The Bears’ losing streak to the Green Bay Packers hit 11 after another heart-breaking loss. With seven games remaining, salvaging Caleb Williams’ development remains priority No. 1.
The losing streak continued on Sunday afternoon. Despite holding the lead at halftime and looking like the better team for the majority of the game, the Chicago Bears’ losing streak against the Green Bay Packers stretched to 11 games, and their in-season streak extended to a season-high four games. Even when Chicago is doing most things right, they find a way to break their fan’s hearts in the most improbable ways possible.
With seven games remaining in the 2024 regular season and no other changes likely to come until January, Bears fans are being forced to strap in for another lost cause season and hope for the best. As any hopes of the playoffs continue to quickly disappear, we’ll dive more into Sunday’s game and what to expect over the final two months.
1. Tumultuous weeks at Halas Hall have become the norm under this current regime. The lack of support for Shane Waldron spoke volumes, but none were louder than the team’s decision to consider benching their rookie quarterback.
Coming out of last Sunday’s 19-3 loss at home to the New England Patriots, it was clear that something had to be done. God bless those Bears fans who held out hope that head coach Matt Eberflus would be fired. Instead, he had a disastrous ESPN 1000 radio spot on Monday morning and a non-descript presser later that day. Monday afternoon, reports started to come out that the Bears were mulling over benching Caleb Williams. It was reported that not only was the brass discussing the move but a few veteran players had gone to leadership and recommended sitting him for a week or two while he got his confidence back.
Thankfully, none of that happened and instead, Waldron was fired after a highly disappointing nine-game stint in Chicago. It was announced that passing game coordinator Thomas Brown would be promoted to the offensive coordinator role, which also entailed calling plays. We’ll dive into that more in a bit but the more concerning aspect of this last week was that they even considered benching their rookie quarterback.
The lack of support for Waldron resonated throughout the week at Halas Hall in the form of trusted veteran players. Keenan Allen called him “too nice”. It seemed as if their rookie quarterback was the only one who didn’t make some sort of ambiguous comment about the former offensive playcaller. The effort on the field was lacking and the “common sense” aspect of football seemed completely gone. It appears, judging by those comments, that players also picked up on it. Waldron’s passive nature did not inspire much confidence in the locker room but his play calling and overall scheme was what got him fired after just nine games.
Only time will tell how much Waldron’s mid-season firing weighs into Eberflus’ fate. However, it seems telling that four of the candidates they interviewed during the hiring process have produced considerably better offenses. Now, Brown has an opportunity to get things on the right track. It has been noted multiple times, but it bears repeating: Don’t expect this coaching staff to completely reinvent the wheel in the coming weeks. Expect lesser burden on their rookie quarterback, a bigger emphasis on the run game, and most importantly, the ability to scheme around a bad offensive line.
2. “Tough times don’t last, but tough people do,” was head coach Matt Eberflus’ tone-deaf comment of the week following Sunday’s loss. How much more needs to be seen that this roster is severely underachieving?
Following the week that was, it would have been completely understandable for the Bears to lay down and get blown out. Instead, after a bad start on defense, optimism grew as the offense started to figure things out. In fact, the Bears controlled the majority of the game. That’s not something that can often be said when facing a Packers team that has owned the rivalry for the better part of three decades.
Chicago went into the half with the lead and a chance to double up. Although they weren’t able to punch it into the end zone on their opening third-quarter drive, they did get a field goal to extend the lead to six points. As quickly as the Bears inspired confidence with a six-point lead, it was gone after a dominant Green Bay drive that saw them march down the field to take the lead back. Again, Chicago could have laid down, and the game could have gotten out of hand. Instead, they fought back to take a late fourth-quarter lead. That’s when things went south.
After an impressive 12-play drive that took over seven minutes off the clock, the (4-5) Bears were faced with a bold decision. Go for it on fourth and three from Green Bay’s 49 or punt. Teams that are in a funk and need a spark would normally take bigger chances. Especially considering the team’s success on third and fourth down on Sunday. Instead, Eberflus opted to take the delay of game and punt. The Packers then marched down the field on a four-play, 78-yard touchdown scoring drive to take the lead. After a failed two-point conversion, the Bears had 2:59 and a timeout to go 40-plus yards for the game-winning field goal.
The drive started with a pair of sacks, but Chicago’s offense was able to overcome a third and 19 to get into field goal range just three plays later. Again, Eberflus had a decision. The Bears were sitting pretty with a first and 10 from the Packers’ 30-yard line. They had 35 seconds and a timeout left. Considering the amount of bad luck a team like the Bears has experienced, going conservative seemed like the worst of the multiple choices the team’s head coach faced. Eberflus opted to run the ball once, for a two-yard gain and set his kicker up for a game-winning 46-yard field goal. Although Cairo Santos is ever-reliable inside 50 yards, he’s not known for having the best leg. Especially as the weather gets colder and wind is a factor. Knowing all of this, Eberflus still opted to run the ball and call a timeout with a few seconds remaining. Lo and behold, Santos’ kick was lower (due to distance) and, ultimately, blocked.
Just like that, the Bears had lost their second game this season in improbable fashion. Similar to their Hail Mary loss in Washington coming out of the bye week, more aggressive coaching could have prevented the loss. Then again, at this point, we know who Eberflus is. He’s conservative to a fault and has yet to figure out how to manage late-game situations when the score is close.
Hence why the Bears have lost five games in a year and a half, all while having a (90%) or better chance of winning the game. In Eberflus’ postgame, he seemed somewhat defeated. Instead of taking accountability for another late-game blunder, he backed his decision to go conservative. To feed more into this point, he noted that he didn’t want to “risk a fumble” by running another play before using his final timeout. By risking a fumble, Eberflus’ mindset was on yet another run play. Not allow his quarterback to sling the ball another time (or two), despite having three game-changing throws on that same drive.
Therein lies the problem. Rookie quarterback or not, Williams came alive on the final drive of the game. That was coming off the heels of his best performance since the bye week. Eberflus’ conservative nature has cost this team multiple games. Whether it was going into conservation mode up 14 points in the third quarter against the Denver Broncos last year, or not playing tighter coverage against a banged-up Jayden Daniels with less than 15 seconds left in the game. The instinct to play things safe has ultimately led to the downfall of a team that should have far more wins than they’ve collected during Eberflus’ three years as the head coach.
Sunday’s blocked field goal was yet another example of why Eberflus’ tenure cannot extend past the 2024 season. With those two fortunes reversed the Bears are sitting at (6-4) and in full control of the sixth seed. Who knows, maybe they find a way to win one of those games between the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots. Instead, their mid-season free fall continues, and all their head coach can do is come up with cliche sayings that don’t fit their current situation. Although it is unreasonable to expect the Bears to make another in-season coaching change after a close loss, at some point, enough is enough. Chicago has long reached that point and many would argue it came last season. Either way, ownership cannot allow another year of their quarterback on a rookie contract to be wasted on incompetent coaching.
Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images
3. Can Thomas Brown salvage Caleb Williams’ development? The early returns were more than positive.
The primary— and arguably— only focus for the remainder of the year should be on Williams’ development. Putting aside the nonsense around “benching” him for a week or two, the only thing that can help him is playing. Keep in mind that this coaching staff named him the starter in May. There’s no going back on that now.
The Bears deserve plenty of criticism for how they’ve handled this year, but dumping Waldron for Brown was a move that needed to happen. In an ideal world, they would have hired the right candidate to begin with, but promoting Brown made sense. Especially given his experience with Bryce Young last year in Carolina.
Two years ago, Brown was looked at as one of the top assistants on the market. In many ways, he’s a Sean McVay disciple and has a diverse offensive background. When he was hired to be the offensive coordinator in Carolina, he was not the play-caller. As we’ve seen, the Panthers are a disaster. Brown never received a fair shake, but the experience from last season brings plenty of value to the team’s current situation.
Many wondered what this “new” offense would look like under the former running back. It was only one game but everything rumored turned out to be true through the first game under their new offensive coordinator. Brown’s primary experience has been as a running back coach or a run game coordinator. Last year was the first year where he was focused on the entire offense.
Before Sunday’s game, the message of Brown’s plan was simple. Take some of the pre and post-snap responsibility off Williams. Commit to the run game and allow Williams to play more “free.” To boil it down to a more simple point, Brown’s goal is to instill common sense within the offense. That’s exactly what it looked like he did on Sunday.
From the start, we saw them utilize play-action more. Pre-snap motion was seen early and often, and Williams was getting the ball out of his hands at a great clip. It allowed the rookie quarterback to get into a rhythm and build confidence. Without the context of his previous three games, you would have never thought he was struggling coming into Sunday.
Looking around the league at the other rookie quarterbacks, each offensive play-caller has made it a priority to keep things simple and let the quarterbacks play. Through the first nine games of the season, that was not something Waldron did for Williams. The rookie was still allowed to make certain checks at the line, but it was a much smoother operation that led to considerably fewer sacks and a season-best 9-of-16 (56%) on third down. Oh, and don’t forget a perfect 3-for-3 on fourth down. Despite only scoring 19 points against a good defense, the offense was efficient and moved the ball well most of the game.
Another aspect of this new offense that stood out was Williams’ ability to break the pocket and use his athleticism. That’s not something we’ve seen much of this year before Sunday. Williams doesn’t possess Daniels’ athleticism, but he’s more than capable of using his legs as a weapon.
We’ll see how this approach translates over the coming weeks. At some point soon, teams will adjust to the Bears’ new-look offense. We’ll get to see how Brown can adjust or if he can adjust at all. Until then, keeping him relatively clean in the pocket, moving the pocket, scheming up easy throws, and allowing him to use his legs to create is something that should have been happening all along. At this point, if Brown can get Williams back on track and finish on a high note, the organization will owe him for decades to come.
4. The defense has lost their edge, despite what some of the numbers might say on the surface.
It’s a tale as old as time. When one Bears unit does its job, the other isn’t good enough. Normally, we see the offense struggle, and the defense plays well. On Sunday, the offense played well enough to win, but the defense could not hold a lead. Some may look at the final score and say, “How does a defense give up 20 points and play poorly?” That’s a fair question.
Here’s one stat for those asking that question. The defense gave up 8.5 yards per play. No matter what the point total was, that’s not good enough. Chicago’s offense did a good job of keeping Green Bay’s offense off the field. The Bears dominated time of possession by almost 13 whole minutes. The Packers ran 25 fewer plays. Yet, Chicago had just 25 more yards and one less point. Something doesn’t add up, right?
A big reason why is simple: The Bears didn’t pressure the quarterback. Love was “sacked” once for a one-yard loss. That came on a play where he broke the pocket and failed to get rid of it late in a down in the red zone. He was hit just twice on the day and rarely pressured. That’s a big issue and something we saw a lot of in Eberflus’ first year and a half. They are starting to regress to that point, and it should be a point of concern.
Right now, their defense is playing more like a league-average unit, rather than the Top 10 group they were for the better part of the seven games. Maybe that’ll change down the stretch, but as of now, they are taking the ball away, they aren’t stopping the run, and they are not getting after the quarterback. No matter how much talent is on a defensive unit, those issues aren’t going to lead to successful results. It goes without saying but the defensive line is going to be a big focus this offseason. Or at least, it should be.
Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
5. It’s time to fire up the head coaching candidate list.
I’m sure each Bears fan had a moment in Sunday’s game (when the Bears were in the lead) where the scenario of running it back with this coaching staff for a Year 4 seemed like a possibility. Beating the Packers is not something we’ve seen a lot of over the last 25 years and we know that the McCaskey family puts plenty of stock in these games.
Even so, this is still a team (with a win on Sunday or not) that was facing an uphill climb over the second half of this season. Barring a shocking turnaround (which seems even more unlikely after this loss), “progress” is not going to be objectively found coming out of 2024. More importantly, Eberflus continues to make it abundantly clear that he’s not a coach capable of taking this team anywhere near a Super Bowl. With a young quarterback on an affordable rookie contract, the time to strike is now. So, barring a playoff appearance, this is almost assuredly a franchise that will be looking for a head coach in January.
Taking a look at some of the top candidates, it’ll be interesting to see what the Bears prioritize. Considering they drafted a quarterback at No. 1 overall in April’s draft, it would be surprising for them not to hire an offensive-minded candidate. If, and that’s a big “if”, Brown can get this offense on track, maybe they feel more comfortable hiring a defensive-minded candidate. Even then, the worry would be what happens if/when Brown would leave for a head coaching job. Recent history has shown that offensive minds have better success, which is where Bears fans should be focusing the majority of their energy.
Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr does a great job in his yearly head coaching candidates for the current year and beyond.
Here are some of my top candidates from that list:
- OC Ben Johnson (Detroit Lions)
- OC Joe Brady (Buffalo Bills)
- OC Todd Monken (Baltimore Ravens)
- OC Drew Petzing (Arizona Cardinals)
- OC Klint Kubiak (New Orleans Saints)
This group would be assuming they gut the entire coaching staff and want their own choice running the offense. Johnson has been the hot candidate and will continue to be until he takes a job. My biggest hangup with Johnson is his reported $15 million per year price tag. That’s not something I can see ownership wanting to pay. Brady is another fun name. Similar to Petzing, they are probably a “one year too soon” type of candidate, but there’s plenty of upside there. Brady has a long track record of developing quarterbacks. His work with Josh Allen has been remarkable, especially when considering how many weapons this group has lacked this season. Monken is an interesting name because he’s had success at multiple levels. He’s a little on the older side (will be 59 next season) but is a local product that has a lot of respect in the sport. Finally, Kubiak is another interesting name that might be a year or two too early but his pedigree speaks for itself.
Candidates that would make sense if Thomas Brown is a viable Offensive Coordinator:
- Former HC Mike Vrabel (Tennessee Titans)
- DC Brian Flores (Minnesota Vikings)
- DC Jesse Minter (Los Angeles Chargers)
- DC Aaron Glenn (Detroit Lions)
- STC Chris Horton (Baltimore Ravens)
Vrabel and Flores are on here for obvious reasons. I’m not sure either would be a personality fit for ownership, but both are strong leaders with some proven success in the past. It’s hard not to love Flores’ defensive acumen but a big concern there would be his previous handling of Tua. Minter reminds me a lot of Mike MacDonald’s time in Baltimore. He was handpicked to come over from Michigan with Jim Harbaugh. He’s a progressive mind that could translate well to not just being a defensive mind. By all accounts, Glenn is a respected leader, and a very good defensive mind. Finally, Horton is an interesting name because of his pedigree and special teams experience. He’s a former defensive back who has plenty of quality coaching connections (as noted in the linked article above). I’ll always have a curiosity about special teams coaches because their track record at the NFL level is undeniable.
Candidates I would not be remotely interested in:
- Former HC Bill Belichick (New England Patriots)
- HC Lincoln Riley (USC)
- HC Ryan Day (Ohio State)
- OC Matt Nagy (Kansas City Chiefs)
I firmly believe that Belichick is the best coach to ever do it. At least in the modern-day. With that being said, the game has passed him by, and the amount of control he’d want is a no-go for me. Riley is one of the most overrated coaches in the game. His name will be tied to the Bears for obvious reasons but a guy who can’t lead at the college level stands no chance of success at the NFL level. As an offensive coordinator, I might listen. Day is a very good head coach but I’m just not a giant fan of him as a personality and do not like the history of college coaches making the first-time jump to the NFL. Finally, Nagy is on this list for obvious reasons. He’ll need to go somewhere with an established quarterback and hopefully, he’s learned that he needs to give up play-calling.