The Chicago Bears have been around for more than 100 years now, and yet, since their fearsome 1985 defense obliterated every team in sight, they’ve become a league laughingstock rather than a seasoned contender. But why is the NFL’s most storied team a constant carousel of coaches and quarterbacks incapable of limping into the playoffs more than a couple times per decade? Where did things go so wrong?
The only way a team can be so lackluster for so long is a fundamental flaw in team-building philosophy, starting with the ownership. In the Bears’ case, the McCaskeys have refused to adapt to new league-wide trends and fundamental evolutions in the sport. From roster construction to coaching, they just aren’t changing with the times. To win football games now, teams have to be aggressive in trades and free agency, and be willing to invest heavily in offensive coaching staff. The Rams have ridden close to a decade of success on the backs of wunderkind head coach Sean McVay, also selling their entire war chest of draft picks to land quarterback Matthew Stafford and linebacker Von Miller en route to a 2022 Super Bowl title. Philadelphia’s willingness to push the salary cap to its limits and take advantage where the rest of the league is too timid (see Saquon Barkley and A.J. Brown, the 2022 Georgia Bulldogs defense), has rewarded them handsomely with three Super Bowl appearances in seven years. The San Francisco 49ers do not rebuild, they reload—it seems like every year they find a future All-Pro in the fifth round of the draft or fleece some unsuspecting team at the deadline (see Christian McCaffrey). This doesn’t even mention the incomprehensible genius of Coach Kyle Shanahan, who could pull someone off the street and still run his offense as efficiently as the Montana and Rice 49ers of old.
This is all dancing around the fact that well-run teams succeed. In the Bears’ case, team building often errs before it can even properly begin. In a sport more dependent on competent coaching than most other sports, as evidenced by an elite coach like Sean McVay lifting a middling Los Angeles Rams team to prominence, the Bears’ recent coaching has been abysmal. Matt Nagy was the offensive coordinator (OC) for only two seasons under Andy Reid in Kansas City before getting hired in Chicago. Reid has never turned in a below-league-average offense and is routinely in or near the top five, and only ceded play calling to Nagy in December of his last season as Chiefs OC. After leaving Kansas City, Nagy then rode an all-time defense in 2018 (led by defensive coordinator (DC) Vic Fangio, not him) to Coach of the Year before falling in the Wildcard Round after putting up just 15 points and ending with the infamous “double doink.” Did Nagy learn from his mistakes, and tutelage under Reid, and take an already elite defense to greater heights with his “offensive prowess?”
No—Nagy never got close to the success he experienced in his first year, posting records of 8–8, 8–8, and 6–11, before being unceremoniously run out of town. After Nagy’s incredibly underwhelming tenure, especially on the offensive side of the ball, surely the Bears would hire an offensive wunderkind, right? Nope… Chicago went with Colts DC Matt Eberflus, who led a stellar defense during his time in Indianapolis. Unfortunately, his tenure with the Bears was straight-up offensive (ironic for a team routinely near the bottom of the league in offense every year), going 3–14, 7–10, and then 4–8 before being fired halfway through this season, the first midseason firing of a head coach in franchise history. Eberflus never quite hit his stride and OC Shane Waldron only made things more difficult. Waldron came from the Seahawks in 2024 following their resurrection of Geno Smith, and when asked how he felt about Waldron, Seattle wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba quipped, “um… this is live?” Waldron was swiftly fired nine games into the season. Between Nagy, Eberflus, and failed OCs in Waldron and Luke Getsy, Chicago was perhaps the worst landscape in the NFL for quarterback development. With no real assets surrounding him, and worse leadership continuity than the newest Star Wars trilogy, it is no wonder former first-round pick quarterback Justin Fields failed to live up to the hype.
Speaking of lack of assets, a puzzling preference for short-term, Band-Aid free agent signings, rather than building a solid foundation of homegrown talent, leaves the Bears looking like a deformed version of the Steelers: stuck in the purgatory of being unable to win but refusing to bottom out and start from scratch. Take some of their moves to “compete” this past offseason, for instance. They signed tight end Gerald Everett, who put up just eight catches for 36 yards in a full season, and traded a fourth-round pick for former Pro Bowl receiver Keenan Allen’s worst full season of his career. That list doesn’t even include former moves to trade away All-Pro linebacker Roquan Smith or take Mitch Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes. For context, Trubisky is now a career backup who has bounced around from Chicago to Buffalo to Pittsburgh and back to Buffalo, while Mahomes has made five Super Bowls in seven seasons as a starter and is on track to challenge Tom Brady’s claim to the GOAT throne.
Why is a team fresh off of yet another top-10 draft selection making veteran additions like they’re gearing up for a playoff push? What hurts most about the Bears’ moves is that they have some quality young players at key positions on both sides of the ball, but they just refuse to build around the few key pieces they have.
The Bears’ defense has several extremely promising young players along the defensive line in Zacch Pickens and Gervon Dexter Sr. alongside blossoming stars in the secondary like Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon. This talent shone through in several impressive showings against offensive juggernauts in the Lions, Packers, and Rams, but more consistency is needed before they can even approach the heights of their dominant 2018 defense that ransacked the league. With more experience and improvement from the defense (and an influx of talent via the draft), the defense will hopefully show further improvement and return to being among the league’s best. Though the Bears are historically a team known for their defense, the 2020s Steelers are the prime example of why that’s no longer enough. Even a defense led by All-Pro talent like T. J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick can only hold up for so long if the offense can’t put points on the board. Caleb Williams can’t focus on developing when he can’t even complete a pass because he’s too busy running for his life behind his nonexistent offensive line.
So, what hope do the Bears have? What can they do to fix this?
At the time of writing, the Bears have already taken the right first step, hiring a prolific offensive-minded head coach in Ben Johnson—color me impressed. Just look at what Kliff Kingsbury, OC for the Washington Commanders, has done for Williams’s fellow 2024 draft pick Jayden Daniels—guiding the rookie to a shoo-in Offensive Rookie of the Year award and a deep playoff run in one of the greatest rookie seasons ever. Johnson led Detroit to the league’s fifth, fifth, and first most points scored in his three years as OC. Maybe the most important part of a young quarterback’s development is offensive genius, and Johnson brings that in spades. And don’t forget the biggest motivator—spite. Johnson will be hell-bent on molding Williams into a better quarterback than Daniels after he passed on the Washington head coach position last offseason. Considering that Johnson will probably be driving the bus on offense, hiring an experienced DC in Dennis Allen will take some heat off of Johnson and allow the Bears to maintain real consistency in leadership. Chicago also hired former Broncos tight ends coach Declan Doyle as the new OC. Doyle is a relative unknown, having only spent five years on the Saints and Broncos, but if he’s learned anything at all from his tutelage under Sean Payton, he should be a helpful #2 to Johnson’s prolific offensive wizardry.
When it comes to what’s on the field, helping your team win (and protecting your quarterback) starts with—say it with me—building from the trenches! Just look at the star-studded offensive line Johnson had with him in Detroit—Jared Goff is no slouch, but his job was made worlds easier being protected by a top-five unit headlined by All-Pros Penei Sewell and Frank Ragnow. Chicago’s offensive line, by comparison, is paper-thin and middling at best. Take Darnell Wright: 10th overall in 2023 was a good start, but Wright and the rest of his unit have struggled to build consistency. Williams certainly bears some of the blame for the struggles he’s had and sacks he’s taken thanks to his frenetic, improvisation-heavy playstyle, but it’s clear that there are some significant holes on the line and Williams isn’t receiving enough protection. The Bears again pick 10th overall this year and could desperately use the services of a tackle like LSU’s Will Campbell or Texas’s Kelvin Banks Jr. Adding Campbell or Banks to the offensive line should give Williams the chance to make the leap that we expect out of one of the best quarterback prospects of the past decade.
Equipping themselves with a new coaching staff and reinforcing the offensive line will go a long way in strengthening the foundation in Chicago. Add some new defensive edge rushers and other key spots to reinforce the young defensive core and the Bears could actually contend for the NFC North title sooner rather than later. Don’t run the team with blatant disregard for how Super Bowl winners are built and the Bears of the future won’t find themselves in the depths of football hell like their predecessors. To the McCaskey family, President Kevin Warren, Special Advisor Ted Crews, and Ryan Poles—you have a large task ahead of you. Don’t mess up.
