Bear(ing) the News – A Chicago Bears Blog

Defense

1. If the Bears defense has shown a weakness this, year its been against the run. So I was quite surprised that the Panther came out and didn’t try to do it more. Basically, it was run on first down to say that you did it, then throw for the first couple sets of downs. Then Chuba Hubbard broke for a 38 yard touchdown run (on first down) and I thought Carolina would get the hint. But evidently not. Sometimes young offensive coaches like Dave Canales like to throw the ball around the yard a little too much. That might be what happened here.
2. The lack of a running game allowed the Bears pass rushers to T-off on Andy Dalton and his offensive line. It was like watching the Bears offense the first couple weeks of the season.
3. On a related note, Andy Dalton is a master of getting rid of the ball at the last minute. He took a lot of shots but it was almost always just after getting the ball right to or very near to a receiver. The Bears had four sacks and Dalton was the reason that they didn’t have more.
4. I hope that Carolina’s Tommy Tremble is OK after a big hit from Jaquan Brisker caused a fumble. Tremble dipped his head and hit Brisker with the crown. When he went down it looked to me like he was showing signs of a concussion. This is why you don’t do that. Honestly, it should be every bit the penalty that it would have been if a defensive player had done it. Its for the player’s own protection.
5. Bryce Young showed some pocket movement. I think Canales might be working with him in the hope that after some time on the bench that they can bring him back later in the season.
6. Pretty hard to be too critical of the defense after such a nice game. The Bears held the Panthers to just three third down conversions and they got three turnovers. I’m not one to hyperbole but the word dominant fits today.

Offense

1. The Bears went no huddle early today. I know Caleb Williams is more comfortable in it but that will only get you so far…
2. So glad to see D’Andre Swift get going early. I’ve seen a lot of moaning about Khalil Herbert’s playing time. The Bears have been desperate to get Swift going. The bet here is that the Bears have been giving Swift more carries in order to allow him to get going. Many running backs will tell you that they need more carries to get into the flow of the game. Unfortunately those extra carries are probably coming at the expense of anything that Herbert would’ve gotten. The screen play that the Bears ran with Swift late in the second quarter to the 2 yard line was a good example of why the Bears prefer to go with Swift. He’s a much better pass catcher and he’s a little quicker in the open field. How many carries did Herbert get?Herbert got no carries today.
3. Speaking of getting Swift going, the Bears second possession was a wonderful example of what can happen when you have a quarterback out with a run game. I criticized Williams for not executing his run fakes last week so he made me proud by executing one this week to hold the safety in on a 34 yard touchdown pass to D.J. Moore. Admittedly it also looked like a broken coverage. But I loved it anyway.
4. Kudos to the Bears for starting the game running the ball from the get go, seeing that it was working, and leaning on it. They did a great job controlling the Panthers around up front. We saw what this offense is supposed to look like today. Run the ball (128 yards on 38 attempts), slow the rush and protect your quarterback with it and pass off of it (20/29 for 296 yards). The Bears ran on 57% of their plays. The trick will be doing it against better teams late in the year. But that’s trouble enough for another day.
5. I’ve no idea why the Carolina Panthers kept leaving D.J. Moore in single coverage this game. And the miscommunication on the back end of the defense was shocking. We/I love to talk about poor coaching on the Bears end. But this was a new level of terrible. I know that the Panthers roster is decimated by injury but that’s not an excuse. These guys are all professionals and they should be ready to play.
6. I thought Williams did a particularly good job of spreading the football around today. Moore got the most targets, and as well he should on a day like today, but nobody was really ignored.
7. I know that everybody loves watching Williams dance around in the backfield and avoid tacklers and scramble. But he’s got to get rid of the ball quicker. You can’t live like that.
8. Try as they might they just couldn’t avoid playing Nate Davis. He came on when Matt Pryor was ejected late in the fourth quarter.

Miscellaneous

1. It wasn’t as bad today (5 penalties for 46 yards) but I cringe every time the Bears get a pre-snap penalty. Going into the game, the Bears had nine false-start penalties, second in the league behind the Houston Texans (12). The Bears also had three illegal-formation penalties and two delay-of-game calls. So nearly half of their penalties are pre-snap infractions. And its not just one guys. Its everywhere on the unit.
   I know that the Bears won convincingly today and I’m not going to harp on this. I’m just going to say one thing here that everybody knows. Good teams simply do not do this. The Packers don’t do it. Nobody who’s any good year to year allows this to happen. This is fat flat out a coaching failure. The Bears once again weren’t ready to play at the beginning of this season. In the end the common denominator is head coach Matt Eberflus. Ultimately he has to bear responsibility for this problem and the fact that it took at least four games to clean it up.
2. Eddie Pineiro missed a relatively easy field goal going into half time and all I could think was “when it rains, it pours”.
3. Once again, winning the turnover margin was a big deal today. I’m not sure that they made the difference in a game like this but the three turnovers that the Panthers gave up certainly hurt.
4. I love that the guy on the commercial advertising next week’s match up with the Jaguars in London had an Australian accent. ?
5. Would that the Bears could play the Panthers every week.

Offense

1. One of the first things that I noticed was that Khari Blasingame was inactive. I can’t figure out why. I can only assume that they thought that they could get the same production out of other more versatile players like Gerald Everett, Doug Kramer and Cole Kmet. Having said though he wasn’t assigned a game status, he was on the injury report this week for hand/knee issues.
2. The Bears attacked the edges early, especially to the right where Darnell Write and Matt Pryor were lined up. It seemed to work. Tevin Jenkins eventually exited and Nate Davis took over at right guard. But it appears the the Bears continued to run that way.
3. In the end, the Bears ran the ball 28 times (54% of the total snaps) for 131 yards and 4.7 yards per carry. I can’t complain about that.
4. The Bears are continuing to struggle when blocking on screen passes. This is just poor fundamentals. Even when they had good blocks, the receiver seemed to be running the wrong way.
5. It hard to watch Caleb Williams hold the ball forever in the face of a heavy pass rush. People talk about the hits that he’s taking like its all the offensive line but he’s got to get rid of the ball. I’m wondering if the coaching staff isn’t largely to blame for this. After three turnovers last week, you kind of wonder if they didn’t pound away at the fact that Williams couldn’t afford to turn the ball over this week. It’s possible that it took the aggression out of him. IN fairness, Williams did better dumping the ball off to Deandre Swift later in the game.
6. I pointed out last week that Braxton Jones seem to be struggling. I think he struggled again this week, admittedly, against a good pass rusher in Jared Verse. You could argue that he could’ve used some help. But I really think he should’ve been able to handle it better than this. I’ll ask again. Is he healthy? Are any of the offensive linemen other than Coleman Shelton healthy?
7. I like the way that the Bears used Deandre Swift in the passing game today (7 catches for 72 yards). We need to see more of that. Roschon Johnson also ran well though it was mostly in short yardage situations.
8. It was funny watching Williams trying to get the ball to DJ Moore over and over again. They just couldn’t get on the same page. They finally broke through with a touchdown late in the third quarter after a very frustrating game to that point.
9. The Bears were only 3 for 9 on third down and you’d like to see that number come up.

Defense

1. The Rams came out running the ball well, averaging more than 5 yards/carry on the first series. They used that and faked a handoff for play action on each pass. I’m not really understanding why the Bears don’t do this when a running back is lined up in the backfield. The back just runs out with no fake.
2. I said last week that I thought the Bears defense were down against the run despite the fact that the Bears offense dominated time of possession. I have a feeling that Sean McVay agreed. The Rams ran the ball reasonably well today at 4.6 yards per carry.
3. I thought Jaquan Brisker’s almost interception in the second quarter was really interesting. It looked like the Bears switched up and went from their predominant zone defense look to man-to-man. I think Matthew Stafford didn’t pick up on it and had his target in mind before the ball was even snapped. He threw it right into Brisker’s gut.
4. I also thought that it was interesting that the Bears chose to blitz as much as they did this game. I didn’t see that coming. It hurt the run defense and but it was effective enough, I thought.
5. Though they did have one or two big plays, for the most part I didn’t think that the Rams screen game was any better than the Bears. Pretty pathetic.
6. Pick away at the Bears defense as much as I might, you have to give them credit for playing well enough to win today.

Miscellaneous

1. Mark Sanchez and Adam Amin made a big deal of the fact that the referee did a good job of explaining why Brisker’s interception didn’t stand. Unfortunately FOX did nothing to help. The failed to show the replay so that we could actually see it.
2. Velus Jones was inactive again. I’m having a bit of a difficult time understanding what the plan is for him. Perhaps they’re hoping that he’ll develop into a better running back as the season goes on. Otherwise I don’t see much reason for him to be on the roster.
3. I saw someone submitted a question to the Chicago Tribune this week moaning about the fact that Bears chose to draft a punter in the fourth round rather than an offensive lineman. I think this game did a pretty good job of demonstrating why that was a pretty good pick. Tory Taylor is a wonderful player.
4. Even as a Bears fan, I have to say that that was an awful non-call in the end zone on the Rams last offensive play. That was roughing the passer all the way.
5. Having harped away at the Bears coaching staff above for hampering Williams’ aggressive instincts, you have to admit that the Rams two turnovers were probably the difference in this game.
6. We need some sort of a way to filter political commercials out of my TV broadcasts. Something like the “muted words” that X has.
7. I’d like to thank the NFL for once again putting the Bears on at noon on Sunday next week against the Panthers so that we can watch football in the way that God intended.
8. You take your wins where you can get them but it was brutal watching these two teams take turns blowing opportunity after opportunity. Penalties, poor timing and poor execution and, in the Rams case, two very costly turnovers. The Bears had 10 penalties for 84 yards. The Bears are not a team that simply cannot afford to give up yardage like that. They’re not good enough offensively to make up for it.

Getting to the most important point, I thought Williams took another incremental step forward today. As the game wore on, he got more and more comfortable taking the easy throw and moving the chains. It was something Justin Fields could never quite get right and its not something that can be under appreciated.

Offense

1. The second play the game and there was a miscommunication between Caleb Williams and D.J. Moore. It was one of many times when members of the offense didn’t look like they were all on the same page to me. The timing always seems to be off. The offense is very uncoordinated right now.
2. The Bears ran the ball pretty well for the first couple of sets of downs. Then they stalled out as the Colts started loading up the line of scrimmage and stopping the run. Indianapolis was trying to force Williams to throw the ball as much as possible and the Bears were in trouble whenever the Colts forced them into a passing situation.
3. Williams was passing up some easy throws underneath in order to hold the ball for the big play. Admittedly, he didn’t have a lot of time anyway but when he did, he was wasting the chance to move the chains to go for the home run. It wasn’t as bad as it was in his first game. But it was still noticeable.
4. In fairness, Williams does throw an excellent deep ball. The 47 yard pass to Rome Odunze in the second quarter couldn’t have been better.
5. Williams still seems to be holding the ball an awful lot on occasion. Not all of that pressure that he saw in this game was on the protection.
6. I’m not one to question play calling but fourth and 1 with less than 2:00 left in the first half and the Bears pitch the ball to Deandre Swift for a 12 yard loss. The offensive line was a sieve but in fairness I think the Colts knew what was coming. They read those outside runs like a book all game and it was evidently a pretty transparent fourth run in a row. I’m all in favor of not giving up on the run but calling it over and over and getting nowhere is going beyond just keeping the defense honest.
7. Then its third and four near mid field late in the third quarter, and the Bears go empty backfield. Not even a run fake to slow the pass rush? Just a running back in the backfield to make a whiff of a threat of one? That just ain’t good.
8. Braxton Jones really struggled this game. He looked like he was getting overpowered. I’m starting to wonder how many players on the offensive line are healthy.
9. The Bears were a miserable 11/23 in combined third and fourth down efficiency. More tellingly, they ran for just 2.3 yards per carry against what has been a miserable Colts run defense. The Bears aren’t going anywhere until they figure out how to run the ball.

Defense

1. Tough start for Anthony Richardson. He doesn’t look very accurate. I saw him play last week and you look the same. He air emailed a lot of balls. Some very questionable decisions. He’s obviously struggling as a rookie.
2. I remember thinking when Richardson was drafted that he was an athlete that might not be a very good quarterback. But, then, again, I thought the same thing about Lamar Jackson. So this time I think I’ll keep my mouth shut.
3. Completely broken coverage set up the Colts deep into Bears territory in the second quarter. They it looks like the Bears got caught playing a light box on the first Colts touchdown. Then the players on the backside didn’t fill correctly, and Jonathan Taylor was off to the races. The offense isn’t the only unit on this team that looked a little uncoordinated today.
4. The Bears defense had to know that their primary mission in the second half was going to eliminate the big plays that they had given up in the first half. It was therefore very disappointing to see the very first play of the second half be a pass to a wide-open receiver to the Colts left-hand side. Richardson overthrew yet another pass, and Jaylon Johnson picked it off. But it was a bad sign. This team doesn’t look very well coached at the moment.
5. The Bears were well up in time of possession this game. The Bears time of possession was almost double the Colts at half time. They game ended with the Bears up 35:00-25:00. There was no excuse for the way that they wore down against the run in this game.

Miscellaneous

1. The CBS crew of Andrew Catalon, Tiki Barber, and Jason McCourty. I won’t say that there was a lot said that was particularly insightful as these broadcasting teams go. But there were times when it was like three guys on the couch talking football.
2. Kudos to Bears fans who made themselves heard pretty well this game.
3. A brutal interception in the end zone by Richardson saved at least 3 points for the Bears. But Williams almost immediately followed it with one of his own and there was another terrible interception for Williams in the third quarter as he tried to force the ball into Odunze. Finally, Williams was also stripped from behind as he attempted to pass the ball in the midway through fourth quarter. This was truly a match up of young quarterbacks who both struggled at times.
4. Pretty funny moment when Williams and Odunze were fighting over the football on the touchdown in the fourth quarter. The first NFL touchdown for both of them.
5. Watching this game was a pretty tough way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For much of the game both offenses were quite miserable. At least until Indianapolis started to run the ball. The entire Bears offense looks uncoordinated. Certainly the timing isn’t what it needs to be and they can’t run the ball.

But let’s not lose sight of the fact that this season is about Caleb Williams’ development. And turnovers aside, I thought he looked better today than he did the first two games. He was 33/52 of 363 yards. That was more than double what second year quarterback Richardson had. The Bears out gained the Colts and they dominated time of possession. He’s still holding the ball but I see progress.

Defense

1. The Bears obviously, correctly, expected the Titans to be run heavy today. They played a lot of 7 man, base fronts. Unfortunately, they didn’t do a great job in the first half, allowing more than 7 yards per rush. It looked to me like the Titans started to attack the Bears around the edges and off tackle in the second quarter and they were off to the races. Kudos to the the Bears as they made some corrections and did better in the second half, shutting the Titans out.
2. The Bears were getting pressure from their front four without help. New pass rusher Darrell Taylor looks to be the real deal. His weakness, however, is reportedly stopping the run. See my first point. Nevertheless, Taylor looks like he can apply enough pressure opposite Montez Sweat to cause trouble for opposing offenses this year.
3. The Bears had a tough time covering Calvin Ridley out there. They weren’t doing anything special to stop him, probably thinking that Jaylon Johnson could handle him. Indeed, Johnson should have been able to handle him. He didn’t.
4. The Bears defense held the Titans to 4 for 16 on third and fourth down which is excellent.

Offense

1. The game plan for the Bears was to run the ball and protect Caleb Williams. The offensive line flat out let them down. The Bears ran for only 3.8 yards per carry and it looked a lot worse than that before the fourth quarter where they started having some success running around the edges.
2. There were several instances where the Bears had poor protection including one where Coleman Shelton let a defensive lineman through like he was a turn-style. They lost the battle at the line of scrimmage and that nearly lost them to war.
3. Williams had third down and short at least three times in the first half where, instead of taking the short throw, he went hunting big plays that didn’t connect. This is the NFL, baby. We’re begging you. Take the first down like a professional. Otherwise you’re just Justin Fields out there.
4. Williams had his share of troubles today with timing. He was frequently late with his throws. And the longer this game went on, the more inaccurate he got. I think the Titans might have been in his head a bit.
5. It’s worth noting that the Titans defense didn’t do anything fancy for the majority of this game. They were getting pressure with their front four and didn’t need to. It’s notable that they did start to do some more in the second half to perhaps keep Williams head spinning a bit and they thought they’d be going for the throat.
6. The number of tipped passes was notable today. Williams isn’t a very tall quarterback and you wonder if this is going to be a chronic problem.
7. Jeffrey Simmons was a monster in this game. The Bears interior linemen basically couldn’t block him. Guy is an all pro and looks it.
8. I kept hearing all week about how offensive coordinator Shane Waldron needs to be a better play caller than Luke Getsy was last year. I don’t think people understand that being an offensive coordinator isn’t just about calling plays. By far the most important job the offensive coordinator has is to “coordinate” the offense. The Bears offense didn’t look very coordinated today. It was partly having a rookie quarterback. But that wasn’t all of it.
9. Looking at Williams feet, they weren’t very calm in the pocket. He saw a lot of pressure and there’s a reason why that may have been the case. But I never thought he looked comfortable. The good news is that I did occasionally see him drop back and hit his back foot foot and fire to the correct receiver the way that you see the best quarterbacks in the league do. That was definitely when he was at his best.
10. It sounds like I’m picking on him but Williams also has to work on that body language. It was very evident that he got frustrated during the game and you really shouldn’t let that show. Not if you’re going to be a leader on the team.
11. The Bears were 4 for 15 on third and fourth down which isn’t great. I’d say they did OK in the red zone because they were rarely there. The swing pass to DeAndre Swift for the two point conversion on the last touchdown was a good play.

Miscellaneous

1. You never quite know what’s going to come out of the mouth of Mark Sanchez. He is a different kind of dude. Not necessarily bad. Just very different.
2. As far as special teams goes, Velus Jones muffed a kick return. Again. He barely saw the field after that and not at all on kickoff returns. DeAndre Carter has 66 yard kick return. He looks like a good pick up. The Bears had a number of penalties on special teams and they’re going to want to clean that up.
3. One of my favorite players from the preseason was Daniel Hardy. It was great to see you and get a blocked punt. Jonathan Owens picked up the ball and took it to the house. Nice play.
4. The Bears finished with 7 penalties for 55 yards. Nothing horrible.
5. Turnovers were, of course, the reason the Bears were in this game. The Will Levis fumble, the blocked punt for a touchdown, Jaylon Johnson’s interception with about 2 minutes left and Tyreek Stevenson’s pick 6 were basically the reason the Bears scored. They’ll need to keep that up unless they start playing better.
6. The win was nice and I know that the team is feeling pressure to do that. But as far as I’m concerned this season is 100% about Caleb Williams and how he progresses.

He had a rough day today at 14 of 29 for 93 yards passing with a 55.2 quarterback rating. He had some good streaks of play and he also missed some throws and did some things that I’m sure he’d want to have back. There were times during the game when he was very evidently frustrated. I think those kinds of ups and downs are what you get from a rookie quarterback. And despite the fact that many fans in Chicago seem to think that this guy was going to come out of the womb as an All Pro, he’s got a way to go.

So here we have the benchmark. This is where Williams begins the journey. Now we get to watch and see how he develops and gets better over the course of the season. If he’s significantly better halfway through the year and in the top half of the league by the end of the season, that’s going to be a hell of a good year for the Chicago Bears. Let’s all hope that’s the way it progresses and that the fans and media are smart enough to know that.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

“Are you surprised by any of the roster moves they made or players they kept? — @jtbcubs

I don’t think anything the Bears did in establishing an initial 53-man roster Tuesday was a surprise, and I’ll get into some specific questions folks submitted below. I had projected that **Velus Jones** would be waived, but the Bears kept the 2022 third-round draft pick. That probably signals they have plans for him beyond returning kickoffs and other areas on special teams.”

“Perhaps Jones can have more success than he did the previous two seasons. It’s difficult to give up on a Day 2 draft pick, especially one with Jones’ combination of speed and strength.”

I hope I have to eat these words, but if Jones had anything to give on the field, he would have shown it by now. His value is as a kick returner and he couldn’t even do that. The very first kickoff of the pre-season he bobbled it. Statistically he’s not bad in this capacity but can you think of a single kickoff return last year where you thought, “Wow. That guys is a difference maker.”?

He’ll probably be a better running back than he was a wide receiver but, even if he develops, he’ll be nothing more than what amounts to a gadget guy for a long time yet.

• Biggs continues:

“Will the Bears try to sign a veteran quarterback to help with development? — @dillonbirch__

“When the team did not re-sign **Brett Rypien** to the practice squad, my hunch was he was hunting an opportunity on a 53-man roster elsewhere. That happened when the Minnesota Vikings signed Rypien on Thursday. Plan B for the Bears was adding undrafted rookie **Austin Reed** to the practice squad. I’m not surprised the Bears opted for Reed instead of a player with more experience.

Nor am I. But when Reed and Rypien were both released my first thought was that the Bears would try to find a better option on the street for this spot.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Reed fine. But I don’t see the upside that I would like to in a developmental quarterback. But perhaps the Bears were impressed with how he played in the preseason games despite getting almost no snaps in practice.

• Biggs also has a thought about the status of fullback Khari Blasingame:

“Unless I missed one, the last fullback (at least a dedicated fullback for the full season) **Shane Waldron** worked with was **Heath Evans** in 2008 with the New England Patriots.

Waldron was an offensive quality control assistant that season — his first in the league — and was promoted to tight ends coach the next year.

It’s something I have been wondering about since **Matt Eberflus** hired him because Waldron didn’t have a fullback in his offense the past three seasons as the Seattle Seahawks coordinator. Before that, he worked for the Los Angeles Rams under **Sean McVay**, who went away from having a fullback on his roster. When McVay and Waldron were assistants for Washington in 2016 on **Jay Gruden**’s staff, there wasn’t a fullback (I’m not counting the time Waldron spent between stints when he was in the United Football League, at UMass and spent one season at the prep level.).

Sixteen years after Evans and Waldron were together in New England, will there be a fullback for the Bears offense?

That question will be answered as we move toward Tuesday’s roster cuts. I think there is a decent chance Khari Blasingame is on the team — a projected 53-man roster is below — but there are myriad factors to consider.”

I was glad to see that Blasingame was, indeed, signed to the practice squad with the evident idea of elevating him on game day this week.

One thing I’ll say for certain. Last year under Luke Getsy the running game always looked better when blasting game was in the game. I always thought Getsy was underrated when it came to designing run plays to begin with. And good things seemed to happen when he had a fullback on the field. I was often left to wish he had used Blasingame a bit more often.

• Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com expresses his disdain for the first episode of Hard Knocks:

“The Bears didn’t want to do Hard Knocks. And it showed.

“The first episode of the latest season of preseason Hard Knocks was basically worthless. And that probably made the Bears very happy.

“With Bears chairman George McCaskey consistently taking the position that he has no interest in having the Bears participate in Hard Knocks, seeing the reaction to New York’s turn on the newly-hatched offseason Hard Knocks surely made him insist on even greater care to be exercised in the selection of snippets for the first installment. And it likely will continue, through the final one.”

My first reaction immediately after the show ended was to agree with Florio. Neither head coach Matt Eberflus nor quarterback Caleb Williams are what I would call engaging personalities and they’re going to have to carry this thing.

But over next the couple of days, little things about the episode kept coming back to me.

For instance, there was a point as receiver Collin Johnson‘s big Hall of Fame game performance developed that Williams turned to receiver Keenan Allen and said that “there’s no way they’re keeping that guy off the roster”. Allen quickly responded, “Well, how many receivers are they going to keep?”. Williams gave me the impression that he didn’t appreciate the contradiction. In another scene, Allen was talking animatedly about something that had happened on the field and Williams mumbled a response and turned his back before Allen had finished speaking. Allen had a faint look of irritation on his face as it happened.

Neither incident is a big deal in an environment where people work closely together for extended periods of time. But they did give a little insight into the personality of each man.

By far the highlight for me was the conversation that Eberflus had with former Alabama head coach Nick Saban. Saban emphasized The fact that expectations for Williams were sky high and he reminded Eberflus and the viewers that Peyton Manning, possibly the best quarterback to ever play the game, threw something like 20 interceptions in his first season with the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts won one game that year. I wholeheartedly agree, 100% with almost every single thing that Saban said.

• Dan Wiederer at the Chicago Tribune has a few things to say about the upcoming season:

“Making the playoffs is a reasonable expectation.

“Even with a rookie quarterback and a new offensive system, the Bears roster is sturdy enough now to compete for a playoff berth. The bar has been set accordingly — both inside Halas Hall and in the outside world.”

I have to mildly disagree here. I think making the playoffs is a reasonable goal not a reasonable expectation.

I can’t bring myself to expect that Williams will be a good quarterback for the first 8 or so games of the season. I don’t care how many weapons you surround him with he’s still a rookie and he’s still the guy with the ball in his hands the majority of the time. Those weapons mean he’ll win more than the 1 game Manning did. But they don’t mean that he will be able to avoid the errors that come with the territory.

• Speaking of Williams I was quite fascinated by what I saw in his first preseason game on Saturday. I am left wondering what the end point for his development is supposed to look like.

Should we be looking for him to eventually develop into a quarterback who can drop back, hit his back foot and get rid of the ball on time to a receiver? Or should we be looking for him to eventually be an improved version of the drop back, hold the ball and wait for someone to come open, “see it, throw it” quarterback that we saw on Saturday?

My hope is for the former. But I am wondering if it isn’t going to be the latter. I am reminded of a quote from Williams as he was talking to receiver **DJ Moore* in the first episode of Hard Knocks. Williams said to Moore, “Just find some open green and I’ll find you.” The quote had no context and so it’s a little tough to tell what exact situation Williams was referring to. But if that’s the plan for every play, we’re in for some interesting times.

• Brad Biggs, also at the Tribune, answers your questions. And mine.

“I was disappointed in the Bears last year in Week 1. To my eye they looked unprepared to play the Packers, who were the youngest team in the NFL last year and who looked very much prepared. I have to believe that this was, in part, a coaching issue. Is Matt Eberflus doing anything different to prevent something like that from happening again at the start of this year? — Tom S., Chicago

“Good question and one that was raised previously this offseason. The thing that struck me most about that 38-20 loss at Soldier Field was the number of breakdowns the Bears had in the secondary, the result of a series of miscommunications. That was one reason Jordan Love had four pass plays that went for 30 yards or more. Do you chalk that up to having a rookie (Tyrique Stevenson) starting at one cornerback spot and two second-year players (Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon) in the secondary? Maybe.

“The Bears didn’t have much of a pass rush and they’ve improved that with the addition of Montez Sweat. The defense looked more detailed after coordinator Alan Williams left. I don’t know how a new offense with a rookie quarterback will look in Week 1 this season. I do believe the defense will be much more buttoned down after an uneven start to last season.”

All reasonably good points. I’d say that the breakdowns in the secondary were a good example of what I was thinking of but the excuse that the players were young rings hollow when you look at the average age of the Packers as a team last year. And they came in humming on all cylinders. Perhaps the point that they eventually fired Alan Williams gets closer to the answer that I was looking for.

In any case, perhaps related to this question, there were these quotes from Moore and Cole Kmet that caught my attention earlier in the offseason. Via Kevin Fishbain at The Athletic:

“So when asked for a timeline for the offense coming together, [receiver DJ] Moore responded simply, ‘Tomorrow.’

“‘We gotta get this thing going quickly,’ Kmet said. ‘There’s not going to be time to kind of meander through this thing. We’ve got to get this thing going quickly here. We’ve got to operate at a high level. We’ve got to really take advantage of our walk-throughs when we get these things at night. The better we are through these things, the faster we will be on game day. But it’s got to happen quickly.'”

Something tells me that this has been Eberflus’s message to the team since camp began. He’s decided to try to instill a sense of urgency and he’s decided to do it earlier than last year. Perhaps that will be the answer.

One Final Thought

Dan Pizzuta at the 33rd team talks about the rise of the pistol in NFL offenses:

“The team that might have figured out passing from pistol the best was the Seattle Seahawks with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. Of the teams that used pistol for at least 50 snaps last season, the Seahawks easily had the highest pass rate at 59 percent and the highest EPA per dropback.

“Seattle was able to create space down the field with a number of different concepts.”

As an old school NFL fan who likes to see his offenses run heavy with a healthy dose of play action pass, I find myself constantly lamenting the loss of offenses that start with the quarterback under center. A nice downhill start for the running back makes for a quicker hitting run play and for more convincing run fakes.

Waldron’s tendency to use multiple tight ends in the offense last year is well documents. This article gives me hope that we might see more of the pistol as a compromise between those under center plays and the full on shotgun formations that give the quarterback a good view of the defense without having to turn his back to it so completely for too long.

• Mike Sando at The Athletic quotes unnamed league execs on the draft for all 16 NFC teams. Here’s what one exec said about Minnesota’s draft:

“I can buy trading some future picks if you are going to be contending and you are going to get a potential starter,” one exec said. “But the Vikings are not even close to contending. What they did, or even what the Bears did in giving up a (2025) fourth (for a fifth this year), I would not be doing that if I were those teams.”

As I have said before, I 100% agree with this as far as the Bears draft was concerned.

As far as the Vikings go, I was initially impressed by their draft. I thought waiting for J.J. McCarthy to fall to them was great work. And they certainly needed pass rush and got their guy by trading up for Dallas Turner.

But then I saw what they gave up for Turner and my stomach turned cold. The Vikings traded a 2025 second round pick to Houston before the draft to get up to the #23 pick, then traded 2025 third- and fourth-round picks to Jacksonville to jump from 23 to 17.

Its one thing for the Bears to trade a 2025 fourth rounder away to take a flier on Austin Booker. That’s at least a debatable move. But to kill your 2025 draft, leaving your self just 3 picks, for Turner, who is far from a sure thing, seemed extreme.

• Chareen Williams at Pro Football Talk writes that the Raiders have signed almost their entire draft class.

Some of us stil remember a time when the Bears used to be the first to get all of their picks signed. But Ryan Poles doens’t seem to buy into this philosophy.

That’s too bad. For fans, its nice to see your draft picks get under contract so you can stop worrying about the admittedly small chance that a hold out will ensue.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

Who wins the right guard spot out of camp? Will it be Nate Davis or will another player emerge? — @ebrown1481

This doesn’t look to me like a job that’s legitimately open for competition. Yes, every player has to compete for his job, beginning in the voluntary offseason program and carrying through training camp and preseason. But the Bears made a significant investment in Davis when they signed him a year ago to a three-year, $30 million contract in free agency. His $8.75 million base salary for this season is fully guaranteed, so I can’t imagine there are plans to potentially push him aside.

Davis wasn’t great last season and I think the Bears would say as much. His training camp was interrupted some because his mother was ill, and when she passed away early in the season, he missed time. The hope has to be with more consistent preparation this summer that Davis will be in a better spot when the season begins.

I have to agree here.

Although Biggs doesn’t mention it here, it’s been my assumption that Davis didn’t show up for voluntary work last year because his mother was ill. It will be interesting to see if he shows up for voluntary workouts this year.

I’d certainly like to see it given his under performance last year and it might not be a great sign if he doesn’t.

One Final Thought

Myles Simmons at Pro Football Talk on comments made by Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron about how they are bringing new Bears quarterback Caleb Williams along.

“I think for me, the things we’re pouring into him right now is just the understanding of the big picture of the game and all the intricacies and the nuances of, first of all, between college and the NFL and being able to start with that ground floor approach and build that repertoire of his up as we’re going,” Waldron said, via Josh Schrock of NBCSportsChicago.com. “For me, also being able to lean on [QBs coach] Kerry Joseph and the rest of the offensive staff, to me, this is always a collaborative effort, and it’s going to take all of us to help him along the way, and everyone has great individual strengths that they can bring to the table.

I have little doubt about Waldron’s ability to scheme up the Xs and Os and explain them to Williams. But as to the staff’s ability to do the other things that need to be done to bring a young QB along, I have my doubts.

In this respect, I’ve been thinking about the Bears offensive coaching staff.

• Shane Waldron, the offensive coordinator, is a former tight end who coached under Sean McVay, who undoubtedly did much of the quarterback coaching.  He worked with veteran Geno Smith in Seattle as offensive coordinator but has never developed a rookie.  He was a quarterback coach in name only one year in Los Angeles (2019).

• Thomas Brown, the passing game coordinator, is a former running back who has never been a quarterback coach.

• Kerry Joseph, the quarterbacks coach, was the assistant quarterbacks coach in Seattle.  Waldron states that he will be doing the majority of the coaching in terms of the actual detailed performance and technique required on the field. He has never been an actual NFL quarterbacks coach.

• Ryan Griffin is an offensive assistant who retired as a player only in 2022 and has little to no NFL coaching experience.

<

p>Much has been made of supporting a rookie quarterback by surrounding him with talent on the field.  But my question is, who can they depend upon to coach him?

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your quesitons

What makes Austin Booker a different prospect than Dominique Robinson? Both were seen as raw talents with great athleticism and length. Why will the Booker pick end up being successful when Robinson is likely not to make the roster in 2024? — @coachsmyth

We don’t know if Booker will be a hit, while Robinson, barring something unexpected at this point, has been a miss. Robinson was more of a raw defensive player when the Bears drafted him in the fifth round two years ago from Miami (Ohio). He started out at quarterback and then wide receiver in college. So Booker is a more natural defensive player.

The Bears view Booker as an ascending player. He has a long and narrow frame and more defined pass-rush moves than Robinson had coming out of college. He has good short-area athleticism and plays with a high motor. Yes, there is projection involved with Booker, and some believed he would have greatly helped himself by remaining in school for another year. He’ll have to do some quick on-the-job learning to earn playing time.

I guess the short answer is the Bears must feel like he’s less of a project and more NFL-ready than Robinson was because Booker isn’t a converted pass rusher. That’s what you’re usually doing in the fifth round: identifying a player with traits that fit your scheme and taking a chance.

I think the bottom line answer from my perspective is that they are not fundamentally different. At least not in the way that the questioner is asking. But that doesn’t make either choice wrong.

Fifth round draft choices are not like second round picks. You take your chances. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. But you still have to take swings and that doesn’t mean that taking a chance on Robinson was a bad thing. Nor does it mean picking Booker was a bad thing.

• Biggs answers another one:

Sentiment for the Rome Odunze pick is overwhelmingly positive and I get it, but do you find it a tad odd the Bears have a defensive head coach and in three seasons, not one first-round pick has been used to select a defensive player? I know they’ve only had three picks (0 in 2022, 1 in 2023, 2 in 2024) and they have mostly been used to fill holes, but was wide receiver really a hole this draft with DJ Moore and Keenan Allen ready to go? Feels like a defensive end counter to Montez Sweat or another cornerstone offensive tackle may have seemed more imperative? — Gerry M., Chicago

I like the selection of Odunze and believe he has a chance to be a terrific player for the Bears. One personnel man described him back in the fall as a bigger version of Moore. Can he be that physical and difficult to bring down after the catch? Time will tell. Moore is like a running back with the ball in his hands after making a catch downfield.

It’s a mistake to look at the roster in the vacuum of only the 2024 season and talk about filling holes and remaining needs. You have to take a long view when evaluating draft picks, especially first-round selections, and project them over the course of three or four years and the impact they can make on the roster. Allen is signed for only this season, and absent an extension for him, the Bears would have a gaping hole opposite Moore if they didn’t add a legitimate option this year.

To me this pick was all about who the players were at a position of need who were going to turn out to be “blue” players. That is, the ones that were most likely to end up ranked among the best in the league.

Opinions about the top two pass rushers in this draft varied, as things like that do. But, generally speaking, none of the edge rushers in this draft ranked among the best prospects according to media experts. The league apparently agreed because, despite the fact that it is a high impact position, the first one didn’t come off the board until pick 14.

Marvin Harrison Jr, Malek Neighbors and Odunze were almost universally ranked among the top 5 non-quarterbacks in the draft. Odunze was the most likely high impact player left and the Bears took him.

• Here’s yet another one from Biggs:

Bears roster looks good, lots of optimism. But where do you rank them in the NFC North? — @djs815

The Bears are in a better position in the NFC North than they’ve been in quite a while, and I don’t believe it’s a stretch to suggest they can compete for the division title this season. But they have to beat the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers to do that, and as Ryan Poles has said, the Bears’ improvements to this point are on paper. They’re running third right now until they prove they can overcome their rivals.

“I’m pumped,” Poles said after Round 1 of the draft. “We’ve done good work. It’s one thing to bring talent in, but it’s another to bring talent that they’re good people and they’re great teammates. And the stuff that these (veteran) guys have been doing over the last few weeks has been incredible. We’re seeing how close everybody is.

“But, yeah, we were looking today at what the roster looks like and it’s been a journey. I know it hasn’t been that many years, but it feels like it’s been a lot of years. So we’ve done good work. But obviously, like I said the other night, we’ve got to win.”

That’s the key: going out and winning with an improved roster.

I was genuinely surprised at how positive Biggs, who usually knows what he’s talking about, was about the Bears coming out of the draft. He not only suggested here that the Bears can compete for a division title but that it was reasonable to expect them to make the playoffs.

That’s a tall order for a team with a rookie quarterback. By my reconning, the Bears will sacrifice half the season to breaking Caleb Williams into the NFL. I don’t think you adjust to the speed and complexity of the NFL game overnight and he’s probably going to be a serious drag on the offense until he gets up to speed mentally.

Unless Williams is much better immediately than I think he’s going to be, I can’t see the Bears finishing higher than 3rd in the NFC North. A winning record and anything above that third place finish should leave Bears fans pretty happy.

• Kevin Fishbain and Adam Jahns review the post-2024 NFL draft Bears depth chart. I had a number of comments:

Quarterback

Starter: Caleb Williams

Tyson Bagent, Brett Rypien

Jahns: The Bears aren’t wasting time with Williams’ development. I like that. There is value in sitting behind a veteran quarterback. But (GM Ryan) Poles knows he doesn’t have an Alex Smith on his roster and that the odds say that first-round quarterbacks typically take the field at some point in their rookie seasons regardless of their respective circumstances. There is no Mike Glennon or Andy Dalton standing in Williams’ way. He will learn on the field as the Bears’ No. 1 quarterback — and do so in a situation that only Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields could dream of.

Fishbain: Well, this looks a lot better than it did after the Fields trade, but we all knew it was happening. In an effort to best support Williams, I’d expect the Bears to keep three quarterbacks. They have a very valuable backup in Bagent, who already has game experience. Assistant coach Ryan Griffin will also have a major role in this room after being Tom Brady’s backup during his decade-long NFL career.

Although they did not generally include the Bears undrafted free agents in this analysis, I’d like to take an opportunity to put a word in for former Western Kentucky quarterback Austin Reed.

To make a long story short, Reed’s strength is reading the field, something that I think should be emphasized when evaluating quarterbacks. He’s limited athletically by NFL standards. Don’t get me wrong. He’s not a stiff. He can run and he’s got average arm strength. But against superior athletes in the NFL, he’ll have to show that he can overcome a lack of excellence in these areas with what’s in his head. If he can do that, he may be a guy worth keeping around either as the number 3 on the roster or on the practice squad.

Defensive line

DE: Montez Sweat, Dominique Robinson, Khalid Kareem

DT: Gervon Dexter, Michael Dwumfour

NT: Andrew Billings, Zacch Pickens, Byron Cowart

DE: DeMarcus Walker, Austin Booker, Jacob Martin, Daniel Hardy

Fishbain: The Bears showed a lot of belief in their 2023 draft picks on the interior by not adding any defensive tackles in the draft or in free agency, aside from Cowart. That puts some pressure on Dexter and Pickens to make the Year 2 jump, but Dexter especially did show plenty of promise late last season. Billings played nearly 50 percent of the snaps last season, too, and figures to be out there often. There is still room to add depth and we may see a veteran defensive tackle and defensive end signed before camp.

Jahns: There is no way Poles is done with this group. (Head coach Matt) Eberflus and defensive coordinator Eric Washington need more to work with up front beyond the development of their young players. It wouldn’t be surprising if Yannick Ngakoue returned on a short-term, team-friendly deal after his injury last season. Other available veterans could interest the Bears as well.

I tend to agree with Biggs that Ngakoue didn’t work out last year and I see little reason why the Bears would sing him again.

The only other thing I’ll say is that if the Bears under-achieve in 2024, it will likely be because this group struggled and or because Caleb Williams struggled or both. I never say Walker as a competent starter and the Bears are relying heavily on Dexter and Pickens to develop.

No matter who else they try to sign here, they are taking big risks.

Offensive line

LT: Braxton Jones, Kiran Amegadjie, Matt Pryor

LG: Teven Jenkins, Bill Murray, Jerome Carvin

C: Ryan Bates, Coleman Shelton, Doug Kramer

RG: Nate Davis, Ja’Tyre Carter

RT: Darnell Wright, Larry Borom, Jake Curhan, Aviante Collins

Jahns: There are still questions about the line. Is Bates really ready for everything at center after being a backup last season for Buffalo? Can Jenkins stay on the field? Will Davis play like the free-agent signing the Bears hoped he’d be? Will Amegadjie be able to push Jones in his rookie season? All that said, the depth looks better across the board. It might not be an elite unit, but Wright still has the potential to be an elite right tackle.

Fishbain: Had Odunze not gotten to the Bears at No. 9, maybe we’re talking about a new starting left tackle, but it’ll likely remain Jones’ job for 2024. The key will be seeing if Amegadjie has the “starter potential” that the Bears believe after using a third-round pick on him. His ability to play right tackle, too, likely makes Borom a trade candidate. The 2021 fifth-round pick is due to make more than $3 million this season

A couple thoughts here.

First though Braxton Jones has been the target of many people who criticize the offensive line, I believe it’s the improvement that Nate Davis at right guard that will be the biggest key to improved performance there.

For those who thought replacing Jones was a high priority for the Bears, Fishbain’s reporting for The *Athletic seems to contradict that:

As the Bears awaited their pick, they had a need on the defensive line. When Bralen Trice, the Washington edge rusher, was selected one pick before them, they went with the highest guy on their board, Poles said.

The implication is, of course, that offensive tackle wasn’t a need and that Kiran Amegadjie was taken simply based upon their draft rating and his talent.

On the other hand, Davis woefully underperformed last year after being signed as a free agent. Bears fans have to hope that the player they signed will show up after a dip last year.

Second I’m not sure Borom is somebody that the Bears are going to discard. To my eye he’s done a pretty good job as the back up tackle positions. By all accounts, Amegadjie is a developmental project and is going to need time to develop. In the meantime you wonder if they might need to keep a reliable and versatile veteran player like Borom in reserve.

Linebacker

WLB: T.J. Edwards, Noah Sewell

MLB: Tremaine Edmunds, Micah Baskerville

SLB: Jack Sanborn, Amen Ogbongbemiga

Jahns: This group won’t get as much attention as the Bears’ other position groups this offseason, especially after what happened in the draft on offense. But it remains a good one. Edmunds and Edwards should improve in their second season together in Eberflus’ defense, too. Sanborn remains one of Poles’ best moves in undrafted free agency.

Fishbain: The Bears have to feel pretty good about their linebacker situation, which, like receiver, has seen quite the upgrade after 2022. Sewell’s progression will be worth watching in camp, and Ogbongbemiga should be a key special-teamer this season.

I think the Bears three starting linebackers stack up pretty well against the rest of the league. But the depth behind them worries me.

None of the three back ups look to me like they’d be anything less than a serious weakness if called upon to play by injury. The Bears were uncommonly healthy at linebacker last year. I don’t know if depending upon that to happen again is a good idea.

Beyond that, the Bears special teams were 22nd in Rick Gosselin‘s rankings last year. And, no, that’s not just because the punter had a down year. These backup linebackers are a major part of those units and, therefore, were also a major part of the problem.

If you don’t excel as either a back up or a special teams player, you are a candidate to be replaced at this position. It didn’t get much attention but this spot looks to me like it is in need of an upgrade.

One Final Thought

“All the success in the world is leased and rented. It’s never owned.”

The New York Jets Jermaine Johnson on not resting on his laurels from his 2023 Pro Bowl season.

• Bruce Feldman at The Athletic has 12 NFL Draft Takeaways

1. The most puzzling move of the draft was the Falcons taking Michael Penix Jr. at No. 8. I wasn’t surprised a team thought the Washington quarterback was worth a top-10 pick. Coaches I’ve spoken to have always been way more effusive about him and his film than many on social media. Coaches really like his arm talent, how he reads coverages, his sharpness and the resiliency he’s displayed in his college career. But I was convinced the Falcons needed to go defense at the top of their draft. Instead, a franchise that just invested a fortune in Kirk Cousins took Penix.

I am a big believer in Penix, but this fit seems curious to me. He’s about as ready to go now as any quarterback in this class. He’ll be 24 soon. Sitting and potentially waiting for two or more seasons doesn’t make a lot of sense.

I, personally, upon reflection did not have a big problem with this pick. I see this as a Packers type move where Atlanta took their guy and plans to develop him behind Cousins in the same way that the Packers developed Jordan Love behind Aaron Rodgers.

Yes, he’ll be 26 before he’s ready to play if they keep Cousins around as the starter for a couple yers. But that still gives them 10 years of franchise quarterback play if he works out the way that they think he will.

What struck me about Atlanta draft is that it very much reminded me of the way that Falcons Director of Player Personnel Ryan Pace handled the process when he was GM with the Bears. He would fall in love with a player and then overpay to get him. I thought they may have done that with Penix here.

But the pick that had Pace’s name written all over it was in the second round when they traded up to get someone called Ruke Orhorhoro. If the media experts were anything close to right, this player was nowhere near the kind of second rounder that Atlanta made him into. I have a vision of Pace pounding the player for this player and insisting that they “act with conviction” and trade up, convinced that the rest of the league saw in him the mirage that Pace saw.

There is an off chance that Pace and the Falcons will turn out to be right about this player. But that won’t make it any less of a reach in terms of the draft value.

Fortunately for the Bears, Pace is Atlanta’s problem now.

• I was disappointed that the Bears decided not to provide videos of the various area scouts who were responsible for the reports on the various prospects this year. In the past, these videos have been informative as the scouts typically had time to provide more detail on the prospects than Bears GM Ryan Poles could give.

Fans may remember that a scout who gave one of these interviews last year garnered national attention from media members with an agenda who interpreted his comments as being racially offensive. Its a shame that this had to ruin this part of the draft coverage for those of us who appreciated it.

• I didn’t have a problem with the Bears selecting Kansas defensive end Austin Booker with a fifth round pick, though he’s definitely a developmental prospect who, at 245 lb, is going to have to gain weight if he wants to be anything better than useless against the run.

What I did have a problem with is trading a 2025 fourth round pick to get him. Admittedly it wasn’t like they traded away a second rounder but when you identify a prospect here that you have to have so badly that you are willing to pay a premium to trade into the future to get him, I think it shows a lack of discipline. Though the Bears have drafted some productive players in this round in the past, fifth round picks are getting into long shot range. There shouldn’t be one there that you have to have that badly.

• I thought that it was notable that the Bears parted ways with national scout Sam Summerville after the draft. Summerville has worked for the Bears since 2012 and you wonder what precipitated the separation. You would think that if this was simply part of the natural turnover that a new GM brings that it would have happened before now.

• Ted Nguyen at The Athletic gives us the [2024 NFL Draft’s best scheme fits](2024 NFL Draft’s best scheme fits: Caleb Williams, Quinyon Mitchell, and more – The Athletic):

5/6. Quinyon Mitchell & Cooper DeJean, DBs, Philadelphia Eagles

Mitchell’s playstyle: Off-man corner with elite recognition and click-and-close ability.

DeJean’s playstyle: Versatile defensive back who can line up anywhere.

Scheme: Two-high, soft zone system.

Mitchell played a lot of off-coverage at Toledo. Some of his best highlights are him reading a play and firing off like a missile to make a play on the ball or a big hit. Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio uses a lot of soft zone or off-man coverage to disguise his coverages. Mitchell fits like a glove in Fangio’s system. The Eagles’ pass defense trotted out one the oldest pair of starting corners last season — Darius Slay is 33 and James Bradberry is 30. Adding a young, athletic corner in Mitchell will bolster their secondary and give them some options.
[…]

A staple of Fangio’s defense is starting in two deep and rotating into different coverages to repeatedly give quarterbacks the same pre-snap look and then changing the picture post-snap. DeJean’s versatility and ability to cover man-to-man would add a dynamic to Fangio’s defense that he hasn’t had.

<

p>The Eagles might’ve had my favorite draft. These two defensive backs fit the scheme like a glove. How are you GM Howie Roseman gave Vic Fangio a lot to work with here.

However, it should be pointed out that safety is a very also important position in Fangio scheme, as well as linebacker. These are the two positions that are most involved in creating the blurry looks that Fangio specializes in. It’s the players in the middle of the field who do most of the hiding in defenses that move post snap. How they play determines how the defense is arranged. So the Eagles may still have some work to do.

One Final Thought

Some local pundits, particularly those at the Chicago Sun-Times, are stating that they expect the Bears to be a playoff team in 2024. I find this assertion to be off the mark.

Yes, the Bears will be better on offense with the addition of wide receiver Keenan Allen and D’Andre Swift and what we hope will be an improved center position. But:

1. they will still be short on pass rush with only Montez Sweat able to do so to a competent level.
2. they are counting on Gervon Dexter or Zach Pickens to become the three-technique defensive tackle that is the engine that makes the defense go.
3. they will have a rookie quarterback and their third receiver will be a rookie with literally no one behind him.
4. the depth throughout the roster is lacking and the odds that the Bears will be as healthy in 2024 as they were in 2023 are low.
5. the Bears went 7-10 against one of the easiest schedule strengths in the league in 2023. Once again, the odds that the 2024 season schedule will end up being on a similar level are low.

The Bears are not done building this team. I think if you are a Bears fan you should be looking for improvement in the performance of the team. But expecting the playoffs is setting the team up to fail.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions

Everyone seems to think WR Keenan Allen is only a one-year deal barring an extension. The Bears spent more than a franchise tag would cost for a WR in 2024. So couldn’t they tag him next year if they don’t draft (or have success with) a WR? It would equate to about 2 years and $45 million total.** — @duhbearscar

Anything is possible, but if you look at the history of the franchise tag, it’s hard to find many examples of players entering Year 13 getting that treatment, especially wide receivers. The tag for wide receivers could get a decent bump in 2025 if players such as Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb and Brandon Aiyuk, among others, sign new contracts.

If Allen has another super-productive season, and certainly that’s the hope, the Bears could entertain the idea of a one-year deal. They’d be paying for future production — not past performance — and would have to feel strongly that he would be worth north of $20 million in 2025. There would have to be some kind of gap in negotiations for it to lead to a tag situation.

Keep in mind the Bears could desire at least the availability of the tag for left guard Teven Jenkins. Of course, that would be hugely dependent on his performance in Year 4 and the state of negotiations (assuming there is an attempt at them). I’d say chances of Allen being tagged in 2025 are low.

One other thing to consider here is the matter of the compensatory pick if the Bears simply let Allen hit the market.

The Bears traded a fourth round pick for Allen. The compensatory pick after a good year by Allen would allow them to get that back and they would have gotten him for one year only at the price of his $23 million salary.

It’s not my money but I think that would still be a pretty good deal.

• Biggs answers another one

If one of the top three receivers, Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers or Rome Odunze, is available after Tennessee picks at No. 7, do you think it’s likely that the Jets or some other team with a lower pick will try to trade up and beat the Bears to such WR?** — Jerry L., Chicago

That’s an interesting question and my hunch is one of those receivers will be on the board at No. 8. I would be pretty surprised if three came off in the top seven picks. Bear in mind, three wide receivers never have been selected in the top eight picks in the history of the draft.

Figure three quarterbacks, two receivers and one offensive tackle will go in the top seven picks. That means one more quarterback, one more O-lineman, one defensive player or a wild card such as Georgia tight end Brock Bowers has to come off the board to leave a receiver sitting there at No. 8.

Could someone be motivated to move ahead of the Bears? Sure. Would the Atlanta Falcons be willing to trade out of No. 8 with a team seeking to move up for a receiver? You have to think the Falcons would listen. Could the Bears jump up one spot in that scenario? It depends on who the receiver is and the price of the move. You present a compelling scenario, and it’s possible we’ll see a good bit of wheeling and dealing in the top 10

The problem is that Atlanta needs an edge rusher. If they want Dallas Turner they’re not going to be able to trade back too far. That’s going to limit their options. In terms of getting a partner.

If that happens, then a wide receiver, probably Odunze, will be available for the Bears to take at #9. The consensus seems to be that they will stick there in that case and take him and that’s probably what they would do. But it really depends upon what separation, if any, you see between Odunze and the next group of wide receivers.

Its reportedly a deep wide receiver group. Furthermore, you could argue that such a pick would be an example of future planning. You’d be taking a guys to develop while Keenan Allen serves his year with the Bears. So he wouldn’t necessarily need to perform at a super high level right away.

• Today is really the Brad Biggs show. Its all his answers to reader questions and my own additions.

Is the reason most people don’t keep Brock Bowers’ name in the talk about the No. 9 pick because of the rookie pay scale for top-10 picks? As a follow-up, could you explain the scale for us heathens? I know it’s complex, just a spitball kind of explanation is good enough. — Tim G.

The issue is positional value. If Bowers is the 10th pick, he would command a fully guaranteed salary of roughly $21.3 million over four years. Compared with what the elite tight ends earn (the top five average about $15 million per year), there isn’t as much surplus value as you’d get if you drafted a wide receiver, an offensive tackle or certainly a quarterback when you look at what the top players at those positions are paid.

It’s an interesting discussion and it comes down to how teams value Bowers. Do they believe he can be as productive as the league’s top players at the position?

Yes, it’s an interesting question but, personally, I very much doubt that this kind of thing is factoring too much into the decisions teams are making.

If you need a tight end and you’re going to be using one on the field for a good percentage of the plays, then there isn’t a lot of reason not to take one in the top 10. If you believe in him, of course. How good player is should certainly trump everything else.

The question as to be whether Bowers is good enough to be a different maker rather than the question of the amount of money that you’ll save on a rookie contract. If you think he’s a difference maker you take him regardless.

I might add that Bowers probably isn’t mentioned much in connection with the #9 overall pick because the Bears are pretty much set at tight end with Gerald Everett and Cole Kmet. The chances that they would spring for another tight end that high seem very low to me.

• One more final question for Biggs:

With this being the year of the QB, why are the Bears so enamored with Caleb Williams? I am not sure if he will be Tom Brady or Peter Tom Willis, but I do know that history is rife with “can’t miss” busts in the draft. I cannot understand not trading down at least to No. 2 and garnering some other draft capital. If Williams turns out to be Hall of Fame worthy and the QB the Bears take at No. 2 is only good, but they also are able to get more picks for the draft this year or next, what’s the foul? — Scott B.

In basketball terms, you’re looking at a technical foul. In hockey terms, you’re looking at a match penalty. In baseball, it would be an ejection, the ol’ heave-ho.

I don’t care what kind of draft capital the Bears could acquire from the Washington Commanders for moving down from No. 1 to No. 2 if it’s a difference between “Hall of Fame worthy” and “only good.” A Hall of Fame-caliber quarterback could have the Bears positioned to be a Super Bowl contender for a decade. A good quarterback could help put them in the playoff mix when the rest of the roster is pretty good and healthy.

Elite quarterbacks raise the level of play of everyone around them. I don’t know how Williams will perform as a rookie. I don’t know how developed his game will be in 2026. I do know the Bears have royally screwed up the position time and time again, and this opportunity comes at the intersection of a calculated move by Ryan Poles last year and some serial mismanagement by the Carolina Panthers. That’s good fortune that needs to be put to use.

I, along with most people, agree with Biggs here. If the difference is between Hall of Fame or the and good, it’s malpractice not to take the Hall of Fame worthy.

The problem is that, like the questioner, I’m not so sure that is the difference. My impression is that Caleb Williams isn’t the kind of sure thing that some of the other quarterbacks that have come out were. Think Andrew Luck. But Williams is certainly being treated like he is.

It isn’t a question of whether it’s the difference between Hall of Fame worthy and good. It’s a question of whether it’s the difference between good and good.