Still Gotta Come Through Chicago

The Bears Are Back

Mar 17, 2023

Good morning Chicagoans.

It’s Friday and it’s one of the most wonderful sports days of the year. Cherish it. You deserve it. We deserve it.

I hope you all had a safe and enjoyable St. Patrick’s Day weekends.

Ah, but alas, this weekend is sort of St. Patrick’s Day too, isn’t it? Two weeks before St. Patrick’s Day there’s suburban parades, then there’s the Chicago parade, then there’s the actual day. But, oh wait, there’s also the Southside parade — but also, a Northwest side parade.

You will February to a close just to be met with a barrage of St. Patrick’s day festivities that seem like they are largely an excuse to get wasted. Then you can’t wait for March to pass by so you can take a little break in April. But April fucking sucks. So then you’ve got to get to May. And such is life.

I guess I should enjoy the journey.

I just remember a group of guys once telling me that smoking weed after a workout was good for muscle growth. And I also distinctly remember one thought forming in my head after they said it (“You guys are so, so dumb”), and another coming out of my mouth: “Just say you want to get high, man.”

St. Patricks day is that for drinkers. It’s alright that you got a little sad and lonely during the long winter, big fella. You tried the weighted blanket and it didn’t work. You need a whiskey, but more so, probably a hug. But you can go out, have fun, and make an ass out of yourself without wearing bright green.

What St. Patrick’s Day really does for Chicago is create a platform for more redistribution of wealth than any Marxist politician could ever dream of. Every bouncer trying to make ends meet is getting handed $100 bills by white kids in their 20s and 30s dying to get into a packed bar that looks and sounds exactly like the last bar they were at but decided to leave.

Anything to not stand outside — Chicago weather, am I right?!

In an Uber to my festivities Saturday, the driver told me that he was more excited about the Bears than he had been in a long time after they traded the no. 1 overall pick.

He then said he wasn’t sure about Justin Fields long term — that came right after he said he hadn’t watched a game in three years because he hated the McCaskey family.

He did have one thought that stuck with me, though:

That the Bears should have never fired Lovie Smith, and thus, they were cursed with the likes of Marc Trestman and Matt Nagy. Lovie leading the Texans to a win on the last day of the season, and, in turn, giving the Bears the first overall pick, was his way of letting the curse die. He had to be the one to let that happen.

And that, I believe, is a good place to start today’s newsletter.

Let’s go!

The Bears trading of the no. 1 pick — the prize you get for being the worst team in the league — was one of my favorite moments as a fan in the last decade. Before that, the most recent moment was getting the pick via a Texans win in Week 18. Before that, it was the Bears beating the Patriots before losing 10 straight games.

The best thing to root for in the NFL is winning. Obviously. But the second thing fans want, more than anything after winning, is direction.

For the first time in so long, the Bears have such a clear direction. Even if it doesn’t work out in the end, everything they’re doing makes sense.

There’s not a signing of Andy Dalton. There’s not an offseason solely dedicated to finding a field goal kicker, ignoring everything else as if there’s no other areas where improvements could be made. There hasn’t been a bunch of shipping draft capital off to get a guy the GM has a hard-on for.

A lot has happened this week — and a lot of good — and a lot will happen in the next week. But it’s nice to look up and see the team you pour so much energy into driving with the GPS on, instead of the driver insisting he knows where the destination is while you’re passing by signs that prove the opposite.

I wrote here early and often that the Bears should stay within the top-4 picks because they needed a top-tier talent out of this draft. They traded further back, to 9. But they got the top-tier talent in D.J. Moore. I just didn’t think that kind of yield was possible.

I’m sure you’ve heard already the depressing stat that everyone is parading around: D.J. Moore, if he were to have had his last five seasons in Chicago, would be the Bears all-time leading receiver.

(P.S. Marty Booker was basically Randy Moss in my eyes when I was younger.)

Worse — or better — yet, D.J. Moore is only 25 years old. He’s smack dab in the beginning of his prime.

What a job by Ryan Poles to fill an immediate need that will make the team — and the quarterback — immediately better. This is the sort of move that catapults quarterbacks into the next level.

In my defense of Justin Fields early in the season, I pointed to this fact — that nearly all of the young successful quarterbacks went up a level after their teams made concerted efforts to sign (or trade for) a marquee free agent or two that could be their primary weapons.

Moore, Mooney, Claypool is so far above what Fields has been used to in his first two years, it may even take some adjusting to. It’s okay, now, Justin. Shhhh. Things are better now.

(I’m putting my flag on the currently deserted Claypool island. He will have a good year, and history will look back kindly on that trade. And, I’m… planting a flag on the Velus Jones Jr. island. Come visit me, if you dare.)

In addition to Moore, the Bears also received from the Panthers:

— the No. 9 pick

— the No. 61 pick

— the Panthers first-round pick in 2024

— the Panthers second-round pick in 2025

This yield won’t just help the Bears this year, it will help them over the course of the multi-year rebuild that they’re about to embark on. And, of course, Moore expedites that rebuild.

I also believe the Panthers will be one of the five worst teams next year. The only thing that may keep them from getting there is their god awful division, which will now consist of these opposing quarterbacks: Baker Mayfield, Desmond Ridder/Taylor Heinicke, and Derek Carr. My hope is that the Saints will be good, the Falcons will overachieve as they did this year, and the Bucs’ surrounding talent will be enough to make them respectable.

Either way, that pick is going to be a good one. The Panthers are not a playoff team in 2023, no matter who they take no. 1 overall. It’ll be even better if they’re dumb enough to take Will Levis or Anthony Richardson.

The Bears were in serious danger, even if it was a part of the plan, of turning Justin Fields into a quarterback that was used to being hit, used to losing, and used to turning to no one but himself. Now, he can unlearn the adaptations he’s had to make over the last two years.

In addition to the players that have already been signed, the Bears will also be able to acquire players that are ready to play now in April’s Draft. That, of course, is with the still-high no. 9 pick, but also the No. 53 pick, the No. 61 pick, and the No. 64 pick.

He was in a perfect position, but he also nailed it. Cheers to Ryan Poles’ first big move on the main stage. You did well, young man.

Now, of course it wasn’t going to be all sunshine and rainbows. The Bears still lost David Montgomery and Sam Mustipher. Just kidding. But, really, it absolutely sucks to lose Montgomery — a guy who felt like the heart and soul of your team over the last couple of years, even when times were really bad.

I’ll always appreciate the way he ran, and it feels even worse that he left for what seems to be a very reasonable deal (3 years, $18M, $11M guaranteed).

I do wonder two things:

— Whether the Bears believed Montgomery’s running style was going to force his decline to come soon and suddenly

— Whether he wanted to stay with the Bears in the first place

Either way, it’s clear the Bears think Khalil Herbert is the superior back, and I’d tend to agree. He’s still, even with the above price tag comparison, the far cheaper option.

We know the Bears, like most teams in the league, do not put a premium on the running back position. They especially don’t put it on the back-up, split-time-at-best back.

We’ve also heard that about the linebacker position, though, and they’ve sure spent there.

Formerly of the Bills, Tremaine Edmunds signed a four-year, $72 million contract, with $50 million of that guaranteed.

Edmunds started for the Bills from the jump, becoming one of the best defensive players on a good defense in recent years. And, my God, he’s 6’5, 253 pounds and ran a 4.5 40-yard dash at the combine.

If you’re wondering why the Bears parted ways with Roquan Smith just to sign another linebacker to a behemoth deal, there are likely a few reasons.

— They may have just plain liked Edmunds better

— He’s durable. He’s only missed a handful of games over his five-year career. And, by the way, he hasn’t even turned 25 yet.

— Roquan got more guaranteed money, and over a longer span

— I think, more than anything, the Bears were secretly tired of dealing with Smith and wanted to bring their guy in, whoever that may have been. It turned out to be Edmunds.

In tandem with the Edmunds signing was the T.J. Edwards signing, a much less athletic, but very surefire linebacker that has spent the rest of his career in Philly. He’s also supremely durable, and has had success at multiple linebacking positions with the Eagles. To be honest, I like everything I see about Edwards (and his contract is very reasonable: three years, $19.5 million). But I like the signing even more now that the Bears got the better, more capable, and more athletic backer in Edmunds to pair with him.

Assuming that Jack Sanborn will be the other linebacker, that’s one of the better linebacking corps in the league. The Bears could not say that about any position group last year.

Of course, that means far less if the god-awful defensive line isn’t fixed in a hurry. The Bears will likely add more through free agency there, but also in the draft, likely in the first couple of rounds. Who knows if that moron Jalen Carter will fall to them after he drag raced and gained 10 pounds after the combine, but I still doubt it.

The Bears did add former Titans defensive lineman DeMarcus Walker, who had a career-high seven sacks last year. That’s on a three-year, $21 million deal. He also had 10 tackles for loss and 16 quarterback hits.

To put things in perspective, Jaquon Brisker — the safety — led the Bears with four sacks last year.

On the other side of the ball, the Bears signed Guard Nate Davis. Davis has had a nice career thus far, and anyone on the offensive line that has had a nice career being added to that line is positive.

They signed running back Travis Homer, who I doubt we’ll be seeing much of. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bears drafted another back, too.

They also signed QB P.J. Walker, who, if you watch enough NFL… ain’t bad! He’s got to be the most capable backup the Bears have had in a really long time. Enough with the guys who are buddies with the coach. Walker can step in and actually produce in the event that Fields gets hurt.

It also looks like that absolute fucking loser Aaron Rodgers is finally headed out of town. Good riddance. That, right there, as sad as it sounds, is one of the best transactions for the Bears in the last decade. Without Rodgers around, hell, the Bears can fuck around and win this division in the near-term future.

By next week, we’ll have an even better idea of what the Bears will look like next year. And, after the draft, even more so.

We don’t know if any of these moves will work out. But, on paper, the Bears have upgraded at five or six positions already, and by a large margin in a couple.

In cases such as D.J. Moore, too, that immediately elevates current players like Mooney and Claypool. The same goes for Sanborn after the Edwards and Edmunds signings.

It’s hard not to be excited. And I’m excited. I’ll shout it from the roof tops! I’ll even talk to my Uber driver about it.

What are your thoughts? Hop in the comment section and let’s hear it.

Still Gotta Come Through Chicago

Still Gotta Come Through Chicago

The Bears Are Back

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