Reading the Bear Scat #3

Reading the Bears Scat is a blog series about the Chicago Bears Football Team. I take what I hear in podcast, read in articles, and see in press conferences and break it down. The truth lies in between all these sources, let's see if we can sniff it out.

Let's get started. 

Week 10:

I'm now sober. The beginning of the season made me realize that Caleb Williams is in fact a rookie and it will take time for him to acclimate to the league. The preseason hype, led by the Chicago media and fueled by those on social media, has inevitably set the team up to disappoint us. The Bears are 4-4 and if you have been following via podcast or twitter, you would think they were blown out in every game they played. Though it hasn't looked good, it shouldn't be this painful to watch these games, so protect your peace people. Now that I'm off the sauce, and am back in reality, let's talk about how we got here, by the lens of the front office, coaching, and players.

Front Office

We'll start with some off the field stuff, THE STADIUM. Kevin Warren, President and CEO of the Bears was brought in to make the Bears franchise a business, and part of that is building a new stadium for the team. The Bears purchased the old horse race track in Arlington Heights, but due to tax issues (of course, big business wants a break) the team has pivoted to building a new stadium on the lake front. This is a pipe dream because the team has some pretty staunch opposition in the city/state. Governor JB Pritzker and the Friends of the Park organization will put up a fight to stop this from happening. For the Record, the FOTP have already stopped one development on the lake with the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. I don't see them losing this battle either. So like I said last year, the new stadium will be in Arlington Heights. 

Now on to some actual ball. Football is a game of pressure and coverage. Can the defense bring pressure soon enough so that the quarterback is forced into a risky decision? Can the offense protect the quarterback long enough so that he has time to read the field and make the throw? To me, football is this simple. 

In my opinion, General Manager, Ryan Poles made  a crucial error in not acquiring more talented players on the offensive line. We have a lot of lower tier talent on the line which has been whooped all year. This has lead to Caleb Williams looking bad at times, like nothing we saw at USC. The inability to protect him, may come at the cost of his development, but we won't know until next year when the line is (presumably) rebuilt. I also think that we may have too much receiving talent on the team. I say 'too much' because I think it's become really hard to get everyone involved and it may be causing some discord on the team. Okay, not so much causing discord on the team, but my lord, the media was very upset Cole Kmet didn't get any targets against the Cardinals and I had to hear them complain about it. I don't find it that upsetting because we finally got the rookie Rome Odunze going. Sorry, I could not help but take a shot at the media, but I think this points to where Poles went wrong in creating this years team. Yes, he acquired a lot of talent to receive passes from Caleb, but since he didn't bolster the offensive line Caleb doesn't have enough time to pass the ball to the receiving talent. Unfortunately, we will just have to see how that pans out for the rest of the year. It's looking bleak. On defense, I think he's done a good job of assembling talent. The pass rush is a little weak for my tastes, but there are no real issue there. 

Coaches

Welp. Let's get too it. Ryan Poles kept to keep Coach Matt Eberflus for another year, due to the defensive turnaround we saw at the end of last year. I think this was a mistake seeing as how we were going to draft a QB (generational talent) in hopes of turning the offense around. The case against keeping Eberflus is that during his whole tenure he has failed to build a consistently decent offense. Whether it be that he hasn't brought the right people in or that he has had too much influence on the offense. Either way, it hasn't worked. As of late, I think the inability to function on offense is slowly breaking the team, we have heard a lot about the team meetings, discussions with coaches, chaos. 

In regards to the offensive coordinator. I did not think Shane Waldron was a bad choice. He made helped resurrect Geno Smith, but for some reason it's not working here. I still think he has done some good things, but this offense just doesn't look good. Is it due to having a below average offensive line? Is it the play calls? Have they put too much on Caleb's plate? At the beginning of this year, the offense looked eerily similar to how it looks last year, discombobulated. To me that points to coaching, and since the offensive coaching has changed, this has led me to believe it's Flus' influence on the offense which is causing the issues. He's the one constant in the equation. I sorely want the reporters to ask Flus how much input he has on the offense, but they barely scratched the surface there so we don't know. Don't worry though, as the season plays out things will come to light. 

Since Flus is calling the defense, I don't have anything for you on Defensive Coordinator, Eric Washington. He's definitely better at speaking at the podium than Eberflus. 

Players

Let's start by talking about Caleb Williams. I am still optimistic about him. He's had a rough go of it these past two weeks, but it's not his fault (insert Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting gif). He has really flashed showing that he can make plays. He has also had some slumps. He is holding on to the ball quite long. It's very reminiscent of Justin Fields, though Caleb is always looking to pass, being almost hesitant to run. I don't think he's good enough yet to overcome bad coaching, but time will tell. In fact, at the end of the year, if there are changes, I'm sure they will happen because Caleb calls for it, or at least he should. Justin Fields being drafted brought me back to the team, but the prospect of Caleb has kept me interested. Let's see how this goes, I'm certain he'll get the Bears back into contention, but it won't be this year. Hang in there bud, Ben Johnson is around the corner.

I keep betting on Rome Odunze to score a touchdown. It happened once early in the season, but has eluded me since. Let me be clear, I am not mad at Rome or the team at all for this. It's the nature of betting. I throw a little money on him because I'm so excited for him to be on the team, and I want his success to be our success! It's been an up and down year for him, but I see why they drafted him, he get's open and catches the ball (when it's thrown to him). When he gets a first down he defiantly celebrates in the defenses face. I cannot wait to see what he does with this team. We'll likely just have to wait for Keenan Allen to leave the team next year, because that receiver room (including tight ends), is crowded.  That's why I think the Keenan Allen pick up was unnecessary in retrospect. Rome could easily be a WR1, but we as fans must remain honest, and realize that it was not a sure thing that we would be able to draft Rome.

Speaking of Keenan Allen, is he old or is the offense just busted? Or is the offense busted because he is old? Time will Tell.

The running back room was solid with the addition of Deandre Swift, until the traded my boy, the rightful RB2, Khalil Herbert to the Bengals. I'll miss him, but I'm glad he'll get a chance to play in the beautiful city of Cincinnati. 

I really fell in love with Kevin Byard this off season, and season. He is a PROFESSIONAL. The way he goes about business on and off the field is admirable. I wish we had a better offense for him. I'm he's back there with the rest of our awesome defensive back group. Them boys chirp and I love to hear it. If I wasn't a fat kid in high school, I would have tried to go to DBU.

On the Media:

This season has been terrible and the media has not made it fun. They say the are an extension of the fan and I find that to be the wrong line of thought. They are an extension of the team, giving us fans information we don't have at our finger tips. That being said, I find that most reporting you find on the internet tends to be for fans who are on twitter and are not measured at all. It makes the coverage not fun for me and many others who choose to live in reality. I say this because I do not have interest in most narratives they talk about ie, the hail mary which broke the team. That narrative lasted so long because the reporters kept asking questions about it. The team is also at fault for not immediately saying 'on to Arizona', but the Chicago media also plays a part. Let me be clear, the hail mary broke the team because there is a lack of leadership, not the reporting, but it did play a part.

That being said, I want to encourage fans to watch the team's press conferences posted on YouTube. They give great insight into what the players think and how they feel. I find that watching the press conferences will give a fan a more balanced look at how the players and coaches actually feel, and you can avoid listening to reporters opinions on body language and what not. Lastly, I want to Plug Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, he is measured and even and knows his stuff. If you're looking for someone to read, it should be him.

Update: A majority of the above was written before the Bears played the Patriots and the fall out of that game. For those who didn't know, Shane Waldron was let go and Nate Davis was released. It was needed, I'm glad it's done. I wish them both luck in future endeavors. Now a lot of the blame for the bad offense has shifted to Caleb,  and I find that deplorable. HE IS A ROOKIE, he is allowed to grow and be bad. My thought after all the criticism of Caleb is that this team lacks leadership at all levels. Eberflus has weak leadership and the team is crumbling. The players have no real leaders because they should be protecting their quarterback on and off the field. This mess is everyone's fault. The only people to blame is themselves. I am so disappointed in this team, I'll wear my jersey in shame as I watch them play (and most likely, lose to) the Packers. I wouldn't be surprised if Caleb requests a trade and flourishes on some other team. 

Ending this post how I'll end every post, with a chant created by friend out in upstate New York:   B - E - A - R - S, Rawr! Go Bears!