Author: Tom Shannon

Adam Jahns along with Kevin Fishbain at The Athletic reviews George McCaskey‘s comments to the media at the owners meetings.

“McCaskey: ‘Well, that’s where I’ve been impressed with ([GM Ryan] Poles’) discipline because he was very calculated in how he assessed various players that were available as unrestricted free agents and the limit financially that he was willing to go to with each player. He stuck to his plan and I was impressed with that.

‘That’s where I come back to his quality of being self-possessed. There’s something about him. It’s really difficult for me to put my finger on, but he’s very confident and exudes that, and I think the other people on the staff pick up on it.'”

“Jahns: I couldn’t help but think of Pace and his spending habits when McCaskey made these remarks. Pace and Joey Laine, his director of football administration, set their price parameters for free agents, too. But whether Pace’s attempts to give John Fox some veterans to work with or Pace’s pursuit of the Bears’ next quarterback, it can also be argued that the team went outside of those parameters to add personnel. You always overpay in free agency. Poles said that himself. Pace once described free agency as “treacherous waters” but the Bears also were a bad team that had to overpay in order to land certain free agents. Look at the Jaguars. They have to do the same seemingly every year.

I totally agree with Jahns here. My understanding is that agents jumped for joy when they found out that the Bears were involved in the bidding for one of their players. Sure, its possible that Pace set parameters on a player and then decided what they were worth. But Pace fell in love with players and I’m convinced that he basically decided that when he wanted someone he simply wouldn’t be out bid. This is ordinarily something that you hear GMs say that you should not do. Pace did it constantly.

There’s been a lot of talk about the philosophies that Matt Eberflus brings to the Bears and how they are a return to the days of Lovie Smith. But right now I’m being reminded far more of returning to the days of Jerry Angelo when the Bears were known to never overpay for a player.

The art of the deal involves always being willing to walk away from the negotiating table. Right now I’d say that Poles understands that is sometimes the only responsible way to build an organization.

Adam Jahns at The Athletic reviews George McCaskey’s comments to the media at the owners meetings along with Kevin Fishbain.

“McCaskey: ‘Well, the goal every year is to win a Super Bowl. We saw last year how the Bengals can go from last in their division to playing in the Super Bowl and coming darn close to winning the whole thing. So what we’re looking for is progress. How are they putting the team together? How are they working together? Are we moving forward? Are we doing the right things? Are we doing them in the right way? And again, looking forward to seeing the results.

“Jahns: This was the first time in the Poles era that McCaskey used his line about winning the Super Bowl every year. He’s used it in the past. McCaskey, though, made an effort to temper them. And I felt that was notable. It’s important in terms of not only setting the right expectations for himself and his team but also maintaining them for this season and next. [GM Ryan] Poles’ moves this offseason — starting with trading Khalil Mack to the Charters — indicate that a rebuild of sorts is happening at Halas Hall. McCaskey would never use that “R” word. But he seemingly knows what’s happening with his team.”

It is indeed notable that McCaskey tempered his statement about competing for the Super Bowl every year. One of the things that Ryan Pace did very poorly with the Bears was managing expectations. He seemed to want to set the expectations for the team high in order to push them to meet those expectations. I think that’s OK in the locker room. But its a dangerous business when you are doing it with the public.

When you are also setting expectations for the team’s fans and when the team doesn’t perform to the expectations that you have set, it resulted in major disappointment. All of the sudden 8-8 with a first round playoff loss which might have been a sign that the team was competitive under Lovie Smith isn’t good enough. You can’t claim that its a step along the way where the organization continues to learn and get better anymore because you’ve already publicly declared it to be a finished product.

Poles seems to be doing a better job of setting the expectations for the team this year and, if I were to guess, he will do a better job in years to come. He understands that if he wants to handle the free agent market in a sane manner that he is embarking in a long process.

This is especially true because he is short on draft picks this year. It is true, as McCaskey said, that the Bengals turned their fortunes around very quickly. But they had very high draft picks in two straight drafts that allowed them to do that. The Bears will not have that luxury.

Eventually you hope that this team will make the playoffs and compete for a Super Bowl every year. But fans and to a certain extent media have to understand that that may take a long time if they are going to properly set the foundation and do it right.

Setting expectations for the team internally is one thing. Setting public expectations appropriately as something else altogether. The early signs are that perhaps Poles understands the difference.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune addresses take always from the session that Bears head coach Matt Eberflus had with the media at the owners meetings.

“When asked if there is a candidate on the roster to play strong-side linebacker, Eberflus said he wasn’t sure. Ideally, the Sam linebacker would have the ability to slide inside, if needed, as a reserve. He said he doesn’t anticipate the Bears being in their base package too much, saying they could use a nickel cornerback as much as 85% of the time.

“That highlights the need at the position as the Bears are without a clear nickel or starter opposite Jaylon Johnson. They haven’t added a cornerback in free agency, although there wasn’t a particularly deep group of options. Eberflus had one of the top nickels in the NFL in Indianapolis with Kenny Moore, a former undrafted free agent. Moore is one of the many young players who really developed under Eberflus and his defensive staff.”

“Thomas Graham Jr., Kindle Vildor and Duke Shelley have experience, but they will almost certainly have to compete against multiple options for playing time.

“Obviously we need to add some pieces there, and we’re excited about doing that,” Eberflus said. “Those guys have been working hard in the offseason. And we’re excited to get our hands on them and see what they could do.

If the Bears are really going to spend 85% of their time in the nickel defense then that’s going to have a lot of implications in terms of the players that they choose to join the team in the off-season. Eberflus went on to talk about what he is looking for in terms of coverage skill level for his cornerbacks. But my first thought was that the Bears are going to have to worry extensively about being able to stop the run in that defensive formation. That leads me to a few thoughts:

1. As Eberflus pointed out, you need a versatile strong side linebacker. You might think that the Bears will pick up a strong side linebacker that will simply come out in the nickel formation. That is usually what happens because teams usually play the nickel in passing situations and strong side linebackers are typically the worst in coverage of the three positions. But in the Bears case, they may very well want to keep the strong side linebacker on the field for his ability to stop the run. It is entirely possible that, though the Bears are in nickel, on a down where the probability of a run is higher than normal they will want to keep the strong side linebacker in rather than the weak side or middle linebacker for his ability to stop the run.
2. As Biggs pointed out, the choice of nickel back is going to be critical as well. You’re going to want a nickel who is more than the little quick guy who can cover slot receivers. You’re going to want a guy who can stick his nose in and stop the run. I don’t think the Bears have that guy on the roster right now. So I think that, though wide receiver and cornerback to pair with Johnson has to be among the early priorities in the draft, we can look for the Bears to draft somebody who they feel can play the nickel in the middle rounds. Perhaps even higher than that.
3. One formation that has become increasingly popular in the NFL over the last 5 to 10 years is the “big nickel”. This is a nickel formation where the extra defensive back is a safety rather than a quarterback. This may very well be what Eberflus has in mind depending upon the down and distance. It would allow the Bears to be effective in stopping the run while keeping the mobility and coverage skills of a defensive back on the field. I don’t have the statistics in terms of frequency but the big nickel is certainly something that Eberflus employed with the Colts.

Kevin Fishbain at The Athletic answers your questions.

Haven’t heard much buzz about Robert Quinn. What is the likelihood the Bears are looking to trade him, is there a likely timeframe of when it would happen, and what would his price be? — Joseph P.

Between Quinn and Khalil Mack, it always made more sense to move Mack, but that trade had to put everyone on alert — including Quinn. While nothing should surprise me … I’d be slightly surprised if they traded Quinn. He’s familiar with this defense and should thrive in it coming off a season in which he set the franchise record with 18 sacks. I’m not sure how excited [head coach Matt] Eberflus would be entering the season with Trevis Gipson and Al-Quadin Muhammad as his starting defensive ends.

Though there would undoubtedly be a market for Quinn, I don’t think that the idea was ever to completely denude the Bears of talent. Admittedly at 32 years old when the season starts, he probably doesn’t fit the younger, rising talent that the Bears are looking for right now. Because Quinn is older and his salary is almost $13 million, you’d have a hard time convincing me that the Bears would get more than a fourth round pick for him.

Trading Quinn before June 1 would leave $12.7 million in dead cap money. That becomes a more manageable $8.5 million next year when the Bears might a) have a replacement and b) consider it worth taking the hit to dump the $14 million in salary that he would make at the age of 33. I’d say look for a trade then. But if it happens, don’t expect much.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune discusses the signing of Bills guard Ryan Bates to an offer sheet.

General manager Ryan Poles has pledged to upgrade the offensive line, and the Bears signed Green Bay Packers interior offensive lineman Lucas Patrick to a two-year, $8 million deal. They also signed veteran Dakota Dozier to a one-year contract. Patrick said he expects to play center.

The Bears need to replace right guard James Daniels, who left for the Pittsburgh Steelers in free agency, and have to determine a plan at left tackle. Adding Bates would give them a potential starter at guard.

A few thoughts here.

1. The Bills have about $49,120 in cap space according to overthecap.com. They tendered Bates at $2.433 million. So the Bears might be offering something in that area per year or a bit more over 2 or 3 years. The deal would almost certainly have to be front loaded to make it difficult for the Bills to make space to match.
2. I think that it’s interesting that the Bears are concentrating on the interior of the offensive line. That might be because good young tackles are hard to find in free agency. But it makes me wonder what the plan is at the position. Are the happy with the tackles that they have? Or will they address the position in the draft? I have to think the latter. Certainly Tevin Jenkins and Larry Borom did not show enough last year to make anyone confident that they will fill the two positions adequately. And I’m unsure of how they fit into the new outside zone blocking scheme, especially Borom.
3. On a related note, I’m unsure of what all this activity at guard and center means for Cody Whitehair. Whitehair is still young but he’s paid good money. That’s because former GM Ryan Pace out an emphasis in the position. He followed the New Orleans model of sinking the salary cap into good guards to keep the pocket clean and allow the quarterback to step up. But Poles may feel differently about the matter and may prefer to pay his offensive tackles. Its possible that these signings will all compete for two available spots on the interior of the line. But, having said that, could Whitehair be traded for draft picks? Or could he be moved to tackle, a position that he played in college? These questions are worth considering.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions.

“What justification is there for Ryan Poles’ nonsensical free-agent approach? He could have chosen one of three smart strategies. He could have: 1. Targeted players who were cut by other teams or who didn’t cancel out comp picks; or 2. Sat out free agency until after the comp pick deadline to stack picks for next year; or 3. Spent to acquire top talent while upgrading the team in the short term.

“Instead, he signed a bunch of below-average players to contracts large enough to cancel out any compensatory picks. The team is now worse than last year, and while the Bears could have had three or four comp picks by simply sitting out free agency, now they are likely to get zero. This offseason is an unmitigated disaster. — Sanjay A., Chicago

“I don’t think there is any reason to look at the Bears’ moves so far — one week into the start of the new league year — and do cartwheels. But I think you need to take a longer view and wait until about the middle of May to assess what shape the roster is in. There still is a lot of heavy lifting to do and the draft to look forward to. As I’m sure you realize, there was no quick fix for this roster either.”

“Compensatory picks are great and give teams more depth in the draft. Historically, the Bears have done a poor job of accumulating these because they’ve drafted poorly. Teams that consistently stockpile compensatory picks generally draft well and can afford to allow some of their developed players to sign elsewhere. This wasn’t a good roster Poles inherited and some immediate action was required.”

I think the fan who wrote this question doesn’t really understand what is going on here. The problem that I have is that he assumes that the Bears should be basically either be tanking for compensatory picks or they should spend big to upgrade the roster. They are doing neither.

The Bears aren’t approaching free agency with the idea of accumulating draft picks. They’re rebuilding an old roster that isn’t very good. The plan is to accumulate players who have played in the league but who are still young. These are players that they think are still on the rise.

There are a number of advantages to doing this over following either of the paths that the fan proposed:

1. These players are cheaper than the established veterans that you might sign and you don’t have to over pay.
2. They are hungry, still looking for their break through to a future pay day.
3. They’ve played in the NFL against professional competition. That makes them easier to evaluate than a draft pick.
4. They are available immediately to help players like quarterback Justin Fields develop. A compensatory pick isn’t.
5. On a related note, they allow the establishment of a team that at least will play competitively on a week to week basis. This keeps fans interested and it helps other young players to develop.

Its awfully hard for a young player to become the best that he can be when he is surrounded by incompetence. And there’s the real danger that young players could become used to losing.

Instead of holding out for compensatory draft picks, I think its better to look at these signings as older versions of compensatory draft picks that you already know more about and can evaluate more effectively.

Is Poles’ plan the right one? No one can really say. I’d say this plan along with either of the ones suggested by the fan above could work. That’s because, when you come right down to it, success or failure will be almost entirely based upon the organization’s ability to evaluate and develop talent no matter what plan you follow.

But having said that, I would hardly call what the Bears are doing “nonsensical”. It makes perfect sense.

• Kevin Fishbain at The Athletic takes a look at the Bears salary cap situation.

Here’s a look at the Bears’ 18 biggest cap hits and where those cap hits rank at their respective positions heading into the 2022 offseason, which officially began Monday. All contract figures from Over The Cap and Spotrac unless otherwise listed

.

PLAYER	CAP HIT	POSITION RANK
Khalil Mack	$30.15M	2nd
Robert Quinn	$17.137M	17th
Eddie Jackson	$15.090M	4th
Cody Whitehair	$12.3M	7th
Eddie Goldman	$11.810M	13th
Nick Foles	$10.666M	21st
Roquan Smith	$9.735M	12th
Tarik Cohen	$5.75M	13th
Danny Trevathan	$5.719M	18th
Justin Fields	$4.289M	32nd
Mario Edwards Jr.	$4.224M	32nd
Cairo Santos	$3.175M	15th
Jeremiah Attaochu	$3.1M	81st
Angelo Blackson	$3.1M	48th
David Montgomery	$2.801M	24th
Cole Kmet	$2.066M	32nd
Teven Jenkins	$1.906M	63rd
Jaylon Johnson	$1.764M	64th

Many Ryan Pace defenders have pointed out that the Bears are in the top third of the league in available space this year. But they failed to point out how many players the Bears will need to sign in order to fill out the roster. Its nice to be able to rebuild much of the roster in that respect. But the new players will quickly eat up the available space. It’s not a disastrous situation. But it’s also not good.

When I look at the table above I see two players that are way over paid. The first is Khalil Mack who, though an excellent pass rusher, it’s not the second best in the league. His cap hit has been largely inflated due to the fact that he has restructured his contract in order to allow paste create more space in previous years. Eddie Jackson’s contract is outrageous relative to his production.

These are problems created by Pace that the Bears are not going to be able to easily solve.

• Adam Jahns at The Athletic quotes former Colts head coach Tony Dungy on why his system of grading players with “loafs” spread throughout the league.

“That’s how you win in the NFL,” Dungy said. “People will look at schemes and the offense and motions, and there’s a lot of things that come and go in the league. But you still win by not beating yourself. You win with energy and effort — and especially on defense. If you don’t hustle, if you don’t execute your technique and you don’t play all-out hard, you better have tremendous players if you’re going to win.”
This is a lesson that I think is a universal truth. I wouldn’t say that the Xs and Os aren’t important but they are nothing if your team doesn’t execute. People like to talk about the failure of Matt Nagy’s offense. But it wasn’t the offense that failed. It was the players who failed to execute it.

I get worried when I hear new head coach Matt Eberflus and new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy speak. I hear a lot about HITS and such. But no one has talked about how they are going to get players to concentrate, execute and do their jobs, especially on offense where it’s more than just not “loafing”.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions.

There seems to be a view that an offensive player is the inevitable pick in the second round, but would you be shocked if the Bears took a defensive player with their first pick given the change of scheme and holes at CB, LB, safety and DT? — @davidpbmaddox

I’m not sure who has that view. It’s really hard to predict what a team is going to do in Round 1 this far out — although last year at this time, it was apparent that if the Bears didn’t make a move for a big-time veteran quarterback, they would move mountains to try to draft one. It’s even more difficult to predict what position a team will target in Round 2. What if Poles makes his most significant moves in free agency on offense? Would folks saying an offensive pick is inevitable pivot at that point? I’ve always said it’s best to see what happens through the first two weeks of free agency to get a better idea of the true roster needs a team has. We can talk at length about positions of need, but it’s impossible to say who the top-graded players will be when the Bears are on the clock. My best advice is to wait and see what shakes out with the roster. Which players will be signed? Which players will be released? What areas of need will look more settled by early April? Take a step back and see what clues the team leaves.

Many GMs seem to take the approach that you fill your holes in free agency and take the best player available in the draft. Certainly that’s how former Bears GM Jerry Angelo felt.

And the questioner points out, there are a lot of holes for the Bears to fill and even with the cap space that they have, they may struggle to fill them in free agency. So it could turn out to be a situation where you have the opposite happening. That is, there are so many holes that you take the best available player because you have holes at almost every position.

I’ll be interested to see where the Bears end up here.

• Jahns addresses the cornerback position.

Jahns: When it comes to cornerbacks, teams can be aggressive on the open market, which leads to major deals around the league. It happens every year. I just can’t see Poles being a part of it this offseason, especially if he means what he says about staying out of the first wave of free agency. Serious money is going to be spent.

Yes. Not by the Bears.

A lot depends upon what kind of defense Eberflus wants to run. I think it’s safe to say that there will be a fair bit of zone coverage which, perhaps, means that the Bears could opt for cheaper players.

Interestingly, not that he can’t play zone, but Johnson really excels in man coverage. It will be interesting to see how they use him.

• Fishbain discusses combine talk behind the scenes.

Some agents and team executives questioned the Bears’ decision to fire Pace after allowing him to trade up for [QB Justin] Fields last year. There was some surprise because of the investment made in Fields — a first-round pick for the 2022 draft. To one executive, it was an example of the organization’s lack of planning and direction under chairman George McCaskey.

I don’t think it was lack of planning. I think it was lack of insight. Most of us knew the Bears had the wrong people in place in January last year. But McCaskey decided they needed one more chance. The new front office and staff are now stuck once again with a quarterback that they didn’t draft who basically wasted a year under a coaching staff that couldn’t get the best out of him.

Many will give Pace credit for drafting Fields. But any GM could have pulled off that trade if they wanted him. And, even if you disagree with that, it was yet another desperate move by a front office that couldn’t get the position right. He needed to go last year.

One Final Thought

Biggs had ten thoughts from the combine.

The culture of candor where the staff devours tape as a large group and discusses players one-by-one is something [GM Ryan} Poles was initially exposed to by former Chiefs GM John Dorsey. I asked a veteran scout who has been in meetings like that about the process and pros or cons as a GM learns about an inherited staff he inherits. The scout had some interesting thoughts.

“It’s either a rigid process or a complete free for all, depending on how you want to do it,” the scout said. “(Poles) likes the method of everyone watching tape together. I can see it both ways. If you are all watching tape together, you cannot be as thorough or as focused if you watched it on your own, and then the whole groupthink thing can come into play occasionally.

“Loud voices in the room and just the people that talk a lot or talk loud and talk with conviction, they dominate the discussion. It doesn’t always mean they know more and oftentimes it means they know less. All of this is more challenging in a group you don’t know. You have no idea who to listen to. When (Poles) is walking into a room of scouts he’s never worked with, that’s hard.”

As the scout described — and he’s been through pretty much the same situation before — there are multiple motivating factors in play.

“What can happen in those rooms, and it’s happened every time I’ve (been through this kind of change), you’re auditioning for a job,” the scout said. “It’s easier to have these wide open, group discussions when you have a clear, trusting relationship that has been established with people. In order to have candor, there needs to be trust. That’s psychology 101, right? It’s hard to speak with candor when you’re effectively trying to keep your job.”

Most office workers, including myself, know exactly what this scout is talking about. In most meetings, the loudest person, the “type A personalities”, are the ones who are heard. This is not always a good thing.

Like Poles, my impression is that the Bears have a reasonably good scouting staff. Its where the GM decides what to do with the information that they gather that things go awry.

But if Poles wants to hear from everyone, he’s probably going to have to collect the thoughts from people who are not as apt to be as forward in these meetings in another way. You have to build relationships with different people in different ways depending upon who they are and how they think. As the scouts says, it will probably all be easier once an atmosphere of trust has been established.

On a related note, though Biggs has done a good job of keeping the 10 thoughts columns interesting during COVID, these articles are always better when the reporters have access to the players in the locker room. Biggs, in particular, has a talent for sneaking away with players into a corner and getting their thoughts on in-depth issues that only someone who plays a position can give you. Its those insights that make this column a must read every week.

The comment from this scout is a great example of what I’m talking about. Yes, Biggs could have called him. But the whole process is better and more personal when you meet with someone in person. Insight was gained that you maybe don’t get on the phone when you are interrupting someone’s day. I, personally, really want that back and I’m sure he does, too.

Supposedly the NFL is planning to allow reporters access to the locker room again this year. However, according to Hub Arkush at shawlocal.com the NFLPA has requested that the league not allow this. I believe that this is shortsighted. I know that as a fan, newspaper reporters are still the best way for me to get information. And when you limit their access to that information you are limiting our access to that information. And that makes it much tougher to learn about the game.

• Adam Jahns at The Athletic quotes new defensive coordinator Allen Williams.

“When you look at the tape, you don’t have to be a football aficionado to go, ‘You know what, the way that dude plays, he likes ball.’ Roquan [Smith]likes ball. Roquan loves ball,” Williams said. “And when you have a guy that loves ball and you’re as smart as he is … I remember him coming out at the combine even as a defensive backs coach, his reputation preceded him. He was a guy, they said, ‘Hey, he’s quick-twitch, he’s fast, he’s instinctive, he’s a leader.’ So when you have a guy like that, that’s a guy that you want in the middle of the field and that’s a guy that you’re looking forward to getting to know, that you’re looking forward to coaching.”

What stuck out to me here was the “that’s a guy that you want in the middle of the field” bit.

There’s been some debate about whether you’d want smith as a middle linebacker or on the weak side. Lovie Smith’s defenses were designed to funnel runners to the weak side line backer to make the tackle.

Smith could probably do well at either position. But it sounds like Williams might have the middle in mind for him.

• Jahns also gives his opinion on the state of the Bears pass rush.

It doesn’t make sense for the Bears to part with Khalil Mack or Robert Quinn this offseason. First, their contracts make that difficult. Secondly, they’re still productive pass rushers when healthy. And finally, their replacements aren’t on the roster — and it’s possible they won’t be after free agency and the draft.

Agreed.

If the Bears are really going to play a defense closely based upon the one that former Bears head coach Lovie Smith ran, then its notable that Smith’s defense depended critically upon getting pressure from the front four without the aid of the blitz. With both Mack and Quinn playing to their potential, they could have one of the best pass rushes in the league. It’s always true that you can’t have too many pass rushers. But I’d it’s possible, it’s going to be even more true here.

• Jahns answers your questions:

In other words, I wouldn’t pencil any names in for a big deal. Plenty of teams operate this way, though. Former Bears GM Ryan Pace tried to stay out of what he once called the “treacherous waters” of free agency. All it takes is one more team to drive up the price on a player’s contract, including in the second and third waves of free agency. Pace often set price parameters. If negotiations went outside them, he would back off, but there were always exceptions — Mike Glennon, for example.

The problem was that Pace often set those parameters way too high. Agents used to jump for joy when they found out that Pace was interested in a client because they knew he’d fallen in love with him and that space would over pay.

It was perhaps the biggest factor in Pace’s downfall. He let his aggressive nature take over and it caused him to make mistakes that agents and other general managers took advantage of.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune gives his thought on the Bears new offensive line coach.

The team on Wednesday announced the hiring of offensive line coach Chris Morgan. He was the interim line coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season and the top guy in Atlanta for a good stretch. He’s rooted in the outside-zone scheme and once worked in Washington alongside Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur and Mike McDaniel. The connection to new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy is through LaFleur.

This seems to support the notion that the Bears will be running a scheme similar to the on described by former Green Bay offensive coordinator and new Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett. Hackett indicated that the scheme in Denver would start with the outside zone run and work play action passes in off of that. It sounds like a good plan to me.

• Biggs again on roster building.

There’s plenty of time to get into how the Bears will stack up needs, but one thing that will be explored as free agency and the draft approach — if Eberflus is going to lean on his adapted version of the Cover-2 defense — is a real need for a three-technique defensive tackle.

Amen.

In 2006 when Lovie Smith took the Bears to their last Super Bowl I was appalled by the decline in the performance of the defense after defensive tackle Tommie Harris suffered a season ending knee injury. Neither he nor the defense every really recovered.

One Final Thought

Biggs continues with a really interesting quote from Poles about how wants to go about fixing the Bears offense.

“So when I mentioned the Bengals, they took a different approach. I was critical of it, but at the same time, it’s worked out pretty good, right? The main (point) is support the quarterback. If that means giving him weapons or giving him linemen, I’m an O-line guy so I believe it starts there. But I’m not going to be blind to the fact that if there isn’t the right players (at one position), then maybe we’ve got to go a different direction.”

That’s an interesting point. The Bengals went into the draft in April weighing the idea of getting the top receiver on the board in [wide receiver Jamar] Chase or the top offensive tackle in Penei Sewell to protect [quarterback Joe] Burrow. The Bengals offensive line was deficient in Burrow’s rookie season, so it would have been an easy decision to invest on the line. They went with Chase. Sewell went two picks later to the Detroit Lions, who are badly lacking skill-position talent on the outside.

“I would have started up front,” Poles said. “The beautiful thing is we can learn from these teams to say there are more ways to do it than doing just what I said. Just learn. And it should get teams like the Bears excited that if we do things the right way we can make those steps and be a championship-caliber team.”

Poles isn’t giving away his strategy ahead to free agency and the draft but he’s sharing his vision for turning around a moribund offense. If the right players aren’t there on the line, or a clearly superior one is available at another position, he will have to pivot. But talk to Poles about the Bengals and their fast ascent to a grand stage and the conversation turns back to the offensive line. That’s worth remembering.

It certainly is.

The Bengals undoubtedly did the right thing here. Chase is a star, the type of number one receiver that everyone wants. But would he be the same type of player with the Bears? I’m not so sure.

It isn’t just the fact that former head coach Matt Nagy’s offense so evidently didn’t work last year. For 40 years the Bears have won with defense while struggling to generate points on offense, particularly in the passing game. At what point do you accept that’s who you are and that is the way that you are going to have to win?

The Lions are in the middle of a long rebuild. And I guarantee you that head coach Dan Campbell wanted to start that slow climb that is ahead of him by building a running game first. I would contend that in that respect, Sewell wasn’t a bad pick for them.

When I look at the Bears and not just where their current strengths lie, but where their strengths have traditionally lied, I’m not too sure going the same route would have been a bad thing for them either.

• Mark Potash at the Chicago Sun-Times addresses the fact that new Bears head coach Matt Eberflus must be more than a good defensive coach.
  

  But it’s Eberflus’ impact as a head coach that figures to determine his success — unlike Matt Nagy, who only needed to build an offense and could not do it. It’s clear Eberflus makes a good first impression. The Bears need someone who can sustain the initial impact.

  “[Eberflus’s] coaching style is very intentional about every move,” [Colts head coach Frank Reich said. “There’s a clear standard, there’s a clear process and there’s a clear vision for what it’s going to take.

  I’ll disagree with Potash on one thing. Nagy needed to have more of an impact as a head coach, too. Nagy’s greatest failure was the fact that he never built an offense that worked. But that’s at least in large part because his impact as a head coach was never great enough to get more out of his players. That includes the defense where a lot of mental mistakes were made last year.

  Let’s hope Eberflus does better.

• Kevin Fishbain at The Athletic talks with Akron head coach Joe Moorehead, who coached former Packers quarterback coach and new Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy in college and hired him as an assistant afterwards. Moorehead predicts the kind of scheme that the Bears will run.

“Whether it’s some of the things you see with (Aaron) Rodgers, like inside-zone read and throwing something quick to the flat, or throwing some of the things down the field that are RPO-based and some of the same route structures that we’ve done, Luke is a smart, smart guy and he’s carried all of the great ideas and concepts that he’s learned over the years,” Moorhead said.

Getsy will bring those philosophies to Halas Hall, where he’ll work with Fields.

Here’s why Moorhead sees it as a perfect fit — he describes his system as an “RPO-based run game that takes advantage of a quarterback’s running skill set, combining that with a West Coast system that takes a ton of shots down the field.”

That sounds about right. But I liked the way that former Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett described the system that he will run as the new Broncos head coach. Via Lance Sanderson at si.com.

“I think the starting point is outside zone. Outside zone on offense is what you want to do, and you want to base that off of play-pass. You want to make the defense cover the entire field. You want to take shots down the field. “

Whatever Getsy does, it needs to start with the running game to set up the play action pass with good, believable run fakes. This is the heart of most good NFL offenses and the Bears did a poor job of it.

You always got the impression that the Bears under Nagy were trying to use a downhill running game to set up play action but that they didn’t really know how to coach it. They certainly never executed it well. Hopefully that’s about to change.

• Fishbain continues on how Eberflus sees his role with the defense.

The defensive coordinator, whoever it is, will be calling plays for the Bears.

“I do believe that to be the head football coach and be efficient at that, you are exactly the head football coach,” Eberflus said. “So I can be involved in all aspects of the game. So the defensive coordinator we hire will call the defensive plays. I will not do that.”

That’s probably a good idea for Eberflus, as it will allow him to oversee everything. And as someone who will have to handle calling timeouts and challenging plays for the first time in his coaching career, it’s one fewer thing to worry about. It adds some significance to the coordinator hire and might make the job more appealing, too.

It isn’t just that. It’s an indication that Eberflus wants to be a real head coach, someone who takes charge of both the offense and the defense and spends time with both. You can’t do that if you are so deep in game planning on the defensive side of the ball that you are planning to call every play.

A true head coach is involved in keeping both sides on track. You can’t do that for the offense and special teams if you are preparing to call plays before the game and calling them during it.

• Fishbain further quotes Eberflus on the Bears defensive scheme change:

Eberflus did not deflect when asked about the defensive scheme, noting it will be the third time he’s involved in switching from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3.

“Will we have elements and pieces of a 3-4? Sure, we’ll have that,” he said. “We’re going to adjust and move and be flexible. We’re going to look at the talent and the skill level of the players we have and we’re going to coach and develop those guys, and we’ll fit our scheme around those players. But the foundational pieces won’t change in terms of how we play.”

This is, I think, much less of a big deal than it used to be. As Eberflus suggests will be true of the Bears, most teams are multiple to some degree now. But even more than that, the Bears have spent so much time in their nickel defense that they have played a four man line more than half the time. It’s not like Khalil Mack has never put his hand in the dirt before.

• Adam Johns at The Athletic quotes quarterback Justin Fields on what he thinks it will be like having a defensive head coach:

“I feel like there are some positives to that,” Fields said. “Being on the offense, you kind of know what the defense is doing, but you don’t know what fully they’re doing. You know they’re running a certain type of coverage, but when you have a defensive head coach, he’s able to explain to you what their jobs are, what their certain assignments are in a certain coverage, so I think that’s one plus on having a defensive head coach.

Hmmm…. How can you know the coverage but not know what the players are doing when they execute it?

It’s probably hard to teach a rookie quarterback everything he needs to know and I’m sure there was a lot of distillation of the concepts. But I can’t help feeling that this statement provides some insight into what went wrong with Matt Nagy when it came to getting his players, especially his quarterback, to execute the offense correctly and consistently.

• Fishbain quotes new general manager Ryan Poles on the use of analytics in the front office:

Poles had an emphatic “absolutely” in response to a question about how analytics would be involved in football operations, and he said he’s impressed with those who already do that at Halas Hall.

“It’s challenging what our eyes see, and I think that’s a beautiful thing about all the data we have now is we can challenge what we see and then make the proper decision based off of that,” he said.

Maybe. There are a lot of statistics out there and a lot of ways to use them. Most people I know pick the ones that support their biases going in.

In the end, I think it’s about trusting your eyes. Statistics can help direct the to where they need to go. But seeing is always believing.

We’ll see what kind of vision Poles and his people have soon enough.

One Final Thought

Fishbain and Jahns write about Poles’s how experiences will affect his performance as general manager. This passage stood out:

“One of the places we were good at selecting players was offensive line, and Poles was really good in what he saw and how he spoke about what he saw on offensive linemen and defensive linemen, and I figured that out quickly,” [Former Chiefs general manager Scott] Pioli said. “He knew what he was talking about and he knew how to say what he was seeing. Some guys would say, ‘I just see it.’ Well, no, tell me. He’s smart, so he spoke about what he saw and could paint a picture of a player.”

I teach for a living and the best students always tell me that its not enough to think that they know the material. They says that they need to “explain it back to themselves” and when they can’t do it, they know that they haven’t really learned it. This sounds like a form of that. I consider it to be a good sign.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune talks about the process of evaluating players when new Bears general manager Ryan Poles was with the Chiefs.

The Chiefs would reach the end of a season and begin evaluating the roster in preparation for free agency. Then they would open a big room to the entire scouting staff. Here’s how it would start: This is our roster. Our needs are this, this and this. Let’s go to work.

“We would literally sit there and crank tape, 14 days,” Poles said. “You could speak your mind. (Director of player personnel Chris) Ballard (now the Indianapolis Colts GM) coined it ‘a room of candor.’ Say what you want to say. Have pushback. If you don’t see it, say it. And we’re going to find truth. The big thing is having respect for each other where it doesn’t get out of hand. But I found that you can get the truth pretty quick.

“I’ve been in situations where you just read your report and it’s more creative writing (that) can get a player to move up. This you can’t hide. The player is the player. If you say he can catch really well and we’re watching three games and he’s dropping like every ball, you might have missed something.”

Former Bears general manager Jerry Angelo used to say that there are two kinds of people in NFL personnel departments. Those who sit down with others to watch tape to resolve differences in opinion and those who don’t.

I’m glad the Bears hired one of the former.

• As I continued to read the Biggs article, there were other aspects of the Poles hire, as well as that of new Bears head coach Matt Eberflus that brought me a level of comfort. None more so than the fact that Poles was with Kansas City under 3 general managers (Scott Pioli, John Dorsey and Brett Veech) and through two regime changes. Poles might be new to the job but he’s seen how change is instituted within NFL organizations. Similarly, Colleen Kane, also at the Chicago Tribune, pointed out that this is the third time that Eberflus has implemented a transition from the 3-4 to the 4-3 defense. Both men have seen the good and the bad. Neither will be a stranger to the process that he’s facing.
• Kevin Fishbain at The Athletic addresses what Eberflus demands of his players:
  

  Colts players talked about the emphasis on hustle and avoiding being marked down for a “loaf.”

  “The biggest thing is effort,” Colts cornerback T.J. Carrie told The Athletic’s Zak Keefer. “Some people might not realize how important it is in the game. For example, most of the time when there is a run away (from you), the backside corner just kind of jogs, (saying), ‘Well, I can’t make a difference. I can’t make the play.’

  “But in this defensive scheme, you need to run. He forced you to run, and there are things done if you don’t run.”

  By all accounts, as well as what I saw with my own eyes, effort wasn’t a problem with the Bears under Matt Nagy. The problem was simply that the Bears didn’t execute, especially on offense. What the plan will be to fix that problem will be the key to Eberflus’s success.

  Eberflus supposedly lives by the acronym HITS: hustle, intensity, taking care of the ball and taking the ball away and staying smart situationally. I’d feel better is I saw something in there about “concentration” and “discipline”. Because if that isn’t an emphasis here we aren’t going to see the improvement in the Bears play that we need to see for them to become a sustained winner.

• On a similar note, Fishbain
  talks to Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee about the new Bears head coach. Eberflus had he called a “breakfast club” on Wednesday mornings when he was the Cowboys linebackers coach.

When Lee entered the room, Eberflus had the entire game plan laid out on the board.

“What this team does really well in the run game, what they do really well in the pass game, what’s going to be different in the scheme this week, the little changes we made,” he said. “And then we talked about practice. Which fundamentals are we going to work on today at practice and how are they going to play out in the game? He was hitting it on all levels with such detail.

“That resonated with me. It made me a better football player.”

This all sounds wonderful and explains why Eberflus was such a good defensive coordinator. But being a head coach is a different beast. Eberflus’s success will not be determined so much by how he does such things now as by his ability to find assistant coaches that do such things well. It’s a completely different challenge and one that we can only wait and see if he can overcome.

• Similarly, Kane continued to quote Eberflus as he addressed how he plans to handle his assistants.

Eberflus has had a host of coaching mentors over the years — he thanked Gary Pinkel, Rod Marinelli, Nick Saban and his high school coach, Pat Gucciardo, in his opening monologue — to help him understand the best way to manage his staff.

“You give them space,” he said. “You give them working room. You’re not hovering over top of them. You hire good people and then you let them do their job.”

To an extent.

Speaking as someone who has a similar managerial style I can tell you that the results are not always what you’d want. If you actually do a perfect job of hiring people who are as driven as you are, it can work. But most of the time, this simply isn’t the case.

The truth of the matter is that Eberflus’s assistants are going to have to be pushed as much or more than his players are. Similar to the players, he’s going to need to find a way to get them to accomplish things that they never knew that they could do.

Taking a completely hands off approach is almost never the way to do that.

• Dan Wiederer at the Chicago Tribune quotes Bears Chairman George McCaskey as he answers the key question regarding the Bears coaching search.

So why would anyone in the outside world latch on to McCaskey’s confidence this time around as he begins working with his fourth GM and fifth head coach?

“Every experience has its benefits,” McCaskey said. “Hopefully you’re learning from the experiences, both the positive and negative.”

Hopefully.

When looking at this search from the outside in it certainly doesn’t look like much changed. Get a veteran NFL man to advise – check. Form a committee including team President and CEO Ted Phillips – check. Start interviewing general managers and head coaches at the same time – check.

What McCaskey is counting on is doing the same thing but doing it better this time around. Only time will tell whether their approach is the right one. But Bears fans have already seen it fail once.

• Speaking of the hiring process let me once again express my disappointment that former Bears and current Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub was once again passed over for an interview not just with the Bears but with any team.

  Pundits like to talk about how coaching special teams prepares you in a unique way to become a head coach. The position forces you to know every player on the roster and to constantly adapt to changing personnel as players come and go from the offensive and defensive side of the ball. But when it comes to action its all just hot air as NFL executives opt for the more flashy offensive and defensive coordinators and leave good coaches like Toub behind.

• Finally, if there’s a bottom line conclusion from the Bears recent hires, its this.Patrick Finley at the Chicago Sun-Times expresses my fears about the new Bears regime:
  

  It’s fair to have the same concerns about [new offensive coordinator Luke] Getsy as one does with Eberflus and new general manager Ryan Poles. Getsy has never called plays in the NFL. Eberflus has no head-coaching experience at any level, and Poles had never been a general manager.

  The Bears have a habit of doing this, particularly at general manager. From Jerry Angelo to Phil Emery to Ryan Pace they have hired nothing but first time general managers for over 20 years. It’s a strange run for a team that expects its general manger to run all aspects of the football operation.

  Is Ryan Poles up to it? He won’t be helped much as every person from him on down will be new to their jobs. There are going to be a lot of people who are going to have to do a lot of things right the first time.

  I’ll be honest. It’s hard to generate much optimism where that is the case.

One Final Thought

Kane makes another interesting point in her article as she writes about Eberflus’s method of hiring assistant coaches.

[Eberflus] figures that recruiting experience from college will help him in the days ahead as he fills out his coaching staff after making his first hire — offensive coordinator Luke Getsy — over the weekend.

“Oh, it’s an easy sell,” he said. “Chicago Bears? Easy. And then you sell working relationships, how you give guys their room and you support them as the head football coach.”

The Bears are an easy sell. And here we come to something that McCaskey has evidently done exactly right.

Apparently once former Falcons head coach Dan Quinn found out that the Bears job wasn’t his, he immediately said that he was returning to the Cowboys as defensive coordinator. Although he was a less popular interview, you got the distinct impression that Jim Caldwell felt the same way.

NFL coaches, especially veteran coaches, are being more picky nowadays about the jobs that they jump at. Go to the Jaguars with Shad Khan? No thank you. Want to go to the Dolphins and deal with a politics-driven front office with owner Stephen Ross? No way.

The Bears like to sell their franchise with things like tradition. But NFL coaches and general managers don’t care about that. What makes the Bears job so attractive is that McCaskey hires you and gets out of the way. There is as close to zero interference from ownership with the Bears as it gets in the NFL.

People around the NFL want one thing more than anything else. Succeed or fail, they want the result to be based on their own merits. You are guaranteed to get that with the Bears.