Tag: bears news

Quarterback evaluation is most important thing for Bears this offseason

Quarterback should be the Bears’ top priority this offseason.

The Chicago Bears are in a tough spot with their quarterback position.

Are they going to roll forward with Justin Fields? He’s a tremendous athlete who can make some big-time plays using his arm. However, we have not seen him take enough of a step as a passer to think that he is good enough to be an impactful NFL winner.

There are a few flashes of brilliance that they can look to as a positive, but they should not be convinced in the long-term. The Bears have the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, which they could use on a quarterback if they determine that Fields is not the guy.

The most likely option is USC quarterback Caleb Williams, the projected No. 1 pick. Plenty of scouts have their doubts, but some think he is generational. It will be a long time before we know the truth, but Williams may be worth taking a chance on. This is the biggest decision in general manager Ryan Poles’ young career.

If Chicago doesn’t hit on this decision, they are going to continue being a bad franchise. You don’t win in the NFL with bad quarterback play. Having good quarterback play doesn’t guarantee you anything, but bad quarterback play is nearly impossible to overcome.

When watching the playoffs this year, it was hard not to notice that all of the top teams had great quarterbacks. The Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs have the best of them all in Patrick Mahomes. You may not find that again in a generation, but you don’t even have a chance of competing with Kansas City if your guy isn’t good at all.

For the Bears, having the fourth best quarterback in the NFC North is a very bad start. That starts Chicago off on the wrong foot every season. Hopefully, Poles sees the opportunity in front of him as he can address this issue on draft night. Until the Bears get that type of quarterback that can lead this team the way it needs to be led, they’ll keep trying and trying again.

Why Lance Briggs should be the next Bears Hall of Famer

Making the case for Lance Briggs to be the next Bears player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Chicago Bears saw a few of their all-time greats make it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame last week — Devin Hester, Steve McMichael and Julius Peppers. The Bears were the first team to have three players (at least four years with the team) who made the Hall of Fame in the same year since the San Francisco 49ers in 2000.

These guys will be celebrated and rightfully so. It will also drive the conversation about who from the Bears’ storied history deserves to make it to Canton. A few really good candidates come to mind, but linebacker Lance Briggs is at the top of the list.

Briggs spent a lot of incredible years as a linebacker for the Bears after they drafted him in the third round of the 2003 NFL draft. From that moment on, he became a franchise legend. He should be in the Hall of Fame based on all of his accomplishments.

Was he as good as Brian Urlacher? No, he was not. Playing the same position at the same time as Urlacher might make some people question his legitimacy as a Hall of Fame candidate but it shouldn’t. Two elite players can play together at the same time. Just because one was slightly better doesn’t mean that the other should be punished.

There are a few numbers to support Briggs as a Hall of Famer with or without Urlacher around. For one, Urlacher missed the entire 2009 season after suffering an injury in Week 1. Briggs went on to lead Chicago in tackles with 118 that year. That effort earned him a trip to the Pro Bowl.

Briggs is a three-time All-Pro, seven-time Pro Bowler and among the 100 greatest Bears of All-Time.

He also had a total of six career defensive touchdowns, which are the third most in team history. Five of those were interceptions, which is the second most interception touchdown returns for any Bear ever. He had one in each of his first three NFL seasons, which are the most ever. There is no doubt that this guy was as impactful as anyone during his time.

We don’t know when Briggs’ time is going to come, but it should be soon. He’s been among the original 100-plus nominees, but he hasn’t yet made it to the semifinalist stage. Briggs is one of the best linebackers from his era and deserves to be recognized as such.

Chargers hire former Bears HC Marc Trestman as senior offensive assistant

Former Bears head coach Marc Trestman has found a new home on the Chargers coaching staff.

The Chicago Bears didn’t have a lot of success with Marc Trestman as their head coach, and he’s considered one of the team’s worst coaches in franchise history.

Now, Trestman has found his way back to the NFL a decade after being fired by Chicago.

Trestman is joining the Los Angeles Chargers coaching staff under new head coach Jim Harbaugh. Trestman will serve as a senior offensive assistant. That is a bold move for the Chargers as they look to take their team in a new direction.

Trestman lasted just two years in Chicago, where he had a 13-19 record and never had a winning season. In 2013, they went a disappointing 8-8. The following year, they went a disastrous 5-11. The Bears fired him after that season, and he hasn’t been a head coach in the NFL since. Trestman was, however, the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens from 2015-16, but he hasn’t been in the NFL since.

Getting quarterback Justin Herbert the right tools around him is the biggest need for the Chargers franchise under Harbaugh. Herbert has been mostly elite, and they are going to try and turn that into wins. We will see if Trestman will be able to help them reach that goal. Most Bears fans won’t be confident.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Chris Olave state their case for Bears drafting Marvin Harrison Jr. at No. 1

The Chicago Bears may think about drafting Marvin Harrison Jr. Two prominent young receivers think they would regret not doing it.

Everyone in the football world has an opinion on the ongoing discussion involving the Chicago Bears’ quarterback decision. That includes star players from around the NFL.

Last week at the Super Bowl, Seattle Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and New Orleans Saints receiver Chris Olave shared their opinions on what Chicago should do with the No. 1 pick. You can probably guess that both of them advocated for the Bears to keep Justin Fields and draft receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. All of them went to Ohio State, so you know that they all believe in each other.

“I think that’s the best move for Chicago in my eyes,” Smith-Njigba said, via NBC Sports Chicago. “If you want a dynamic receiver, a dominant receiver right now, a person that’s on an island that’s going to catch every single ball, that’s going to move the chains, that’s going to score you touchdowns, that’s going to show people and be a leader, I say you go with Marvin Harrison.”

Harrison is most likely going to be the highest-drafted one out of all of them. He is an incredible young receiver who is going to be a superstar in the NFL.

Smith-Njigba and Olave are somewhat biased with their opinion coming from the same college, but they’re not necessarily wrong. Harrison is going to help an NFL team take a huge step offensively right when he gets there.

No matter what team Harrison ends up with, he is going to be must-see TV. We’ll see if the Bears are a team that ends up doing what they can to get him. If they ultimately decide to keep Fields instead of drafting quarterback Caleb Williams, perhaps Harrison would be in the cards.

Why the Steelers would be perfect fit for Justin Fields

The Bears are most likely going to trade Justin Fields this offseason. Right now, the Steelers are emerging as a top landing spot.

The Chicago Bears are looking like an NFL organization that is going to select a quarterback in the upcoming NFL draft. They have the No. 1 pick (via the Carolina Panthers), and a lot of people think they’re eyeing USC quarterback Caleb Williams.

If Chicago were to select Williams first overall, they would most likely move on from Justin Fields, their former first-round pick in 2021, who hasn’t blossomed into a star the way that we thought he would. Fields has shown flashes, but that isn’t going to win you a Super Bowl. You need a star at some point. Fields still may become a star but having the No. 1 pick — with a potential generational talent up for grabs — rushes that evaluation.

If the Bears are to move on from Fields, a quarterback-needy team that doesn’t have a top-10 pick is going to consider him. One team that makes perfect sense is the Pittsburgh Steelers, an organization that values winning and are not afraid to make a big move.

Fields may or may not turn into a star, but Pittsburgh may consider trying him out. They just released former Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and Mason Rudolph is set to be a free agent. That leaves only Kenny Pickett on the roster for next year.

To be honest, Pickett is in the same boat as Fields. He was a first-round pick and had a lot of expectations but hasn’t lived up to them yet. He has shown flashes but even Fields has been better up to this point. Pickett has done more winning, but he is in a better situation. If Fields went to Pittsburgh, he might find more success.

Seeing Fields go to the Steelers would be amazing. He’d have a chance to take his career to the next level while the Bears would be starting fresh. Head coach Mike Tomlin has made it known that he likes Fields, so it is a perfect fit for them in every way. With Tomlin at the helm, you might see Fields take steps that would be impossible for him to take in Chicago.

The Steelers are a smart team that knows how to move on before it becomes too late. Pickett is not the guy and they know it. If they feel that Fields can give them a better chance to win, they will do it.

T.J. Edwards explains why he wants Justin Fields back with Bears

As the great Justin Fields-Caleb Williams debate wages on, T.J. Edwards explained why he hopes Fields is back with the Bears in 2024.

The Chicago Bears are in the midst of an important and busy offseason. They could be one of those teams to go from “worst to first” in 2024, but they need everything to go their way for that to happen, which starts with an incredible offseason.

Chicago has two top-10 picks (Nos. 1 and 9) in the 2024 NFL draft, which is where the conversation starts and ends at this point. The big question is whether the top pick will be used on USC quarterback Caleb Williams, which feels like the most likely outcome, or another rookie or if they decide to keep Justin Fields. Simply put, general manager Ryan Poles has a tenure-defining decision to make.

It’s going to be brought up by everyone who is involved with this team, whether it’s players, coaches, fans or media. Late in the media circus that was Super Bowl week, linebacker T.J. Edwards spoke to Jarrett Payton about all things going on with the Bears. He touched on the defense, which he believes is going in the right direction, but also his impression of Fields after this season.

“What I love about him is I could tell him Day 1 what kind of guy he is,” Edwards said. “He’s a calm, cool, collected type, and playing quarterback in this league — especially in Chicago — you’ve got to be that. You can’t be too overzealous at times, you kind of have to be right in the middle, where we can look to you at times when it’s going bad and know he’s going to make a play, and he did that.”

Edwards is the latest Bears player to make it clear that he wants Fields back in 2024.

“Playing against him, from experience, I hope he stays with us because I don’t want to play against him ever again,” he said.

Edwards is a very important player to Chicago’s defense going forward, and he seems to have a good grasp on the situation. This doesn’t mean Chicago is for sure going to keep Fields, but it does mean that there is some good that could come if they do. Someone who has gone against him in practice and relies on him to help win is endorsing how good he can be.

Edwards is in the NFL to win and he wouldn’t be out there saying this stuff if he didn’t believe it. These Bears players are going to be tired of talking about it by the time we get to the draft, but this decision being so huge is the reality of the situation. Hopefully, no matter what, Poles makes the right one.

Merril Hoge had harsh evaluation of Caleb Williams ahead of NFL draft

The Bears are expected to draft Caleb Williams at No. 1, but not everyone believes it’s the right move.

The Chicago Bears have an important decision to make at quarterback this offseason, where the expectation is they’ll draft USC’s Caleb Williams with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL draft.

At this point, it certainly feels like an inevitability. But not everyone is a fan of the Bears potentially moving on from Justin Fields in favor of Williams.

Former NFL fullback and analyst Merril Hoge was asked about Chicago’s quarterback situation. Should they keep Fields or use the first overall pick on Williams? His opinion on the matter is very strong.

Hoge believes that the Bears should keep Fields; that he needs more experience and has shown enough in the NFL to warrant the chance. With more around him and more time, according to Hoge, Fields can become a winning player in this league.

His comments on Williams, however, are very strong. Hoge offered harsh criticism of Williams, where he believes there is nothing special about the USC star’s game. He admittedly only watched three of his games from this year and three from the previous season (so far). It might not be enough film to claim that strong but it is the way he feels right now.

“First of all, his ability to throw on the run is very disturbing,” Hoge told NBC Sports Chicago. “It is very inaccurate and it’s all over the place. There’s a ton of RPO, which nobody is going to RPO themselves to a Super Bowl in our league. … You gotta push the ball down the field. There are times when he does that. He doesn’t play with a lot of anticipation because of all the clean pockets that exist for him.

“The thing that’s disturbing me right now is his inability to be consistent on the move as a thrower. And he’s willing to do that a lot more than he has to. You don’t have that choice in our league. … I don’t see anything magical with his arm. There’s not enough there at this point for me to be like we’re getting rid of Justin Fields and bring this guy in, who’s never played in the National Football League and has to overcome all of those hurdles just to give us a chance to win.”

Hoge is entitled to his opinion based on what he’s seen. He doesn’t think Williams is even close to being a game-changer in the way that Patrick Mahomes is. Is it fair to expect that? Probably not. The question is whether or not he can be a top-flight quarterback so the Bears can have a chance to win.

It seems as if a lot of former players believe Chicago should keep Fields, but a lot of football people that are not former players think they should move on. At the end of the day, the only opinion that matters is general manager Ryan Poles. It is on him to make this career-defining decision.

Former Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky released by Steelers

The Steelers are parting ways with former Bears first-round QB Mitchell Trubisky.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have released former Chicago Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky after two seasons, which means he’ll be a free agent next month.

This is a smart decision for the Steelers, as they try to reconstruct their quarterback room. The future of starter Kenny Pickett is even in question despite him being the only quarterback set to be on their roster next year.

The Bears drafted Trubisky with the second overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft. It was a tremendous mistake as he turned out to be one of the worst busts in franchise history. It makes it even worse that Patrick Mahomes was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs eight spots later.

Since Chicago cut ties with Trubisky and moved on to Justin Fields (which also won’t amount to a second contract), he has bounced around a little bit. Trubisky has since played for the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers, mostly as a backup quarterback.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Trubisky. Will he be a backup quarterback again somewhere? There are certainly going to be opportunities that come calling for him. A winning franchise that can provide a player-friendly system for him would be ideal.

Meanwhile, it sounds like Pittsburgh could be interested in another Bears quarterback. ESPN’s Adam Schefter said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is a “big fan” of Fields, and they could make a move to acquire the former first-round QB if Chicago opts to stay put at No. 1 and draft a rookie quarterback.

How Patrick Mahomes, Matt Nagy make the Bears look bad

Both Matt Nagy and Patrick Mahomes both make the Chicago Bears look bad for the way things went down in recent years.

A lot of people have made the Chicago Bears look bad, mostly themselves. They have been one of the worst franchises in the NFL this century. They hardly go to the playoffs and they continue to lose to the Green Bay Packers regularly. The hope is that they come out of it with this current regime in charge but still have much work to do.

The San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs faced off in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday night. For a lot of the game, the 49ers played very well and looked like they were going to win. That was until the very end when Patrick Mahomes and his crew took victory from the hands of defeat.

Mahomes drove the Chiefs down the field to tie the game late and to win it in overtime. It was a legendary moment for him as he won a second straight Super Bowl and his third in five seasons. It has been an incredible run for the now three-time Super Bowl MVP.

This is a player that makes the Bears look terrible. In possibly the worst draft evaluation in the history of the NFL, the Bears took North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky with the second overall pick (that they traded up one spot for) in the 2017 NFL draft. With the 10th overall pick, the Kansas City Chiefs traded up to land Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Trubisky is one of the biggest busts in franchise history. He couldn’t do anything to help the Bears offense take a step forward. Their defense was all-world during his tenure with the team, and he won some games as a result, but he was truly terrible.

As for Mahomes, his third Super Bowl victory with the Chiefs on Sunday cemented him as a 28-year-old living legend. He is already one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history and his career might not even be halfway over. That is the guy the Bears passed on.

Oh, by the way, his offensive coordinator is former Bears head coach Matt Nagy, who everybody in Chicago blamed for their offensive problems. Nagy certainly had his fair share of mistakes but you don’t win anything if you have a terrible roster, which the Bears did when Nagy was most criticized.

In 2018, Nagy won Coach of the Year and led the team to the playoffs. They fell off a cliff after that, and the poor play of Trubisky was a huge reason. Now, he has a legend in Mahomes running his offense and he is a two-time Super Bowl champion coordinator. Andy Reid is an incredible coach, but don’t be surprised if Nagy takes over when Reid is done and wins big, as well.

Any coordinator or coach will look extra special if they have a quarterback deliver the goods, the way that Mahomes does. Any of them will also look bad if they have a failed quarterback, the way Trubisky was.

Justin Fields has been an improvement over Trubisky, but he doesn’t win nearly as much because the roster around him was way worse. Now, Chicago is expected to move on from Fields before he even gets a crack at a great roster. Meanwhile, Mahomes will be going for Super Bowl championship No. 4 in the wrong uniform next year.

DJ Moore still campaigning for Justin Fields’ return to Bears

The Bears have an important decision to make at quarterback. Will they take DJ Moore’s opinion into consideration?

The Chicago Bears continue to dominate sports conversation with their all-important quarterback dilemma right now.

Justin Fields and Caleb Williams are each going to be evaluated to the fullest extent before the team decides on what they are going to do. And it’s going to remain one of the biggest sports stories out there.

A lot of different people have weighed in on what they should be doing and there seems to be a lot of contradicting opinions. The most important thing that general manager Ryan Poles can do is listen to himself. His career as Bears GM is on the line with this decision, so he better make the right one.

The reason that Chicago has the number one pick in the draft for the second year in a row is a trade they made last year. They traded last year’s No. 1 pick to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for their 2023 and 2024 first-round selections along with DJ Moore and some other assets. The Panthers finished with the worst record in the league, which sent the Bears another great pick.

Moore was excellent in his first season with the Bears. It was his career year in just about every way. Moore had 96 receptions for 1,364 yards and eight touchdowns. He also had one rushing touchdown as a wide receiver for nine all-purpose scores.

There is no doubt that this is a number one NFL receiver and will help any offense move the ball. He did all of this despite minimal passing development from Fields. We know Fields is an outstanding running quarterback but he hasn’t been able to grow his game as a passer. However, Moore still found a way to get it done.

Moore is going to be a big part of Chicago’s offense for years to come. It also isn’t going to matter who is under center in the future. Whether it’s Fields or Williams, they will have an elite receiver to target. If the Bears add another good receiver in the draft, Moore will be even more effective.

Moore certainly has an opinion on whether or not they should keep Fields. He’s been adamant since before the end of the season that he’d like to see Fields back in 2024, but he understands it’s a business.

“I advocated for [Fields] and to see it come through would be amazing,” Moore said, via NBC Sports Chicago. “But if it doesn’t, I’ll still be happy. I don’t get paid to make that decision. I just go out there and make as many plays as I can for the quarterback that’s back there, as I’ve shown this year.

“But it’d be nice to see Justin stay.”

It is easy to understand Moore’s position. He had a career year with Fields throwing him the ball. However, he has to know that winning could come with a different guy coming in there. If that is how Poles feels, Moore may have to move on with yet another quarterback, most likely Williams.