Fire Ryan Poles | Fire Ben Johnson

Well-deserved. Seeing Bagent get emotional talking about it is pretty humbling. He’s worked hard and busted his ass. I felt he should have continued to be the starter two years ago after Fields got hurt. That being said, he was also at the mercy of shitty coaching. He’s here for another two years and will be backing up.

It was confirmed the other day that the starters will be getting reps tonight. I would say at least a quarter or two. This team needs to continue to get live play rather than practices. The real games start about 17 days from now.

It’s unfortunate this game didn’t count. The Bears don’t get to play this well. Like, ever.

Let’s all remind each other that this is the preseason. We’ve seen dominating performances on offense over the years in these games that don’t count. I was completely floored seeing the defense not give up points in their usual parts of every game: First and last drives of the halves. Holy shit. Now, can this please happen in the regular season?

Yes, it may feel a bit different this time around. This coach hadn’t said anything to insult our intelligence just yet. Other coaches who I will not name have said dumb shit the second they were introduced as head coach. So we shall see.

Caleb Williams was dominant on the first drive and utilized the tight ends in Kmet and Loveland. It must have felt good for him to get out there. Yes, I wanted a full half of him. But I’ll take it. Tyson Bagent came in and continued the domination. The touchdown pass he had to Tyler Scott was placed perfectly in the corner of the end zone. Rookie Luther Burden was absolutely terrific both catching and blocking. For a guy that doesn’t look well-built, those blocks he had on those two touchdowns at the goal line were terrific. The team scored on four of the first five drives. How often has that happened in the last 30 years? I also don’t think I saw any player doing anything stupid. That must be a first. Encouraging, but I am staying leveled.

One negative and it’s a big one: Terrell Smith appears to have torn his ACL. It appeared he would be a backup cornerback. Now, this secondary is even more depleted. Praying Smith recovers. Ryan Poles needs to get on the phone and try to trade for some legitimate secondary help. Jaylon Johnson is still out. Tyrique Stevenson is a shitty football player. And now with Smith going out, this is concerning.

The last preseason game is this Friday against the Chiefs. Ben Johnson said last week that while these games don’t count, they do matter. So while I don’t think the starters will play Friday (they should), this game does matter for other players to continue to get better. And there may be some of these players who are playing to stay on the team.

It’s been really difficult for me to fully invest at this moment. Of course, I expect that to change once the season begins. I will be at the first two home games of the season (Vikings and Cowboys). But damn, this team is already making me lose interest and it’s only been one preseason game played as of this writing.

Jaylon Johnson is hurt and not even practicing with whatever is going on.

Darnell Wright apparently is out of shape. And this new draft pick in Ozzy Trapillo is being tried out at left tackle despite not being a tackle. What the fuck is this coaching staff doing? Putting a rookie in a new position? Sounds like being put in a position to fail. This is not good news.

Kyler Gordon is already dealing with a hamstring injury.

Kiran Amegadjie is apparently not very good at football.

Again, I know this is football. But why does it seem like it’s always the Bears who have more injuries than other teams? Apparently, they signed a few defensive backs this week to help.

Need I remind everyone, Ryan Poles was given an extension for apparently no good reason. This is his mess of drafting all of these players who are always hurt or plainly suck at football.

Thoughts in the thread.

I know I’ve said this before after a recap. But this game was ANNOYING. Absolutely annoying.

I know it’s preseason. At the same time, all we heard this offseason was “we are going to change the culture.” Even doing the little things to make that statement true wasn’t done today. It doesn’t matter if it’s a win or loss. It’s what happens in these preseason games that showed me nothing has changed.

You want to change the culture? Stop letting teams drive down the field on the first possession of the game. If this was the regular season, the Dolphins get a field goal. Instead, they went for it and the Bears stopped them at the goal line. Offense? They failed to do anything on the first two drives. The next two drives for the Dolphins on offense? Touchdowns. Including one right before halftime. A Chicago Bears Tradition: Give up points on the opening and last drives of halves.

Anytime the Bears scored, the Dolphins scored on the very next possession.

And here was the most frustrating part: The final two offensive drives of the game in the last two minutes. The Bears were tied and had a chance in Dolphins’ territory to score. Austin Reed is in as the fourth string quarterback. He had some iffy throws. At the same time, some receiver whom I can’t remember failed to catch a pass that would have put them in field goal range. After the first of two drives, they still got the ball back with less than a minute to go. The Bears had three timeouts and couldn’t try running on the final possession in attempt to throw the Dolphins off?

This was Textbook Chicago Bears Football. It’s them having golden chances to win a game and fail miserably.

Alright. Now, there are some encouraging parts of this game. Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum played well. They gave the Bears a chance to win the game. Unfortunately, stupid penalties by other players stalled some momentum. For a team that has 125 different receivers and running backs, they are letting down the rest of the offense  with bad penalties and missed catches.

I am very thankful the Bears only have two Monday Night Football games and one Sunday Night. And the Sunday Night Football game is the second to last game of the season. There is a good chance that game gets moved to the afternoon since the Bears more likely will be out of contention by then and therefore, won’t have to humiliate themselves on a National stage.

Next week, the Bears are at home again taking on the Bills.

As we approach the first preseason game, a lot has happened. The Bears have kicked off camp and two weeks in, reports are that the team is struggling. During the family day at Soldier Field, they were apparently not in sync with the offense. There were even reports of a fight earlier this week in practice. Shit happens.

Here we are with coaches still not wanting to play starters in these preseason games. There are three of these. Play the starters a quarter in each of these games to give them a chance to learn this playbook that’s supposedly difficult. We saw what happened with the Lovie and Trestman teams with how they never played the starters. It turned to complete dog shit when the season started.

However, this is the way I see it. For the last 20 years or thereabouts, every coach has said in these interviews that “we had a good week of practice” or “he had a great week of practice.” Every fucking time. And what were the results? Shitty play on the field during the games.

So the way I see it, maybe having a shitty week of practice will lead to them actually winning games. What has worked for the previous 20 years doesn’t seem to translate onto the field. So by all means, go right ahead and continue to suck in practice.

Caleb Williams seems determined to take it to the next level. There were at least four games where in spite of shitty coaching, he gave the team a chance to win that they ended losing. So without a doubt, he finds a way to win games. That’s what a great quarterback does.

We know there are no more excuses for Ryan Poles. I have my doubts because of his poor decisions. Whether it’s his fetish for signing shitty backup quarterbacks or deciding to keep Tyrique Stevenson after that game last year, he deserves any and all criticism. Oh, I didn’t forget about all the draft busts (actually, every single one but Williams has been one).

What happened today with Kevin Warren holding a press conference, it was very annoying. This guy is also out of excuses. He gives Ryan Poles a contract extension. And he still seems adamant about a stadium going up in Arlington Heights despite no one else wanting one. Nothing is wrong with Soldier Field as I’ve said before. Building a stadium in an area where traffic is absolutely brutal even on a Tuesday afternoon without a stadium is going to be dumber than keeping John Fox after one season. Enough.

Has it really been that long? Fuck. I know I write this kind of message every year.

We’ve seen it all here. Mostly the negatives. Our teams always finding ways to lose. It’s what brought us here in the first place all those years ago.

As the demise of these types of websites continue, I am holding onto this place as long as I can. As always, traffic generally picks up during football season. All I can say to everyone is I send a sincere amount of gratitude for reading and/or posting.

If you are someone who doesn’t post much or at all, feel free to contribute at any time. You are all welcome here. Some of us have been here since Day One back then and even before that at the old “Fire Dusty Baker” site. These sites gave us some solace in a very bad time in our sports lives. Whether you agree or disagree with what is said on here, I will tell it like I see it. If I feel a player sucks, I am going to say it. And knowing who our teams are, it is a certain that someone sucks on a team.

Again, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate all of you reading. Whether you think I suck at all of this or am decent, it’s appreciated.

I guess I am at that point in my life. Where my childhood begins to go away in rapid fashion. These last couple weeks have been horrible and unexpected.

Sandberg was awesome growing up. Him and Mark Grace were actually my first memories of watching the Chicago Northside Baseball Club. Then came Sosa, of course.

This one stings. Big time. The same thing happened when Ron Santo passed almost 15 years ago. It will bother me for a long time.

Sandberg was one of the best to do it. I still have my Hall of Fame plaque I got at a game in 2005 after he was inducted. I will cherish it forever.

Well, I have been trying to write something at this site the last few days about training camp for the Bears. Unfortunately, not only did the news of Hulk’s passing come about. But also dealing with a friend who lost someone close to him recently. So yeah. I haven’t had a chance to pay much attention to how the Bears are going to fuck things up this year. I’ve already heard there were injuries to players before camp even started.

But that’s not why I called.

Yesterday, a huge part of my childhood as well as many other’s left this world. Politics aside, Hulk Hogan was an absolute legend. He’s one of the first memories I had as a kid that made me a wrestling fan. To this day, I still am a Hulkamaniac. It’s been a shitty week for celebrities.

He was bigger than wrestling. He had the mainstream appeal. I was a bit too young in the 80’s to even know I existed. But when the early 90’s came out, I started loving wrestling. From watching on Saturdays to playing the video games, it was there.

My first ever wrestling show I attended, he was back with the nWo in 2002. I am certain I mentioned it here before. But I was shown on television that night and it was one of the best nights of my wrestling fandom life. I put it up there with seeing the Bulls and Blackhawks winning those championships. I got to meet him in 2017 and while the dumb whore who took the picture couldn’t hold the damn thing still so it ended up blurry, I am glad I still have it. I really believed Hulk would be around forever.

“Say your prayers and eat your vitamins.”

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Well, I wrote in the previous post that I wouldn’t write anything for a while unless something stupid happens. And because it this is Chicago sports, guess what?

For the love of God, when will these poor choices stop with this team?

Ryan Poles has had four offseasons to fix this team. And yet, the team continued to get worse. How much worse? The team set a franchise record for consecutive losses with ten. Twice. And both of those streaks were under Eberf-LOSE.

Even Trestman or Wannstedt weren’t ever that shitty. So the general manager who was at the helm for those two ten-game losing streaks gets a five-year extension?

This is proof that you can suck at your everyday job by losing sales, showing up late or taking people’s food in the office fridge and yet, still keep that job and get a raise.

“We’re going to take the North and never give it back.” Okay, going 3-15 in those three seasons in the division is definitely putting this team on the right track. I’ve had enough.

Fuck George McCaskey.

This will be the last post for a little while (unless something stupid happens in Chicago sports). And the way things are going with the teams I follow, something stupid is bound to happen.