Big trade.

Wow Thuney gets his own thread.

Go ahead and share with us how this is awful and the Bears are terrible.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Two straight all-pro’s, actually finished in the top ten of Offensive Player of the Year voting this year, played left tackle and did OK at it until the Super Bowl.

He’s instantly the best player on the Bears by a very solid margin. The Chiefs clearly were not interested in paying him and decided to sell on him too early rather than too late. If you get thirty games of him at the level he’s been for the last two years its certainly worth a fourth round pick in 2026, the problem is you’re gonna have to pay him an absolute asston of money.

Any time you can add an elite player who has not actively began their decline yet and not give a pick in the first three rounds you have to be happy. This is a good move, but yeah I’m wary of the Bears claiming another offseason championship.

The Bears could have picked an all-pro with that 4th round pick. Also, Caleb Williams isn't good.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

One thing to consider about the entire Chiefs roster is that these guys have immense wear on their tires from all the postseason runs. And Joe Thuney came to Kansas City from New England where he was playing deep into the playoffs every year too.

He has almost a cumulative season-and-a-half worth of extra wear from playing extra games every season.

I assume Ben Johnson is weighing in on these moves, so it gives me added confidence in the trades.

_________________
Hawaii (fuck) You

It’s an example of Poles and co giving up draft capital -and paying money- for a player that is past their prime and almost certainly going to be let go anyway.



You can hate this criticism all you want dude but it’s a repeated pattern by Poles that hasn’t worked yet. It’s a fair critique given his track record with this.


Use the fucking draft to build your team. This guy is terrified of the draft imo because of how often he’s missed.


And again, they aren’t just tossing picks -they have to pay these guys too which limits their options in FA.


The only good things I can say about this are that they aren’t giving up crazy high picks, and they’ve at least targeting players that have had success in the league. But one is old at 32 and the other has had trouble staying healthy the last couple seasons.

_________________
If the rule you followed lead you to this, of what use was the rule?

Some of the criticism of Poles is warranted. I would also prefer he builds through the draft.

But I will take my chances with an all pro lineman rather than a gamble in 2026 on a 4th rounder. Also the free agent class for oline is not that great.

They still have 3 1st/2nd picks this year. They can build through the draft too.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

On the other hand, the Bears took roughly 200 sacks last year, and the #1 goal for next year has to be to take less than 200 sacks next year. You aren't solving that problem with a 4th round pick.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

We all know they needed to address the line with at least two starters and probably three. They also need rotation guys. Hard to complain about them getting two solid players for crapshoot draft picks.

_________________
Hawaii (fuck) You

32

He isn't past his prime, he was first team All Pro last year and the only OL to receive OPOY votes.

The Jonah Jackson trade was fair to criticize as Poles doing his same old shit. This move is basically impossible to criticize, its a home run for the bears.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Just treat it like a free agent signing. The fourth rounder you lose is like the fourth rounder you lose from the compensatory pick formula. Not quite apples to apples, but it’s really much more about the contract for a thirty-two year old who has played deep into the playoffs almost every season of his career.

They had to do something about the interior line and they went and did it. A very typical “Offseason Champions” Chicago Bears move but just because the team is still likely to be dreadful doesn’t mean this move is bad. Even I’m not that myopic to be upset about this.

They are immediately better for next year. The OL has transformed in one day from bottom of the league to at least middle, with the question of C still to be resolved. Neither of these two players are question marks. They can be penned in as the starters on opening day.

The other great thing about these two is positional flexibility. Jackson can play all three IOL positions and may just be how they are addressing C. Thuney can play everywhere but C and gives them something to fall back on should Braxton Jones not be healthy to start camp.

It also gives them flexibility in the draft. I wonder if they saw someone on defense that wowed them.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

They aren’t middle. Not even close. You’re still starting Braxton Jones at left tackle who is mediocre when he’s healthy and only healthy about half the time. The Darnell Wright situation on the right side isn’t great either, he’s been a huge disappointment as a top ten pick.

They have one good offensive lineman. He just so happens to also be a great offensive lineman. It’s a start. It’s maybe moved from from one of the three worst offensive line’s across the league to somewhere around eighth worst. Idk, it’s hard to say exactly where they rank but its still bad.

Wow. Sounds like our offensive line was really bad last year. I wonder if that could have an effect on the quarterback?

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

We keep having this same back-and-forth. Every year quarterbacks play with terrible offensive lines but almost never has anyone been as bad as Caleb Williams was last year.

I don't know. I think having a terrible offensive line is tough on a quarterback.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Sure. He still was significantly worse than he should’ve been for him to reach a level of being even minimally “good enough” would require an almost unprecedented turnaround.

number don't support you on wright. Jones is mediocre, which means average. Thuney is way above average and Jackson is average. That sounds like a group that can claim between 10-20 to me.

Even better, you now have a side of the line to run to with Wright and Thuney.

Obviously still need to get that center position worked out

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I don’t really care what the numbers say Darnell Wrong was a trainwreck last year. Maybe better coaching can help him, but I don’t think the ceiling is there to ever be elite.

Aside from Joe Thuney none of them are really worth getting excited about. The depth is a colossal F-, they are still an injury away from complete catastrophe. They claimed to have fixed that problem last offseason but it turned out to be a lie.

of course you don't. Your MO here is to build houses on sand

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Be prepared to be precedented.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

CB except not funny to laugh at

Playing well and still being in ones prime are not mutually exclusive. Especially in a game like football where performance can and often does drop off a cliff at a certain point.


This is still in line with Poles doing his same old shit. There’s a good chance Thuney gets released if a trade couldn’t be worked out for him. Poles continues to get pantsed in deals like this because he’s afraid to compete for FA’s and he’s afraid of the draft.


And this is why he should have been launched at seasons end and the coach and GM should have been lined up. Poles has changed nothing and learned nothing, he’s the same idiot that drafted Velus Jones and kept him too long, same idiot that traded away a 2nd round pick that wound up becoming a 1st round pick for a nobody WR that was about to get launched, and the same guy that obsessed over a perpetually injured back up O-lineman for years on end in Bates who was also about to touch grass before Poles traded for him.


Obviously I hope for the best, but I’m still going to call it for what it is -it’s a waste of resources and a reflection of can kicking incompetence on his end. Plain and simple.


Poles is who I thought he was.

_________________
If the rule you followed lead you to this, of what use was the rule?

Ben Johnson saw what anyone that knows anything about football saw last season, the interior of the oline was terrible and contributed significantly to the lack of offensive production.

Realize that many on the board do not think offensive line play matters, but interior pressure kills an offense, how many times did you see the Bears center or guards look totally confused or get blown up on a play last year. You also had your rookie QB making wrong line calls, you saw how he would take an extra second to try to figure out protections, Ryan Poles might be one of the dumbest guys in the NFL, you do not put all that on your rookie QB's plate, he might be able to figure it out a few years into his career, but not right away, he basically pissed away a year on his rookie QB window.

However, this all gets back to brutal Ryan Poles drafts which have severe consequences the following seasons as you have to trade away draft picks and blow cap space to paper over idiotic draft picks like Velus Jones.

One has to hope that Johnson is telling Poles to make these moves, if these moves work out it will make you wonder why they are keeping Ryan Poles around, if your HC has to tell your GM exactly what to do, do you really need a GM.

I like this move. Instant improvement on the line for the price of a 4th round pick. More work to do, but Thuney makes the 2025 Bears better than the 2024 Bears.

Agree we can only hope this is Ben Johnson weighing in and influencing roster decision in a positive way.

_________________

It would be a questionable trade if Poles could actually draft. It's a good to great trade because first and foremost, he can't draft linemen.

As the Commanders showed, it's easier to make your QB great with a great OL than a great (ok, good) set of WR.

Not sold on the guy they got from the Rams though, seems injury prone. Not sold on RT with Wright either but in his defense, RG was absolute trash last season and those two work together.

_________________
Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Would have been nice if Poles hadn't stupidly accepted a 6th round pick for Fields instead of the 4th. But Justin Fields feelings were too important.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

this is the first I've heard this. What idiotic team was willing to give a fourth for Fields?

_________________
Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.