As a fan, every season has its ups and downs, unless you’re a White Sox fan, then it’s pretty much a canyon. However, the rest of us cling to every victory and defeat. Momentum is just one game away, so even if your team (let me think of a totally random example) gave up a Hail Mary on the last play to lose a heartbreaker, a win the following week is all it takes. to get the train moving again. the clues.

The season has definitely been derailed by chicago bearsAnd honestly, there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to fix it. Even as Bears fans were crushed by last week’s loss to the Commanders, it was still possible to paint an optimistic picture. The team was still over .500 and they were traveling to meet a Cardinals team that had been getting wins from you-know-where.

A win in Arizona would have put the Bears at 5-3 with the lowly Patriots next, so while the second half schedule will be a real challenge, there was an easy path for the Bears heading into that tough stretch. running high and playing football with confidence.

That’s out of the window now, as the Bears not only didn’t bring their A game to State Farm Stadium, but they also didn’t bring their B or C game in a 29-9 loss that never felt close.

Good teams respond to adversity, bad teams avoid it. We were all hoping that this Bears team would bounce back from what happened in Washington, but needless to say, that didn’t happen.

Monday is the time when emotions are running high, so I thought I’d play a little game. What follows are three overreactions based on the Bears’ terrible performance in Arizona, and I’ll try to determine which, if any, are actually overreactions and which, if any, are not. Let’s get started.

It seems oddly appropriate to start offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, since his offense hasn’t shown up at the start of games. Once again the Bears were scoreless in the first quarter, which keeps them with a total of 10 points scored in the first quarter. all season. Keep in mind that the Bears have already played eight games, meaning they are now averaging just 1.25 points per first quarter. The Halas Hall doorbell is ringing, so let that sink in.

Waldron seems unable to get the Bears into a rhythm early. They cannot establish the race. They can’t get easy completions to Caleb Williams. And they can’t surprise opposing defenses with an explosive play. Every time they really start to maintain momentum, it quickly short-circuits with a sack or some other negative play.

Waldron has a lot of weapons at his disposal, but the Bears’ offense goes a long time completely ignoring some of them. How is it possible that Cole Kmet can look like one of the best tight ends in football against the Jaguars and then get a target in the next two games combined? How is it possible that DJ Moore had the best season of his career last year and now has been limited to 36 yards or less in five of the Bears’ eight games?

With all due respect to Keenan Allen, who has had a tremendous career, but he is not the same guy he once was. His foot injury early in the season certainly couldn’t have helped, but he won’t break away and has taken multiple fatal falls this year. He’s not the guy who should have conceded 17 goals in the last two weeks.

Roschon Johnson has been an excellent goal lineman this year, but for some reason (and one he says he would do again!) Waldron decided to hand the ball off to backup center Doug Kramer as the Bears tried to take the lead last week. . You have to be creative and you have to be too cute. We all know which category that decision belongs to.

Waldron’s offense has only looked good against some of the league’s worst defenses, and even then, not always. The Cardinals came into this game giving up 24.9 points per game, but held the Bears without a touchdown.

Eight games may seem like a short period for a new offensive coordinator, but the Bears’ offense should be much better than it is.

It’s not an overreaction. Waldron needs to go.

Has Waldron been the only problem with this team? Instead, we must continue moving up the chain of command to determine if further changes are necessary. Matt Eberflus was able to keep his job heading into this year in part because he offered up former offensive coordinator Luke Getsy as a sacrificial lamb. Getsy was a bad OC, no doubt; refer to the fact that the Raiders already fired him as proof.

There’s a problem with firing Getsy and then Waldron and assuming the problem is solved: Eberflus is the one who chose these guys, so he should take some of the blame too. Being a poor judge of offensive coordinators is a serious offense for a head coach, but it’s far from the only knock on Eberflus right now.

Overall, Eberflus has done a great job with the defense, both in terms of preventing points and forcing turnovers. The fact that the Bears let the Cardinals run over them on Sunday doesn’t tell me that Eberflus suddenly forgot how to coach defense, but rather that he’s losing the locker room. That was a poor effort by the defense yesterday, the worst in a long time, and I refuse to believe that Montez Sweat’s absence was solely responsible.

Eberflus’ game management puts the Bears at a disadvantage every week. From the baffling decision to give the Commanders a free pass to midfield, to not using a timeout before the last play of the game, Eberflus continually demonstrates that he is not in control of the flow of the game and what needs to be done. to win. With Eberflus at the helm, the Bears’ victory is never assured until the final whistle.

Even those who were willing to attribute last week’s Hail Mary to bad luck now have to admit they were wrong, as the Bears again failed miserably in a short-time situation by allowing Emari Demercado to make a simple 53 handoff. yards to the house with There are only two seconds left in the first half.

Eberflus is now an unfathomable 3-18 on the road, and after Sunday’s game, there is little reason to believe that will ever change. The Bears have enough talent to be better than 4-4, and with the recent report that Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was reportedly interested in the position last offseason, it’s clear that this is a desirable job.

Even when the game against the Cardinals had already been decided for a long time, Eberflus kept Caleb out there behind that poor offensive line to throw for reasons Bears fans will never understand. Caleb limped off on the penultimate play of the game, and although fortunately it seems that you will not need to be absent at any timeThe fact that Eberflus put him in that position is in itself a crime punishable by dismissal.

The final nail in Eberflus’ coffin is that he demands responsibility from his players, but he himself does not accept it. Tyrique Stevenson was rightfully demoted for his antics that allowed the Commanders to win, but Eberflus always seems to double down on his own bad decisions, like allowing Washington to get free yards to set up the Hail Mary in the first place. Bears fans are tired of hearing the same old quotes from him about the team looking good in practice or moving in the right direction.

It’s not an overreaction. Eberflus has to go.

It’s only fair that if we’re willing to get rid of coaches, we also have to look at the person who hired them. Ryan Poles has done great things as the Bears’ general manager, but he has also made decisions that have left Bears fans scratching their heads. To paraphrase The Clash, should he stay or should he go?

Kevin Warren, the president of the Bears, is the one who will ultimately have to make the decision on the Poles. He will not only look at what the Poles have done, both good and bad, but also whether he is able to correct the mistakes he has made.

Let’s start with the good things that Poland is responsible for. Number one, the trade with the Panthers that ultimately brought Caleb Williams, DJ Moore and others to Chicago. By any measure, this was a total robberyand a huge check mark in favor of the Poles.

The Poles took a team that was going nowhere and gutted it. He’s done a great job of increasing the overall talent level in a short period of time, and while not all of his moves have been a success (the Chase Claypool trade stands out as a great swing and miss), overall he’s had more wins than losses when it comes to personnel decisions and operations.

Let’s quickly review some of the Poles’ most notable moves. Montez Sweat’s exchange was excellent and put the defense on its upward trajectory. The jury is still out on the trade with the Eagles that landed Jalen Carter in Philadelphia and Darnell Wright in Chicago, but with Wright showing no signs of being more than just a useful right tackle and Carter showing flashes of game-breaking ability, that movement feels like a lady.

Not all of Poland’s draft decisions have worked out, but he has a high success rate. Only in the first two drafts of the Poles did he find Kyler Gordon, Jaquan Brisker, Braxton Jones, Gervon Dexter and Tyrique Stevenson. Pretty good! We need more time to see the 2024 picks in action, but I’m sure Caleb Williams, Rome Odunze and Tory Taylor will prove to be smart options.

The Poles have improved the Bears’ roster, but the one area they haven’t been able to adequately address is the offensive line. Caleb Williams is constantly running for his life, just like Justin Fields did before him. The primary goal of this team should be to ensure Caleb has the right environment to grow and develop, and playing behind a line that, even when healthy, is one of the worst in the league is no way to do that.

It’s fair to say at this point that the Eberflus hire was a failure. The Poles will be judged by it, but he will also be judged by how quickly he recognizes his mistake and tries to fix it. The Poles stuck with Eberflus last offseason, when they could have gotten Ben Johnson, Jim Harbaugh or Mike Vrabel. General managers don’t always get a second bite at the apple if their first coach fails. If the Poles do it, he will have to make it this time.

Should Bears fans have confidence in Ryan Poles’ ability to take this team to the next level? If he decides to leave Eberflus before next season, I say yes. He’s had a keen eye for talent in the draft, and his good trades outweigh his bad ones. This roster is now in the top half of the league in talent, and anyone can see that the area that needs help is the offensive line. I would be surprised if the Poles kept their spot and didn’t devote significant draft resources and free agent money to strengthening that position group.

The Bears are in a much better position with Ryan Poles than they were with Ryan Pace before him. Firing the Poles would set the team back, so this is an overreaction. The Poles must stay.