4 biggest reasons the Bears have watched their season go down the drain

Nothing would have pleased me more than to be sitting here in Week 15, analyzing potential Chicago Bears playoff opponents while laughing at all the Cheeseheads coming to grip with the fact that their time as kings of the NFC North was up.

I can picture it now—people in the street glancing admiringly at me as I proudly strut in my Caleb Williams jersey, wishing that they too rooted for a football team even half as cool or as good as my Bears.

*Record scratch*

Instead, Bears fans are living through one of the darker possible timelines. We're researching top-10 draft picks while being forced to listen to debates over whether Jayden Daniels or Bo Nix deserves to win Offensive Rookie of the Year. Our moms call us on Sunday evenings and every conversation begins with, "Sorry about your Bears." We keep our navy and orange shirts in the drawer for fear of running into a Packers fan on the street.

There's no getting around it. In the words of fictional Bears fan Clark W. Griswold, this season has been one of the biggest bag-over-the-head, punches-in-the-face we've ever gotten. Where's the Tylenol?

Coming into the season, Bears fans knew that they faced one of the most difficult schedules in the NFL. We knew that the team had gotten our hopes up before, only to let us down. But nobody saw such a spectacular crash-and-burn coming.

It's been a dizzying drop from 4-2 down to 4-9 (and counting), and there are many reasons why the Bears have fallen so far short of expectations. Let's look at the four biggest culprits for what has turned into a season to forget.

Sticking with Matt Eberflus when Jim Harbaugh and Ben Johnson were available looks even worse in retrospect

Now that the Bears made team history by firing a head coach in the middle of the season for the first time ever, it's easy to look back and say that Matt Eberflus should have been gone a long time ago. That's true, but it was also easy to see this past offseason, when the Bears chose to retain Eberflus instead of pursuing any of a number of exciting replacements.

Jim Harbaugh was fresh off winning a national championship at Michigan, and it was no secret that a return to the NFL was imminent. He's had success wherever he's gone, and he used to be the Bears' quarterback. Could there have been a more perfect fit? But the Bears stuck with Eberflus despite his 10-24 record at the time.

Ben Johnson was the hottest coordinator on the market, and though he ended up returning to the Lions, there are multiple reports from NFL insiders that he would have jumped at the chance to coach the Bears.

Harbaugh and Johnson weren't the only dream candidates out there. Mike Vrabel is the platonic ideal of what the Bears have looked for in a head coach throughout their history, the closest thing to a modern Mike Ditka that we have. Bill Belichick can't fit all of his Super Bowl rings on one hand.

No coach is a sure thing, but the Bears passed up the chance to start the Caleb Williams era fresh because they believed that Eberflus would somehow change his stripes. News flash: he didn't.

Shane Waldron was the wrong choice at offensive coordinator

Maybe there's a world where the Bears still could have prospered with Eberflus in charge. Given his penchant for finding new ways to lose close games, that seems unlikely, but if there was ever a chance of it happening, it would have needed to be with a better offensive coordinator than Shane Waldron.

Waldron was a bad fit from the start, from his lack of feel for playcalling to the way that his play design often seemed to involve two or three receivers running to the same spot. He displayed no understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of his personnel, from calling handoffs at the goal line for backup centers, to sending Keenan Allen on deep routes, to straight up ignoring Cole Kmet.

Waldron was also inept at scripting plays to begin the game, and as a result the Bears have been fighting from behind all year. Only once all season has Chicago scored first. That's nearly impossible to pull off, as is the fact that the Bears are averaging just 1.5 points per first quarter, which means that every two games, Cairo Santos kicks a field goal and that's it.

Since Waldron's firing, players have made it clear that he just didn't have command of the room. The Bears drafted Caleb Williams with the number one overall pick in the draft. Williams is the most exciting quarterback prospect the team has ever had, and to pair him with someone so ineffectual is criminal.

Going cheap at offensive line resulted in the Bears getting the least out of their skill position talent

Speaking of Williams, the Bears not only failed to get their offensive coordinator right, they failed to protect their rookie quarterback. Williams has taken a beating behind a porous offensive line, and though injuries have played a part, the truth is that even on the rare occasion that the line has been fully healthy, it's still done a poor job of preventing pass-rushers from getting to the Bears' most important player.

Ryan Poles deserves some credit for improving the level of talent on this roster from when he took over, but he's repeatedly failed in putting together a quality O-line. Most troubling is the fact that he was once an offensive lineman himself, so one would think that he'd understand the importance of bolstering the trenches.

Poles has been aggressive in acquiring skill position talent such as D'Andre Swift and Keenan Allen, but he's taken a bargain hunter's approach to the line by bringing in players like Coleman Shelton and Ryan Bates instead of taking a big swing. His two major investments up front are Darnell Wright, whom he drafted in the first round last year, and Nate Davis, whom he signed in free agency but has since been let go. Wright has shown enough promise that the Bears should view him as a keeper going forward, but Davis' time in Chicago was a disaster.

Williams has been sacked more than any other quarterback in the league, prompting comparisons to David Carr, which is not what you want for your future franchise quarterback. Some blame falls on offensive line coach Chris Morgan, but on this one, the buck stops with Poles.

Tyrique Stevenson's selfishness against the Commanders sent the season into a tailspin that the Bears still haven't gotten out of

It's not all front office and coaching problems that have plagued the Bears. At the end of the day, the players need to hold up their end of the bargain as well, and too often this year, they haven't done that. There have been comparatively minor issues, like committing penalties or dropping catchable passes, but if there's one play that deserves credit for killing this season, that's an easy choice to make.

The Bears had fought like hell to overcome a slow start against the Commanders back in late October. Williams didn't have the prettiest stat line, but he led a drive down the field that culminated in a Roschon Johnson touchdown with just 25 seconds left. That score gave the Bears a 15-12 lead, but they managed to lose anyway because of what is still the most boneheaded play of the year.

The Commanders had the ball at their own 48 with enough time for one more play. Jayden Daniels faded back, but instead of being where he was supposed to be, second-year corner Tyrique Stevenson was far out of the play, interacting with fans.

By time Stevenson even realized that the play was happening, it was too late. He sprinted towards where Daniels threw the ball, trying in vain to bat it down. There were two issues with that. First, he ended up tipping it over the heads of the rest of the Bears defenders, and second, it went right to Commanders receiver Noah Brown, the guy Stevenson was supposed to be in front of.

If the other team makes more plays, you just have to tip your cap and accept defeat, but to lose on such an inane mental error is something that's much more difficult to handle. It's fair to say that the Bears have not handled it well, as they've yet to win another game since Stevenson's brain fart happened.

Soon enough, the season will mercifully be over and Bears fans will begin their dreams anew for next year. A new coach will be hired, new players will be signed and drafted, and we'll all talk ourselves into why next year will be different. Isn't football fun?