Welcome to the 2023 Chicago Bears Roundtable/Intervention/Vent Session/Spiritual Cleansing. Today, four KCOU Sports members will take on the daunting task of talking about their beloved Bears, who have looked as bad as any NFL team in recent memory through three games.
Before we get into the Bears…are you all ok?
Aidan O’Connor: No. We were lied to. Nobody had very high expectations leading into this season, but we were promised a competitive football team. That is not the case. The coaching is abysmal, and Fields can’t read a coloring book, let alone an NFL defense. Speaking of defense, we have none.
Ian Paprocki: Well no, but that’s nothing new. I mainly feel bad for Taylor Swift for having to witness the 2023 Chicago Bears play in-person.
Kaitlyn Phee: Not only are the 2023 Chicago Bears the most embarrassing franchise in NFL history, the Cubs might not be able to hold onto their Wild Card spot after having a 75% chance of making it at the beginning of September. So no. Leave it to Chicago to disappoint their fans.
Michael Totosz: Thankfully, my college football teams (Florida State and Mizzou) have been able to numb the pain so far, but without them, probably not. Connor Bedard is pretty good at hockey, so that’s cool, I guess .
I’m not going to ask what’s wrong with the Bears, because “everything” is a valid answer. Rather, in your eyes, which problem area seems to be the most problematic thus far?
Aidan O’Connor: Coaching. Matt Eberflus made it a point after the Chiefs loss that the locker room was a great place and no one was pointing fingers. Start pointing fingers. Get in a fight. Throw some tables. Do something.
Ian Paprocki: I can talk all day about how baffling it is that Justin Fields somehow looks worse than he did last year, and about how Luke Getsy’s play-calling is remarkably reaching Matt Nagy territory. But what I cannot wrap my head around is this defense. The Bears brought in a DEFENSIVE-minded head coach in Matt Eberflus, rather than an offensive-minded one to help their young quarterback. They swapped Roquan Smith for Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards to “better fit his system”. They’ve spent five of six Day 2 NFL Draft picks on defensive players since he took over. And here we are, after all of that, watching the Bears have arguably the worst defense in the NFL. That’s completely and utterly unacceptable.
Kaitlyn Phee: While our defense is struggling in so many ways, especially their pass rush, the offense is a huge concern. A lot of the blame falls to Getsy calling plays clearly built around an entirely different roster, but we can’t just put it all on him. Fields can’t read a defense to save his life, and he’s terrified in the pocket. The guy has receivers wide open right in front of his eyes and still decides to book it right into the defensive linemen. Chase Claypool is consistently running the wrong routes and giving minimal effort in both receiving and blocking. Mooney and Kmet are also guilty of running the wrong routes. Cody Whitehair and the rest of the offensive line often look like they have no idea what is going on around them and can’t seem to properly communicate with each other. This offense is completely lost.
Michael Totosz: Both offensive and defensive sides of the ball lack any sort of modern scheme that we see in the NFL, especially on defense. The team has no pass-rush whatsoever, so why does Eberflus and Co. insist on trotting out Tampa 2 game after game to let their already depleted secondary get torn apart? This ain’t the days of Lovie Smith, buddy;, it’s 2023. I could probably write a five-page essay on why Luke Getsy’s scheme is so bad, but I’ll just say he has plays in his playbook that should never see the light of day. Curls and posts at the exact same spot on the field? Calling the same play three (!!!!) times in a row? What are we doing???
What will happen if the Bears lose to the Broncos on Sunday, who just lost by 50 points?
Aidan O’Connor: Pass.
Ian Paprocki: Nothing new will happen. In over 100 years of existence, the Bears have never fired a head coach midseason, and this certainly isn’t a franchise that is known for breaking habits. As with every week, the people of Chicago will have a miserable Monday. Eberflus will go back to the media and baselessly persist that we’ll “see it all come together” and maybe make a weird excuse or two about how this team is “playing together for the first time”. It’s possible we’ll even get the customary and pointless report that George McCaskey is “frustrated.”
Kaitlyn Phee: As much as I pray I’m wrong, I don’t see any chance of us beating the Broncos. While Sean Payton completely embarrassed himself by criticizing Hackett for “one of the worst coaching jobs the NFL has ever seen” then proceeding to literally make history in that loss with one of the worst coaching jobs ever seen, I just don’t see a team led by Sean Payton losing to a team as disorganized as this one. It can’t get much worse than whatever Eberflus and Getsy are doing on that sideline. Say what you will about Russell Wilson, but at least he’s thrown more touchdowns than he has interceptions this year.
Michael Totosz: At this point, I am not even sure if winning Sunday would do anything except make our daft pick worse at this point. Obviously still 14 weeks left and they could turn it around but they have shown nothing, absolutely NOTHING to anyone to even have belief that it’s possible. I think a loss Sunday though would destroy whatever faith is left in Eberflus and he would be canned after the season along with Getsy. If they suck might as well keep them around to boost those draft picks for the next staff!
Have there been any silver linings through three games?
Aidan O’Connor: No. My silver lining is that I have learned how to start laughing through the pain.
Ian Paprocki: I don’t know if I’d consider these silver linings, but if there is any good news right now, it’s that the Bears are already shaping up to have two very high first-round picks in 2024, and I think that Darnell Wright and Roschon Johnson have had encouraging starts to their NFL careers. Unfortunately, that’s quite literally all of the positivity I can muster, and it doesn’t come close to making me feel even slightly good about this team.
Kaitlyn Phee: This season was supposed to prove whether or not Fields was the guy. He got his weapons with DJ Moore and some new offensive linemen, and he’s still not proving himself. So I think one silver lining is that, even if it wasn’t the answer fans wanted to hear, we know that Fields is not the guy. Now, there’s better knowledge of where to look in order to turn this team around. High draft picks are going to allow the Bears to pick up a new quarterback (one could dream of maybe seeing Caleb Williams in a blue and orange jersey?) and build a new team and playbook around that new guy. Ryan Poles is doing something right. Our picks from the 2023 draft have proved themselves so far. Darnell Wright is a beast, and I’m seeing a lot of potential in Tyrique Stevenson. Also, if the Bears could fix their offensive line issues, I think we would see some really impressive runs from Khalil Herbert.
Michael Totosz: Darnell Wright has very much looked like he belongs in the NFL, which is not easy for a rookie o-lineman to do in his first handful of NFL games. He makes mistakes, which is to be expected, but when he plays well, he shows future All-Pro potential. Secondly, the Carolina Panthers *might* somehow be worse than the Bears, so by owning their first round pick, there’s a realistic chance the Bears can enter the 2024 NFL Draft with two top-five picks. Walking away with two of Caleb Williams, Marvin Harrison Jr, Drake Maye, Jared Verse (Go Noles!) and Olumuyiwa Fashanu would be fantastic for the Bears. Obviously, the fever dream would be having the first and second pick and walking away with Caleb and MHJ, but it’s impossible to have a true idea of draft order three weeks in because the Bears were 2-1 three weeks in last year.
Finally, if you got ten minutes to sit down with Chicago’s coaching staff, what would you tell them?
Aidan O’Connor: Starting holding guys accountable. Bench people. It’s not like we can get any worse. Have some backbone and start calling guys out. Coaches, players, grounds crew, vendors. I don’t care. Figure it out.
Ian Paprocki: I think we’ve passed the point where there is anything that I could say to them that would fix this mess. They shouldn’t need me to tell them how they’re not using DJ Moore the right way. They shouldn’t need me to tell them they’re ruining Justin Fields by forcing him to be a pocket passer when his legs are a weapon. They just are simply not the right people to lead this team. If I’m being brutally honest here, my most sensible option in this scenario would be to ask them all about their work habits, so that I could remember to do the exact opposite when I have a full-time job someday.
Kaitlyn Phee: There is so much talent on this team being destroyed by poor coaching. Justin Fields was the number two prospect coming out of college for a reason. You look back on any of those Ohio State highlights, it’s obvious that, while he struggles to read the defense, the guy can run and he throws a heckuva deep ball. Chase Claypool, Darnell Mooney and DJ Moore are all exceptional when it comes to deep pass-catching. The clear solution is more deep targets, but Getsy is calling screens every other play (as if Fields isn’t already running for his life). Again, this was the season for Fields to prove himself, and I think that Getsy’s solution was to show that he’s more than a pair of legs. And that would be a wonderful idea if Justin Fields was actually successful in the pocket.
But if things aren’t going the way you want them to, why would you keep trying to divert from the things that work? It’s clear that everyone on the field is uncomfortable. Fields looks plain terrified every time the ball is snapped. The fact that the players themselves aren’t even comfortable in their own abilities and held accountable for mistakes and lack of effort, that should be a sign to change something up.
Michael Totosz: For Luke Getsy, it would be pretty simple: get the ball in Moore’s hands. He has 11 receptions in 3 games, which is an absolute joke. If Fields can’t find him down the field, then call a screen (I cannot believe I just said that, but oh well). It worked in the preseason, and it has not been called once in the season. Additionally, I would tell him to go back to running the football, especially considering the Bears had the second best rushing offense last year. I think Eberflus is a lost cause at this point, but I’d just tell him to start sending pressure on almost every down. If you are gonna go out, go out guns blazing.