Shane Waldron was fired a month ago. One would think the stories about him would’ve trickled to a stop by now. That isn’t the case at all. If anything, they’ve grown more insane with each passing day. Adam Jahns and Dianna Russini of The Athletic may have just delivered the pièce de résistance. Head coach Matt Eberflus was fired on Friday after his disastrous handling of the end of the game in Detroit. Players are said to have gotten into a heated confrontation with him, led by cornerback Jaylon Johnson.
GM Ryan Poles and team president Kevin Warren were also furious. Both went to chairman George McCaskey, urging him to make a change to save the locker room. For the first time in over a century, ownership agreed. People debated where the problems began. While most agree the Hail Mary game was the breaking point, the first signs of a big problem came way back in training camp. It seems players caught on to Waldron being a fraud that early.
“Players’ frustrations with Waldron had been bubbling since the summer. The new offensive coordinator changed the Bears’ run game, scrapping two years of progress under offensive line coach Chris Morgan. His decision to install a pure progression passing system — a challenging scheme even for veteran QBs — further complicated things for Williams. Players voiced concerns to their head coach at various times but rarely felt heard.”
He changed a run scheme that had been successful for two years and installed a passing system that had only worked with the likes of Russell Wilson and Geno Smith, both decade-long veterans. It was a clear sign the offensive coordinator lacked the wherewithal of what he was stepping into. He’d never worked with a young quarterback in his career and had no concept of what forcing an advanced scheme onto him before he’s ready might do. No wonder Williams looked overwhelmed and lost in those three games after the bye week.
All one can do is ask what the hell Eberflus was thinking. He met with Shane Waldron twice in the interview process. Were no red flags raised at all during them? Then again, this is the man who thought Luke Getsy was the perfect option as well. This was the risk the Bears ran by allowing the head coach to stick around. It was possible, just possible, that he didn’t know how to identify a good coordinator. In the end, that mistake, along with refusing to listen to his players’ concerns, cost him his job.
