The Chicago Bears are considering whether to fire offensive coordinator Shane Waldron after another poor performance, coach Matt Eberflus said on Monday.
“The process of that, we’re going through that right now,” Eberflus said. “All those adjustments and changes and things that we’re gonna do — we’re still in the evaluation phase of that.”
Eberflus promised changes would be made after the Bears lost 19-3 to the New England Patriots, marking their third straight loss. However, he wasn’t ready to announce what those changes would be yet.
“I just think that right now, to come out here less than 24 hours and make all those changes or changes that you want to make and state,” Eberflus said. “When I have those answers, I’ll get them to you. I’m just not at that point right now.”
Eberflus stated that the decision regarding Waldron is “mine alone, yessir.” If Waldron is not fired, the Bears could take away his play-calling duties.
The Bears (4-5) currently rank 30th in the NFL in total offense and 24th in scoring as of Sunday. They have gone two games and 23 straight possessions without scoring a touchdown since their last score in the final minute against Washington in Week 8, when they lost on a Hail Mary pass by Jayden Daniels.
The schedule is about to get tougher, with six of their final eight games against NFC North teams, starting with a home game against Green Bay this week.
Waldron, in his first year with the Bears, replaced the fired Luke Getsy. Before coming to Chicago, he was the offensive coordinator under Pete Carroll in Seattle for three years. He helped quarterback Geno Smith turn his career around, leading him to become the AP Comeback Player of the Year in 2022, with 4,282 passing yards and 30 touchdowns.
After a loss to Indianapolis in Week 3, players asked Waldron to push them harder. The Bears then won three straight games, beating the Los Angeles Rams, Carolina Panthers, and Jacksonville Jaguars.
But since then, quarterback Caleb Williams has struggled. The No. 1 draft pick has completed only 48 of 95 passes during this stretch and was sacked nine times by New England, after showing some improvement during the winning streak.
“We’ve won some games in a row so there is evidence on tape that we’ve had togetherness, complementary football, played winning football and for you to sit there and say we haven’t done that, that’s not true,” Eberflus said.
“I would say that I also understand that we’ve lost three in a row and there’s an urgency there and there’s an adjustment, changes that are necessary in that process because it hasn’t worked the last three weeks and I’m fully aware of that, too.
Again, I’m not just at that point right now in terms of stating those changes because we’re in the middle of that process.”
