Mr. Scot

And yet you keep following me around... Strange behavior for someone who's "not interested"

You sure about that?

I'm not. I genuinely think you are smarter than this. Read what I said to Linville above.

After two games...

So are you saying you know that the other teams have been putting the same workload on those guys as we have Young? If so, what's your evidence?

I think it's dumb to suggest that we know anything at this point, or even that it's trending a certain way. Fitterer was shackled to Rhule for his first two years. Even if you don't factor in the final say thing, he was (like any GM) beholden to get the kind of players that Rhule and his staff wanted. Reich and his people are going to be looking for players that fit their schemes, so there's going to be some turnover. That doesn't necessarily mean the guys they let go were bad. They just might not fit what we want to do. Combine that with the fact that it takes a few years time to really know how good a draftee truly is and you're left with very little to go on. People assume I'm saying that Fitterer is good. I'm not. He could be, or he could not be, but the situation isn't one where we can definitively know much of anything yet. I get that people don't like having to wait to make judgments (especially today) and heaven knows people love to be able to claim they said something first, but that's all pretty silly.

Would likely depend on their depth (which I won't blame to be up on).

I'd agree. Just reading the tone of the conversation around it I actually do at this point think that something gambling related is more likely. Williams' lawyer (who I'll grant is his lawyer) has vehemently stated that there's no criminal activity involved. If that's true, then you have to figure gambling.

Said it elsewhere, but you've got some people who panic at the first sign of things being tough. Others love the drama and attention they get when things are bad, so they jump in early in the hope that they can tell everybody how smart they were if it stays bad later. That kind of bullsh-t doesn't interest me.

And there's zero chance of that improving?

There's no actual evidence...period. There's plenty of panic, whining, unwillingness to look beyond the surface and people trying to position themselves so that they can later claim they were right all along, but none of that counts as "evidence". Again, talk to me down the road when there's way more substantial tape to review. If it's bad then, it's bad. If it's good then, it's good. If (my personal guess) it's not good yet but it's at least better than what we've seen early, then it's progress.

With low expectations...

Not that it's getting discussed much but there is an actual football game this Sunday...

I'll copy my rant here - with some added takes - since it seems appropriate... _______________ So there's a pretty common thread I'm seeing in just about all the reactions to Young and the team in general... Feelings... specifically, hurt feelings Also standing behind the vast majority of the hurt feelings...unrealistic expectations. "I was lied to!" No, you weren't. You got your own hopes up. "We already know...." No, you don't. Two games in, we don't know sh-t yet. "Same old team!" No, it isn't. It's a new staff, new schemes , new quarterback, new pretty much everything. "I'm tired of losing!". And? It was always gonna be tough coming out of the gate. "We were set up to win!" No, we weren't. We're starting over at a time when the rest of the division has at least a year head start on us. Oy There's more, but the basic point is the people here throwing childish tantrums are doing so because they did it to themselves, not because the team misled them or any other such stupidity. So at this point, you can choose to man up, put on your big boy pants and settle into the fact that things aren't going to turn around overnight, or you can continue to wallow in your own silliness and act like a three year old. Doesn't really make much difference to me, but it likely will you. Some folks are always gonna panic at the first sign of adversity with the idea that if things eventually do turn out to be as bad as expected they can point backward and say "See?! I was right!" Well, not really. What you actually were was weak. Good thing you weren't going into a real life battle. You'd have earned the call sign "Hangman" like in Maverick. Others are gonna rush to be the first to scream "everything sucks" because they enjoy the drama and the attention it gets them. As far as that crowd, I'm not really interested in hearing their take. It's boring and generally useless, and I don't engage in football conversation to entertain dimwits and/ or attention whores. Bottom Line: Taking a position of "wait and see" isn't a popular thing in today's hot take driven sports talk culture, but it's still the smart thing. Could it really be bad? Sure it could, but anyone claiming they already know it is falls into one of the categories listed above. Could it also be good? Regardless of whether you believe it or not, the answer to that is "yes". The "everything sucks" crowd can weep and wail and gnash their teeth if they want to, but I'm not interested. Frankly, kind of disgusted. My choice, as a veteran of about fifty NFL seasons and every Panther season is...to wait and see how things play out before going off half cocked. I've seen enough early takes be proven dead wrong that I know better than to listen to them. Talk to me in November.

This is why.

So there's a pretty common thread I'm seeing in just about all the reactions to Young and the team in general... Feelings... specifically, hurt feelings Also standing behind the vast majority of the hurt feelings...unrealistic expectations. "I was lied to!" No, you weren't. You got your own hopes up. "We already know...." No, you don't. Two games in, we don't know sh-t yet. "Same old team!" No, it isn't. It's a new staff, new schemes , new quarterback, new pretty much everything. "I'm tired of losing!". And? It was always gonna be tough coming out of the gate. "We were set up to win!" No, we weren't. We're starting over at a time when the rest of the division has at least a year head start on us. Oy There's more, but the basic point is the people here throwing childish tantrums are doing so because they did it to themselves, not because the team misled them or any other such stupidity. So at this point, you can choose to man up, put on your big boy pants and settle into the fact that things aren't going to turn around overnight, or you can continue to wallow in your own silliness and act like a three year old. Doesn't really make much difference to me, but it likely will you.

You're smarter than this, dude.

Three winning seasons out of fifteen is "a lot of mileage"?

Why would Trevor Sikkema want to do damage control for Bryce Young? Maybe the reason people are saying that it's early and even the best rookies still have to transition into the NFL is because...it is early and even the best rookies do still have to transition to the NFL.

Yeah, if you think that's all you need to know to evaluate a rookie quarterback...

No, I'm not, and I'm being honest. Frankly, that's pretty easy to say for someone who wasn't expecting a rookie quarterback to look like King of the world after two games. Talk to me about how he looks nearer season's end and going into next year because that's when I'll be looking to see good performance.

How much do you know about what the other teams are asking their quarterbacks to do be what ours is doing? We already discussed that the quarterback you think is doing so much better was down 28-10 at the end of one half. Haven't seen a response.

The mood in Chicago...

So having looked around to see if there was any hint available regarding the rumors surrounding former Bears DC Alan Williams, I can't say I've found much of anything outside pure speculation. The belief from those who have speculated is that it's related to one of two things: gambling or pedophilia. But the bottom line is nobody seems to know sh-t.