DABEARSDABOMB

This loss stings - but saw a lot of positives today from Caleb and Rome and the offense as a whole.

I just want to see growth from Caleb and the younger players at this point.

Yeah with Brown coming in, I’m not expecting miracles…but Caleb is just halfway into his rookie year..new oc kind of hits a refresh mid point…but oline is a week away from being healthy and so trend might be favorable there and this firing almost serves as a mini reset for offense which might align and in some crazy way work for almost resetting Caleb in his development (in a good way).

Good riddance to the bum. Bout time we hold him accountable and send that message to rest of locker room.

Unfortunately I see top 10 in their future…but I hate it. I hope they surprise me and win half of the division games and get to 7 wins…rooting for wins and Caleb and collective growth. This isn’t last year/two when I was rooting for picks.

Official

And for the record - this past few game streak feels as bad as the Trestman / Tucker lows.

I expected 7-10 and figured it would be bumpy but expected progress. Need somE major changes to get us to that point now in terms of progress.

But anything less than major changes by tomorrow morning if not leaking tonight would be huge.

I agree - but I don’t get why they don’t address quicker. But I guess as long as they do by tomorrow the players have a day to get their minds adjusted before practice starts on Wednesday…but it feels like you’d want the coaches staying to have a day to get their message and approach dialed in so they can hit ground running on Wednesday.

Yes - that is Eberflus job to identify it. But it also shows they made the wrong move at OC because the expectation was they would hire an OC who could run that side of the ball and didn't do it. Either way its a failure on Flus.

I agree with this - I could see the oline coach going as well. But Waldron has to go. I also think Flus is gone unless they come back and win the playoffs, which I don't see happening. Even than - I think the decision is already made on Flus barring some miracle.

NFL can be funny - I don't know why, but for some reason I have a slight feeling that we see a surprise against Packers following the oline getting healthier and some big changes. I only have like 5% confidence in that - but it sure would be refreshing to see this thing come to life. Its a young unit so we absolutely can't just punt on the last half of the season with this offensive unit - we have to have a hard reset with new people leading it though - so that we can start to create real development and growth for whomever the next coaching staff is.

In fairness - last week was as banged up as an oline can get...but the Bears have some guys who have consistently been banged up which is on them. Now on paper it still isn't a great oline and some of the scheme / talent eval seems to be missing. Not sure which. I expect the oline will improve with their 2 starting tackles back and with Bates getting more footing. If you get your tackles back with Bates and Jenkins and Shelton in the middle - I'm not saying it is great, but that is a big step up from what played most of yesterday. But I think you do it with a new OC who potentially makes tweaks - and at this point - I think simpler has to be the trend of direction cause there is only so much you can change in an offense during the course of a season, which is what makes it hard. However - how they haven't isolated Moore and Kmet and others on key plays and split the field to simplify things for the QB just isn't good. They obviously don't have a go-to way to run the ball, but it seems like we need a hard reset. I don't expect a lot that can be done - but they have to do stuff different. I would get rid of Flus - if the defensive lockeroom is shaky, if it isn't, I just don't know how they can go another direction at this point because you don't have someone on the other side of the ball to turn this over to. If you turn it over to Washington, who is a different and fresh voice, fine, but than who calls the plays. Under all scenarios - Waldron has to go. You can't just switch the play calling at this point, I don't think it is enough. Every week Biggs has made comments in his pieces about Waldron NOT having the buy-in of the players. I think reality is he's probably a smart offensive mind, but he has no idea how to get the room to all move in his direction and because of it - the offense is all over the place. When he worked with McVay and Pete Carroll - it wasn't needed because those dudes DROVE buy-in all day / every day.

I think you are spot on.

That crazy thing is - at this point I can’t see any scenario Bears win more than 6-7 games. That was probably the low in my mind entering the season and now I can’t see anything better than that…hell I don’t even see how 6 is possible given their schedule. I guess only bright side is they should have a high pick to take an olinemen and now both 2nd rounders will be good too. I still think Caleb will be fine - but would be nice to see him get out of this funk and start taking steps forward vs back.

This

It really was unacceptable to stick with Flus. A few of us all said it at the time - I hoped I was wrong but man he is not a head coach.

He should be cut immediately - him and Waldron gone. Send some messages.

I would have said Poles was pretty much for sure safe - the way this is trending that is no longer true. Flus is gone - and a week ago I said he would be here all season, now I am less sure. I am positive Waldron will be fired though - there is no way someone can’t take the fall for what is going on with the offense. If it were me I would fire Flus and Waldron and bring in Lovie as a pure interim head coach…but I’m nuts like that. But at very least they have to fire Waldron after this past week. I also would not play Caleb until their tackles are back - good grief that was ugly. I had a bad feeling they were going to loose but wow. At this point, I’m wondering if they have another win in them.

Let’s go Bears!!! 🐻

Real tough with linemen out. I’d like to see Kiran but he is so green. My guess is Bates goes in at guard and Pryor swings out to right tackle with Borom on left side.

He is a lot like Lovie. He has the respect of the defensive side of the ball - but he HAS NOT figured out how to handle and manage the other side. Whether its his choice in coordinators to run or he just doesn't know how to meddle enough on the offensive side to help (but not hurt), but it is a clear gap he has. I think they thought Waldron was going to be that experienced guy who can do it - but it is evident he doesn't have the chops to lead this offense - he probably relied heavily on McVay and Carroll (defensive guy yes - but he was a dynamic and charismatic leader who know where and how to involve himself in the offense) and on his own, it just doesn't work. Kingsbury is the opposite - I don't know how he will be as a HC - but hindsight 20/20 - it was a massive miss not bringing him over. Say what you want about him, but he's been in control before and knows how to run an offense. He's also showing he can run a pretty balanced attack. Now over time - how the league adjusts to his style, etc - we shall see. But he clearly was the better person to hand the reigns over to you with Eberflus in charge (vs. Waldron).

Half the season is left and we have a rookie QB who has gone through ups and downs, unsurprisingly. This feels like the time where you hit pause - really self scout and course correct and start dialing in and optimizing offense for what works. Get more playmakers involved, dial in the plays that are working, shrink the playbook, find some more "easy" throws to get your QB in rhythm, make sure you have some scheme plays for Kmet and Moore early - quick slants, etc that get the team rolling. Also - the above is really interesting - it does feel like with Allen he is really slow - but has that old man game - so let him leverage his body and footwork in a more crisp role to get him those "easier" throws and completions as well. Get Caleb to focus on that too - but you also have to have some targeted shots. But this feels like a - we got to really tighten the playbook and work with players and offense to really dial this in. The issue is clearly their is a huge lack of trust on offensive side of the ball - I think defensive side of the house is in very good order, despite some down's the past 2 weeks (last week they were pretty beat up). But things can go real bad if the offense doesn't start to take meaningful steps forward. If they lose, I think we see Waldron fired - not sure Thomas Brown can immediately change things - but I won't deny play calling matters as does details. Too big of a playbook can drive you to be sloppier on the details. Too much too soon can do the same. Too simple has issues as well. But from comments and quotes - it is very clear that the offensive side of the lockeroom is NOT happy with their current coaching and we have to see changes made.

I think you trade Keenan. He is getting forced targets and reality is he isn’t around for long haul and hasn’t been as productive. He is still a good vet but this probably isn’t right place for him and Caleb feels like he has to force it.