I wonder how long a leash Gruden and Mayock but mainly Gruden are going to keep having. His roster moves are inexplicable.
Seems like that’s been his issue his whole career. Gift him a ready made team and he’s still a really good offensive coach. But give him any say on the roster and he ends up with a lot of bad to mediocre squads. Maybe he thinks he needs to have the say on those things, but he’s clearly wrong.
In 2018, Gruden signed a 10 year, $100m contract.
So, I’d say his leash extends to 2028.
Eh. Lots of coaches have been yanked well ahead of their contract’s date, Gruden included - I think he just signed an extension when Tampa fired him the very next season.
A 19-29 record while maintaining job security is just plain odd, even for teams doing a complete rebuild, which Oakland was not.
The thing is, Belichick shouldn’t have been desperate. He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Brady was gone at the end of the season - he practically forced him out the door during the previous year’s negotiations. And he’s touted as such a great wizard - “Bill’s playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers” is something you hear weekly during football season up here - he should have had a plan to draft, trade, or sign someone ready to go. Instead, 2 months before opening day, he signs a guy who is definitely past his prime and may well be past his career and basically puts his entire season on him. That’s not what Belichick built his reputation doing.
The Boston sports world was caught off balance by the Cam release. Most assumed Cam would start the season and they would transition to Mac halfway through or something like that.
However, once you’ve decided to make Mac your starter many folks here agreed that you have to let Cam go; only one alpha male on the roster. But releasing Hoyer seems odd. The Pats have only 1 QB on the 53 man roster, and he’s never played a down in the NFL.
“Bill, he’s playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers”.
Actually, I’m guessing it’s down to Covid - Hoyer isn’t vaccinated, so he’s a huge risk with very little reward. They’ll probably pick up a vaccinated backup by opening day.
ETA: Actually I just read it’s most likely a roster flexibility move, and they’ll re-sign Hoyer shortly.
Simpler than that, the number of times he’s signed Hoyer as a QB should tell people he’s got his blind spots. His utility even as a backup is more than questionable.
Then again, I don’t know how difficult the system is to pick up, so maybe he actually is the best backup option.
The league has announced that the game will be played at the originally-scheduled date and time, but in Jacksonville.
Which, of all the choices for NFL venues to play substitute host for the game, is the most likely to also be at risk for being hit by a hurricane at this time of year. 
Speaking of Quarterback Carousel, the Ringer ranked all 45 Bears QBs since their 85 Super Bowl season. If the Germans had a word for “fun but kind of depressing” it would surely be applied to this article.
Hey, Houston and Miami would like a word. Tampa can tag along if they want.
OK, fair point. 
Let’s say that Jacksonville is on the short list of “non-New Orleans NFL stadiums which have a significant likelihood of also having a game disrupted due to a hurricane.”
The most amazing thing in that article to me is the fact that Sean Payton was once a Bears QB. I would have never guessed.
And as a scab at that!
Bears QBs have been a joke for a while but laid out like this, it’s amazing to see how badly Chicago has done with the single most important position in the game.
It’s a trivia question I’ve seen used more than once here in the Chicago area, since Payton became the Saints coach.
For those who didn’t read the article, Payton was one of the strike-replacement Bears during the 1987 NFLPA strike, serving as a backup QB.
When Brett Favre was in the latter part of his long consecutive-starts streak with the Packers, on the weeks that the Bears were playing the Packers, the Chicago Tribune would sometimes run a chart showing how many different quarterbacks had started for the Bears during Favre’s streak. 
I remember seeing that as a graphic on TV once as well. That’s another reason to hate the Packers – they stumbled backasswards into over 2 decades of HOF QB play while Bears fans are hoping for something from past-their-primes Chris Chandler and Kordell Stewart or young nobodies like Caleb Hanie.
Just to stoke the fires of hatred: this will be the 30th consecutive season in which either Favre or Rodgers has been the Packers’ starter. Favre became the team’s starting quarterback in Week 4 of the 1992 season.
Or worse, letting go some who went on to being good or bordering on great QBs like Flutie or Harbaugh.
It’s being reported that the Patriots will re-sign Hoyer.
https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-rumors-patriots-expected-sign-172018103.html
That article has some wonderful zingers:
When the actual Bears came back from their strike, Walter Payton reportedly told Hohensee, “You were good.” That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said about a Bears quarterback.
Sexy Rexy never saw a pass he thought he couldn’t complete. He famously chucked balls deep into double and triple coverage, as if he had a rare condition that prevented him from seeing defenders.
A career backup, Daniel is a financial legend for his magical ability to receive large sums of money without playing football …Only one team has been rude enough to actually make Daniel play regularly: the Bears.
That may be the best summation of the Bears quarterbacking history. When a former Chicago QB shows up on another team and looks OK, he might win an award typically reserved for players who overcome grievous injuries.