Chicago is a tough market. There’s no doubt about it. Shane Waldron has quickly learned that. The Chicago Bears offensive coordinator has been the talk of the town for much of the last month for all the wrong reasons.
On paper, the Bears offense was primed to be one of the better units in the league this season. But that’s why they play the games. Waldron’s unit has been underwhelming through the season’s first three weeks. That’s putting it lightly. There have been flashes, namely, the performances of Caleb Williams, Rome Odunze, and Cole Kmet last week. But it’s been, for the most part, nowhere close to the version we hoped for.
Many have called for Shane Waldron’s job — or at least questioned whether he’s the right guy for the job. I’m guilty of this. When Waldron was hired, I was a fan of the move. He was at least a league-average offensive coordinator with some experience working with quarterbacks who found success. He was a Sean McVay (and, by extension, Kyle Shanahan) disciple. He checked the boxes for me.
I don’t know what we’ve seen thus far. It’s not what we have on paper or film for his previous offenses. Still, we can all agree that there’s time to right the ship. In some ways, we’ve seen Waldron begin to trend in the right direction. He’s corrected his ridiculous personnel usage in Week 1. Cole Kmet is back to being a featured weapon in the offense. D’Andre Swift, who’s been a total bust to this point, has seen his workload decrease weekly. We’re not seeing Gerald Everett force-fed targets (as often) anymore.
So, there’s hope for Shane Waldron. Maybe.
Objectively, seeing this coaching staff crash and burn is not in the best interest of developing rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. That’s not to say that it would ruin him; simply that the best-case scenario is that Waldron wakes up, smells the coffee, and starts tailoring his offense to his rookie quarterback and his playmakers.
Much like his personnel changes, there’s some evidence that such changes will come out of Halas Hall this week.
On Wednesday, Williams said that he and Waldron have been discussing the offensive design. Williams has been letting his offensive coordinator know what plays he and his playmakers are (and aren’t) comfortable with. That, in itself, is a significant step toward righting the ship.
Veteran tight end Mercedes Lewis said this week that he delivered a message to Waldron that he and the other guys on the offense want him to coach them and feel comfortable holding guys accountable for their performance:
“I think, mainly, just continue to be vocal about the things that he sees and don’t feel like he can’t point guys out. From the oldest guy in the room – being me – to the youngest guy. Don’t feel like you can’t coach us. I want to be coached. I want to be great. This is not, you know, this is not for play. This is our job. We understand that. It’s a high—stress, production-based business, and we’ve all got to be doing the same things, or everybody gets fired.
Ego is supposed to be left at the door. That’s what it’s about. He’s very receptive to that. I think, obviously, coming in, we’ve got a bunch of dudes. Not just guys on the team or on this offense. We have dudes, dudes who have done it at a high level. Sometimes as the coach coming in, you might be walking on eggshells. I just kind of put that to bed. Nobody’s sensitive in here. We want to win games just as bad as you do. It’s a collaborative effort. This is not Pop Warner. We work together, side by side, to get things done. That’s really what my message was.”
We’ve got the rookie quarterback working with Shane Waldron to understand better what works for him schematically and a seasoned veteran empowering Waldron to hold guys accountable for their performance.
We also have this nugget from ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Friday.
Schefter said on the Pat McAfee Show that Waldron held himself accountable for the offensive struggles by putting up all of the plays he felt he messed up on the board at Halas Hall.
“[Waldron] put everything up on the board that he screwed up this week,” Schefter said. “He’s like, ‘here’s where I was wrong, here’s what I could have done better … if the players are going to be accountable, I’m going to hold myself accountable.’ He couldn’t have been any more transparent to the team than he was this past week by showing the things that he felt like he did wrong, and they were obviously considerable.”
Has everything been forgotten from our unmitigated disaster during the first three weeks of the season? No. Not yet, anyway. However, it’s encouraging to hear that Waldron is taking accountability for his performance, being transparent with his offense, and considering their input. That type of collaboration creates a productive unit that can consistently do things to win football games.
Ironically, it’s the opposite of what we’ve experienced here in Chicago previously.
So, maybe it’s not time to wonder if Shane Waldron is the guy for the job. Perhaps we should see how things play out.
Our idealogy of what a rookie quarterback should look like has been skewed by the C.J. Stroud experience last season. That was a one-of-one performance—the outlier. It’s probably the best rookie season we’ve ever witnessed by a quarterback.
What we’ve seen from Caleb Williams this season doesn’t fall into that bucket, but it hasn’t been discouraging. He’s looked better every week and will continue to do so. If he and Waldron can get on the same page, we will look back at these first three weeks as a minor speed bump.
Here’s to hoping.