Catching up, not writing immediately after hearing and/or seeing something, has its advantages, I guess. It’s not like I’m going to write about something that has already happened, and act like I predicted anything. I try to write about things where the date is not so critical, when I’m in catch up mode. Being a handful of days behind also allows me to process information, before I lash out. Certainly this edition would look a lot different had I been current when the news of Khalil Mack getting traded broke. WTF!?!?
I’ve had time to let it soak in. Of course, everyone and their mama had an opinion about it on Twitter. I see both sides of it, don’t get me wrong. I’m not just some “meatball fan”, although I do like meatballs, and I would rather lean that way than any other. First off is the return. We got a 2nd and a 6th round pick for one of the best defensive players in the NFL? Is that correct? I guess the Chargers eating the entire contract was return enough? It’s hard to believe that we could not have gotten more back for him, even if that meant eating some of the dough. I’ll never understand being on the obvious wrong end of a trade that Chicago teams have shown me over the years. It’s one thing to see what can happen down the road… possibly a win-win trade. But if the “win” on the Bears part was saving money, then I think we lost. Sure, what will the Bears parlay all this additional cap space into? We sign a #1 WR maybe; add an offensive lineman… find another CB. Could we potentially “replace” Mack with 3 players at the same price point? Sure. Yet today, on this day, the Bears got worse; there is no disputing that. You don’t become a better team by trading your best player, period.
Yes, but the Bears are in rebuilding mode now; that’s what I read and hear. So a game changer like Mack is wasting away on a team that won’t compete; is that right? So we get max value for him now, to help speed up our “rebuild”? Do I have this straight? I understand that point of view, doesn’t mean I agree with it. Are the Bears that far from being a contender? Well, now that this trade is done, this is what you’ll hear to justify it. I don’t know… I know I’m biased, and always wear my rose-colored glasses, but in our division, now that Rodgers decided to come back, can we not be the 2nd best team? 2nd is not 1st, and there is the whole matter of the postseason, but… are we that far off? Really? I guess this is what the new folks in town have decided.
The only positive thing that I can muster out of this is that it’s Poles first major move. If this was still Pace, reaction would be a lot worse I think. We need to give the new guy the benefit of the doubt right? Just like when AKME came in for the Bulls, that first draft pick, when we said “who?”; well, Patrick Williams was who, and it turned out just fine. So, we let Poles do his thing; what choice do we have? Some people are totally fine with it; I’ll never be fine with trading away a player like Mack… never. But… now with all this money, the Bears can get to work to build a team that will do better than the one that had Mack on it, right? I hope so. That is the mission. Since Poles pulled this trigger, he’ll have to accept it… and build this team for the playoffs. I hope he knows what he’s doing… Bear Down.
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