Even after the trade, Vegas still has them in last place this year with an O/U of 6.5 (though the bias has moved to -225, meaning they are closer to 7 than 6). I think they can finish 2nd or 3rd, but if they do finish in last again (for the 5th straight year), how sad would that be?

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For all the people praising pAce... Why was no other team willing to give up two firsts for this guy? Or do we think it was more no other team willing to do two firsts and the massive contact. The Cutler trade has scar tissue on my fandom so while I am excited I am still worried

A local bears fan has a more objective take than a national NFL writer with no affiliation for either team? ok. I think we’re done here.

_________________
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

You’re struggling with reading comprehension again. We’re talking about Barnwell’s take on it, not mine.

I’ll bet you $50 my team beats yours next week. Let’s see who’s really afraid

_________________
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

Oooh internet tuff guy!

Adam Schefter and Peter King like the deal. So, objectively, you found someone who didn't like the deal and posted about it.

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Internet tough guy? What are you talking about? You seem to think the Bears are better than GB now. I offered you a chance to profit off that opinion. I guess you don’t really believe it.

Read Barnwell’s tweet again. He said it wasn’t necessarily a wrong move, but the cost is higher than people around here believe.

_________________
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

He didn't even know about the second round pick.

Once again, he said he would have to win DPOY 4 years in a row to be valuable. He is not going to do that just like Rodgers won't be MVP 4 straight years. I guess neither is valuable.

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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!

A likely mid first round for a stud young pass rusher, likely mid to late first and third rounders for a early to mid second.

That isn't giving up a lot IMO.

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The bet should be a GB sweep. I think the expectation is that the Bears split with the Packers.

But the fear likely revolves around having to compete with the Bears for a wild card spot. It’s big picture, although if GB sweeps then the Bears are pretty much fucked.

Division winners:
Philadelphia
Minnesota
LA Rams
New Orleans

Wild Card:
Green Bay
Chicago
Atlanta
Seattle

Who else are we adding to the Wild Card pool? I admittedly do not have respect for very many teams. I only put Seattle there out of respect for Russell Wilson.

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Carolina should definitely be in the playoff hunt. If Dallas's line hold up they may be too.

_________________
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

Carolina will be in the mix but the Falcons take that division. I still don’t understand how they’re not the favorite Thursday.

Agreed. I think the last few years the Super Bowl champ shit the bed the opening week. Last year the patriots have up 42 to the chiefs in the opener.

Love the falcons over eagles.

Not only that but no Wentz or Alshon.

The contract ruled out most of the suitors.

I am surprised of who was left that nobody was willing to make the deal the Bears made, but I suspect Oakland had a little bias towards NFC teams that may have titled otherwise equal offers in the Bears favor. Same applies to sending him across the Bay. Its interesting that Gutekunst said "you cant trade what you dont have" after being asked why the Packers didn't beat the Bears' offer. Implies the Raiders think the Bears still suck and that these picks will wind up being pretty high. I know many morons will take that and think "See! The Bears suck and rest of the league knows it!"...the Raiders probably are too stupid to make that determination. The team that gave $100 million to a head coach who spent the last decade+ as a broadcaster and couldn't build a decent defense around probably the best defender in the NFL shouldn't be taken too seriously on their football thoughts.

I don't think the national NFL writer understands what opportunity cost means.

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You know me like that.

bringing this discussion back to Pace specifically

After 3 years of the Bears front office oscillating between practically dormant and moderately active they just went hog fucking wild this off-season and spent all their money, all their impact draft picks in 2019 and their first rounder in 2020 (I know they get a 2nd back in 2020 at the expense of a 3rd...whatever). Its pretty easy to have a transformative off-season when you just push almost three years of off-season capital into one spring/summer resource blitz. They've remade the team and I actually like what they've done but I'm worried about a few things. And really, there's no reliable way to fill any holes going forward. They "won" the off-season this year by just spending everything at essentially market price. Aside from potentially Anthony Miller, who I am a huge believer in, the Bears didn't really get anything at a bargain. I'm not upset about this because getting Robinson and Mack (both are the types of players that seldom become available, Mack being almost unprecedented) is huge...but I am wary that they wont have this opportunity again. They are going to need to have successful subsequent off-seasons by finding undervalued free agents and overlooked draftees. That is there only avenues to fix these ongoing roster issues.

-They lack a franchise offensive tackle. This is the biggest one and really my primary worry about the entire team. Leno Jr. was good last year but there's really no telling if he's capable of an encore performance. I tolerate Massie but even then he'll be gone next year. And they've got nothing to replace either. Jordan Morgan and Tayo Faboluje were long shot attempts to fix this position and both failed...and other than that they have done practically nothing at the position. And never mind what they do once Massie is gone...what do they do if someone gets injured? They are really weak at this position, which is a position that happens to be extremely expensive and very coveted. They need to get lucky here.

-They lack a shutdown corner. This is not the end of the world because they are going to be bringing an unholy pass rush and should be able to get away with double-teaming an opponents best WR, but the really good ones really cant be double-teamed out of a game unless the safety help is extraordinary. Size and speed cannot be outdone by quantity of attention. The only way to abate the Antonio Brown/Julio Jones/Odell Beckham types is to just line them up one-on-one with a cornerback who is just as good or have a pass rush that can get to the QB before the WR can beat the double team. Again, the Bears seem to have planned around this gap by just having a defensive scheme/personnel that doesn't require it. That said there will be moments where Diggs or Adams gets open and the rush will have to be there to prevent the big play. These moments will come in huge game situations and so its on the Bears to overcome it.

It's not draft pick for player X. It's draft picks AND highest contract in NFL history for a defensive player. Paying free agency prices for non-QBs rarely works out. Now you've thrown 2 drafts down the toilet as well.

Only one draft. They have two 2nds which makes the 2020 losses a lot easier to take. And lets be real they also got Anthony Miller in exchange for sacrificing next year's draft.

The money doesn't bother me at all. They really are not going to lose anything they otherwise would have kept because of this deal. They also wont be paying two 1st roudners $6m a year, so it is increasingly offset by those savings. It will definitely prevent them from signing THE big free agents for at least the next two FA periods until the cap creeps up a little bit (and by then they may be dealing with impending extensions crunches on guys like (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky) but I'll tell ya, there is not a free agent the next two years that comes even close to Mack. The best guys like Leonard Williams or Joey Bosa (who are still a solid tier or two below the player Mack is) are simply not making it free agency. They are either going to play on the tag or get paid.

I dont see what they lost out on with the money. A few mid-range guys here or there that they may like who they cant just lavishly outbid the field on? That could possibly happen, but that can happen with or without a contract like Mack's on the books. I feel fine spending money on a guy who is on a clear HOF trajectory, I get worried when its spending money on guys even like Allen Robinson who only hit FA because of a potentially fatal flaw (to be fair, I love the AR signing but I have that apprehension).

Dont give a shit about the draft picks. Sorry. I made this point in another thread, over every draft the Bears have had since Urlacher there aren't two guys combined you wouldn't have given up for Mack. Tommie Harris and Greg Olsen being the closest you get. That's almost 20 years of sample. Same goes for most teams. Even the Packers since Rodgers dont have two guys combined who's careers you'd trade for this chance with Khalil Mack.

The 2nd round pick won't be that far away from the first they gave up.

The contract simply requires him to be as good as he has been. That's a good gamble. If they overpaid its counteracted by the money currently saved at QB. Now maybe (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky sucks but that would happen with or without Mack. Maybe they can be the Jaguars in that case.

What's the plan if they don't do this? Pray that the 2019 pick is Urlacher 2?

_________________
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!

They would've undoubtedly gone OT in the first next year.

The hope is that Roquan Smith is the next Urlacher. Too bad he'll never be better than Blake Martinez :(

I still think Pace is bad but he has done some good things since the end of last year.

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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!

There's no way to know this. Could be a pretty significant gap,



The Jaguars defense is immensely more talented than the Bears with Mack. If Mitch is Blake Bortles bad this is a 6 win team if Howard stays healthy, 4 if he doesn't, It's not the NFC Jaguars.

_________________
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

You think (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky sucks. Are you predicting 6-10 for the Bears?

The draft picks won't be that far off and having two second round picks helps. It's even possible they could get a 1st with them and then they lost a 2nd and 3rd two years later since Mack takes the place of the roster spot next year of the first 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!

That's not how draft value works. It's weak rationalization.

It's ok to admit the cost to acquire Mack was enormous. It was. If he's as good as he's been it's still probably worth it.

_________________
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

It is how it works. They could have 2019 first round pick or mack. If they sent a decent player back that would factor in different.

In terms of meaningful picks they gave up 2 first round picks to get Mack and move up a round on the third round pick. Why would you rate it that they gave up 3 picks?

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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!

No, and you're not this dense.

The cost of Mack was all the draft picks. You don't get to just subtract an entire first round pick out of it and pretend it wasn't part of the cost.

_________________
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

Because he's a scared Packers fan.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Looks like all the Bear fans are the scared ones. Can I at least count on you for a wager this weekend?

_________________
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

It's not just "oh, fine, won't have two 1st round guys". It's won't have two guys on rookie salary contracts and whatever extensions or free agent acquisitions you could make to address team holes.

It's entertaining seeing Pace bidding against himself season after season for who knows why.

I told you that I'll wager on anything except something involving a Chicago team. Besides I don't expect the Bears to start their winning streak this week. After a couple of drinks I imagine that you may be able to convince me to take your money though.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!