A few weeks ago, the Chicago Bears offense hit rock bottom against the New England Patriots. They managed just three points against one of the worst defenses in the NFL, while Caleb Williams was sacked nine times. The rookie looked utterly lost and overwhelmed. It starkly contrasted the confident young passer who went into the bye week after throwing four touchdowns against Jacksonville. After the disaster, rumors circulated that some players in the locker room went to Matt Eberflus and Ryan Poles about benching Williams.
It was a surprise and somewhat disheartening to think they’d turn on him like that. However, new details have surfaced about what happened. Unsurprisingly, there was missed context at the time. According to The Athletic, those players who offered the idea of sitting Williams had nothing to do with losing faith in the rookie. It had everything to do with getting him away from former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
After the loss to the Patriots, meetings at Halas Hall grew tense. Some team leaders even floated the idea of benching Williams in favor of backup Tyson Bagent, believing Waldron’s system was hurting the rookie’s growth. Two days later, Waldron was fired. A team source said Warren wanted changes.
Eberflus considered keeping Waldron on the staff, but it didn’t happen.
“Where they messed up was with Shane and making him the coordinator to begin with,” the player said.
How? Two red flags popped up during the summer. One was the coach’s decision to scrap the Bears’ rushing scheme, which had been successful over the past two years. The other was implementing a passing system that was pure progression, meaning it demanded the quarterback to play from the pocket and read the entire field. Asking Caleb Williams, a rookie, to do that was needlessly risky. It certainly explains why the young quarterback looked so overwhelmed at times. The Patriots game was the final straw. If Waldron were allowed to stay in charge, he would surely ruin the kid.
Drastic as the decision to bench Williams must’ve seemed, it was the only way some saw as possible to stop it from happening. Mercifully, Waldron was fired that same week. Thomas Brown took over and seems to have the quarterback on the right path again.
