Da Dos

Tag: QB

  • Critiquing Caleb, Part 1

    Critiquing Caleb, Part 1

    Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images

    Preamble:

    “We are what we habitually do; therefore, excellence is a habit” – Aristotle

    A father took his young protege son to get taught by a master. “He’s great now. I can imagine how much better he’ll be after the master’s tutelage”
    The protege played for the master.
    “You undeniably play well, but alas, I cannot help you”
    The father, shocked, inquired, “Why?”
    “His technique is beyond repair”

    “Cutler was ruined before he even entered the NFL. Running for his life on a weekly basis at Vandy ingrained terrible habits he never unlearned.
    He was throwing from his back foot ‘til his very last NFL game” – a quote I always remembered back when the Jay debate was raging

    It’s OTAs, and the circle-jerkathon is in full force. We already got the spunky 7th rounder from Rutgers. Now all we need for the annual Bears’ summer is some lil known try-hard to win the Joe Anderson Trophy

    So it’s important to keep everything in perspective without rose-tinted glasses. Get past all the Ben Johnson honeymoon bouquets, FA stars and draft ‘studs’…

    This season will MOSTLY depend on the most vital position in all of sports:

    Quarterback

    It’s hard to quantify where great coaching ends and great QBing begins. Belichick/Brady make a fascinating study. However, I do believe that a superb coach, like a good parent, master or teacher can make a difference IF the learner is caught early.

    As Frederick Douglass once expressed, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

    The #1 question for the foreseeable Bears’ future:

    Is Caleb broken beyond repair already or can Ben Johnson still build him up?

    Greg Cosell, Senior Producer at NFL Films, wonders this very question

    Few points from the vid

    – Pocket awareness

    “NFL goes back years and years, and often guys who get sacked a lot in college – who tend to retreat backwards – don’t do well”

    “Shadeur Sanders retreats a lot too. It might be innate. A longtime coach said that’s going to be really hard to fix”

    [Notice how all, Cutler, Caleb and Shadeur, played behind porous college olines? Does this create irreversible “happy feet” esp if they are thrown into a similar setup in the NFL which only reinforces it?]

    ‘Often QBs create their own sacks. Feel pressure that isn’t there. I don’t know if you can teach a QB to hang in the pocket and hit a receiver with defenders barreling down’

    – Assessing Ds [the Kurt Warner angle]

    ‘In the NFL it can’t be pure progression [where the D almost doesn’t matter]. In the NFL knowing how the D lines up is a BIG factor, and it’s hard to diagnose a D if there’s only 4 seconds on the clock’

    Those are two YUGE areas Caleb MUST solve, and quick. The third I would add is consistency
    Caleb Williams creates many ‘wow’ plays. But so did Jay Cutler
    Then the next play he throws it right into the gut of a DT or 4 INTs to DeAngelo Hall
    Rex Grossman won NFC Offensive Player of September, and look how that ended…

    Can’t win a SB like that
    Caleb must show up for the first 3 QTRs

    On the bright side, Cossell asserts BJ will at least help Caleb unlike the previous regime:

    ‘Ben Johnson does a great job of creating separation to make it easier for QBs
    [think prime GB with Rodgers when Jordy Nelson and gang ran free on crossing routes]

    But in the end your kid has to swim; your kid has to ride down the hill without training wheels; your kid has to drive on his own with his buddies acting like maniacs…

    As Caleb must himself ascend to that near mythic and ever elusive ‘generational QB’ and not flatline into another Bad Rex or Smoking Jay

  • Can’t Always Get What You Want…

    Can’t Always Get What You Want…

    So, I was going to write something about the schedule, then this drops

    You can hear the details and make up your own mind. Some thoughts:

    1. This doesn’t shock me. Why WOULD any QB want to come to CHI?
      Carl Williams, Caleb’s dad, was right, CHI is “where QBs go to die”
      While keeping Flus [and Poles] and hiring Waldo only furthers his case
      As MB muttered in disgust on his way out “Bears are Browns North”
    2. Caleb’s dad made some sound points about the rook CBA deal, but those old enough to remember the good ole days of paying Jamarcus “Purple Drank” Russell, Ryan Leaf, and Jeff George more $ than established vets know why a restructure was desperately needed, and I like it. Carl Williams may believe his son is “can’t miss” but Caleb hasn’t proven shit yet, and nearly everyone already accepts he is the 2nd best QB in that class [maybe even 3rd or 4rth for some NE and DEN fans]. For all we know, Bears drafted a slightly better Fields, but at least Caleb is not getting paid like Dak Prescott [$60M/yr. Think of all those FAs Poles can’t sign if that were the case]
    3. I do wonder if college QBs can jump to the CFL for a year, sidestep the draft altogether, then choose any NFL team the following season. In this scenario, maybe Archie Manning can opt to go to CFL for a year [as opposed to staying at Texas], ghost the draft, then pick a team in ‘27. Albeit I suspect the NFL could simply throw Archie back into the ’27 draft. Not sure about the fine print here. That could be its own article with lots of subsections. NIL further complicates the issue; still, this might be the future
    4. On earth 2, the Bears hire Klingsbury, and maybe Flus sticks around. We all know how this would end though. Spoiler alert, BADLY. It’s better the Bears vaporized instantly from a nuke than dying slowly over years from radiation poison

    This is an odd situation. Carl Williams was correct, but what he couldn’t have possibly foreseen was that the Flus-Waldo meltdown may have been better for his son in the LONG run. It absolutely ruined Caleb’s rookie campaign, but look now. Rebuilt Oline. Plenty of weapons. The best OC available hired to HC. A proven DC, Def and Specials

    Would Caleb and his dad still prefer to be in Minny or DC?

    Doubtful. At worst, it’s about a wash, and one can seriously contend that the Bears have a brighter future

    “You can’t always get what you want
    But if you try sometimes, well, you just might find
    You get what you need     ”

    This is a lot like life. Sometimes, you get dealt an awful hand, and somehow it works out for the better

    My mom was unjustly fired from a job so her then boss could hire his niece. He himself later got canned for that, but didn’t help my mom at the time struggling as a single parent to pay her mortgage and raise two kids. She lost the house. She began smoking again. Almost began drinking again. I, a mopey teen, was completely oblivious to the stress, but it must’ve been immense; however, at her new transitional job as a roach-hotel receptionist, she met a young miner with long 70’s Pink Floyd hair. That miner ended up being my step-dad.

    How did my step-dad stumble into that roach-hotel? Well, he recently moved from out of state. Him and his bud in their infinite wisdom decided to rent a cheap hotel by skid-row to save $. Apparently, they didn’t get the memo that ppl who look like them shouldn’t be walking around skid-row at 3am [after shift]. He was jumped by 3 guys trying to jack his wallet, but his jeans were so tight, and he fought back so hard, they couldn’t squeeze his wallet out [Wrangler commercial here]. They slunk back to the broken urinated streets

    His friend took one look at him walking in the door, “We’re out of here”

    So they ‘upgraded’ to a slightly better hotel away from skid-row where my mom just happened to work. Ding-Ding. He checked in, likely still sporting some fading shiners, fat lip, and lumpy skull… locked eyes, and that was that; they’ve been married ever since. House, chihuahuas, the whole 9
    Two wrongs literally made a right

    Of course at the time my mom would have chosen to NOT get terminated and lose the house. Naturally, my step-dad would have opted to NOT get beat the fuck up. Both happened, and here we are

    Here we are, Caleb. Make the most of it

    Transcend tragedy