Whats good fellas! Havent been on BGOL in a while. Hope yall been well....
As for the Bears, Im REALLY optimistic about the new direction they are taking. We got a mini Wakanda bewing and its much needed. Heard/read McCaskeys opened their eyes after meeting with Dungy and some former players.
As for the team, team was more competitive than I thought they would be this season.
This last offseason was one of the more brutal rebuilds.
As such, I have low expectations for them again. How many of this current roster will be retained? Hopefully not a lot of offensive linemen (keep Jones and Jenkins), RB room will be different, new TE, new WRs. As for the defense... huge turnover for the front seven.
Given all that, I dont expect a playoff run.....but lets see what Poles can do in the offseason.
Bears control the offseason!
Aye man good to hear from.. I hadn't realized it had been so long, glad to have summoned you back
Like you said: we gonna be cautiously optimistic (ALWAYS), but the direction of the franchise at this point in time is about as good a foundational starting point that you can have in this league. Besides the sorry record this past season:
- Black President, Black GM, Black Asst GM
(and for all the hell ppl give the McCaskey's over the years -- rightfully so -- they REALLY went above and beyond to make it that way.. especially by including the diversity counsel directly in the searches, from what I've read)
- 1st year staff that took its lumps, installed their systems/philosophy so that going fwd there is a standard.. and they say the jump from year 1 to year 2 is the greatest
- Black DC
- QB going into his 3rd year, still on rookie deal, and will finally have a 2nd year in an offensive system.. instead of having to learn a new offense, he can actually help evolve and teach it
- Most money to spend in Free Agency/ Re-sign players
- No truly horrible long-term contracts after having gotten rid of them last year
- A FULL compliment of draft picks, incl. the #1 Pick which will likely be flipped into MORE picks
As far as our outlook for next season, I think every year is different and anything can happen record-wise.. but I'm looking fwd to the additions and tweaks. It should be fun. "Control the offseason" indeed