Bears clinch No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, and they don’t need a new quarterback

The Chicago Bears have clinched the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, and Justin Fields has proven that they don’t need a quarterback. Not a bad place to be.

Due to their trade with the Carolina Panthers, who lost 26-0 to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday to set their record at 2-14, the Chicago Bears now have the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft.

And Justin Fields wanted everybody to know that they don’t need to select a quarterback with that pick. Fields completed 20 of 32 passes for 268 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 99.5 in Chicago’s 37-17 beatdown of the Atlanta Falcons. Fields also ran 11 times for 45 yards and a touchdown, and some of his plays in this hame augured well for his future and his potential. Whether the Bears are into that idea or not is a point of conjecture, but this team has some holes they could fill with some major talent and two high selections. Right now, per Tankathon, the Bears have the first and 10th picks.

Fields’ fans at Soldier Field seem to agree.

Dealing with Fields as a runner has always been frustrating, and it was a nightmare for the Falcons’ defense on this day.

But the throws he made in this game, especially to receiver D.J. Moore, were absolutely on point.

Fields isn’t a perfect quarterback per se, but in the right system and with the right people around him, he should have shown enough this season to have the Bears’ front office (whoever’s in charge of it after this season) convinced that there are other more pressing issues to address.

How the Dallas Cowboys’ defense can exploit Jared Goff’s one fatal flaw

The Cowboys play more man coverage than any other NFL team, but against Jared Goff and the Lions, it might be time to flip the script.

If there’s one thing we know about the 2023 Dallas Cowboys, it’s that they love to play man coverage. This season, Dan Quinn’s defense has lined up in man on 40.3% of their defensive snaps, most in the NFL. And if you take away their loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 16, when they played much more zone against Mike McDaniel’s turbo-charged offense, that rate jumps to 41.0%. Ostensibly, that’s extremely good news for Jared Goff, whose Detroit Lions face those Cowboys on Saturday night.

Against man coverage this season, Goff has completed 71 of 124 passes for 837 yards, 547 air yards, eight touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 99.4. Against zone coverage, Goff has completed 233 of 325 passes for 2,775 yards, 1,701 air yards, 13 touchdowns, all 10 of his interceptions, and a passer rating of 97.9. So, more explosive plays against zone, but also all of Goff’s interceptions, and there are some common threads here.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into why Goff’s attributes as a timing and anticipation thrower of the football can also get in his way against certain coverages. Also, how the Cowboys can take advantage… if they want to flip the script a little bit.

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You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” featuring tape and advanced metric analysis of all Week 17’s biggest NFL matchups (including Lions-Cowboys, of course), right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Now, let’s get deeper into this Jared Goff-Dan Quinn matchup.

Kevin Stefanski of the Browns is a legitimate Coach of the Year candidate

Kevin Stefanski of the Cleveland Browns deserves serious consideration for NFL Coach of the Year.

When considering the NFL’s Coach of the Year candidate, voters (and I’m honored to be one) will often consider the head coach who has done the most with the most adversity. At this point, you have to consider the case of Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski.

After their 20-17 win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday, the Browns are 9-5, right on the heels of the Baltimore Ravens for command of the AFC South. And they’ve done this with a ridiculous number of injuries — right now, a full 25.8% of the team’s salary cap is on injured reserve, the highest such rate in the NFL. That includes alleged franchise quarterback Deshaun Watson, and running back Nick Chubb, the team’s best offensive player. The Browns’ walking wounded has also included large parts of their offensive and defensive lines and secondary,

With Joe Flacco, who Stefanski picked up off the couch a couple weeks ago, the Browns are now on their fourth quarterback this season. But on both sides of the ball, Stefanski (the primary offensive shot-caller) and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz have done everything possible to maintain excellence. Coming into Sunday’s win, the Browns ranked 12th overall in DVOA — first on defense, and 28th on offense. But in the second half of the season, once Flacco became The Guy, they’ve risen from 28th to 21st with a bullet.

Moreover, Stefanski and his crew are pulling wins out of the most improbable situations — that includes the Bears victory, because Cleveland was down 17-7 nearly all the way through the third quarter.

The Browns finish their 2023 regular season with games against the Houston Texans, New York Jets, and Cincinnati Bengals, which gives them a very good chance of a double digit-win season. And if that’s the case, Stefanski could get a whole lot of votes for Coach of the Year.

He’ll certainly have my consideration.

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Previewing Week 15’s biggest NFL matchups

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into Week 15’s most important NFL matchups.

It’s time for Week 15 of the 2023 NFL season, and Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, are here to get you ready for the most important games and interesting matchups:

Minnesota Vikings at Cincinnati Bengals — How Zac Taylor and his staff have made things easier for Jake Browning, and how Brian Flores’ defense can make life much more difficult.

Chicago Bears at Cleveland Browns — The trade acquisition and under-the-radar consultant who could be the keys to the Bears’ defensive improvement.

Dallas Cowboys at Buffalo Bills — Buffalo offensive coordinator Joe Brady has a great new wrinkle, but can the Bills’ defense hang with Dak Prescott and all his targets?

Baltimore Ravens at Jacksonville Jaguars — The Jags have been underperforming on offense and defense of late, which makes it a bad time to have to deal with the Ravens.

Philadelphia Eagles at Seattle Seahawks — The keys to Pete Carroll’s unhappiness with his defense, and why the Eagles had better get things together before they travel to the Emerald City.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:

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You can listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Bears use trickeration with D.J. Moore to score first against Lions

The Chicago Bears used some offensive creativity to score first on Sunday against the Detroit Lions.

The 4-8 Chicago Bears are just trying to make the rest of their season moderately relevant at this point, and they got off to a nice start Sunday against the Detroit Lions on their first drive. Quarterback Justin Fields had runs of 11 and 13 yards, and then, with 10:22 left in the first quarter, the call was for a direct snap to receiver D.J. Moore, a fake to Fields, and a scamper around the left edge for a 16-yard touchdown.

It’s Moore’s first rushing touchdown during his time with the Bears, who traded for him this offseason in the blockbuster deal that allowed the Carolina Panthers to select quarterback Bryce Young first overall. Moore had 17 rushing touchdowns in five seasons with the Panthers.

2024 NFL Mock Draft: Bears rule the roost with two top-five picks

In this two-round 2024 NFL mock draft, the Chicago Bears continue with Justin Fields as their quarterback, and start to build around him with the first and fifth picks.

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The Chicago Bears’ 16-13 win over the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night was a double victory for the Monsters of the Midway. Not only did they “up” their record to 3-7 on the season, but the first-round Panthers pick, owned by the Bears as part of the trade to select Bryce Young with the first pick in the 2023 NFL draft, is now the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, because the Panthers are 1-8.

That puts forth an interesting question for the Bears, and whoever’s in charge of their personnel in 2024, whether it’s current general manager Ryan Poles, or somebody else: Are they happy enough with the development of quarterback Justin Fields (when he’s healthy) to avoid taking one of the two rock star quarterbacks — USC’s Caleb Williams of North Carolina’s Drake Maye — with that first pick? Chicago also has its own fifth overall pick as a result of its own dismal record, so it’s either hold onto Fields and build around him, or punt to a new guy.

In this mock draft, the Bears do show faith in Fields, giving him a possibly “generational” receiver in Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. with the first pick, and a potential franchise edge-rusher in UCLA’s Laiatu Latu.

For the rest of the picks in this two-round mock, read below.

Twitter reacts to Bears’ 16-13 edging of the Panthers on Thursday Night Football

Here are some of the best tweets to emerge from the Chicago Bears’ 16-13 win over the Carolina Panthers on Thursday Night Football.

The Carolina Panthers versus Chicago Bears in prime time had as much appeal as a vegetable to Al Michaels. While the rest of the sports world still gets an option with vegetables, everyone, including Michaels, had to suffer through Panthers-Bears on Thursday Night Football.

No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young played about the same game as undrafted rookie quarterback Tyler Bagent. Young went 21-of-38 for 185 yards while the Bears’ signal caller was 20-of-33 for 162. Chicago churned 295 yards total offense compared to the Panthers’ 213.

Football fans were ready with their keypads for the Thursday nighter. Here are some of the best offerings from Twitter.

Did the Chicago Bears overpay for EDGE Montez Sweat?

Did the Chicago Bears overpay for EDGE Montez Sweat? It depends on what you think value means in the NFL.

Usually, teams at the trade deadline are either buyers (teams in playoff contention looking to fill those few final holes) or sellers (teams out of the race looking to stack draft picks for the future). In the case of Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles, last Tuesday’s trade with the Washington Commanders for the services of edge-rusher Montez Sweat for a 2023 second-round pick left a fraught message — if the 2-6 Bears weren’t going to lock a guy up in his contract year with a new contract, what’s the point?

That question was answered quote decisively on Saturday with the news that the Bears had signed Sweat to a MASSIVE new deal.

Sweat now has the fifth-highest annual average salary among edge-rushers, behind only Nick Bosa, T.J. Watt, Joey Bosa, and Myles Garrett. His total guaranteed money ranks sixth.

Sweat, who Washington selected with the 26th overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Mississippi State, is a superlative player at a position the Bears desperately need. This season, Sweat has eight sacks, four quarterback hits, and 15 quarterback hurries. Those 27 total pressures make him the most productive quarterback disruptor in his new defense — Yannick Ngakoue has 22 quarterback pressures, and Demarcus Robertson has 21.

And Sweat’s tape against the league’s best offensive linemen is entirely legit — his sack and four total pressures last Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles came primarily against right tackle Lane Johnson, the gold standard at his position.

Sweat also had a sack and four total pressures against the Bears in Week 5, which probably helped his case a bit. Here, his grasp-and-escape sack against rookie right tackle Darnell Wright was pretty exceptional.

So, the immediate on-field benefits are clear. Did the Bears overpay for Sweat’s services? Perhaps, but this is a team rebuilding from the studs with a desperate need for what Sweat does best, and since the 2024 Bears will have about $80 million in effective cap space before this contract is added to the mix, it’s not as if Sweat’s deal will prevent Poles (or whomsoever else is in Poles’ position) from accentuating other positions in free agency and the draft. Losing the second-round pick in the trade does place this on the negative side, but if Sweat continues his status as an ascending player, it’s a reasonable move.

Montez Sweat agrees to 4-year, $98 million contract extension with Bears

Montez Sweat will be sticking around Chicago

The Chicago Bears weren’t taking any chances after giving up a second-round pick at the trade deadline to acquire defensive lineman Montez Sweat from the Washington Commanders.

The Bears have come to terms on a four-year extension with Sweat. The overall deal could be worth as much as $98 million.

That’s great work for a team that could be looking at giving up a pick near the top of the second round.

Montez Sweat is a great player, but what are the Bears thinking? Grade: C (or A)

The Chicago Bears’ trade for Montez Sweat makes sense in the short term, but the long term is undefined and potentially nonsensical.

Usually, teams at the trade deadline are either buyers (teams in playoff contention looking to fill those few final holes) or sellers (teams out of the race looking to stack draft picks for the future). In the case of Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles, Tuesday’s trade with the Washington Commanders for the services of edge-rusher Montez Sweat for a 2023 second-round pick is a mixed message.

The Bears currently stand at 2-6, and even when Justin Fields returns from his thumb injury, there’s no guarantee that this team can get anywhere near the playoff hunt. Now, there’s no denying that Sweat, who Washington selected with the 26th overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Mississippi State, is a superlative player at a position the Bears desperately need. This season, Sweat has eight sacks, four quarterback hits, and 15 quarterback hurries this season. Those 27 total pressures make him the most productive quarterback disruptor in his new defense — Yannick Ngakoue has 22 quarterback pressures, and Demarcus Robertson has 21.

And Sweat’s tape against the league’s best offensive linemen is entirely legit — his sack and four total pressures last Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles came primarily against right tackle Lane Johnson, the gold standard at his position.

So, the immediate on-field benefits are clear. The long-term ramifications are stickier. Sweat is in the final year of his rookie deal, and though the Bears might be able to sign him to an extension, if they can’t for whatever reason, you have a situation in which a team in desperate need of a rebuild just gave away a high pick (37th overall at this point) for a player who will not be a part of that process.

So, yes — if the Bears have some sort of tacit agreement in place for Sweat’s future, this is a wise move. But if not? Poles is putting himself out there in ways he really shouldn’t.