  Drafting wise, we're again too early too grade and the returns are mixed....... Gordon was abused this year. Brisker has potential but his instincts/ scheme discipline are horrible. Velus has shown splash play potential but has also cost us two games on his own with ball security issues and has been an overall non factor on a team full of non factor WR.  Braxton looked like the steal of the draft for much of the season, but just how badly he was destroyed by the Lions immediately made him a question mark rather than a foundational pillar. Of the remaining picks, they've all been sub par to outright bad save MAYBE Doug Kramer, who was injured and Gill, who actually has done a fine job as a punter. And Sanborn, the UDFA.... Super bowl teams are made on the backs of drafts where you hit 3+ times for a couple years in a row. This does still have the potential to be one of those drafts, and year 1 players are rarely at their peak....but you can more clearly see the path where basically none of them pan out. Time will tell eventually but I can't give high grades here...   FA: F-   Trades: D+   Drafting: C- 

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Alright I'll try my hand at this since the Bears season is officially over.

 

QB - Fields made big strides and showed he is an absolutely electric talent. His first half of the season was terrible but the second half was really good overall. Still has a lot of work to do to be a complete QB, he is not a refined passer at all yet. Still misses way too many easy throws, but makes enough of the hard ones that you feel like some mechanical issues (like the stupid sidearming screens) can be worked out. Considering the lack of talent in front and around him I hope that a better group makes his job much easier, and his off-play heroics can be toned down. His legs will likely always need to be a part of his game, but I hope he becomes someone who uses his legs to supplement his passing more than having to use them to bail out a garbage offensive cast around him. His inconsistencies are still a definite cause for concern.

Grade: B- (Running a A and passing a C-)

 

RB - Monty and Herbert both had a lot of really good play. Between them and Fields (primarily) the Bears set their franchise record for most rushing yards in a season. While a borderline empty record since there was a 17th game, but remember the 1984 Bears had Payton with almost 1700 yards and they had a monster OL. A far cry from this OL that had two new 5th round picks as OTs, an UDFA as the C, and the RG being a rotation due to injury. And Whitehair being... himself. Also going to throw in Blasingame since he helped them in the run game but offered no real rushing or receiving of his own. He seemed to open some holes so I was pleasantly surprised, I've been begging for a decent FB for a long time. As reserves Evans was pretty good in his limited time, and Ebner looked like a guy that was just too slow to fit in this league. The RBs are pretty one dimensional, which I could definitively ding them for, but they do that one thing well. Wish Montgomery had some explosiveness, and Herbert has the explosiveness but seems to miss some lanes that could have made him more consistent. Herbert's YPA was really damn good but I feel like he left some big runs on the field. That should come with experience though.

Grade: B+

 

WRs/TEs- Overall jsut really really bad. Pringle didn't even get as many targets as there are games in a season. He didn't even average 2 targets per game. Terrible. Mooney solidified himself as a #2 for his ceiling, even dropping a game winner that luckily kept us in the hunt for 1.1. ESB started 16 games for us, almost doubling his total from his 3 years in GB. Harry was traded for a late pick but didn't get much action. He was the only WR tht caught over 70% of his targets, but again that was really limited. Kmet had his career year with 7 TDs and was our most reliable receiver. Pettis actually found a way to start 7 games and come in 2nd in TD receptions with 3, that alone is enough to burn the scheme and WR corps down. Claypool somehow went from 86% snap count to 48% here, even with the WR corps being trash. Compared to some of the guys he was against I would have been fine with the QB telling the huddle the play, then telling Claypool where to go and what to run. Take the extra 4 seconds and get Pettis and ESB off the damn field. But that is a Getsy issue, not necessarily his fault. Velus had some drops and fumbles then got put in timeout, so he had a poor showing overall as well. Apparently there are things called a Ryan Griffin and a Trevon Wesco that are also TEs, but that is just a rumor from what I can see.

Grade: F

 

OL- Jenkins was rotated in and out after rumors - which were never dismissed IIRC - that he was up for trade. He was by far the best player on the OL, but had injury issues pop up. Braxton Jones was good for most of the season, though he had a REALLY bad week 16 that caused more questions than I care for. Whitehair declined as the season went on, and wasn't exactly stellar to start with. He is just consistently inconsistent. Mustipher was mostly trash, I'm not letting his 3-5 games of ok play fool me into believing otherwise. Borom lost the RT spot, he was better last year and had a really noticeable decline. Patrick was bad when he was out there. Leatherwood was tried at RT and got worked over, should have been worked as a potential heir for Whitehair from the start. Reiff was sadly our 2nd best OT for the year, and was mostly ok. When he got beat though, he got WHOOPED. None of the back ups showed anything worth noting either. We have Jones and Jenkins, and Leatherwood or Borom may be able to start as an IOL (Leatherwood should at least be a swing OG next year though). I think Borom might just be a swing OT, which isn't a bad pick up from a 5th rounder either, but seeing him drop off after last season is disheartening. I feel like if he was the RG and Jenkins the RT then both look solid, but Bears botched the assignment just like with Long/Mills IMO.

Grade: D+ (propped up by run blocking)

 

DL- Gross. Whole line was terrible. Justin Jones can be the #3 DT on a good DL, but AQM, Gipson, and Robinson all looked like bottom depth players. Robinson is a project so he is understandable, though I think he would actually benefit more from being a SAM than a DE. Quinn was bad but Poles traded him so that is a small win for Poles, but there was no pressure generated. Only 20 sacks for the team, but here is the thing - Brisker led the team with 3, Roquan had 2.5, Sanborn had 2, and Thomas had one. So the DL actually only contributed to 11.5 sacks forthe entire year. Pathetic. Most of the run defense from them was like watching Shea McClellin, without the effort.

Grade: F---

 

LBs- Roquan played well when he was here but was traded due to being a complete headcase. Morrow showed he is at least quality depth but may be the #3 starter on a good LB corps. Joe Thomas is someone that is worth keeping for depth. Sanborn is a dude at least. He looked really solid and I feel 100% confident he can lock up the MIKE or SAM spot while Poles goes to find 2 starting LBs. He isn't athletic enough to be a WILL but isn't as poor an athlete as I expected. I actually see a fair bit of Lance Briggs to his game.

Grade: C+ (maybe up to a B as the DL was hell on LBs, especially smaller ones who NEED to be kept clean)

 

DBs- Jackson had a re-emergence before his injury. Still a mediocre tackler but when you're basically a converted CB there has to be some give/take. Brisker led the team in sacks and had a fair bit of positive play. He had bad games but a rookie is going to get baited, especially when he is trying to come up in run support (cleared over 100 tackles for the season, 2nd on the team) and the Bears are in 3rd and short so often. Johnson had some stretches where he looke REALLY good and went head to head with legit number ones and then some where he just seemed to get lost on coverage. He missed time and again had no INTs though, leaving him with playing in 39 of 50 games (78%) and 1 INT to his name. Not exactly the ballhawk to get a big deal IMO. Gordon moved from outside to NB due to NB's importance in Flus' system, and it was a damn rough start. He came on much stronger at the end of the year and had 3 INTs, 1 FF, 1 FR, and 71 tackles. Beginning of the year he was absolutely picked on though. Vildor, DHC, and Jaylon Jones all looked like depth pieces at best.

Grade: C (up to at best a B- considering the passrush was pathetic)

 

ST-

Santos: How the hell do you make 91? of your FGs and still feel like it was a bad season? I have no issue with being able to say "I can't make this" when it is 56 and the wind is ripping. They one that broke the streak at Heinz Field should have been able to be rejected by him when Nagy tried to send it out, because it was impossible. But 51 with almost no wind? Come on. You have the leg for that. You're 4/5 from 50 this season. And missing 5 XPs? What? While I don't think he is a cut, I think he gets pressure in TC and if a cheap guy with more leg competes well with him, then Santos may be booted.

Grade: B-

 

Gill: Meh basically covers Gill. He was definitely better than POD but worth drafting? IDK. 23rd in yards per punt, 29th in net yards, and 7th most return yards while being middle of the pack in punt attempts. Can't really hold touchbacks or punts int he 20 against him since the offense stagnated so often deep in their own territory. Bring in a guy to compete with, whoever wins gets the job. Gill did well enough not to warrant any real draft capital or FA spending, but not enough he deserves to walk into 2023 without competition.

Grade: B

 

Scales: Don't remember any bad snaps off the top of my head. The less you remember the longsnapper the better. I remember Mannely for looking like my preacher more than anything else. Scales needs to grow an iconic goatee if he wants to be remembered.

Grade: A

 

 

Coaching/General Manager -
Getsy: Dude had me lost early on. Basically was the tale of two seasons. Early on the offense tried to be a standard passing attack but was way too aggressive for the lack of talent on the OL and WR corps. Fields was mauled. Add in the fact he rarely chipped with the TE and he left the young OTs on islands way too often. He had Fields posting sub-Tebow numbers for a few weeks. Finally he switched up and started using Fields as a weapon and made the defense account for his elite athleticism, and the offense went from putrid to respectable...ish. The OL was solid overall at run blocking but still garbage as passblockers overall. Bears ended the season clearing 3000 rushing yards, had a league leading 5.4 ypa, and the 3rd least penalties on offense accepted (though the 3rd least plays overall). But they also were the worst passing attack in the league, with 5 teams doubling their yardage. They also had a league low 377 attempts in the league, and ended with the 23rd most PPG. Considering ALL the issues that the offense had talent-wise and how teams sold out to stop the run game but still couldn't I think he was acceptable but not 'good.' Also his refusal to go with what was working (stopped using Fields' legs vs GB, slow to use Fields' legs and recognize talent deficiency and his constant refusal to adapt to help Fields or the OTs really pissed me off at times. I mean Chicago had the highest sack percentage in the league at 13.3% and 4th most sacks while being at minimum of 154 dropbacks behind the next closest team with more sacks. How many sacks did Fields evade? 2-3 on average per game minimum? I mean how TF do you average a sack every 6.5 attempts? That is WAY more dangerous to Fields than running. That being said, running Fields when he was gimpy was stupid as well. His handling of Jenkins? Garbage. Handing Musipher a starting role while having Patrick compete with Jenkins? Garbage. In practice did Leatherwood REALLY look like a legit RT option or was it wishful thinking like Musty being worth a starting role? Or was it simply an act of desperation? And holing Claypool to be a rotation guy without pushing guys like ESB and Pettis out of the way? WTF?

Grade - D+

 

Williams: While the Bears somehow were tallied with the 5th best hurry percentage (8.1%) it shows there was no real concern as they had the second lowest pressure percentage (15%) and the least sacks in the league. Also while on the point of finishing plays, the Bears had the 12th most missed tackles. The were 6th worst in ypa and gave up the 2nd most rushing yards in the league. Oh, and they were 32nd in PPG. Big oof.

Grade: F (can make a case for D as there was so little talent, Fangio or The Hoodie would struggle with making it a defense that wasn't bottom 5)

 

Eberflus: Kinda got a rough start as it was a 3 win season, but it was an obvious tank year so is that really a negative? Still, Eberflus wasn't a hire I was excited about and admittedly still am not, but his results in the scoreboard actually bode well considering how crappy the roster is. 7 losses were by 1 score or less, including holding a fantastic PHI team to winning only by 5. Those are positives. This isn't the 2018 roster, this is a group that had rookies and journeymen all over starting or playing significant reps, and no 1st rounder to speak of. The offense did have the 3rd least penalties accepted and on defense had the 4th least accepted. Both are wins there! But also they were not able to adjust really on either side of the ball, and for being a supposed taskmaster the defense seemed to be lost WAY too often. I mean we don't blitz much (8th least by percentage) so there are less reasons to be confused by scheme. There were way too many players that got open with 5 yards of space around them, that isn't a talent or athletic deficiency, it is a technical or communication breakdown. Great coaches stomp that out and Flus didn't. His roster dealings baffled me too, how did Jenkins and Tonga look like they weren't worth his time but Mustipher, Borom, and guys like Watts/Pennel/Blackson were worth more than Tonga on a rookie deal? Claypool not being force into a lot of reps was garbage. I understand there is a system but it isn't like the Bears run an elaborate offense like Pederson, Payton, or McDaniels. Tell him the X/Y/Z spot to line up and the route in the huddle if you have to. The talent difference alone warrants that compared to trotting out ESP and Pettis.

Grade: C-

 

Poles: Man what a mixed bag. It was a tank season, and the Bears not only got rid of all expensive contract except EJax and Whitehair but added nothing that hinders them in 2023 FA. AND they ended the year at 1.1 while also showing they have a potential franchise QB! That's great! But... there is a lot to dislike. Poles put Fields in an impossible situation and rather than supporting him, handed him a shovel and told him to dig his own grave... but not too quickly. His FA class was abysmal but he did set up the contracts so they would be easy to cut without having to worry about dead cap in 2023. Poles got rid of Mack and Quinn and won those trades outright, then he got rid of Smith who proved he is out of touch with reality (and he handled the odyssey of Roquan well this season too) so that was a win. But his handling of Jenkins, Claypool, not forcing the issue with protecting Fields, and some questionable draft picks (Velus in the 3rd? Seeing a Mooney/ESB/Pettis WR group and ignoring Pickens/Pierce twice?) Yeesh. That being said he ripped off the bandaid to allow for a potentially huge improvement this offseason, so I am excited for the chance of growth, but the lack of track record (or poor but limited track record) is something that concerns me.

Grade: C+

* Note: TBF I think this offseason will really sway the grade up or down based on how it turns out. This is because all of this season was setting up for 2023. If he knocks it out of the park and Fields ascends then this should be an A+. If not and he botches the draft then D-.

 

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