The Commanders have everything the Bears want.
In just the second season of their rebuild — the Bears are in Year 4, if anyone’s still bothering to count — they’re indisputably on the right track. They went 12-5 and reached the NFC title game last season and are 3-2 heading into their game Monday against the Bears.
The hardest part of that for the Bears to accept is that the Commanders have done it with key pieces the Bears could’ve had: coach Dan Quinn, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and quarterback Jayden Daniels. Each was fully in play for the Bears, but the franchise turned elsewhere.
The Commanders hired Quinn last year and finished fourth in Coach of the Year voting as he steered the team to an eight-win improvement. He was a finalist for the Bears job in 2022 when general manager Ryan Poles chose Matt Eberflus instead. Eberflus went 14-32, including the epic “Fail Mary” loss to Quinn’s Commanders last season, and was dismissed in November.
At the time, Eberflus was a modestly successful defensive coordinator, while Quinn had a successful run as head coach of the Falcons and five additional years as an NFL coordinator.
The Whiff on Kliff was even worse. Poles and Eberflus searched nationwide for a new offensive coordinator in January 2024 after their previous choice, Luke Getsy, was a dud. They had an extensive interview with Kingsbury, who was highly interested in coaching incoming rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, but weren’t sold.
They bypassed him in favor of Shane Waldron, who lasted just nine games. He became the first Bears offensive coordinator ever fired during a season. Kingsbury, meanwhile, finished top-10 in voting for Assistant Coach of the Year.
Caleb Williams was the consensus top quarterback prospect in the 2024 draft class, but Daniels’ candidacy was close behind. Williams won the Heisman Trophy at USC in 2022, and Daniels won it at LSU the next season.
While the Bears were high on Williams from the start, they did a thorough evaluation of the entire class. Poles went to pro day at USC and LSU that year, as well as J.J. McCarthy’s at Michigan. Ultimately, Williams was decisively ahead of his competitors in Poles’ mind.
The opposite was true by the end of the season. Daniels led the class with a 100.1 passer rating (12.3 points ahead of Williams), 69 completion percentage (6.5 points better than Williams) and 25 touchdown passes (five more than Williams). He had a 97.9 passer rating in the playoffs, too, and won two games.
Williams, meanwhile, landed in a disastrous situation of the Bears’ making. With a poor offensive line and poorer coaching and finished 33rd in the league in completion percentage, 17th in yardage, 15th in touchdown passes and 24th in passer rating. He also threw the 10th-fewest interceptions.
A lot has changed in a short time for the Bears, who now have an overhauled offensive line, a highly regarded coach in Ben Johnson and better overall environment for Williams’ growth. Poles probably wouldn’t want to change anything about how they’re structured now.
But, at a minimum, the Bears’ decisions delayed them. How many years will it be, for example, before they’re a legitimate threat to reach the NFC Championship Game? Their next checkpoint is merely to finish above .500.
Had they hired Quinn in the first place, there’s a good chance they’d be further along. Had they gone with Kingsbury instead of Waldron, it undoubtedly would’ve been a better NFL onboarding for Williams. And while it’s certainly possible Williams eventually becomes a star, Daniels already is one.
Rebuilding is difficult enough in a vacuum, but it’s also a zero-sum game. The Bears not only have needed to solve their own problems, but do it better than teams like the Commanders that are trying to do the same. And because of everything the Commanders have gotten right, the Bears are chasing them.