The Chicago Bears entered the 2024 season with high expectations from the media, I agreed with the talks. The team had players to be excited about and that could back up what the experts expected from this team. The Bears ended up underachieving these expectations by a lot and ended up having a record expected by any team led with a rookie QB. Once again the team fell short due to poor execution due to bad coaching, scheme and use of personnel, evident by the firing of the offensive coordinator and head coach at the middle of the season. It went so bad that the franchise did something never done in its 100+ years in the league, so much negative media rained upon them that they just didn't have a choice but to do the right thing. Still even after this, they made a very questionable call in placing Thomas Brown as interim head coach, someone that was given the OC job weeks before they had to fire Shane Waldron, they were giving him the responsibility of the whole team, moving the focus from the growth of Caleb Williams as a player, to the QB of his offense to just one more player of the whole roster. It was a long shot for him to straighten the ship, it didn't work. So the Chicago Bears are stuck in their loop of GM, HC and QB off synched carrousel, QB done, HC in the wait, next in queue the GM, yatzee? As for Ryan Poles safety, he is not safe. Thinking about his last two years of work for the Bears, he has placed himself in a good spot roster wise due to the fleecing of the Carolina Panthers, other than that trade there's not much to feel good about what he has done. Getting Montez Sweat is still in the works, it looks good but if the losing keeps piling up, it's another second rounder down the drain not used to improve the offense, which is the biggest knock I have with Poles, I prefer having a GM that treasures draft picks to build the team than one that gives them away for band aids. The trade for Keenan Allen at the end of the season had some success, but felt like forced success as well, the game plan was too focused on him at the begging of the season and as was with D'Andre Swift, leaving other players, young talented players, forgotten on the bench.
The Bears previous coaching staff couldn't make it work with QB Justin Fields who has high talent as an athlete with home run hitting abilities with his legs and arm but still has flaws as a passer. Now with Williams they have a talented passer with good athletic skills but showed he is more of a playmaker than a home run hitter like Fields. So, the team still has a promising QB in their hands, they need to place the right coaching staff in place to take advantage of the hardest part in football, have a talented QB. It wouldn't hurt to fix the Oline, wich played average as a whole and it was decimated by injuries, it could have worked better if it maintained itself more healthy but that is asking too much in this sport, the negligence by GM Ryan Poles to not bolster the starting line and add depth to this unit knowing they were going to start the season with a rookie QB is another knock on his resume. If the OLine ever gets fixed, I expect the offense to improve dramatically with better play calling focused on the talent at hand which the Bears have with Williams, Odunze, Kmet and Moore as unquestionable starter next season.
With the departure of Matt Eberflus, the defense took a step back, honestly the defense started struggling once Andrew Billings was lost for the season, struggling to control the LOS against the run, it got a little better once Kyle Gordon returned but they still got gashed with inside runs. The lack of depth, tougher second half schedule and scheme change (maybe?) hurt the whole until, going from a top 10 defense to a bottom 10 just like that.
The team won't be losing critical players this year to free agency, they can bring a bunch of them back but it should only be to battle for depth at most.
A 4-12 record does not say the talent of the roster, it was a season that was structured badly from the top, the Bears can turn things around next season with the cap and draft picks they have, they are in a position to get the right person to build it right this time. The Bears front office is looking desperate, they should. They are doing things differently to try and get better while looking lost, they have been for a long time now. Before, they would be asking other people to guide them to make the decision of who should lead this team. Now, they kept it in house, they jokingly interviewed every possible HC candidate for any and every scenario, and as of yesterday, just a day after he was available, they picked arguably the most coveted candidate in the league, the biggest offensive brain available for hire and hit him with the biggest bag of cash given by the organization to a new comer, why? Because their desperate, good. Will it work? Not sure, but it's what needs to be done. Next, is to get the best coaching staff possible and the best Oline and Dline possible, then we can seriously talk about improving for next season, because the Bears winning the offseason doesn't do it for me anymore.
