Let’s not forget, Perry had his own G.I.Joe action figure. Payton never did.
Is he actually armed with a football attached to a whip? 
Yesterday was another knife to the gut. The only silver lining is knowing that Pace and Nagy are now almost certain to be fired.
Hey maybe the Bears don’t suck so much anymore. They’re just going to suck enough to limp their way to to a midround pick.
Yeah, beating three bad teams might just save Pace & Nagy’s jobs, too. Maybe next year they’ll suck badly enough to trigger the rebuild we all know is coming.
Sadly, I think it’s almost certain that Nagy and Pace and Mitch are all back next year. The only thing which would change that is a completely embarrassing blowout this week against GB. And even that would still put the odds at probably 50-50.
Pagano has to go and very possibly could be the scapegoat should we miss the playoffs (or get embarrassed in round 1). The defense has regressed badly and the poor effort/fundamentals from some guys is damning.
I actually wouldn’t be furious about Mitch coming back. The meatballs who are saying he’s turned the corner are idiots, but I don’t really want to go through a season with a nobody at QB. I also don’t want to ship off picks to get a aging vet or a reclamation project like Wentz or Darnold. If we can re-sign Mitch for 2/$16M or something reasonable and still draft a guy in the teens like Trask…I’d be pretty content.
If you’re Trubisky’s agent, would you take that deal? That’s less money, per year, than some backups make. I get that free agent contracts, especially with the turnover at QB, will likely be stifled the next few years, but if Trubizky signs for less than guys like Teddy Bridgewater, I’d be surprised, and $8 millions would stunning to me. Although it’s a very good assessment of his true value.
I think we agree on an assessment of Trubisky. He’s a fine “win with” QB with some nice running upside. Give him a solid defense, a good running game, a Pro Bowl receiver, and an easy to run offense, and he can get you wins. Just like most any other average NFL QB. Dont ask him to do too much or actually read defenses and he’ll be fine.
Me? I’m thrilled with the 3 straight games of plus 30 points and the likelihood everyone is back next year (except Allen Robinson). Week 17 and any possible playoff games this year, will be interesting to watch.
Yeah, I didn’t bother to do any comparative analysis. Just pulled some numbers out of my ass. Not sure what Mitch’s market value would be. From here in Chicago, Mitch seems like a laughing stock throughout most of the league, so part of me thinks that he won’t get a strong offer from anywhere else.
I don’t think the Bridgewater comparison works for his Panthers deal since that was a clear “starter” salary and I can’t imagine Mitch getting a starter deal at that level anywhere. The deal I’d compare it to is the Saints’ Bridgewater contract for 1 year, $7.25M as a high-end backup. Jameis signed a 1 year, $1.1M contract to backup Brees this year. Jameis honestly feels like a decent comp for Mitch, but Jameis has other baggage. Andy Dalton signed a 1 year, $3M backup deal in Dallas and Robert Griffin signed a 2 year, $4M deal. All the backups making more than $8M/year are guys like Brissett and Smith who are on the latter years of a starter deal that didn’t work out.
According to this there aren’t any backups besides Smith and Taysom Hill making $8M+. Perhaps the closest comp is Marcus Mariota’s 2 year, $17.6M deal to compete with Carr. Any team looking to bring Mitch in will be doing so to not hand him a starting job, but to ask him to push or maybe replace another established starter who’s floundering or otherwise on the outs. Or maybe in a Tyrod Taylor situation (2 years, $11M) where they are a placeholder for a rookie. Which is what I suggest the Bears should do.
Now that I’ve done the research, I think my 2 year, $16M suggestion is pretty damn spot on. Who’s coming in and offering him $10M+ per year? The Jags or Jets? The Colts or Steelers? The Bills or Giants?
My guess is also that Pace and Nagy return, if for no other reason than the worst they’ll be is 8-8, and that’s not ugly enough to blow it all up and fire two guys still under contract. But yes, Pagano should go, especially if the Packers dominate the defense Sunday like they did last month.
I think it might be worthwhile to transition-tag Trubisky. Let someone else set his price, and the Bears can match it if it’s reasonable. I know he’s never going to be a top-tier QB but he might be better than anyone we can draft, sign or trade for next year.
Hell no. The transition tag doesn’t just allow the Bears to match a contract offer from another team, but it also guarantees Mitch a 1 year contract at the five-year average of the top 10 QB salaries. That’d pay Mitch close to $25M next year AND allow another team to create a poison pill contract. For a QB the difference between the franchise tag and the transition tag is only around $1M, so it would be unwise to use it if you really think he’s worth $25M and you think someone else would give him a multi-year deal in that range. Just spend the $1M to avoid the drama.
Mitch isn’t worth $25M. So this is a moot point, but the guy the Bears should consider Transition Tagging is Allen Robinson. It’d be a very good price to keep him for one more year and the odds are good that another team would make an offer, which would set his market price and mitigating the risk of overpaying him. You can only use the tag on one player and Mitch would be a terrible use of that tool.
You can actually transition tag one player and franchise tag another, but I forgot the transition tag also came with a top-10 salary guarantee. Agreed that’s not worth it for Trubisky.
The Bears’ season ends today with a loss. Or, they make the playoffs with a win. All they have to do is beat the Packers. Oh boy. I’d like to be optimistic. I really would. Of course, bears fans would likely be more pleased with beating the Packers than making the playoffs. But, you know, oh boy.
Actually…
A Rams win also gets them (Bears) into the playoffs even if they lose!
Leave it to the Bears to find a way to lose their way into the playoffs!
And if the Steelers and Cowboys both lose, today will be an excellent start to the new year!
Fire Pagano!
And unsurprisingly that’s exactly what happened.
35-16
No joy in ChiTown tonight.
I’ll say this about the Bears- it’s nice to have a dependable kicker again.