Starting to hear the team approved talking points from the usual suspects. Remember last year when the "Bears experts" all were in lockstep agreement that the offense was, "ready to make the next step after a year in the system", "Nagy was a genius that was ahead of the league by sitting starters in preseason", and my personal favorite, "Mitch was ready for the 200 level of the offense after mastering the playbook". Heard team employee Grote on with Mac and his takes even surprised Mac who apparently hasn't been briefed on the approved thoughts for this year that will soon be repeated ad nauseam by the "Bears Experts". First off, Grote said there was no way Nagy gets fired this year, which Mac rightly challenged given that Nagy came in as an offensive genius and his offense has actually declined under his leadership.. Grote seemed stunned that anyone would think Nagy would be on the hot seat. Mac also rightly bought up the fact that there are several veteran running backs that may in fact be better than anyone currently on the roster. Grote dismissed that and continued to say, "we don't know what we have in David Montgomery", seems odd because adding a talented vet at the position seems smart given the expected attrition at the position. Wonder what else the team will be pushing this off season. Was happy that Mac challenged him which rarely happens on the station these days.

Remember when we all thought the only thing that could hold the Bears back in 2019 was the kicker?

Bears media is a joke. Khalil Mack was merely "good" last year but he gets a complete pass in their eyes. I've not seen one person take Mack to task for his colossal dropoff in play between 2018 and 2019.

Nagy and (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky have either personal issues or working relationship issues. Nagy's spin isn't hiding them anymore. It's Foles job unless (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky wows.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I think there's also way more friction in the Nagy/Pace relationship that gets out into the public, and I reckon it revolves mostly around (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky. Only the near-certainty that both Nagy and Pace will get fired if the Bears dont win ten games in 2020 has forced them to come together on the issue, but its just too little too late.

He's come to terms with Mitch being a vapid dumbass who will never be capable of reading defenses or mastering the playbook.

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I think that Nagy has failed as a coach in his play calling and his developing a young talented quarterback. He is pinning his hopes on Foles basically to save his job and probably his career.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Maybe. What (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky needs to do is to ignore the politics and get mad as hell and turn that anger into working his ass off so that when his turn comes he is ready. He can actually turn this into a huge positive for himself. Then he can tell Nagy and the Bears a huge stick the playbook up your ass, pay me or someone else will.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Yeah, one of Schuster’s final refrains was that Mack was double- and tripled-teamed on evey play, which was demonstrably false.

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The idea that you pay a guy $150M and he needs an $80M sidekicks to be productive is insane.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Maybe not every play but it was obvious that other teams based pretty much their offense to negate Mack's ability. The other thing that is almost never mentioned is the importance of the other players who were unable to step up to help Mack and the defense in general. I agree that Mack was not as effective a a player as he was the year before but he can't do everything on the field. Football is the epitome of a team game because of the number of players on the field. As great a player as Butkus was, he needed other players on the field with him to play hard. Same thing with Urlacher and any other great linebacker in history.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

I'm actually pro-doubling down on your team strengths. The idea of putting another elite edge rusher opposite Mack would be smart.

Robert Quinn aint that guy though.

Also, Mack's not really elite anymore. Or at least he wasn't the second half of last year.

When you're the highest paid defender in the NFL, you can't take games or seasons off. That makes me question your love for the game. Some people are great because they love football and others were blessed with certain genetics. I want people who love the game.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

We'll find out a lot about his mettle this year. I'm not going to say he quit on the team last year, but he definitely less effective. That can be for a lot of reasons.

He lost one of the best defensive lineman in the league in Hicks and a really good linebacker in Danny T. The losses allowed teams to concentrate on Mack. Mack still played very well and clearly he was frustrated by the lack of an offense giving the defense an ability to rest as well as having to deal with multiple players focusing most of their attention on him.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

I don't know if what you said is true especially the part of him not knowing the play-book. That's sounds like a lie to me. I find that it is very doubtful that a quarterback at this stage of his NFL career doesn't know the play book. I think that it is just an excuse by Nagy to "splain" why the Bear's offense is so anemic.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

He's paid to be a difference maker and 3rd string offensive linemen were holding their own against him. Great rushers don't need others to perfectly set the table for them.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Agreed. It's maddening reading the handful of posts that continue to blame the Defense or Mack. Floyd sucked, they were still a top 5 D last year without Hicks and having the worst offense in the league.

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[color=#FFFF00][/color]


Mack gets held on just about every play.

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Mack cost multiple draft picks and $150M, I'm not giving him any excuses. I watched him lose 1 on 1 battles with inferior players and watched him fail to breathe on the quarterback when the Vikings played their 3rd string offensive linemen. He has to play significantly better. It's really that simple.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

So, a guy who the entire NFL and certainly 99% of Bears fans called Mack an awesome player in less than one year is not even in the top echelon anymore? Do you care that the injuries on Hicks and Danny T. occurred and the Bears were pretty much depleted as far as anyone else who could rush the qb? I don't care how good one player is with the exception maybe of the quarterback, if this player doesn't have someone who can get multiple guys from blocking him, the defense will fail. This happened last year. If Hicks and Danny T. are sound, then then Mack will thrive. If either of these guys are missing(especially Hicks), and the offense continues to be inept, I think that the Bears are headed to a situation where the team will come apart at the seams.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

I'm just calling em like I see em. Khalil Mack wasn't great the second half of last year.

The success of other guys should be contingent on Mack, not the other way around. Fact is teams were single-teaming him the second half of last year, and it was usually pretty effective. That's unaccpetable.

Heard a replay of a Nagy interview that unfortunately was conducted Spiegs and Parkins, both of who's next original football take will be their first, where Nagy said something to the effect of, "our offense will be better because we know our guys better". Finding that hard to swallow when you likely will have new starters at TE, G, WR, and QB! Almost half of the offensive starters will be new, how in the world can you say you know them better when they have never actually played for you. Will be interested to see if this gets repeated by the "Bears experts", and if it is will it be questioned by the hosts?

I'm with Nas and Antarctica on this. No excuses for one the league's most highly paid defenders. He was lifting weight and working out during the 2019 Super Bowl. He was still gassed too often and MIA for several games.

Anyone who saw Nagy's insanity room on draft day should have immediately be looking for a chance to move on from Nagy. Belichek probably screen captured and has Nagy's entire playbook and it's jargon.

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

I didn't see it.

Was that the room that was covered in game calling play sheets?

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yes

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

That is total bullshit. 3rd string offensive linemen were NOT holding their own against him. If he dogs it, that's on him. But if he doesn't have teammates that can hold up their own end and management can't bring someone else on the defense to do their job, then that isn't his fault, it lies elsewhere.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Did you watch the Vikings game? Those weren't starters. Mack was invisible and was seen several times getting his teeth kicked in by a bum.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I guess we will see about Mack and all these guys pretty soon. I do think that Mack did take plays off last season but all players do to some extent. Maybe you are right about him being somewhat out of shape also. Don't know. WHat I do know, however, is the importance of losing Hicks last season as well As Danny T. The other teams could virtually focus most of their attention on neutralizing Mack via attacking away at the below average replacements that the BEars had at other positions, holding him and doubling him, etc.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. IF Nagy doesn't bring an offense to the table this year, this team may self destruct. It happens all of the time and I saw inklings of it last year but Nagy managed to keep it from escalating. We will see. This defense should be a very good one, maybe even elite but this team has got to have a decent offense to be a contender and I just do not see it in the cards because of how terrible the offensive line certainly is.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Last year, Parkins could not fathom why every coach in the NFL wasn't doing what Nagy was doing. His over-the-top slobbering over Nagy made me PTFB many times. This year, Nagy has acknowledged that was a mistake and said he will do things differently this season.



I'm not a Nagy fan but am willing to change my opinion if he matures and realizes he has not outsmarted the entire NFL. Acknowledging he made a mistake in how he handled the pre-season last year was encouraging. However, while I know NFL coaches are obsessive, seeing that room in his house did not make me feel better about him.