Boy was I wrong! In October, I penned a column titled “Chicago Bears off to promising start” after the Chicago Bears started their season with a 3-2 record. After week 14, we’re sitting at a 4-9 record. Looking back on my earlier analysis of the Chicago Bears’ 2024 season, it’s clear that I was overly optimistic about the team’s prospects and wrong in several key areas. While I was hopeful that the Bears were on the verge of a comeback, reality has proven that the issues I downplayed and the strengths I emphasized were not as they seemed. Here’s why I was mistaken in my initial assessment.
I did get one thing right in my last post about the Bears. Matt Eberflus was and is still a tool. Eberflus’ firing came as an early holiday gift to all Chicago sports fan, and is arguably the best thing to happen to the Bears since their championship in 1985. Towards the early season, I didn’t realize how bad Eberflus would be for Caleb WIlliams and his development. The Bears need an offensive-minded head coach to develop one of the most hyped prospects in NFL history, which Eberflus’ defensive minded background did not provide.
Eberflus’ faults shined especially bright in the Bears’ game against the No. 1 Detroit Lions on Nov. 28. With 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter, a timeout and field position within field goal range, the Bears wanted to run another play before the field goal. The offensive took longer than expected to line up and time ran down. Eberflus refused to take a timeout prior to the snap as the clock ran down. Had Eberflus shown any semblance of competency in one of the biggest games of the year and possessed any clock management skill, the Bears could have headed into overtime and earned a huge upset against a division rival.
The Bears’ failures are not only bad due to coaching: they are one hail-mary, one blocked field goal and an overtime loss from being 8-5. The potential to be one of the best teams in the league is there, and they’re close, but they’ve had an inability to lock in and win games when needed. I am sure that winning will come with time and maturity but it is still painful for all fans in the meantime.
Williams is also a rollercoaster of a quarterback, going from 300 yards and three touchdowns to 140 yards a week later. I put a lot of the blame on the Bears’ offensive line. Williams is the most sacked quarterback in the league with 50-plus taken sacks this year. I agree that he needs to get the ball out quicker, but 50 sacks through 14 weeks is diabolical.
In all of my woes as a Bears fan, at least we have a top five redzone defense. As we move toward the later weeks of the season, I hope we can end with a few more wins under our belt. Let’s hope that interim head coach Thomas Brown can lead the team in a positive direction as general manager Ryan Poles searches for a new head coach to help direct the team and Williams in a positive direction moving past this train wreck of a season.
