“Crisis” is not a new word for the Chicago Bears. They have been living with it for the past 14 NFL seasons with few exceptions. But the sports and institutional storm affecting one of the league’s historic teams these days is different and hurts more because the fans had legitimately hoped that in 2024 they would finally start to climb out of the pit.
It all started with the selection of quarterback Caleb Williams, defined as a “generational talent,” as the number one pick in the recent Draft. In free agency, wide receiver Keenan Allen and running back D’Andre Swift arrived, and they, along with the selection of WR Rome Odunze in the Draft, joined star receiver D.J. Moore and reliable tight end Cole Kmet who were already part of the team, giving the Bears an unprecedented offensive potential.
The illusion seemed to become reality with four victories in the first six games of the season, but after a week of rest and the embarrassing loss to Washington with a Hail Mary, the Chicago team derailed. This Sunday against the Patriots, they completed three consecutive losses and have had 19 offensive drives without a touchdown.
Losing at Soldier Field to New England by 19-3, one of the worst teams in the NFL, ended up unleashing a storm on Lake Michigan. The first casualty is the mediocre offensive coordinator Shane Waldron who got fired this Tuesday, who, despite all those figures, had Chicago playing offensively like an inept team.
Head coach Matt Eberflus is also at risk as he does not seem to be the right fit to lead a competitive team.
As in the case of the Chicago Bears, where everything can always get worse, in the eight remaining games they will have to face their division rivals Packers, Lions, and Vikings twice, and also the 49ers and Seahawks, all very superior teams that will surely turn their hopes into a nightmare and ultimately close the poor era of Matt Eberflus in Halas Hall.
Was Caleb Williams really the best quarterback in the last draft?
For the Chicago Bears, there were never any doubts and almost all specialists agreed. That's why with the first pick of the last Draft they chose Caleb Williams, the young quarterback who shined at the collegiate level in Oklahoma and USC.
But except for the games against teams with poor defenses like the Rams, Panthers, and Jaguars, Williams has fallen short of expectations. It is true that a large part of the blame for this lies with Shane Waldron's poor decisions, however, Caleb has made many mistakes such as holding onto the ball for too long (leading the NFL in sacks) and many times, too many times, he has been inaccurate in his throws.
To his regret, Williams has lost both games he played against the quarterbacks who were drafted after him: Jayden Daniels (No. 2) from the Commanders and Drake Maye (No. 3) from the Patriots, and even in some statistics, Bo Nix (No. 12) outperforms Caleb despite not having as many offensive weapons as the rookie from the Bears.
Until Week 10, Williams' problems seem to be more the responsibility of the offensive coordinator and a porous offensive line that doesn't protect him, but he has to do a better job of dispelling the valid doubts that have arisen about whether he really was the best player in the 2024 Draft.
Deebo Samuel assaulted a teammate but will not be penalized
In 2023, the 49ers surprised the league by using a third-round Draft pick on a kicker. But young Jake Moody seemed to prove the San Francisco front office right with an 84% field goal accuracy.
But this Sunday, in his return after a month of absence due to injury, Moody had the worst game of his young career by missing three field goals against the Buccaneers, and on top of that, from manageable distances. The third error, near the end of the game, tested the patience of receiver Deebo Samuel, one of the key figures of the 49ers, who went to confront him.
The unusual attitude of Samuel enraged long snapper Taybor Pepper, who came out to defend his kicker and received a slap from the praised receiver in return. Their teammates had to intervene to separate them.
Interestingly, in the final seconds of the game, Moody had his redemption and kicked a 44-yard field goal to give San Francisco a 23-20 victory over Tampa Bay.
In the locker room, Samuel toned down his disrespectful attitude towards a teammate and attributed it to pre-game tension. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said he did not see what happened and simply stated that "sometimes brothers fight."
The Chiefs were saved and managed to maintain their undefeated record
The two-time champions Kansas City Chiefs are the only team that has not lost a game in the 2024 NFL season, but they are far from shining and in fact, the average points difference in their nine victories is 6.4, less than a touchdown.
Their widest victory was 26-13 against the Saints and they only reached 30 points once.
The trend repeated itself last Sunday, when they narrowly avoided losing thanks to a blocked field goal in the last second against the Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium. The victory was by a slim margin of 16-14.
Next Sunday, November 17th, they will face a great challenge when they visit the Bills in Buffalo, who have three consecutive victories.