X Factor on Offense/Defense

[Enasic]

Who’s your X factor on both sides of the ball? Players who aren’t necessarily penciled in as key difference makers, but could have a huge impact if the stars aligned.

Offense: Tarik Cohen. I don’t see him getting talked about much, and I understand why, but we can’t erase 2018 when he totaled over 1k all purpose yards and 8 TDs (with one additional passing TD). While I’m not overly optimistic, I’m definitely not down on cohen’s ability to produce. His biggest hurdle is David Montgomery deserves a lot of touches and is also a receiving threat.

I was tempted to place Cole Kmet here, but I think he’s been talked about a lot and is kind of expected to become more of a focal point than Cohen is…at least in terms of off-season CCS chatter.

Defense: This was a lot more difficult but I’m going to say Attachou. He played well and finished with 5 sacks in a Vic Fangio defense without the help of Von Miller and Chubb missing two games. Desai is a Fangio disciple and Attachou doesn’t even need to be great, he just needs to take advantage on obvious passing downs when Mack is getting doubled. Shot out to Christian Jones as well as an interesting X factor.

Bonus round, I’ll go coaching…

Flip: I think Flip is going to be largely responsible for developing Fields. He’s a better teacher and more focused on the details of the QB position than Nagy. Probably a top 5 QB coach in the league. Fields is the most important player on the team, so the man most equipped to develop him gets the nod here over Desai, who is a very close second.

Who you guys got?

 

[greg23]

Offense & Defense

I'll go with the current backup QB...all the stars align and he IS the difference maker for both sides of the ball

 

[Adipost]

Sam Mustipher on offense. If he can’t hold down the center position, the IOL could be in shambles once again with Whitehair/Daniels playing musical chairs.

Robert Quinn on defense. His contract is currently an albatross, but if he starts producing the defense gets exponentially better.

 

[Black Rainbow]

The two guys who were trending towards being above average NFL starters - Mooney & Jaylon Johnson.

I cannot vote for known "meh" like Cohen & Monty. We know what they are, and the interior line is "meh," and Visor Boob will be calling plays again. It's just hopium wanting to think there's going to be a big improvement with the running game.

Hopium right now with Kmet too. He's gotta take the focus away from Grandpa Graham. How good could Kmet possibly end up being if he cannot force the situation and be the "go to" TE over an old man?

 

[playthrough2001]

I’ll go with Trevis Gipson on defense. He didn’t have a normal off season as a rookie and had to adapt to playing edge after being primarily inside at Tulsa. Tulsa has quietly become quite a factor in the AAC and especially on defense. Gipson looks to be in excellent shape too. He really didn’t get game reps until late last season.

I’ll go with Miller on offense in a contract year. If the light is ever going to flip on, it has to be when his career and livelihood are on the line. However, I really hope it’s Newsome.

I like the OP’s take on Flip. I’ve mentioned in other threads that Flip and Lazor will be the guys responsible for developing Fields and Flip has an excellent reputation working with young QBs.

 

[hebs]

These are merely hopes... not expectations...

Kindle Vildor... If he can step up and lock down a starting CB position... the pass defense may not be a sieve.

on offense...

Sam Mustipher... If he can take over the interior Oline and some how make it a strength... the offense could go places.



I'll also toss out Mario Edwards. If his play warrants extended minutes... it will bode well for the defense.

 

[TheWinman]

The two guys who were trending towards being above average NFL starters - Mooney & Jaylon Johnson.

I cannot vote for known "meh" like Cohen & Monty. We know what they are, and the interior line is "meh," and Visor Boob will be calling plays again. It's just hopium wanting to think there's going to be a big improvement with the running game.

Hopium right now with Kmet too. He's gotta take the focus away from Grandpa Graham. How good could Kmet possibly end up being if he cannot force the situation and be the "go to" TE over an old man?

MOnty is meh? Please, go watch the all-22 film and focus on him, you might actually learn something. He is definitely a top 10 RB in this league, closer to top 5.

 

[Mdbearz]

Defense - Trevathan, I'm hoping that he has a follow-up to how he was playing well towards the end of the year, because that would let Smith shine too. Our LB play will need to be solid, so we are not placing additional responsibility on the secondary to cover the middle and run support.

Offense - I'm going to bunch this as "the running game", I know that is cheating, but if we can get a rotation of RBs (lead by Monty) to take over games, it will benefit the entire offense. If Dalton is back there it could help slow down a pass rush, if Fields is back there, a three headed monster will terrorize opposing defenses (traditional running game, deep passes, and a mobile QB).

 

[iueyedoc]

On offense, Tevin Jenkins. If he locks down the LT position, he will make the remainder of the OL, Andy Dalton, and David Montgomery perform significantly better.

On Defense, Jaylon Johnson. Does he end up special or does he have a sophomore slump leaving the Bears with the possibility of zero even average CB's.

Coaching Sean Desai. The guy went from breaking down film 2 year ago to DC, largely due to no one outside the organization having any interest in joining the Nagy led Bears. It's an open secret that the Bears over the last 3 season have, almost solely, relied on their defense to keep the team competitive. Is Desai the next Vic Fangio or the next Mel Tucker?

 

[Bearly]

Sam Mustipher on offense. If he can’t hold down the center position, the IOL could be in shambles once again with Whitehair/Daniels playing musical chairs.

Robert Quinn on defense. His contract is currently an albatross, but if he starts producing the defense gets exponentially better.

Shouldn't take long to see how those are working out.
I'll add little guys with off CB and slot WR. Likely Vildor and Antmil.
I really want Newsome ready to push Miller by camp.

 

[iueyedoc]

Shouldn't take long to see how those are working out.
I'll add little guys with off CB and slot WR. Likely Vildor and Antmil.
I really want Newsome ready to push Miller by camp.

If by push Miller, you mean out the Halas Hall front door with a cardboard box full of clothes and cleats, I wholeheartedly agree.

 

[Hawkeye OG]

I'm going to go with a couple of vets.

Offense: Jimmy Graham. I know this is against the OP wishes as Jimmy is talked about plenty, but he can still be a difference maker in the RZ. Cole should get his looks as well, but I still think JG is heavily involved inside the 20s. He needs to be a big target for Dalton or Fields, whoever starts. Robinson will draw lockdown guys in the RZ, maybe even double teams and Mooney isn't a big RZ target.

Defense: Desmond Trufant. It's obvious the Bears are thin at the CB position and also lack experience. If he makes the team and is healthy, I think he ends up starting as CB2 behind Johnson. I like Vildor, but not sure he is ready for the role. Trufant stepping up to fill that role would be huge.

 

[Enasic]

On offense, Tevin Jenkins. If he locks down the LT position, he will make the remainder of the OL, Andy Dalton, and David Montgomery perform significantly better.

On Defense, Jaylon Johnson. Does he end up special or does he have a sophomore slump leaving the Bears with the possibility of zero even average CB's.

Coaching Sean Desai. The guy went from breaking down film 2 year ago to DC, largely due to no one outside the organization having any interest in joining the Nagy led Bears. It's an open secret that the Bears over the last 3 season have, almost solely, relied on their defense to keep the team competitive. Is Desai the next Vic Fangio or the next Mel Tucker?

Pettine, one of the best defensive coaches in the game joined nagys staff as an assistant to coach under 1st time DC Desai. Kind of hard to say that no coach outside the organization was interested in joining, no? Not only did an outside coach join, he took a lesser role.

 

[Chicagosports89]

MOnty is meh? Please, go watch the all-22 film and focus on him, you might actually learn something. He is definitely a top 10 RB in this league, closer to top 5.

I thought calling him meh was pretty dumb, but you took the cake with saying he is close to top 5

 

[iueyedoc]

Pettine, one of the best defensive coaches in the game joined nagys staff as an assistant to coach under 1st time DC Desai. Kind of hard to say that no coach outside the organization was interested in joining, no? Not only did an outside coach join, he took a lesser role.

It's as if you suggest Pettine wanted so badly to join the Bears staff he stepped down as DC of the Packers. He was an unemployed, recently fire for his failure as DC, football coach. If your point is Nagy can attract guys without other job opportunities, well, I guess you got me there. I was more talking about him not able to lure candidates for a promotion to DC, guys that, you know, other teams might be think worthy of a job.

 

[Chicagosports89]

It's as if you suggest Pettine wanted so badly to join the Bears staff he stepped down as DC of the Packers. He was an unemployed, recently fire for his failure as DC, football coach. If your point is Nagy can attract guys without other job opportunities, well, I guess you got me there. I was more talking about him not able to lure candidates for a promotion to DC, guys that, you know, other teams might be think worthy of a job.

Pettine did a really good job with that defense. He wouldn't have got fired if their DB didn't blow his coverage at the end of the half against TB, but someone had to take the fall after that game.

Pettine will be a DC again within the next couple years if he's interested

 

[iueyedoc]

Pettine did a really good job with that defense. He wouldn't have got fired if their DB didn't blow his coverage at the end of the half against TB, but someone had to take the fall after that game.

Pettine will be a DC again within the next couple years if he's interested

I mean as DC, it is his job to instill responsibility discipline in the players or to stress to his assistants to instill it, so the blown coverage was ultimately his failure. Bad tackling, blown assignments, bad technique in the end fall on the guy leading that group.

Probably true about him likely getting another chance sometime in the future, but a guy taking a job to rehab his image rather than fade into forgotten irrelevance isn't really a feather in the cap.

 

[rawdawg]

Offense- Tarik Cohen. The forgotten man on offense. Injured most of 2020. Ineffective all of 2019. But he was a legit stud before that. If Nagy can re-gain the magic he had calling plays for him, Tarik can come back to the splash plays that helped the team immensely. Mooney, Goodwin, and Byrd have the WR position loaded with speed, Cohen can put even more pressure on defenses with his speed out of the backfield.

Defense- Vildor is the easy answer here. But I think by the time the season starts, Vildor will be counted on as a playmaker. I think he's going to start somewhere on D. So, I will go outside the box and say, DEON BUSH. He looked like he was going to be the dime back and replace Trevathan on true passing downs as kind of a nickel LB. He played 25 snaps in Week 2 vs. the Giants and had a great INT. After that, Falcons and Colts got leads and didn't really require much dime. Then Bush got injured missed a couple weeks, came back, then missed again due to Covid issues. Next thing you know, he kind of lost his role to DHC and Trevathan stopped coming off the field as much. I think if Bush can reprise that role early, then he could potentially also take some snaps from Gipson at SS.

 

[Anytime23]

Jenkins and Quinn.

 

[HearshotKDS]

If we are talking about potential and not who we actually think will step up, I have to parrot the Quinn pick. Bears basically have a $14.7M handicap on their salary cap that we kind of mentally throw away because of his lack of production last year, but if Quinn could get back to even just 75% of the player he was in 2019 then thats a huge plus for the Bears D. Mack/2019 Quinn/Attaochu is actually a really nice 3 man rotation at EDGE, and lets guys like Gipson develop at their own pace instead of being thrust into an uncomfortable position like "you're not ready but we need someone to play 30 snaps on D good luck kid".