Chicago Bears' Coaching Couldn't Be Any More Awful Against Packers In Week 1
The Chicago Bears suffered an embarrassing 38-20 thumping at the hands of the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. One of the most anticipated and hyped-up games in recent memory for the Bears led to more utter disappointment and embarrassment on the national stage.
While almost everything went wrong for the Bears on Sunday, no group was worse than the coaching staff of head coach Matt Eberflus, OC Luke Getsy, and DC Alan Williams, which might've had its most disgraceful performance since arriving in Chicago last season.
Let's take a look at what each coach did wrong on Sunday.
Offensive Coordinator Luke Getsy
Getsy came into the season with high expectations from Bears fans. After his offense was top of the league in rushing and respectable last season, he was primed to take the next step as a playcaller. Adding D.J. Moore was also a massive bonus for Getsy on the offense, as he would finally have a true WR1 to dial plays for. Aspirations were sky-high for the 39-year-old coordinator heading into 2023.
Except what we got on Sunday was the opposite of what Bears fans hoped for from Getsy. He showed absolutely no progression, some might even say regression, as a playcaller and was incredibly stubborn with his calls.
Getsy did a horrible job using the best aspects of the offense. Star wide receiver D.J. Moore was inexplicably only targeted twice all game. After having two straight receptions in the second quarter, Moore was taken off the field in the red zone, and the drive stalled, resulting in a field goal. That was pretty much the last we heard of Moore all game.
Getsy also did not play QB Justin Fields to his strengths. Fields had a straight dropback on 40 of 52 dropbacks when he excels on designed rollouts.
In addition, just four of Justin Fields' 37 pass attempts went over 10 yards when one of his biggest strengths is the deep ball. Getsy also called for a baffling amount of screen passes, doubling down on them even if they didn't work.
Getsy's inability to call plays that fit the strengths of his top players is a massive cause for concern, and it has caused many fans to lose their patience with the offensive coordinator.
It wouldn't be fair to solely blame Getsy for the offense's struggles, as Justin Fields has his share of struggles and bad moments, too. Regardless, he needs to stop being stubborn with play calling and open up defenses using the offense's strengths.
Defensive Coordinator Alan Williams
Alan Williams, the former safeties coach of the Colts, was brought in by Matt Eberflus in 2022 to be the defensive coordinator for the Bears.
2022 was a rough season for Williams' defense, which finished dead last in scoring, allowed the second-most rushing yards per game, and finished last in sacks. However, many excused his struggles due to the sheer lack of talent he was dealt with in 2022.
2023 saw the addition of many defensive pieces to the squad, such as Tremaine Edmunds, TJ Edwards, and Yannick Ngakoue. Expectations weren't too high for Williams and the defense headed into 2023, but improvement was needed to be displayed.
However, what we saw on Sunday showed no improvement from 2022. Now, much of the patience with Williams is being lost as he has shown almost no progress in game planning.
The defense played too much soft off-man and passive zone coverage and paid the price by giving up many key plays. Williams also failed to dial up many blitzes, and the run defense continued to be a hot mess.
On third and fourth downs, Williams was horrible. He dialed up plays rushing with four players and played cover 2 most of the time in these situations on Sunday, and Packers QB Jordan Love was able to pick apart the defense easily.
Williams' time in Chicago has been nothing short of atrocious, and it's time to start having a serious conversation about firing him before the season ends. That decision will have to come down to Matt Eberflus, though.
Head Coach Matt Eberflus
Matt Eberflus was brought to Chicago as general manager Ryan Poles' top option. He ran a successful defense with the Colts as their DC and was rewarded with a head coaching gig. While many thought it was an uninspiring hire at the time, people decided to give him time and patience due to his energy and philosophy, which many players seemed to buy into.
His first year in Chicago was a mess; a full roster teardown led to the team finishing 3-14, which was bottom of the league. However, Eberflus was excused for the performance, as a lack of talent was a significant reason for their 2022 record. The team remained competitive in many games, which gave people optimism that with more talent on the roster, he could steer the team to wins.
Now that talent has been added, the team remains a hot mess. Is it time to start pointing the finger at Eberflus? While that might be a little premature, Eberflus hasn't done much to show he is the right coach moving forward.
Eberflus' biggest concern is that he does not call the plays for the defense, instead opting to give DC Alan Williams free reign to call the plays. This decision has been disastrous, as Williams continues to be an atrocious play-caller.
It's time for the defensive-minded head coach to take control of his defense instead of letting his assistants run the show.
Another criticism of Eberflus from Sunday was his inability to hold himself or his coordinators accountable, instead pointing the blame towards just the players.
Eberflus received a pass for his rough start on Chicago, but now results are needed. There's still a long way to go this season, but if Eberflus continues to struggle, he will be out of town before next season.
What's Next For The Chicago Bears?
All the Bears can do now is look forward. It was a horrid start to a much anticipated season where results were not just expected but needed, but all they can do now is build towards next week so they don't field the same disaster as on Sunday.
While the coaching staff was horrible in week 1, there's still time to right the ship. But if the coaching continues to be an issue, there could be lots of moving parts in that department sooner rather than later.
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