You can’t panic after Week 1. But if you could, Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron would be ahead of Caleb Williams in the line of fire.
Williams didn’t meet even tempered expectations for a rookie quarterback in his NFL debut against the Titans. But he didn’t turn the ball over and gave the defense and special teams a chance to bail him out. He’s still the best quarterback prospect the Bears have ever had.
But Waldron’s offense was the bigger disappointment. The Bears gained just 148 net yards and produced just three field goals. The upgraded corps of wide receivers — DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and first-round draft pick Rome Odunze — wasn’t expected to start the season in overdrive. But it barely registered, with a combined 10 receptions for 76 yards. Tight end Cole Kmet, the fourth cog in what is expected to eventually become a potent offensive machine, played just 27 of 56 snaps (48%) and had one catch for four yards.
But you can’t panic after Week 1. It’s still more likely Bears fans will be worrying about losing Shane Waldron before replacing him. But if you were looking for at least a hint of a new identity of the Bears offense — instead of the usual work in progress being the dominant theme — Sunday’s 24-17 victory was a little bit of a letdown.
“I think with the amount of newness and moving young players at certain positions, it’s something we know what we want to be, what we want to look like,” Waldron said. “As we move forward, I think we’ll get closer and closer to that. I expect us to be there sooner rather than later as far as what our identity looks like.
“We know we want to be an attacking offense. We want to be able to feel the tempo, feel the rhythm of the game right now, and then be able to maximize the usage of all our different personnel.”
Of course, it’s too early to panic, but the Bears didn’t provide even a hint of that Sunday. Waldron emphasized the positive — no turnovers, and a six-play, 46-yard drive and ensuing punt in the fourth quarter that flipped the field from the Bears’ 11-yard line to the Titans’ 18 with 2:20 to play.
But maximizing the personnel was an issue Waldron put on himself. Moore, Allen and Odunze were on the field at the time time for just 10 snaps.
“Starting with me, stuff we can do a better job of coaching is getting us into a better rhythm,” Waldron said. “It’s going to be tough each week, obviously, to have a perfect distribution of everyone’s reps. But it’s something we look at as a staff to [see] how we can do a better job to … get those guys out there together more often.”
The same goes for Kmet’s usage. Kmet had played 88% of the offensive snaps when healthy since the seventh game of his rookie season in 2020. He’s worked to become an every-down tight end since he arrived at Halas Hall. But newcomer Gerald Everett played more snaps (34) against the Titans.
“We know Cole is one of the top tight ends in the league,” Waldron said. “He has done nothing but the right thing ever since I’ve been around him. So that’s more on us — starting with me — getting the reps a little bit more balanced. But it also goes back to playing efficient football.”
Everything goes back to playing efficient football. That’s why you can’t panic about the Bears offense after Week 1 more this year than others. With this quarterback, these receivers — and this coordinator — when one good thing leads to another, it can become a much bigger thing.