2023 Overall Draft Thoughts

[AZBearsFan]

49 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

Well, Bears greatest weakness last year was front 7, WR and RT, G and C.

We added 2 FA LBs, 2 FA DL, FA G and traded for a WR.

Then we drafted a RT in first.  And two DL in 2nd.  And another good WR in 4th.

Was it perfect? No.  

 But we definitely got better.  We did a lot.

Adding those 4 DL to mix will make everyone better because it is a better rotation now.  It is bigger and more stout with 2 draft picks and Billings. Walker is better against run than Gipson and Robinson as well.  But this will make them better too.

You can’t so easily run down our throats now like every team did last year for 2nd third of season.  This allowed them to beat us any way they wanted. 

That is before we get to better set of LBs.  This will make them better as well.  Sanborn to play as well as he did with way that front was playing was as near as amazing as what Fields did under pressure he was under.

Also gives us depth up front which we didn’t have last year. Rotating will keep everyone fresher.

Exactly. What we’ve ended up with here (so far) has been a realistic improvement for one offseason. OL should be improved. DL should be improved. WR group is undoubtedly better, and if Scott hits is way better. TE2 is better. LB is night and day better. Secondary has added 2 legitimate prospects at CB. And on top of all that we added a future 1 and 4 next year plus a 2 in 2025.

The question then becomes, how much better did we get? Is it realistic to think our OL may go from woeful to middle of the pack? I think so, and that would upgrade everything else on offense. DL from worst in the league to at least passable (especially if/when we add another vet at DE as expected)? Our LB group should now be a strength.

Nobody should be thinking SB run after this offseason but that was never realistic anyway. Being a .500ish team in what is already a pretty weak NFC outside the top 2-3 teams isn’t unrealistic at all though IMO.

Looking at our list of opponents this year we should probably win 2-3 division games IMO. GB is in transition and MIN is too to an extent. Our non-division home opponents are ATL, CAR, DEN, LV and AZ. All 5 of them were also picking in the top 10 this year. CAR will start a rookie QB. AZ may not have Murray. ATL is going with a 1st year starter in Ridder who I think is JAG, and DEN has deeply declining Russ. Not exactly a murderer’s row there. Our away slate is more daunting (KC, LAC, NO, TB, WSH and CLE) but TB and WSH are very beatable, the Chargers are always a week in week out mystery as is NO (though playing in NO is always challenging). Do we get NO during Kamara’s presumed suspension? 

[beardown3231]

Brugler has the Bears has his 5th draft class (Green Bay is 6th, Minnesota is 31st)

[Bigbear72]

Realizing that Rome wasn't built in a day I am pretty satisfied with the outcome of the draft. Would I have made some different choices with the limited information that I currently have? Maybe. I would have liked to see them address edge but I think both lines are definitively better than that foolishness we witnessed last year. Let's see what other complimentary moves that they will make moving forward.

[JibjeResearch]

3 hours ago, AZBearsFan said:

Exactly. What we’ve ended up with here (so far) has been a realistic improvement for one offseason. OL should be improved. DL should be improved. WR group is undoubtedly better, and if Scott hits is way better. TE2 is better. LB is night and day better. Secondary has added 2 legitimate prospects at CB. And on top of all that we added a future 1 and 4 next year plus a 2 in 2025.

The question then becomes, how much better did we get? Is it realistic to think our OL may go from woeful to middle of the pack? I think so, and that would upgrade everything else on offense. DL from worst in the league to at least passable (especially if/when we add another vet at DE as expected)? Our LB group should now be a strength.

Nobody should be thinking SB run after this offseason but that was never realistic anyway. Being a .500ish team in what is already a pretty weak NFC outside the top 2-3 teams isn’t unrealistic at all though IMO.

Looking at our list of opponents this year we should probably win 2-3 division games IMO. GB is in transition and MIN is too to an extent. Our non-division home opponents are ATL, CAR, DEN, LV and AZ. All 5 of them were also picking in the top 10 this year. CAR will start a rookie QB. AZ may not have Murray. ATL is going with a 1st year starter in Ridder who I think is JAG, and DEN has deeply declining Russ. Not exactly a murderer’s row there. Our away slate is more daunting (KC, LAC, NO, TB, WSH and CLE) but TB and WSH are very beatable, the Chargers are always a week in week out mystery as is NO (though playing in NO is always challenging). Do we get NO during Kamara’s presumed suspension? 

Ty was laughing when I said 9-8 after free agency lolz🤣, but now... 9-8 is possible if our OL plays up to a B+ grade.  We have a strong LB and Secondary group.

[TankWilliams]

I definitely feel like we are on the road to a competent season next year.  The team is too young to be a real contender, certainly, but with the moves Poles has made and after hopefully adding 1-2 more guys at DE (my preference would be Ngakoue or Dunlap or both), I think the offense will be in pretty good shape and the defense will have made progress from last year.  9 wins definitely doesn't seem ridiculous to me.  There will definitely be growing pains with the youth of the roster, we'll see flashes of both excellent play and terrible play, but I'm looking forward to seeing next season more than any season I can think of in recent memory.

[StLunatic88]

3 minutes ago, TankWilliams said:

I definitely feel like we are on the road to a competent season next year.  The team is too young to be a real contender, certainly, but with the moves Poles has made and after hopefully adding 1-2 more guys at DE (my preference would be Ngakoue or Dunlap or both), I think the offense will be in pretty good shape and the defense will have made progress from last year.  9 wins definitely doesn't seem ridiculous to me.  There will definitely be growing pains with the youth of the roster, we'll see flashes of both excellent play and terrible play, but I'm looking forward to seeing next season more than any season I can think of in recent memory.

I wouldnt be expecting 9 wins if I were you guys. We absolutely get there, but expecting that you are setting yourself up for disaster

Id say we are going to be in alot of Coin Flip games, and likely to come down to who ends up with the ball last (our defense is still going to be bad) as well as if Justin can take a step up and finish off alot of those final drives he had last year.

We obviously dont have the full Schedule, and things will change due to road trips and time of year, but I see like 4 Wins, 5 Losses and then 8 Toss Ups.

[TankWilliams]

19 minutes ago, StLunatic88 said:

I wouldnt be expecting 9 wins if I were you guys. We absolutely get there, but expecting that you are setting yourself up for disaster

Id say we are going to be in alot of Coin Flip games, and likely to come down to who ends up with the ball last (our defense is still going to be bad) as well as if Justin can take a step up and finish off alot of those final drives he had last year.

We obviously dont have the full Schedule, and things will change due to road trips and time of year, but I see like 4 Wins, 5 Losses and then 8 Toss Ups.

Expecting isn't quite the right word.  I could see this team winning 5 or I could see this team winning 10.  I do think in general the NFC North is very weak right now on paper, so I think I'd lean towards more than 5.  When I said 9 winds doesn't seem ridiculous, I mean that I don't think its a complete homer call to say that, even if it is slightly optimistic.

[Epyon]

Just having actual bodies at DT should significantly improve the run defense, which alone would have edged us into winning a few more games last year... Especially when you consider the entire lb room is completely revamped as well. 

Offensively, we upgraded right tackle and center will be better at everything but snapping, though the snapping problem is going to bite us.. Rb is deeper and a bit better.... WR is massively upgraded with Moore and possibly better otherwise too considering Fields, Mooney, and Claypool where basically never all healthy and on the field at the same time. If Velus takes a step and/or Scott shows up, it could be building to something special. 

Then you look at the teams we play, and I'll be honest, the ONLY team that is an automatic loss is the Chiefs, but even that game was rumored to be a Germany game, and super weird things can happen when that much travel is involved. 

There's very real scenarios where we could end up being a team with 11 (or more) wins, without beating a single actual good squad. 

Edited May 1, 2023 by Epyon

[Bigbear72]

12 minutes ago, Epyon said:

There's very real scenarios where we could end up being a team with 11 (or more) wins, without beating a single actual good squad. 

[StLunatic88]

1 hour ago, Epyon said:

There's very real scenarios where we could end up being a team with 11 (or more) wins, without beating a single actual good squad. 

Seems odd since you dont think we have an NFL Center on the Roster

[Epyon]

1 hour ago, StLunatic88 said:

Seems odd since you dont think we have an NFL Center on the Roster

Look at the teams we play this year and tell me which games other than KC are outright losses. 

Our schedule being easy, or even us winning games doesn't necessarily make us good. Pittsburgh had the best record in the nfl recently and got absolutely destroyed in the playoffs. 

We have improved as a team, quite significantly... But yes, I don't think we have a single NFL center on the roster.... Whitehair can at least block people, which is more than Mustipher or Patrick can say, but Whitehair has also literally been fired from that job no less than twice already. I think it's incredibly dubious that the entire post draft narrative seems to be sunshine and roses about the utter failure to address that position, as if somehow in round 3 that Whitehair is suddenly going to figure snapping out. 1-2 bad snaps a game that result in effectively being sacks at best is going to be a very real problem, and one that could easily kill drives and has the potential to cost us games on its own. The flipside of that is that Whitehair can at least block, where Mustipher couldn't, so outside of catastrophic bad plays (which musty also caused just for different reasons) it's a net upgrade.  That said, being better than a complete failure still doesn't make whitehair good. 

As an addendum, it's not just whitehair having snapping issues... But also you're gonna need whitehair to play guard when Jenkins has back problems again. 

Edited May 1, 2023 by Epyon

[beardown3231]

1 hour ago, Epyon said:

Look at the teams we play this year and tell me which games other than KC are outright losses. 

Our schedule being easy, or even us winning games doesn't necessarily make us good. Pittsburgh had the best record in the nfl recently and got absolutely destroyed in the playoffs. 

We have improved as a team, quite significantly... But yes, I don't think we have a single NFL center on the roster.... Whitehair can at least block people, which is more than Mustipher or Patrick can say, but Whitehair has also literally been fired from that job no less than twice already. I think it's incredibly dubious that the entire post draft narrative seems to be sunshine and roses about the utter failure to address that position, as if somehow in round 3 that Whitehair is suddenly going to figure snapping out. 1-2 bad snaps a game that result in effectively being sacks at best is going to be a very real problem, and one that could easily kill drives and has the potential to cost us games on its own. The flipside of that is that Whitehair can at least block, where Mustipher couldn't, so outside of catastrophic bad plays (which musty also caused just for different reasons) it's a net upgrade.  That said, being better than a complete failure still doesn't make whitehair good. 

As an addendum, it's not just whitehair having snapping issues... But also you're gonna need whitehair to play guard when Jenkins has back problems again. 

People said the same nonsense in 2022 and they were the worst team in the league. They should beat Minnesota once; Cousins sucks! They will beat Detroit once; Goff is terrible! They could beat Buffalo because they will have everything clinched by then! The Jets and Giants have terrible QB's so they'll win at least one of those! The Falcons? Pshh they suck! The Commanders will be an easy win too!

[Epyon]

21 minutes ago, beardown3231 said:

People said the same nonsense in 2022 and they were the worst team in the league.

I'm just pointing out that they're very winnable games on paper, and that it's entirely possible for us to get a good, or even great regular season record this year and still not actually be that good of a team.

There's even a term for it in the boxing/mma scene  "Can Crusher" (or someone who pads their record beating up "cans" or lower tier fighters)

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Can Crusher

 

Odds are also good that those same teams are looking at playing us and saying to themselves that we're a very winnable game for them too. It's definitely a two way street.

 

[JibjeResearch]

4 hours ago, Epyon said:

Just having actual bodies at DT should significantly improve the run defense, which alone would have edged us into winning a few more games last year... Especially when you consider the entire lb room is completely revamped as well. 

Offensively, we upgraded right tackle and center will be better at everything but snapping, though the snapping problem is going to bite us.. Rb is deeper and a bit better.... WR is massively upgraded with Moore and possibly better otherwise too considering Fields, Mooney, and Claypool where basically never all healthy and on the field at the same time. If Velus takes a step and/or Scott shows up, it could be building to something special. 

Then you look at the teams we play, and I'll be honest, the ONLY team that is an automatic loss is the Chiefs, but even that game was rumored to be a Germany game, and super weird things can happen when that much travel is involved. 

There's very real scenarios where we could end up being a team with 11 (or more) wins, without beating a single actual good squad. 

Bro, I like your optimism...

I was stretching it when I said 9-8 is possible.  I mean, our OL must play at a B+  level (only gives up 20 sacks this season), our DL has to play at a B level (35 sacks/year), and our LB/Secondary have to be good to special.  On top of that Fields has to click with his receivers.  It's a lot to ask man...lolz 😂

But, I hope you are right ... I would be hella happy lolz ehehehe😁

[JibjeResearch]

5 hours ago, TankWilliams said:

I definitely feel like we are on the road to a competent season next year.  The team is too young to be a real contender, certainly, but with the moves Poles has made and after hopefully adding 1-2 more guys at DE (my preference would be Ngakoue or Dunlap or both), I think the offense will be in pretty good shape and the defense will have made progress from last year.  9 wins definitely doesn't seem ridiculous to me.  There will definitely be growing pains with the youth of the roster, we'll see flashes of both excellent play and terrible play, but I'm looking forward to seeing next season more than any season I can think of in recent memory.

I think a 7 wins is realistic.  9 Wins is good, meaning the OL comes together and the DL plays well, Field clicks with his receivers.  The first 5 games should tell us if we can get to 9 wins....  I'm hopeful...