Their third round picks (Pickens) may be decent, he probably should get more playing time. I think it has a better chance vs last years third round pick, a kick returner. Poles forgot two important items when drafting Velus Jones

1. He can't catch punts
2. The NFL has basically phased out kick returns.

Whoops!

They were hoping to compete with their offense. The injuries to the back 4 just makes the front 4 look even worse.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Matt Eberflus really shakey spewing out positive the good fight clichés with J Hood.

He's Dead Man Walking and he knows it.

Never good to see fear in a man's eyes. It's currently dripping out of his eyes.

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I heard and saw it after the game. He was failing to convince himself.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Kyler Gordon was one of the worst cornerbacks in the NFL prior to his injury.

Brisker has been mediocre when he's not injured.

Eddie Jackson is just a guy at this stage of his career.

Jaylen Johnson is the only standout in the secondary and--surprise, surprise--he's not a Poles acquisition.

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Kyle Gordon settled in at the end of the season. He was being asked to play inside and out as a rookie. By all accounts, the back 7 was an NFL quality back 7.

You can have the Ryan Pace draft picks. Poles has added more starting level talent in 1 year than what existed before he arrived. It's not close. The team is in far better shape than it was 18 months ago.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Your team is terrible and one of the current laughing stocks of the NFL.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

Good thing they weren't trying to be good.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

You are basing your argument for Poles on the notion that he is better than Pace?

That's like saying you rather be a passenger on the Titanic than the Hindenburg.

The next Poles draft pick to resemble a legitimate NFL starter will be his first.

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I don't know what Poles will ultimately produce. That said, I've seen nothing that tells me he sucks like Pace did. The roster is far better today than 18 months ago, and we're better positioned for future success. Those are indisputable facts.

He's only had 1 draft that we can somewhat assess. He didn't have a 1st round pick in that draft. Braxton Jones and CTE Brisker are starting caliber NFL players. It's early, but Wright, Johnson, and Stevenson appear to be too.

You took the position that Poles sucked before last season started. I'm not sure if anything other than a Super Bowl win will change that. I like that he has a plan on how to build this roster. I can see how that plan can work. I'm willing to give him the space to execute it. Firing him after 1 draft would be absolutely ridiculous.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I think the only reasonable thing you have for your position nas is Poles' lack of time on the job. But early results aren't really encouraging and raise more questions on his competency:

In 2021 you supposedly have a franchise QB in Fields whom you need to unlock. You also have a HC opening. The NFL has long been trending toward offense. Reasonable GMs put two and two together and conclude I need to find the best offensive guy out there who can get the most out of young QBs. What does he do? He hires a DC. This makes no sense at all. It would only make sense if this DC was a former HC who had success elsewhere. But Eberflus is a rookie. Makes no sense at all.

Questionable decision to keep Fields heading into 2023 after a whole season in which Fields failed to demonstrate any passing prowess.

Fails to secure his top OL targets in free agency despite bottomless pockets. Failures force him to sign people no one else wants like Nate Davis who apparently hates the idea of athletic competition.

His hand picked inexperienced HC steers the team into a disastrous start to the season. His best excuse is the team didn't have enough time to gel during the preseason so implicitly he acknowledges that he came into the season utterly unprepared to compete. The inexperience and lack of executive functions is showing and that's on the guy who hired him.

So Poles best defense is he's still early in his tenure but early results don't exactly suggest we've got some savvy GM here.

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

I have time and results. The team and roster are better positioned for future success than it was 18 months ago.

Eberflus acted as a CEO. The exact role guys like Belichick, Harbaugh, Fox, and others play. He brought over a guy that Rodgers and Adams loved in Green Bay. The system is quarterback friendly.

There was no choice but to bring Fields back. There wasn't a robust trade market, and this was a questionable class of quarterbacks. The 2024 class is supposed to be superior. They've given Fields the opportunity to succeed. They know he's not the future. That's a win.

Not panicking and overpaying is smart. Nate Davis was arguably the best lineman in Week 1. Judging him after missing 2 weeks because of a death is foolish.

Early results have the Bears positioned for long-term success, with a younger and more talented roster. They have great draft capital and financial flexibility. They had neither 18 months ago.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Still think the "Claw Theory" makes the most sense here.

Poles agrees to take the job only after George gives him the reassurance that he has two years to tank, Poles realizes Fields is not the guy early, but bides his time to gather resources for the third year where he can pick his guy at QB and draft/sign guys he wants on the offensive and defensive lines, Eberflus is just a Ricky Renteria type to develop young guys and change culture. You flip Fields for whatever you can get for him and move on with the team you picked.

A few things have gone drastically wrong, he did not see the coaching staff being this incompetent, likely felt Eberflus was at least an average level NFL coach and trusted him to build a decent staff, that has not happened.

He also did not anticipate the team giving up and quitting so quickly, the players saw right through Eberflus and god knows what type of stuff was going on with Alan Williams, players saw the issues with the coaching staff and quickly decided to not buy in to what they were selling.

He knew Fields was soft mentally, but you rarely see a dude look as lost as Fields, it is almost like Fields would rather have them bench him, and that actually may be the best thing for his career at this point.

So you have a GM that thought he could win enough games to keep the town folks at bay, but instead they are coming at him with pitchforks and torches.

George is the one that miscalculated here, he felt his fanbase would be fine with tanking several seasons, but it turns out they actually want to see the team moving in the right direction after a tank season, so once again George failed spectacularly, but that is his norm and not sure why anyone expects that to change.

claw I think that is very possible. There is no doubt Poles will be here next year and will get to draft his own QB and hire a 2nd coach.

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

If I was eberflus I would want a new GM

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

The wildcard in this is Warren and does he have the power and desire to hire his own guys or is he good with Poles. If Warren wants his own guy in that spot then we could be looking a complete clean start.

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

I'm with NAS I think we were all excited by the moves the bears made over the summer. We can't win because fields sucks. That's really all there is to it, just like rex grossman

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Really, I'd blame Tanesha Wade for all of these problems

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

If Poles can answer to management how he hired Eberflus, a defensive coach, and Eberflus wasn't able to make a defense that does anything well then I think he keeps his job. I don't know if he can do that without getting into the lack of talent on the defense.

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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 was something resembling agreement that the business side should stay out of football operations for the last few decades.

I don’t want to backslide into hoping some non-football guy will fix their football problems.

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Yep!

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I blame the unwillingness of a single McCaskey to learn the football business from the bottom up.

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He needs to focus on finding a home

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Outside of Mama Bear, George appears to be the only one who loves the game.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

And he is an idiot apparently.

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I would agree with that. But with how messed up this organization is who really knows.

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

I've written too many times and I don't want to be repetitive. It's just shocking to me. Imagine being a red blooded american boy who is told that he can run a sports franchise, if he just spent a little bit of time learning the business but instead decides he'd rather be in ticket sales or whatever other bullshit pursuit the sundry mc caskeys find themselves.

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

They grew up with the deni$ life. Country clubs and tennis matches.

No, they did not.

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