Shane Waldron was supposed to be the solution to the Chicago Bears’ offensive woes after Luke Getsy was fired. Eight games into the season, it appears that isn’t the case. The unit looks just as disjointed, sloppy, and unexplosive as the past two years. Only this time, it might actually be worse because the Bears can’t run the ball anymore. Players already confronted Waldron about his operation once before. It seemed to work for a time. Now, it’s right back to the same issues. Many are getting tired of it.
The biggest concern is Waldron’s inability to make life easier for Caleb Williams, the third-most sacked quarterback in the NFL and with a league-low accuracy rate on deep passes. The calls for his job are growing louder. However, two Bears insiders have indicated Matt Eberflus won’t do that. Adam Jahns of The Athletic mentioned it first.
“If Matt Eberflus is allowed to fire Shane Waldron during the season, it would be an indictment of himself and would likely become another reason for his own removal.
The Oakland Raiders fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy on Monday. It’s a bad look for the Raiders and the Bears. Eberflus fired Getsy after two years of calling plays for former quarterback Justin Fields.”
Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune mentioned the same thing not long after. Eberflus knows that firing Waldron now would be tantamount to career suicide.
“Firing an offensive coordinator eight games into a season isn’t a good look for a head coach who fired the previous coordinator after the last season. Eberflus must have confidence Waldron can find solutions — and not just against a poor opponent like the Patriots — because otherwise I think a move would have been justified, even with the team at 4-4. I’m just not convinced the offensive players have a great deal of confidence in the direction they’re going, and if that’s the case, can you blame them?”
Eberflus could turn to passing game coordinator Thomas Brown as a play caller without firing Waldron, but that would be a desperation move. Carolina tried the same exact thing last year with Brown. It only lasted three games in which they scored 15, 13, and 13 points respectively. Granted, it didn’t get better after head coach Frank Reich took it back, so maybe Brown wasn’t the problem. Either way, deviating from Waldron at this stage would be a monumental admission of incompetency by Eberflus.
There is no way he can do that. This is his third year. He hasn’t done nearly enough winning to afford such a bold move. Eberflus must work with Shane Waldron to find solutions to the problem. That is the only way they don’t avoid getting the axe a few months from now. It starts on Sunday. The New England Patriots are not a good team. This is a game the Bears should win handily. If the offense still struggles, the calls for change could grow deafening.
