Huge Thanks to our guy @dabearsblog for Joining Us on the Show Today.
Jeff Broke a Little Bit of News on the Show 👀 with Regards To Ryan Pace's Future with the Bears.
Check out the Video and Podcast on Youtube | Apple Podcasts and Spotify! https://t.co/ZIeq8lmjYe pic.twitter.com/kC5Kq9El09
— The Irish Bears Show (@IrishBearsShow) January 7, 2022
I always like the Chicago Bears.
And it’s only one week so why not?
This season was not without promising developments, and some of those developments came at key positions. Let’s take a moment to accentuate the positives.
The goal for the Chicago Bears and George McCaskey should be clear: pry Sean Payton away from the New Orleans Saints. The reasons why are fairly obvious.
He has been one of the most successful coaches in the league over the past 15 years, with an offense that perfectly fits Justin Fields. (Payton is known for “four verts”, which is designed to stretch the field. He is also known to want a mobile quarterback. There is no better fit for what he wants than Fields.) He wins in a variety of different ways, adjusting his offense to the talent he has, and managing to achieve similar results. He is a great offensive coach. The entire league knows that. The Bears know that. But how could the Bears get the Saints to agree?
The reasons for Payton to leave are there. The Saints don’t have a quarterback or really the means to acquire one. The Saints are projected to be nearly $62 million over the salary cap in 2022, and while GM Mickey Loomis has long been able to negotiate the cap, the likely outcome is going to include letting some good players go. (Keep in mind that that cap number doesn’t include a new contract for Terron Armstead who is set to be a free agent and could net an annual salary topping $20 million.)
If any team can navigate that cap mess, it’s the Saints, but the other factor is their age. Even if they bring Armstead back, he’s 30 years old. Cam Jordan is 32, Taysom Hill, 31; Ryan Ramczyk and Michael Thomas are both 28. They are a top-heavy team with a lot of veterans making big bucks. Their entire roster is going to need rebuilding in the near future and, at 58 years old, Payton may not want to endure that experience.
And they still have to find a way to get a quarterback! Perhaps they can swing a trade for Russ Wilson, Deshaun Watson or Aaron Rodgers, but it would gut the draft picks they need to replace the veteran players already mentioned.
There is no easy fix for the Saints.
The Bears may not be playing meaningful games down the stretch, but it seems that just about every other game has some relevance.
You see them sprouting up across the internet.
“Five Things the Bears Can Learn from Their Game with the Giants.”
“Which Bears Have Something to Prove Sunday?”
“Why Bears vs. Vikings Matters.”
There is nothing to learn.
Nobody is proving anything.
It doesn’t matter.
These are the sad facts of playing out the string, down the stretch of an NFL season, especially when there’s major organizational change coming in the off-season. It was nice to see the Bears put on a fun show for their fans Sunday at Soldier Field, harassing a Giants offense that would politely be described as sub-professional. Matt Nagy’s team has not quit, and the schedule has presented them with some beatable opponents, keeping the season from being an embarrassment.
But while we all want to find value in each of the 17 games we are given to watch each year, the truth is there’s little to be found in these contests. And there is a certain disingenuousness to writing about them with any level of seriousness. (Star Trib columnist Jim Souhan actually used a game quarterbacked by Sean Mannion as “final proof” that Mike Zimmer should be fired in Minnesota.) There is rarely any correlation between how a team finishes one season and how they begin the next one. There are simply too many variables, too much turnover.
And a week from today, Monday January 10th, a new era will begin for the Chicago Bears. Coach Nagy will be fired; a very good man who just never developed into a very good coach. GM Ryan Pace likely will too; a solid talent evaluator paying the price for whiffing on his two most important decisions. All focus will shift to finding their replacements. The final games of this season will be completely forgotten.
An appreciation for Robert Quinn during another disappointing #Bears season:https://t.co/uZud1YYd6d’
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) January 3, 2022
I always like the Chicago Bears.
And why not? There are only two game left. Might as well enjoy them.
So…true story.
A few years ago, when the Bears were in NJ to play the Giants, I told Jahns I would book a dinner. A good steakhouse downtown. I also told him to invite the other beats. (As long as Haugh wasn’t on that list, I knew it was fine.) I have good relationships with Fishbain, Finley, etc. so I didn’t think we’d have an issue. We’d eat good food, drink a bunch, and bitch about the Bears. Maybe I’d even pick up the tab for the pricks.
I get a text from Adam a few days before the planned dinner. It more or less said, “What did you write about JD?”
Dickerson, when hearing of my involvement, balked at the idea. Apparently, he did not take kindly to some of the things I had written about his work over the years and viewed me as a toxic figure. (I mean, I am toxic, but that’s just because my blood is about 3% Coors Banquet.) I couldn’t find the things I had written, and neither could Adam, but I also didn’t challenge the notion. When the bulk of Bears media went to the digital realm, this space became a sort of ombudsman for them. It was no longer about calling a radio station or sending a letter to complain a column. I could copy and paste large chunks of text and directly refute ideas. Some didn’t mind. Some really did. (I’ve stopped doing that primarily because I’ve stopped reading just about everyone but Jahns.)
Anyway, I made it easy on Jahns and extricated myself from the situation. I didn’t want anyone to be uncomfortable.
Later that night, Adam brought a few of the boys down to Josie Woods to watch Northwestern play the Big Ten title game. A good time was had by all, except JD. He didn’t come.
After reading the beautiful remembrances of his life this week, I wish that week had gone differently. I wish I’d reached out to him and apologized for whatever upset him and I wish we could have split the candied bacon at Strip House. I think he would have liked me. I know I would have liked it.
____________________
The GoFundMe started for his poor son, a kid who has lost both parents to cancer in two years, is now (through the incredible work of Adam Schefter) approaching nearly a million dollars in donations. If you can give a few bucks, do so.
They can’t score.
Their last six games: 10 points vs. Tampa, 13 vs. Philly, 9 vs. Miami, 21 (!) for Los Angeles Chargers, 6 vs. Dallas and 10 vs. Philly. They are averaging 11.5 points a game over this period and some of these points actually came in garbage time. (I know, I’ve been gambling against them weekly.) Over these six weeks the Giants are three point worse than the Jags have been all season.
On the road, against this Bears pass rush, with the combination of Glennon and Fromm at quarterback, the Giants aren’t likely to improve upon these numbers.
The Chicago Bears should change the way their football operations are structured, but not in the way many fans are clamoring for. The President of Football Operations many seek, a position that does not include the duties of General Manager, is historically flawed. Many organizations with non-football people owners have tried it and it has universally failed. The failure is often quite embarrassing.
But what has proven to work around the league and is a direction the Bears have leaned in recent years, is making the next head coach the leading football voice in the organization.
That’s the way several successful teams have operated including Seattle, New Orleans, Kansas City, San Francisco, New England and Buffalo. Green Bay has the head coach on equal footing as the general manager, Mike McCarthy answers directly to ownership in Dallas and you can bet that if the head coaches of the LA Rams or Tampa Bay Bucs said, “it’s me or him,” those owners would pick the coaches over the GMs.
The Bears have come close to executing this arrangement in the past.
