Chicago Bears address

[stpeteirish]

So the Bears kinda only wanted to interview Freeman cause he’s black?


I’m insulted for him

Damn, I thought Ben Johnson was black. The other one was.

 

[Bane]

On the one hand, Bears fans are happy, so I am not. On the other hand, this puts to rest any talk of Freeman interviewing there, so it's good.

 

[Crazy Balki]

Knew this was happening.

The Bears were interviewing everybody and their grandmothers all while they waited until the Lions' season was over.

 

[NDdomer2]

Yes, the franchise with a black President and black GM only wanted to interview Freeman because he’s black. Think you nailed it.

You do realize this is how it works regularly. They just interviewed a guy with no power conf coaching experience to satisfy the rule and immediately hired a guy the day after he lost without an in person interview.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Ryan Poles took "circling back after the Holidays" to a whole new level.

This is big. It guarantees absolutely nothing but the hire is big. And if Dennis Allen is the DC, that's a pretty significant start for Johnson building his first staff as a head coach.

Caleb's numbers side by side with Jayden's look very similar. The difference is that Jayden was brought into a situation with new owners and new front office people that made smart moves to put a team around him. Hopefully that is starting to become the case now for Caleb.

In hindsight, hanging on to Eberflus for another season ended up setting them back. They can probably make up for the lost time with a good draft and solid free agency. We'll see what that eventually looks like, but at this point, you'd have to be nuts not to invest in the offensive line.

 

[pumpdog20]

Not gonna matter until they fix the O Line. First big step is to hire someone who can evaluate and coach that position.

 

[MKEagle]

Bears 100% need to invest in the trenches whether that's in coaching/scheme, free agency, or draft picks.

That said, with Ben Johnson in the fold, you have to think it opens up the possibility of drafting a position other than OL/DL with the first pick such as a Jeanty. For the record, I'm not saying I want that or even agree with that. I'm just pointing out there's a possibility given Johnson's creativity with personnel and maybe he sees someone in this draft that can help materialize that creativity.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Bears 100% need to invest in the trenches whether that's in coaching/scheme, free agency, or draft picks.

This.

 

[anarin]

 

[Bantry19]

You do realize this is how it works regularly. They just interviewed a guy with no power conf coaching experience to satisfy the rule and immediately hired a guy the day after he lost without an in person interview.

Yes, I do realize this is how it works. Do you think this would have been the Bears intent in interviewing Freeman?

I think people also misinterpret the purpose of the rule. I don't believe the thinking is, hey if we force teams to interview minority candidates, maybe teams are blown away by the interview and hire a guy they otherwise would not have considered.

Rather, I believe the intent is to give experience to minority candidates that they otherwise may not get, so they are more prepared for the interview process when they are a serious candidate. Additionally, minority candidates get a lift in their profile.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

They satisfied the Rooney Rule with Anthony Weaver on January 9th.

Aaron Glenn on the 11th. Ron Rivera on the 12th. Thomas Brown, David Shaw, Brian Flores.

They probably violated a rule by interviewing 37 people in under two weeks.

 

[MKEagle]

Jig loves this guy already!

 

[Bantry19]

They satisfied the Rooney Rule with Anthony Weaver on January 9th.

Aaron Glenn on the 11th. Ron Rivera on the 12th. Thomas Brown, David Shaw, Brian Flores.

They probably violated a rule by interviewing 37 people in under two weeks.

Rooney Rule requires in-person interviews. Hosting Eddie George at Halas Hall on Sunday satisfied the rule, who had spent offseason of 2023 working with the Bears.

 

[pumpdog20]

Maybe the problem is we hire cubs fans. Need some southside love in Halas Hall.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

If they still suck, he's not going to have fun living here and won't be here long.

 

[Bantry19]

Like the fact he’s essentially developed his own offense. He’s taken some from and been influenced by the West Coast offense, Mike Martz’s Greatest Show on Turf, hell even the Run and Shoop.

But, it’s his. He’s the prototype. This isn’t Nagy coming in trying to replicate Andy Reid, or Luke Getsy and Shane Waldron trying to run McVay’s updated West Coast offense. It’s authentically his and we just saw it as a top 5 offense three years in a row.

 

[Giddyup]

I don’t think Lombardi could help the Bears at this point.

 

[Bantry19]

Well…that’s just like your opinion man.

 

[Crazy Balki]

All things considered, this is, without question, the strongest head coaching hire this team has had since...probably Ditka.

Wanny had 1 good year in Dallas, and rode Jimmy Johnson's coattails to success. The Cowboys actually improved after he left.

Jauron never had anything better than an average defense in Jacksonville prior to being hired.

Lovie coached under Dungy as a position coach and ran the defense in St Louis for a few years, with mixed results.

Trestman had extensive play calling experience, but he hadn't called plays at the NFL level for over a decade prior to being named head coach.

Fox was a retread who was picked primarily to be a stopgap coach to fix the absolute toxicity that Kromer and Trestman left behind.

Nagy was woefully inexperienced as a playcaller and OC. He was the OC in name only for 2016 and much of 2017, as Reid called the plays until late in 2017.

Flus had pretty good results as the Colts DC, but was never elite.

Johnson has had 3 full years as the full-on OC and play caller. When Johnson took over, they went from near the bottom of the league in scoring to top 5 in back-to-back-to-back years, and that wasn't just a byproduct of a great HC offensive mind like Nagy with Reid. Johnson was 100% the mastermind behind the Detroit offensive resurgence.

It may end up not working out, but it won't be because Johnson wasn't a good offensive mind or play caller.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

All things considered, this is, without question, the strongest head coaching hire this team has had since...probably Ditka.

Wanny had 1 good year in Dallas, and rode Jimmy Johnson's coattails to success. The Cowboys actually improved after he left.

Jauron never had anything better than an average defense in Jacksonville prior to being hired.

Lovie coached under Dungy as a position coach and ran the defense in St Louis for a few years, with mixed results.

Trestman had extensive play calling experience, but he hadn't called plays at the NFL level for over a decade prior to being named head coach.

Fox was a retread who was picked primarily to be a stopgap coach to fix the absolute toxicity that Kromer and Trestman left behind.

Nagy was woefully inexperienced as a playcaller and OC. He was the OC in name only for 2016 and much of 2017, as Reid called the plays until late in 2017.

Flus had pretty good results as the Colts DC, but was never elite.

Johnson has had 3 full years as the full-on OC and play caller. When Johnson took over, they went from near the bottom of the league in scoring to top 5 in back-to-back-to-back years, and that wasn't just a byproduct of a great HC offensive mind like Nagy with Reid. Johnson was 100% the mastermind behind the Detroit offensive resurgence.

It may end up not working out, but it won't be because Johnson wasn't a good offensive mind or play caller.

This is spot on. I think Trestman was the worst of the bunch. Most of these hires were doing what is usually done: buy high on coordinators from good teams. However, the way you break this down, the argument is certainly there for Johnson being the most schematically savvy of the group.

Only thing about Ditka I will say is that at the time they were getting a guy who was special teams coach in Dallas for 9 years. Hard to know how highly coveted he was by other teams at the time, but he learned his craft under Tom Landry for a long time. Ditka wrote a letter to Halas expressing regret for how things ended when Ditka was a player for the Bears and said he hoped he could be Bears HC one day when he was ready. Ditka was a motivator, he wasn't a strong X and O guy. That was Buddy Ryan. They also had Walter Payton. Ditka's ego got in his way more often than not after the 85-86 season. He had two losing seasons and got fired after the second one. I Think by that point it wasn't all about wins and losses. I Think Ditka felt because of his popularity and status as a former player he was untouchable.

I would say the two hires in my lifetime that were actually good were Ditka and Lovie when you look back.

 

[Bantry19]

I was excited for Nagy at the time, and not just because there was nowhere where to go but up after Trestman and Fox. Nagy was the Andy Reid protege, following Reid from Philly to KC, turning Alex Smith into a bona fide Pro Bowler, being trusted to call plays which Reid had never done before. Plus, he was taking over a young team full of defensive talent and a QB who had pretty stellar rookie season. Much like these current Bears.

But, Nagy didn’t have the creativity to adjust his (Reid’s) offense to fit Mitch’s style or strengths. All he could do was say Mitch isn’t it, and try to turn the system over to Foles and Dalton.

Time will tell, but this is where Ben Johnson seems different. A lot to be excited about with him.

 

[BobbyMac]

Putting on my #34 and heading down to the corner to toast the '85 Bears... STILL the most dominate team I ever saw. (Sorry '96 Bulls)

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Dennis Allen DC is official. Declan Doyle is OC.

Doyle has spent a good majority of his career around Sean Payton. I assume Johnson is calling the plays, though.

 

[MKEagle]

Would have to double check but I believe Ben Johnson confirmed during his presser that he's calling plays, and the OC role is doing more prep work and game planning

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Would have to double check but I believe Ben Johnson confirmed during his presser that he's calling plays, and the OC role is doing more prep work and game planning

Makes sense.

And your DC is a former HC of 79 NFL games. Let it cook the best way possible.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Eberflus is the Dallas Cowboys DC. Wow.

 

[BobbyMac]

50 fn years ago… how is this possible? Still more in awe of Walter’s highlights than MJ’s. Forever my #1 guy, impossible to top him. 10 year old me would cut you if you said otherwise.

 

[Irish4life]

 

[MacIrish75]

Why don’t the dumbass Bears ever poach any Northwestern, Wiscy, or Illinois coaches?

 

[rikkitikki08]

Why don’t the dumbass Bears ever poach any Northwestern, Wiscy, or Illinois coaches?

Because they typically suck and ND doesn’t