Bears’ coaching issues surrounding Caleb Williams threaten to jeopardize season Originally appeared in NBC Sports Chicago
INDIANAPOLIS — In an offseason of change that was supposed to usher in a different era for the Bears, there was one decision to stay the course. The Bears decided to believe that with better talent at key positions and another chance to get the offensive coaching staff right, head coach Matt Eberflus would shine.
An offseason filled with talk of a new locker room, a beard and polished media skills glossed over general manager Ryan Poles’ questionable decision to stick with Eberflus as head coach to begin the Caleb Williams era.
Many, myself included, praised the hiring of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron as at least a positive step forward for a talented defensive coordinator who is still trying to prove he has all the tools necessary to be a winning head coach.
But three games into the 2024 season, all the glitz and hype of an offseason of change has worn off, and all that’s left are poor challenges, wasted timeouts, a 1-2 record and concerns that Eberflus and Waldron are hurting Williams’ early development.
A week after Eberflus made two curious challenges in a 19-13 loss to the Houston Texans, in which Williams was pressured on 23 of 48 dropbacks, the Bears came to Indianapolis to face a Colts team with a porous run defense that was dying to be beaten and He laid an egg in a 21-16 defeat.
The defeat It is not at the feet of Williamswho played better despite two interceptions, or a defense that bottled up the Colts’ offense outside of a couple of explosive plays.
No, Sunday’s failure against a team that is the definition of “yuck” in the NFL was Eberflus and Waldron’s fault.
Entering Sunday’s game, the Colts had the worst run defense in the NFL, allowing more than 200 yards per game and were without star defensive tackle DeForest Buckner.
If there was ever a time for the Bears to get their running game going and make life easier for Williams behind a shaky offensive line, it would be Sunday.
Instead, the Bears asked Williams to throw the ball 52 times. They did so not because the Colts stopped the run, but because the Bears refused to even force Indy to prove it could do so.
“I threw the ball 52 times? Oh my God,” Williams said after the loss. “I do what the team needs. So if it’s 50 times, it’s 50 times. I can’t have two turnovers on those 50 downs. And then if it ends up being 10 times, and I complete nine of those 10, and we have 300 yards rushing and four touchdowns, I’m fully aware, fully ready to do whatever the team needs. And so if it’s 50 downs and we throw the ball, if it’s 10 downs, it’s what the team needs, what the team needs to get the win.
“We’ll keep playing, we’ll keep working on the ground game. We’ll keep improving, definitely, as an offense. We’ll get this going soon.”
The Bears’ offseason plan to build around Williams was praised.
With Waldron, one of the NFL’s great teachers and adapters, along with three talented wide receivers and running back D’Andre Swift, the idea was that the Bears could lean on the run game and take pressure off Williams to start the season. All of these tools should have allowed Williams to settle in early and work on honing his footwork and playing within structure so he could begin to take off as the season progressed.
But the opposite has happened.
In what is becoming a tradition under Eberflus, the Bears have come off the field lame and are still searching for their offensive identity, one they had months to define under Waldron.
Instead, that search for identity led to Sunday. Fourth and Goal Speed Option call from the inch line that blew up for a loss of 12.
If you’re looking for the definition of a team with no offensive identity, you’ll see a clip of that play.
“I don’t know. Whatever gets us to the win,” wide receiver DJ Moore said after the loss when asked about the offense’s identity. “The first win (against Tennessee), the defense and the special teams got us that win and lately they’ve been hanging in there and we haven’t. We’ve got to figure out our identity, right now, for their sake.”
Williams said the Bears’ offensive identity is “in the making.” This comes just days after Eberflus said they were “working” to figure it out.
Asking your prized rookie quarterback to drop back 60 times (52 passes, four sacks, four plays called back by penalty) behind an offensive line struggling to pass block is a recipe for getting hit, getting hurt and stunting his early development.
Despite his 363 yards passing on Sunday, Williams completed just 7 of 17 passes for 181 yards and one interception on passes of 10-plus yards, according to Next Gen Stats. There were some impressive plays, but he also had 11 off-target passes, according to ESPN.
The Bears need to protect Williams and help him find his footing, not ask him to carry such a heavy load early in his career when the offense doesn’t even know what it is.
While Waldron will take much of the blame, it will all fall on Eberflus, who once again claimed that things are not as bad as they seem after a disheartening defeat.
Sound familiar? It should. It was the same steady rhythm from last season, when the Bears struggled for three months before a furious late-season stretch led to a 7-10 record and allowed Eberflus to keep his job.
But if you look at the NFL, the coach is the most important thing. The Minnesota Vikings are 3-0 with Sam Darnold. The Green Bay Packers have won two straight with Malik Willis at quarterback. Willis has been with the team for just 27 days. Justin Fields and the Pittsburgh Steelers are 3-0. The Bears’ next opponent, the Los Angeles Rams, just staged a furious comeback to beat the San Francisco 49ers despite being without many of their best players.
What do all these teams have in common? An elite team. Kevin O’Connell, Matt LaFleur, Mike Tomlin and Sean McVay are three of the best in the business.
While Eberflus and the Bears spend much of the season trying to figure out who they want to be, these coaches are quickly adapting on the fly and winning games without having their best hand.
That’s not to mention the inexcusable timeout that was wasted Sunday after the Bears’ first touchdown. Down 14-3 midway through the fourth quarter, the Bears should have known they would attempt a two-point conversion if they scored a touchdown to cut the lead to three.
Instead, when Williams found Rome Odunze for his first career score, the Bears had the team punt first and promptly had to burn a timeout. A shot from the sideline showed some coaches holding up one finger while others held up two.
Having that extra timeout in the back pocket would have proven valuable as the Bears tried to mount a furious late comeback that fell short.
After the loss, Eberflus took the blame for the mistake and said everyone needed to “be better,” from the booth to the sideline.
That’s all well and good, but the “get better” moment started three weeks ago. It started five months ago, when Williams was drafted. It started eight months ago, when he was given his third year and tasked with building the support system for a potentially “generational” quarterback.
Instead, the Bears are 1-2 and just failed in a game they had no business losing. The running game has been nonexistent and the quest to figure out how to get it going was abandoned in favor of asking Williams to drop back 60 times.
In a year that was supposed to be about preparing Williams for his rise to stardom, the Bears are already running the risk of asking him to blitz too much too soon in an offense with no clear game plan and no protections.
Williams’ exceptional talent shines through despite the limitations of the Bears’ offense and poor coaching practices.
But that’s not enough for this franchise, not with the rare opportunity they’ve been presented with in Williams.
They spent the entire offseason crafting a plan to develop Williams and ease him into his NFL career. Instead, they’ve already played three games and still have no idea what their offensive identity is.
As a team, the Bears only have one identity right now: They are a team lost behind a head coach and an offensive coaching staff with no evidence of a plan to get on track and meet the expectations set for this season.
