When Shane Waldron arrived last January, he thought he had a plan for the Chicago Bears’ offense. Three games into the 2024 season, it is glaringly apparent that the plan was ill-conceived. His offense has produced 8, 13, and 16 points in their first three games. They rank 30th in rushing and have allowed 13 sacks on Caleb Williams. Nothing about this approach from Waldron is working. Analysts can’t understand what identity he is trying to go for, leading to all sorts of mental miscues.
Apparently, several members of the Bears offense had seen enough. A leadership council led by Williams, D.J. Moore, Cole Kmet, and Marcedes Lewis met with Waldron earlier this week to have a frank discussion about the direction of things. They didn’t hold back, either. The young coordinator praised them for their open and honest communication. When asked about what was said during the meeting, Lewis provided a snippet of the message he and others wanted to convey.
“From the oldest guy in the room – being me – to the youngest guy, don’t feel like you can’t coach us,” Lewis said. “I want to be coached. I want to be great. This is not, you know, this is not for play. This is our job. We understand that. It’s a high… stressful, production-based business and we’ve all got to be doing the same things or everyone gets fired. Ego is supposed to be left at the door. That’s what it’s about. He’s very receptive to that. …
We have doubts, doubts who have done it at a high level. Sometimes, as the coach coming in, you might be walking on eggshells. I just kind of put that to bed. Nobody’s sensitive in here. We want to win games just as bad as you do. It’s a collaborative effort. This is not Pop Warner.”
From what Lewis said, it sounds like the coordinator arrived with a somewhat subdued attitude. He wasn’t exactly sure where he stood. It was a new locker room filled with veterans who’d had success before his arrival. That, along with the intimidating task of inheriting a #1 overall pick, must’ve made him gunshy. He focused more on instructing players what to do than trying to coach them. Sometimes, that requires a heavy hand when they aren’t doing things the right way. It goes a long way in explaining the myriad of mental mistakes guys have made for the past month.
This isn’t the first time the leadership council intervened during the season. The same thing happened in 2021 after Justin Fields got sacked nine times in Cleveland. Adjustments were made after that, and things settled down for the most part. Players aren’t dumb. They can see what is wrong with the current situation. There is no fixing it unless they get through to Shane Waldron that certain things have to change. It will be interesting to see what adjustments are made for the upcoming Rams game.
