Time to put the “1 year rebuild” bs to bed

[Mighty Joe Young]

There are maybe only 5 players under contract next year that are legit starters in this league. I’m not saying pro bowl type players. I’m just saying day 1 starters on at least 14 other the teams.

To think you can acquire another ~17 legit day 1 starters in one offseason is beyond ridiculous. I pray for you next season. Your sundays are going to be incredibly disappointing.

You overstate the ability for this.

Even RYAN PACE was able to do this on some level. I think you are overestimating the level of the average NFL starter.

I am talking about guys like Prince Amukamara, Eddie Royal, Taylor Gabriel, Bobbie Massie, etc.

These are guys who will never make a Pro bowl, but will fill up a slot that is better than the practice squad level garbage we have on the field right now.

Know why we haven't gotten a lot of those guys at one time? The cap.

What do we have plenty of this offseason?

CAP ROOM.


However you want to quantify it, you can practically trip over a player in the 2nd or 3rd wave of free agency this year and they will almost to a man be an upgrade to what we have now.

NONE of those signings should be a long term solution unless they somehow prove something during the season - all of them should be on 2-3 year team friendly deals, to buy you time to get your top shelf players in the draft.

So no need to pray for me. Pray for Ryan Poles, to do the smart thing this offseason and also that he knows how to spot talent.

If he does know how to do that, we will be in the conversation for the last 2 playoff spots next year going into the last 3 games of the season.

 

[Payton!34]

Could they turn things around in one season?

In a perfect world, probably if everything went their way but almost zero percentage in winning a Super Bowl. Onviously

They need like 15 starters. This team is seriously devoid of talent.

It’ll take two years minimum to get the amount of talent necessary to compete for a Super Bowl.

 

[Bear_Assed]

You overstate the ability for this.

Even RYAN PACE was able to do this on some level. I think you are overestimating the level of the average NFL starter.

I am talking about guys like Prince Amukamara, Eddie Royal, Taylor Gabriel, Bobbie Massie, etc.

These are guys who will never make a Pro bowl, but will fill up a slot that is better than the practice squad level garbage we have on the field right now.

Know why we haven't gotten a lot of those guys at one time? The cap.

What do we have plenty of this offseason?

CAP ROOM.


However you want to quantify it, you can practically trip over a player in the 2nd or 3rd wave of free agency this year and they will almost to a man be an upgrade to what we have now.

NONE of those signings should be a long term solution unless they somehow prove something during the season - all of them should be on 2-3 year team friendly deals, to buy you time to get your top shelf players in the draft.

So no need to pray for me. Pray for Ryan Poles, to do the smart thing this offseason and also that he knows how to spot talent.

If he does know how to do that, we will be in the conversation for the last 2 playoff spots next year going into the last 3 games of the season.

Give me an example where a team unloaded almost every single above-average player they had on the roster, then the following year were competing for the playoffs.

Everyone keeps comparing the bears to other shitty teams. Those teams had been shit for years, and had many first round picks on their roster, and when those picks started playing to their potential after a year or two, they started winning.

How many first round picks are on this team? 1?

When Pace came in, he added talent in his first offseason. Poles traded away most of the talent and added guys like Al-Quadin Muhammad and Matt Adams to compete for starting spots.

People seem to love Poles for “tearing the team down and starting from scratch”. Those same people have never seen a tear down like this. And not to mention, there’s a real possibility that Poles may have missed on 2 of his first 3 picks in his first draft. Which A) sets the rebuild back, and B) doesn’t bode well for his future draft selections. Fingers crossed he has more hits than misses next draft.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

Give me an example where a team unloaded almost every single above-average player they had on the roster, then the following year were competing for the playoffs.

Everyone keeps comparing the bears to other shitty teams. Those teams had been shit for years, and had many first round picks on their roster, and when those picks started playing to their potential after a year or two, they started winning.

How many first round picks are on this team? 1?

When Pace came in, he added talent in his first offseason. Poles traded away most of the talent and added guys like Al-Quadin Muhammad and Matt Adams to compete for starting spots.

People seem to love Poles for “tearing the team down and starting from scratch”. Those same people have never seen a tear down like this. And not to mention, there’s a real possibility that Poles may have missed on 2 of his first 3 picks in his first draft. Which A) sets the rebuild back, and B) doesn’t bode well for his future draft selections. Fingers crossed he has more hits than misses next draft.

Tell me the last time a team had over 100m in cap space? Do you even know how rare that is?

 

[Bear_Assed]

Tell me the last time a team had over 100m in cap space? Do you even know how rare that is?

The only reason they have so much cap space is because they have one of the worst rosters in bears history AND a bunch of players on one years deals.

It’s not like they have a decent team and just need a couple good players to get them over the hump, so they can outbid everyone else for the top free agents.

If he doesn’t cut a single player (which isn’t going to happen, but let’s pretend) he needs to sign/draft 19 players just to get to 53.

When’s the last time a team went into an offseason with 34 players or less under contract, and not a single pro bowler/all pro amongst them? Then went to the playoffs.

 

[Mighty Joe Young]

The only reason they have so much cap space is because they have one of the worst rosters in bears history AND a bunch of players on one years deals.

It’s not like they have a decent team and just need a couple good players to get them over the hump, so they can outbid everyone else for the top free agents.

If he doesn’t cut a single player (which isn’t going to happen, but let’s pretend) he needs to sign/draft 19 players just to get to 53.

When’s the last time a team went into an offseason with 34 players or less under contract, and not a single pro bowler/all pro amongst them? Then went to the playoffs.

Exactly my point - you don't get it.

That much cap space means they will be able to afford a ton of 2nd and 3rd tier free agents on short deals. As long as they don't go for 1 or 2 of the first tier free agents, they will be able to spread that cap space around.


Here's the issue - we can go back and forth with the "when's the last time?" questions, but the situation the Bears find themselves in is UNIQUE.

The CLOSEST comparisons you can potentially make to this, are literal expansion teams - the Jags and Panthers. Both made it to their respective championship games in year 3 I believe of their existance, but even that isn't apples to apples.

This is a unicorn of a season and offseason, and a lot hinges on how Poles does this offseason. All the Bears need to do to be in the conversation is be an 8-8 team.

The Bears lost 7 games this season by less than a touchdown. Lets say with better talent, they win 4 like those.

That puts them right around the "On the bubble" playoff hunt in most years.


It would be different if the Bears didn't have a QB. But they have Fields. He kept them in so many games.

Give him a real team around him, even just an average one, and the result will be not incremental but exponential.

 

[CaliBearFan]

Halfway thru the season there were still many people here expecting the bears to be competitive next year, with a chance at the playoffs.

Even with $130 mil in FA, you’ll still only be able to upgrade a handful of positions. And poles drafting so far looks questionable at best.

I have to imagine, by now, you finally realize this team is multiple offseasons from even being middle of the pack, right?

Bring up one post that claimed this would be a one year rebuild?

If you cannot you are suffering from your own delusional expectations.

 

[CaliBearFan]

Here's the thing.

The league is built on parity. The worst team can usually get into the playoffs with one good offseason.

Is this team going to be a Super bowl contender in one year?

Hell no.

But with our cap situation, we definitely can compete for the bottom two playoff spots. Won't get too far, but it's not unrealistic to think with some smart moves, Bears are in that conversation.

"The worst team can usually get into the playoffs with one good offseason."

This is so far removed from reality. More than ever bad teams are just a few players away and can hit the playoffs the next year if so many things go right is true but thats nots what you said. Find one team that went from 32 to playoffs next year. Even if you find that miracle ,calling it a usual occurance is very divorced from reality.

 

[Mdbearz]

Yes more than 1 or even 2 years, but I expect next year to have some exciting moments and even a shot at the playoffs if the can fill CRITICAL positions this year.

The O-line must start with a center, the D-line a 3 tech and a pass rusher, another Vet WR (Draft a prospect also).

In recent years, the best we could hope for is that we could get 1 or maybe 2 of those critical pieces. We have a legit shot at filling all of them this year, so yeah I'm excited.

 

[Bear_Assed]

Bring up one post that claimed this would be a one year rebuild?

If you cannot you are suffering from your own delusional expectations.

There are dozens of post, many in this thread expecting the bears to compete for a playoff spot next year. This is what I meant by “rebuild” because technically the rebuild will never end, Poles will (hopefully) always be trying to add better talent to this team.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

I can't think of one person who thought it would only take a year. The entire premise of this thread is bullshit.

 

[Spitta Andretti]

this is why you don't go crazy in Free Agency like some of you cried about

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1611154416329003009

 

[remydat]

The Bears can be competitive next year. There are teams that will make the playoffs with 8 or 9 wins and we were 1-7 in one score games. A good offseason and Fields continuing to improve means we can win 8-10 games next year IMO.

That does not mean the rebuild is over or that the Bears will be a finished product.

 

[2MuchChino]

2-3 years at least. And by that maybe Fields is not as athletic or burned out. It was a great chance to develop him and improve his passing, but no, just let him run all over the field.

You keep saying 2-3 years and it's like you're not even watching whats happening in the league. The bottom 4 seeds in this years playoffs currently are: Ravens (10-6), Patriots (8-8), Giants (9-6), Seahawks (8-8). We played 3 of the 4 this year, beat 2, and were basically within 1 score of the other. That doesn't sound like 2-3 years to me.

 

[knoxville7]

The Bears can be competitive next year. There are teams that will make the playoffs with 8 or 9 wins and we were 1-7 in one score games. A good offseason and Fields continuing to improve means we can win 8-10 games next year IMO.

That does not mean the rebuild is over or that the Bears will be a finished product.

This. Saying you think the bears can compete for a playoff spot next year only means like 7 wins. That’s reasonable

 

[shoez90]

Halfway thru the season there were still many people here expecting the bears to be competitive next year, with a chance at the playoffs.

Even with $130 mil in FA, you’ll still only be able to upgrade a handful of positions. And poles drafting so far looks questionable at best.

I have to imagine, by now, you finally realize this team is multiple offseasons from even being middle of the pack, right?

The draft where they got Brisker Jones Gordon and Jones Jr you mean? Added Sanborn that draft? With all the we don't have a first round pick fuckery from the previous regimes stupidity? Or maybe you think almost a decade of no first picks bcuz we're trading them for older talent, unproven talent was better schematic. Poles is very organized and open in his approach. This is his first FULL draft class can we at least give these guys a chance to fail before ass-u- ming they will. I'm a Bears fan three decades I know the Stockholm syndrome some of yous have but you have to be optimistic. Otherwise you might as well root for a PO team and come back in a year or two when we have corrected the problem.

 

[nc0gnet0]

You overstate the ability for this.

Even RYAN PACE was able to do this on some level. I think you are overestimating the level of the average NFL starter.

I am talking about guys like Prince Amukamara, Eddie Royal, Taylor Gabriel, Bobbie Massie, etc.

These are guys who will never make a Pro bowl, but will fill up a slot that is better than the practice squad level garbage we have on the field right now.

Know why we haven't gotten a lot of those guys at one time? The cap.

What do we have plenty of this offseason?

CAP ROOM.


However you want to quantify it, you can practically trip over a player in the 2nd or 3rd wave of free agency this year and they will almost to a man be an upgrade to what we have now.

NONE of those signings should be a long term solution unless they somehow prove something during the season - all of them should be on 2-3 year team friendly deals, to buy you time to get your top shelf players in the draft.

So no need to pray for me. Pray for Ryan Poles, to do the smart thing this offseason and also that he knows how to spot talent.

If he does know how to do that, we will be in the conversation for the last 2 playoff spots next year going into the last 3 games of the season.

IIRC, Jacksonnville had the most CAP room heading into last season.
This year, they are OVER the CAP.
Food for thought.

 

[Canth]

"The worst team can usually get into the playoffs with one good offseason."

This is so far removed from reality. More than ever bad teams are just a few players away and can hit the playoffs the next year if so many things go right is true but thats nots what you said. Find one team that went from 32 to playoffs next year. Even if you find that miracle ,calling it a usual occurance is very divorced from reality.

Haven't read the entire thread to see if anyone has answered this yet, but the Jaguars are poised to do just that this year. If they win tonight, they go from being dead last actually 2 years in a row into winning their division. They also had a ton of cap room last offseason that helped make that happen.

 

[Bear_Assed]

The draft where they got Brisker Jones Gordon and Jones Jr you mean? Added Sanborn that draft? With all the we don't have a first round pick fuckery from the previous regimes stupidity? Or maybe you think almost a decade of no first picks bcuz we're trading them for older talent, unproven talent was better schematic. Poles is very organized and open in his approach. This is his first FULL draft class can we at least give these guys a chance to fail before ass-u- ming they will. I'm a Bears fan three decades I know the Stockholm syndrome some of yous have but you have to be optimistic. Otherwise you might as well root for a PO team and come back in a year or two when we have corrected the problem.

You lost me at Gordon and Jones Jr. Gordon was a early 2nd rd pick and had a stretch of 3 games where he played good. Every single other game he struggled (and that's putting it nicely). Jones Jr was a 3rd rd WR. He has 79 yards receiving this year... and fumbles once out of every 4 times he touches the ball. He's had a few good kick returns. Anyone happy with the Jones Jr pick right now is absolutely delusional.

The reason we didnt have a first rd pick was because the previous "stupid" regime traded up to get Fields. Which might end up being the best draft pick this team has had in OVER three decades.

Poles has been very organized and open in his approach. So?

I'm willing to give this class some time. But since Poles has yet to add any proven game changers yet, it's going to be at least another full season before bears are competitive.

 

[SugarWalls]

Honestly looking at the holes on this team can someone honestly tell me how anyone could turn this into a competitive team in 1 season?