The Chicago Bears Have FOMO

After another disappointing beginning to the offseason, I was at my wit’s end with the Chicago Bears. I just didn’t know why they did the things they did as it is so frustratingly stupid that I should expect it by now, but yet it never ceases to amaze me. I finally realized that the Chicago Bears issue is that they have a serious case of FOMO (fear of missing out). That is the only way to explain how they run their front office.

They find a player they are interested in and instead of recognizing flaws and positional needs of other organizations, they go in thinking that 31 teams are thinking exactly the same thing they are. This causes panic, and it leads to absolutely awful decisions. When you think that everyone is thinking like you, there is no way to have patience, and this has led to so many issues. But they have one goal, get a guy now, by any means necessary, to avoid having to worry about getting a guy later. Now that guy could be worse at times, but patience could sometimes (often, in fact) lead to getting a better guy later on.

The most egregious example is trading up from #3 to #2 to draft Mitchell Trubisky. I have been on record that I did not mind taking Trubisky as I loved him coming out of college and still believe that he will bounce back this coming season. But trading multiple picks to move up one spot when Trubisky was not the consensus top quarterback was insane. Those two third round picks the Bears gave up turned into Alvin Kamara and Fred Warner.

To regain some draft capital, the Bears traded down in the second round, causing them to miss out on talent like Dalvin Cook and Curtis Samuel. Right before the Bears were set to select, the Rams took Gerald Everett. No telling whether this caused the Bears to panic and take Adam Shaheen with the next pick. It’s not like patience could have helped, oh, except for George Kittle going in the fifth round.

I will admit that looking back on a draft and judging things is unfair, especially one where the Bears snagged Eddie Jackson and Tarik Cohen in later rounds, but let’s remember that offseason. The Bears were going into 2017 with no clear quarterback so they signed Mike Glennon to a 3-year, $45 million deal with $18.5 million guaranteed. Why did they need to rush out and sign Mike Glennon? I don’t think anybody on Earth can explain that one, but they bid against themselves for the honor of bringing on Glennon. He was released after one year.

Oh, and don’t worry, the Bears definitely didn’t learn their lesson as they signed Mike Davis last offseason for two years and $6 million because they just had to have a running back to pair with Tarik Cohen. No offense to Mike Davis, but running backs grow from trees in the NFL. They later traded up to draft David Montgomery and Mike Davis didn’t even last an entire season before being released.

Finally, we get to this offseason. Let’s start with the mildly positives. I like Robert Quinn, and you probably think that his 11.5 sack performance last year is a reason to be excited. That’s nice and all, but Quinn was also a state champion wrestler in high school, and I will always support wrestlers, especially along the lines. Would I have rather had Vic Beasley on a one-year deal? Sure, but that’s nitpicking as pass rushers are something that I am fine paying for, because those guys pay off.

Now things go downhill. Jimmy Graham? Seriously? He’s had one productive year in the last five seasons and that was 2016. He did score 10 TDs in 2017, but considering he barely had 500 yards, it’s tough for me to get excited about that. Jimmy Graham used to be awesome, but unless the Bears can rewind time to 2014, this is asinine. He will compete with the other NINE tight ends on the roster.

And now, the main event. The Nick Foles trade. I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised by this, but there is no way to not be surprised by this. I understand that the Bears wanted to bring in competition for Mitch Trubisky, but there were plenty of reasonable options available. Also, the Jaguars were DESPERATE to get out from under Foles’s terrible contract. Everyone in the world would have assumed that the Jaguars would include a pick just to get Foles off the team, and yet the Bears, negotiating against themselves, managed to give the Jaguars a fourth round pick. It’s fucking insane. And it doesn’t help that Nick Foles sucks, if they really wanted to give up a pick, they could have probably had Cam Newton for a fourth rounder, or they could have gotten Jameis Winston on a one-year deal for the money they are paying Foles. There was just absolutely no reason to pull this dumbass shit, and yet the Bears NEEDED to get a quarterback as soon as possible. It’s so shockingly stupid, yet still right in line with what the Bears always do.

So now they head into the season with major issues at offensive line, tight end, inside linebacker, and half the secondary. The Bears have two second-round picks and then don’t pick again until the fifth round. An extra fourth round pick would be pretty damn valuable for a team in that situation. Unfortunately, Bears fans will never know what could have been.

The Bears let their fear of missing out hurt them yet again in the long run. I guess it’s good they don’t have to worry about missing out; instead they can worry about missing the playoffs.

Scouting the 2012 NFL Draft Quarterbacks: The Best Of The Rest

Yesterday, I went over the big dogs who have a shot of going in the first round of the draft. Today, I am going to look at five guys, all from big time schools who are expected to be drafted, just not on day one. Tomorrow, hopefully before the draft, I will have time to rank these quarterbacks, and also throw out some prospects that I really love in this draft who are not getting enough love. But let's get talking about these QBs.

Kirk Cousins

I watched his games against Georgia and Ohio State. 

I have disliked Cousins as a prospect for a while. He never really impressed me, but I wanted to look deep into some games to see if I was right, or if I just had Iowa hate running through my veins.

He is inaccurate with his throws, and in completely unpredictable ways. He’ll underthrow, he’ll overthrow, he’ll throw behind, or too far in front. I do not see how this is not seen as a big deal, because it is a very big deal.

He also likes to throw in coverage.

The arm strength was better than I remembered, as I have no questions on whether he has the arm to be successful at the next level. It might be great arm strength, but his footwork is so inconsistent that fans of the team that drafts Cousins should get used to hearing, “Cousins off his back foot…”

When it is all working, he makes some elite throws. But it is rarely all working.

He was solid in being able to check down to secondary targets.

He gets a ridiculous amount of hype for his poise and intangibles, but I’ll give him his due, on the final drive of regulation against Georgia, he made good decisions, was accurate with the football, and played his best football when it mattered most.

Nick Foles

I watched Foles against Arizona State and Oklahoma State.

Arm strength was just okay; it kind of looks like he pushes the ball on his throws.

Okay accuracy

Athletic, but looks awkward when trying to run. No juke to his game.

Not much zip, but a fairly accurate deep passer.

Underthrows a lot of balls.

Keeps his eyes down field, but I didn’t see much pressure in the games I watched.

Brock Osweiler

I watched his games against USC and Boise State. 

Really struggles with accuracy on crossing patterns.

He puts no loft on throws. There is no touch to his game. This leads to hilarious results on fades.

The good news is that he does have good arm strength.

Solid athlete.

Kellen Moore

I watched his game against Georgia.

As everyone has noted, it is not a strong arm.

With that being said, it’s super accurate.

He does a good job of scanning the field before making his throw.

Very good pocket presence. He’s not an athlete, but he has a great feel for the rush, and knows subtle ways to avoid it.

He throws a good deep ball as long as it’s not down the middle where there can be safety help. If there’s any chance of safety help, it’s not gonna work, because it’s in the air just a little too long.

His ability to find holes in coverage is really impressive. Terrifying, but impressive.

He’s got everything except athleticism, height, and arm strength. The former isn’t that important, the middle is a little more important, but the latter is what he gets killed on. It’s tough to overlook, but I think at worst, he becomes a reliable backup. If he’s your number one guy, it’s tough to say how far he can take you as the offense really needs to rely on his strengths (no pun intended), but man, if he had an arm, he’s a top 10 pick.

Russell Wilson
I was only able to get a good video of his game against Ohio State, but I had also watched him several times during the season.
He has good arm strength.
Good with the play fake.
Their offense included a ton of rollouts, but he was still able to throw from the pocket when the play called for it. 
He does a good job of going through his progressions from high to low.
His ball placement isn't great. When he was missing passes badly, he tended to miss high which is a very dangerous thing to do in the NFL.
He's definitely a good athlete for the position, but his mobility is kind of hit or miss. Not great vision, and sometimes finds himself zig-zagging behind the line of scrimmage without actually improving his ability to run or to make a pass. With that being said, he is very good at throwing on the move as he may be more accurate on the move than he is while standing still.
At the end of the game, they needed 70 yards, he threw it 40. That's not a great sign for his arm, but it could have also just been drawn up that way to draw an interference, so I can't say too much. 


That's it for today. Tomorrow, I'll wrap some things up and get pumped for the NFL Draft.