Random Bears Thoughts - Offseason Thread

[dll2000]

Sucks that Mooney and Claypool aren't in their getting reps now.

Hard to be patient.

 

[Sugashane]

12 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

 

Bagent is a lot bigger than Walker.  A lot. 

 

SWEET BABY JESUS DID YOU SEE THAT THROWPOWER!?!?!

[dll2000]

3 minutes ago, Sugashane said:

SWEET BABY JESUS DID YOU SEE THAT THROWPOWER!?!?!

It was 9000.

 

[dll2000]

 

Let me put this through the official fact checker ...

it's true.

 

[Sugashane]

40 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

 

Let me put this through the official fact checker ...

it's true.

 

It is true too.

2022 Jones was by far the best DL the Bears had. By mid-season he should be only a rotational player now. Passrush is still not looking good on paper but at least should be able to stuff the run and let them pin their ears back. 3rd and 5 is way easier to defense than 3rd and 2 constantly. Not going to lead the league in 3 and outs by any means but the Charmin squad should at least be gone.

Sanborn was by far the best LB after Smith was traded, he is now the 3rd best and gets to (likely) play the SAM where his skillset is perfect as Edmunds and Edwards are really good in coverage.

CBs have more talent than they did as a group and now Gordon isn't learning a new spot. He is able to focus on one spot (again most likely at least) and that should be a benefit.

On the OL Jones should be improved with his experience and year with the S&C team, both OG and OC have been upgraded and RT should see a significant boost even if Wright has a rough start as a rookie.

WR has a true number 1 now, and Clayool and Mooney are far better than what was sent out as the 2 and 3 last year. If ESB finds a way to start 16 games then Getsy and Eberflus should be tarred and feathered. Pettis had 7 starts, he should get less than 7% of the snaps on offense now (he was over 50% last year).

Kmet looked like a real starter and had an amazing stretch. If he can produce in the middle of that great stretch and his norm he is a TE1 that will get paid (in large part due to his blocking). While Tonyan and him don't exactly strike fear into defenses like Gronk/Hernandez did that is a significantly improved duo.

Monty was a player most of us liked since he was gritty and had a great story but he was a very mid starting option. He did everything ok but nothing great. The Bears IMO at least broke even from losing him but having their additions this offseason.

Fields has a 2nd year in a system for the first time as a pro and won't be held back by tanking staff.

 

This may seem overly optimistic but I'm not saying the Bears are elite anywhere, they just made huge strides from the level of garbage that was put out last year. Depending on how the Bears do in close games I could see anything from 6 to 11 wins. I'm still guessing for 8 wins. (Or 9, whatever I predicted before on here, I'll stick with that.) 

[dll2000]

Bears beat reporters, especially Hoge, are all repeating mantra that ball should never hit ground in 7 on 7.   And they are expressing extreme disappointment that it is.

That is not true.  7 on 7 is hard.  

7 on 7 is not real football.   Yes there is no rush.  But it is played like there is.   The ball has to be out in less than 3 or 4 secs.

With no pads there is no real run threat.  You can pretend there is, but defense doesn’t.  

There are no 6 man route reads in any playbook.  All the LBs and safeties are playing pass from jump.   They are getting deep drops.  They know the combos.   They know the first read from seeing pattern combos again and again.   The windows are tight.

Yes from sideline watching practice you will always see one guy wide open.  That guy in all likelihood was not in first two of progression. 

Are there mistakes being made? Yes. No doubt.  That is always case until close to Sept. and even then first games are often sloppy.    Offense is precision and it takes a lot of time and reps.  And it almost never looks good against your own defense in early camp. 

 

[Sugashane]

22 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

Bears beat reporters, especially Hoge, are all repeating mantra that ball should never hit ground in 7 on 7.   And they are expressing extreme disappointment that it is.

That is not true.  7 on 7 is hard.  

Somehow this shocks me. I know beat writers make their money by clicks but sometimes just the outright audacity still can surprise me.

1 - There is a human element. Jordan, LeBron, Shaq were all practically designed to dunk a ball. All have missed dunks that were uncontested. The thing is though that there was ONE human involved in those dunks, which was a few feet from take off. This is a pass that goes 10+ yards through the air to an elite athlete running a route. There are at least two people for every pass. Errors will happen.

2 - The blatant disrespect of the DB. Either they are saying the DB is incompetent for allowing a pass (against a world class athlete who knows the route they are running while the DB has to read and react on the fly) or that they fail every time they can't intercept the ball. WTF? 

22 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

7 on 7 is not real football.   Yes there is no rush.  But it is played like there is.   The ball has to be out in less than 3 or 4 secs.

With no pads there is no real run threat.  You can pretend there is, but defense doesn’t.  

I think this is lost on some people too. You aren't getting the 6-7 seconds to make quadruple cuts like in a lot of the high school one-on-one clips, and the areas are confined too. Instead of having half a field they are simulating actual plays and timing.

22 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

There are no 6 man route reads in any playbook.  All the LBs and safeties are playing pass from jump.   They are getting deep drops.  They know the combos.   They know the first read from seeing pattern combos again and again.   The windows are tight.

Yes from sideline watching practice you will always see one guy wide open.  That guy in all likelihood was not in first two of progression. 

I think a lot of the wide-open talk could be from a poor perspective. Remember the picture posted of Tru where there was a guy who looked wide open in the end zone, but when the play was shown it was an incredibly small window since people were actually closing the zone at full speed. The pic didn't show that, I think a lot of people from the sideline have that same narrowed view. I'm guilty of it as well. 

22 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

Are there mistakes being made? Yes. No doubt.  That is always case until close to Sept. and even then first games are often sloppy.    Offense is precision and it takes a lot of time and reps.  And it almost never looks good against your own defense in early camp.

Agreed. Again, this isn't Alabama going against Mercer or a slack D2 school that any player could walk over and be the best player on the new team. These are guys that are getting eight figure salaries potentially that the offense is going up against.

[HuskieBear]

I think the thing about the ball dropping the ground is more to do with the quarterback missing guys than plays being broken up

[dll2000]

49 minutes ago, Sugashane said:

 

I think this is lost on some people too. You aren't getting the 6-7 seconds to make quadruple cuts like in a lot of the high school one-on-one clips, and the areas are confined too. Instead of having half a field they are simulating actual plays and timing.

 

One on one drills definitely favor the WR/QB over the DB.   THAT is a drill where ball should hit ground a lot less.  

7 on 7 and no pad team drills favor the defense.  

Actually any team drill favors defense because they never go truly live anymore in practice in team.

 

[dll2000]

This is also true.   I think Hoge is being honest.   But I think he is wrong about the efficiency expectation at this point.

 

 

[dll2000]

I would start him at DE and kick him inside on long yardage to get best 4 pass rushers on field more.  

I would still rotate him out for rest.

 

 

[Sugashane]

2 hours ago, dll2000 said:

I would start him at DE and kick him inside on long yardage to get best 4 pass rushers on field more.  

I would still rotate him out for rest.

 

 

I mentioned the same thing before. Honestly if either Gipson or Robinson is underwhelming the best NASCAR package by season's end might be (Gip, Green or Rob) - Walker - Pickens - Dexter      Its a weird thing to think but it might be the most effective to swap Dexter and Walker on passing downs. Dexter is the better athlete and Walker's at his best while rushing from inside IMO.

I do really hope either Gipson or Robinson take a big step forward though. Robinson has the measurables but is raw as hell, IDK how long before things might click for him - if ever. Gipson had me believing by the end of 2021 that he could at least be the solid base end opposite of the best EDGE. I guess Alex Brown would be my comparison. Bad choice if he is your top passrusher but if you have a good EDGE and 3T he is a damn good option to help start opposite them.

 

 

[Ty21]

The contention about the ball hitting the ground is asinine. If Fields is the greatest qb the bears ever had when it’s all said and done, he’s still going to make mistakes and be off from time to time. 

[Bigbear72]

7 minutes ago, Ty21 said:

The contention about the ball hitting the ground is asinine. If Fields is the greatest qb the bears ever had when it’s all said and done, he’s still going to make mistakes and be off from time to time. 

This whole thing is funny to me. By all accounts he has great chemistry with DJ Moore. His No. 2 and 3 receivers are out. Sounds like things have been solid between him and Kmet. So who's left? A rookie that is also trying to pick up a new offense and that will take time to build chemistry with and two other receivers that no one will remember in two years that dropped balls and ran bad routes all last season. Did we really expect something different? Remember what Rodgers looked like with a new and young receiving corp last year? Does anyone think that it is coincidence that he wanted to bring his veteran, yet somewhat subpar receivers with him from GB? He has chemistry with them already. People need to relax. 

[Ty21]

So when is Hard Knocks revealing their team? The Bears have done a better job posting inside stuff on their YouTube channel but being on hard knocks would be amazing.