Two days after he let Justin Fields get sacked nine times in his first NFL start, Bears coach Matt Nagy held a team meeting and asked his players what ideas they had to make the offense better.
It was disconcerting, then, to hear offensive coordinator Shane Waldron start his news conference Thursday by praising the Bears’ leadership council, with whom he met this week to discuss his own sputtering offense.
Quarterback Caleb Williams, receiver DJ Moore and tight ends Cole Kmet and Marcedes Lewis huddled with Waldron, whose offense has been a failure through three games. It ranks last in offensive DVOA, which compares every play to a league-average baseline; boasts the second-fewest rushing yards per game in the NFL; and features the league’s third-worst team passer rating. The Bears have scored only three offensive touchdowns — four running backs in the NFL have more just on their own.
Nagy’s meeting came in his fourth year on the job. Waldron’s was after only three games.
The Bears’ leaders meet weekly with coordinators, but the tenor of Monday’s gathering showed just how immediate, and alarming, their offensive problems have become.
Nagy’s was the beginning of the end. The Bears hope Waldron’s is the beginning of the beginning.
Thus far, the offense’s lack of production has been the worst part of a disappointing season. Publicly and privately, Waldron has taken blame for his share of the Bears’ struggles. In team meetings, he’s listed play calls he’d like to have back on a whiteboard.
Thursday, a seemingly caffeinated Waldron was put on the defensive in a press conference that had all the charm of a congressional hearing. He was short on specifics but admitted culpability on some of the Bears’ most egregious mistakes in Sunday’s loss to the woeful Colts — the most notorious being a fourth-and-one speed option play that resulted in a loss of 12 yards.
“All those things start with me,” Waldron said. “I’ve gotta be better in that situation, and I will moving forward.”
Believing him is an act of faith. That’s not unusual, Lewis said — players need to have “child-like faith every single day” in football. The 40-year-old tight end said he told Waldron this week to continue to voice his concerns and call players out — “From the oldest guy in the room, being me, to the youngest guy,” he said — when needed.
“This is not for play,” said Lewis, who is a team captain. “This is our job. We understand that. It’s a high … stressful, 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. …
“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.”
The Bears aren’t firing players or coaches, at least not yet. But Waldron, who was coach Matt Eberflus and general manager Ryan Poles’ prized hire this offseason — and a reflection of their decision-making — needs to improve.
Even with the predictable ups and downs that come with a rookie quarterback, the Bears’ offense was supposed to be better than this. In some aspects, it’s getting worse — Williams went from no turnovers in Week 1 to two in Week 2 and three in Week 3. The Bears have gone from 3.8 rushing yards per carry in the opener to 3.2 in Week 2 to 2.3 against the Colts.
Through three weeks, it doesn’t stand up to the performances of the men the organization fired to make room for Waldron and his staff. Former offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s Raiders average 47 more yards than the Bears. Andrew Janocko, the former quarterbacks coach, works on a Saints staff whose offense averages almost double the Bears’ 17.7 points per game. And then there’s quarterback Justin Fields, who’s undefeated in three games as the Steelers starter.
The Bears’ four failed plays inside the Colts’ 4 late in the first half Sunday were the most obvious, and inexplicable, mistakes. Pressed about them, Waldron offered up as many apologies as explanations:
• On third-and-goal from the 1, the Bears lined up in a formation that asked 5-8, 190-pound receiver DeAndre Carter to block 6-3, 267-pound Colts defensive end Tyquan Lewis. Running back Khalil Herbert was stuffed for no gain.
“That’s our part as coaches, putting guys in the best positions for success,” Waldron said. “That was one of those moments where we can be better. “
That was the third-straight carry for Herbert, who has run the ball eight times for 16 yards this season. Pressed why he got the ball, Waldron said the Bears had designated him as their short-yardage back.
• The Bears played out of the shotgun on all nine plays they ran from inside the Colts’ 10.
“You obviously present the option of the quarterback to run it right there,” Waldron said.
Williams didn’t run the ball inside the 10.
• Then there’s the speed option play, which lost 12 on fourth-and-goal from the 1.
Waldron said the Bears needed to break the huddle quicker so Williams could have changed the play the coordinator called when the Colts didn’t give the Bears the defensive front they anticipated.
“Get to the line of scrimmage a little bit faster right there, so we can get what we want out of the play,” Waldron said.
Bears players are communicating to Waldron what they want to see from the offense — and vice versa. They’re trying to solve the same problem.
“As players, as coaches, front office, there’s always more to give,” Lewis. “You’ve never got it figured out. I think those are the three worst words that you can say is, ‘I’ve got it,’ because you’ve never got it.”
The Bears don’t got it.
“I’m not going to live in the past,” Waldron said, “but I’m going to learn from it.”
He better start soon.