Can anyone honestly look at the rosters of the 4 Championship teams that competed to be in the Super Bowl, and think we're only a Caleb Williams away?

[Bearly]

I also don't think the OP knows much about KC's actual roster.

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

I also don't think the OP knows much about KC's actual roster.

Or anything else for that matter. You should see his threads in the B&I section

 

[BradyJay]

The team with the better QB won. It'd be nice if the Bears could be in that position someday.

 

[DC]

If the Bears had to trade up to draft Williams I would be more hesitant. But the pick/player landed in their lap. They don't have to sabotage the future to get him and that is literally EVERYTHING.

 

[Diehardfan]

I also don't think the OP knows much about KC's actual roster.

Agreed. No way in hell they stand pat with that OL and receiver group.

 

[DB012031]

The 49ers have a LOADED roster, they lost because the other team, that just so happens to not have a LOADED roster, won with the generational QB.

You have to be really stupid not to see/not understand this.

Lets also keep in mind...The 49ers have a coach that is NATORIOUS for blowing it in big games. The Chiefs have a coach that has shown big game chops and wins.

Purdy had no business throwing the ball 38 times. The 49ers players did NOT understand the overtime rules. Outside of the first quarter, the 49ers completely abandoned the bootleg play action. All of those are on Shanny....Swap coaches, 49ers win that game.

Shanny is the biggest thing holding the 49ers back.

 

[Diehardfan]

If the Bears had to trade up to draft Williams I would be more hesitant. But the pick/player landed in their lap. They don't have to sabotage the future to get him and that is literally EVERYTHING.

He may end up being better than some but in the end he will just be joining a seemingly endless line of underachieving Chicago QBs.

 

[Toast88]

Your approach with any position---on-field or coaching---should be that you're always looking to upgrade. Quarterback is no different. If you can upgrade at QB, you do it. If you can upgrade at a coaching position, you do it. If you can upgrade at WR, TE, OL, etc., you do it.

Whether that upgrade is worth more quantity elsewhere is a worthwhile discussion. But generally speaking, you simply don't keep a sub-par player around if you can upgrade from them.

 

[bears51/40]

No, but it’s a good thing the Bears aren’t barred from continuing to improve their team after drafting Caleb Williams.

Things that can be done to improve the Bears that don't include the Big Haul.

Use free agency............DE, C, Safety, WR would be a good start.
Trade Fields for a mini haul.
Use two top ten picks for Quality over Quantity starting with the quarterback position.
Use the rest of the draft for BPA.
Use post draft to help fill the bottom of the roster.

 

[Peligr_Oso]

this proved that having an elite secondary is a major asset in the current climate of the league. the bears are building such a unit. that can compare with KCs

as for the final 4 teams' rosters, the bears basically kicked the shit out of one of them in 7 of 8 quarters this year so its difficult for me to see this talent disparity.

 

[Les Grossman]

If the Bears had to trade up to draft Williams I would be more hesitant. But the pick/player landed in their lap. They don't have to sabotage the future to get him and that is literally EVERYTHING.

100%

 

[Bearly]

Or anything else for that matter. You should see his threads in the B&I section

I have.

 

[remydat]

Eberflus can coach defense, no doubt. Johnson's offense took the Detroit Lions of all teams to the conference championship and they had a shot at winning it. If you're looking for the next Sean McVay, Johnson seems to be about as close as you'll find, and I'd prefer to pair that with a highly touted QB prospect rather than Eberflus/Waldron. I hope I'm wrong though.

Edit to add: I'm not in-love with Johnson specifically. If there were to be another exciting young offensive mind that had some head coaching qualifications I'd like to see that as well. We gave Fields a guy who had never called plays before. Waldron is better than that but still, i'd ideally like a guy there who ascended to being a head coach because of his offensive prowess. It is what it is though.

That Lions team has a top OL. One that was able to dominate the Niners DL. It does not appear Johnson did anything to develop Goff. When that OL protected him he was great when it didnt he struggled.

So we actually have zero evidence that Johnson can develop a young QB. We have evidence that his O can be successful when the OL protects the QB but that is virtually every O in the NFL.

 

[Nelly]

Your approach with any position---on-field or coaching---should be that you're always looking to upgrade. Quarterback is no different. If you can upgrade at QB, you do it. If you can upgrade at a coaching position, you do it. If you can upgrade at WR, TE, OL, etc., you do it.

Whether that upgrade is worth more quantity elsewhere is a worthwhile discussion. But generally speaking, you simply don't keep a sub-par player around if you can upgrade from them.

Within reason, of course.

We're terrible at WR outside of D.J. Moore but just spent a top 10 pick on a tackle and have another serviceable one with upside on the roster. I'm not going to take Alt over Odunze because he looks like an upgrade on Jones when I could get a much bigger upgrade of Odunze over Tyler Scott, for example. I'm looking to make the biggest upgrades I can all the time. Which, isn't rocket science of course.

The QB thing is unusual. As mentioned many times before, if we got the 3rd/4th pick instead of the 1st, I think people would be pretty pumped about getting Harrison Jr. and seeing how Fields can do with two super studs in his receiving core. Instead, we've got a shot at a QB prospect we could only otherwise dream of being able to get. In this instance, you have to take him, IMO.

 

[Nelly]

That Lions team has a top OL. One that was able to dominate the Niners DL. It does not appear Johnson did anything to develop Goff. When that OL protected him he was great when it didnt he struggled.

So we actually have zero evidence that Johnson can develop a young QB. We have evidence that his O can be successful when the OL protects the QB but that is virtually every O in the NFL.

Fair point.

 

[remydat]

I also don't think the OP knows much about KC's actual roster.

Same guy that said KC's WRs were stacked the year we signed Pringle.

 

[Bearly]

this proved that having an elite secondary is a major asset in the current climate of the league. the bears are building such a unit. that can compare with KCs

as for the final 4 teams' rosters, the bears basically kicked the shit out of one of them in 7 of 8 quarters this year so its difficult for me to see this talent disparity.

Had more to with the same reason the Lions were watching from home, Coaching. You don't play man against Fields and nor play call like that against C2.

 

[Sculpt]

Because I really want to get the pulse on this.

This isn't about Caleb Williams vs Justin Fields, so if you want to turn it into one of those threads, **** you.


Just objectively tell me, in your opinion, do you really think all this roster is missing is Caleb Williams and off we go to the Super Bowl?


Because that's how a lot of you guys are talking, and when I compare the Bears' roster to the 49ers, Lions, Chiefs and Ravens and shit, even the Packers, the Bears still have some significant holes.

And the reason I even bring this up, is because I suspect the same people who will say "well, even with Williams, of course the Bears have holes that need to be filled before we can compete for a Super Bowl) were some of the same people looking at CJ Stroud and using him as justification for drafting Williams, because somehow a magical QB can just carry people to Super Bowls, even though CJ Stroud did NOT do that for his team, and got absolutely SMOKED when playing a legit team in the Ravens.

So which is it? Pick a lane.

Because those of us who want the haul, see an opportunity to close a 2-3 year talent gap in a single draft with the picks and players we'd be getting back, plus see a San Fransisco team that almost won a Super Bowl with a QB who wasn't exactly God's gift to quarterbacking.

I hears ya. Fair point.

Personally, I never said Bears would win the Super Bowl if they switched out Fields for Shroud, but I did say they would have made the playoffs. I'm very comfortable saying that because Bears were a game out.

How good a "team" needs to be to win the SB any year is not an exact science. It's speculation realm.

The point is... your QB sets the ceiling more than any other position. Fact. A level up at QB brings a team closer to winning the SB more than any other position.

Especially when you're drafting a rookie QB... that's not a 'super expensive final piece' move. It's a "building a better team through the draft" move.

How close are the Bears? #1 in Rush Defense, #1 in Interceptions, #2 in Rushing, Team always needs improvement, Bears need OL improvements, but I just don't think they need a haul over a QB improvement.

 

[Canth]

Lets also keep in mind...The 49ers have a coach that is NATORIOUS for blowing it in big games. The Chiefs have a coach that has shown big game chops and wins.

Purdy had no business throwing the ball 38 times. The 49ers players did NOT understand the overtime rules. Outside of the first quarter, the 49ers completely abandoned the bootleg play action. All of those are on Shanny....Swap coaches, 49ers win that game.

Shanny is the biggest thing holding the 49ers back.

I don’t want to defend Shanahan too much. But I will say…he at least has gotten his team to the Superbowl a couple of times. But yeah, he has outsmarted himself in the big game now 3 times, once as OC and twice as HC.

I also think people forget the story on Reid pre-Mahomes. He was 0-4 in NFC games in PHI before finally making it to a Superbowl and he lost. For the first like 5 years at KC, they didn’t even make it to the conference championship game. They only took off on building this dynasty when Mahomes became the full time starter in 2018.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

I hears ya. Fair point.

Personally, I never said Bears would win the Super Bowl if they switched out Fields for Shroud, but I did say they would have made the playoffs. I'm very comfortable saying that because Bears were a game out.

How good a "team" needs to be to win the SB any year is not an exact science. It's speculation realm.

The point is... your QB sets the ceiling more than any other position. Fact. A level up at QB brings a team closer to winning the SB more than any other position.

Especially when you're drafting a rookie QB... that's not a 'super expensive final piece' move. It's a "building a better team through the draft" move.

How close are the Bears? #1 in Rush Defense, #1 in Interceptions, #2 in Rushing, Team always needs improvement, Bears need OL improvements, but I just don't think they need a haul over a QB improvement.

I completely agree with you that your QB does set the ceiling more than any position, but you also need to understand you need good coaching to unlock your QB's ability to raise that ceiling, and you need weapons around him and protection in front of him if you want any hope of winning a Super Bowl.

Everyone right now is loving on Pat Mahomes as the best in the game and rightfully so - did you see what he said recently?

He said when he got to KC, Andy Reid didn't try to change him too much. Instead, they figured out what he was good at and accentuated that. Those are Pat's own words.

I know Fields gets ragged on, but he's had back to back offensive minds try to change the type of QB he is instead of letting him play his way and handling it like Andy Reid did.

And if the Bears move on from Fields, I honestly hope it isn't Caleb Williams. I see way, way, WAY too much Jeff George in him. All the talent in the world, but a mindset that will prevent him from ever ingratiating himself to his team and organization.

What I don't want is the Bears to be in 1st round playoff hell. Where quarterbacks who are "just good enough" get you to the first round, maybe a playoff win, and then out, making the organization think they are a lot closer than they are.

I understand the risk of betting everything on Fields improving under new coaching though, so I've come around to wanting the Bears to trade the #1 pick for a haul, and use the second rounder they get back for whomever the best QB available is, and I am hoping for Penix in that situation. Because at least Penix is a pure passer, which is a different game than what both Fields and Caleb are - those two have VERY similar games, which is why the pissing contest over the two cracks me up - Fields would rack up numbers against Bumblefuck University too. If you want a different QB, I say get someone who is a different style.

Just my take.