6 Bears most to blame for Caleb Williams' struggles

Like Clark Griswold finding out that his Christmas bonus was a Jelly of the Month club membership, this season has been one of the biggest bag-over-the-head, punches-in-the-face that Chicago Bears fans have ever gotten.

In retrospect, it was always foolish for fans to have been so excited by a team that for years has pulled the rug out from under them, but if each new season doesn't instill belief in you, what's the point of fandom anyway? In our defense, the Bears really went all out to sell us on what one former Chicago native would call the audacity of hope — offseason acquisitions of Keenan Allen and D'Andre Swift, a turn in the spotlight as this year's Hard Knocks team, and of course the No. 1 pick in the draft, former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams.

Bears fans have had a love/hate relationship with their past quarterbacks, mostly because we want to love them but they make us hate them instead. No quarterback has ever truly worked out in Chicago since Jay McMahon, and even those Bears teams were carried not by the offense, but by a historically great defense.

Rehashing the list of failed Bears quarterbacks in the past few decades qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment for Bears fans, so let's just sum it up by saying that we've been waiting for the chosen one for a very long time. Caleb Williams, more than Jay Cutler or Justin Fields or anyone else that has come before, was supposed to be that guy.

Throughout this season, Caleb has certainly endured his share of learning on the job, but at the same time, he's shown us enough flashes of his superlative ability to know that he has it within him to finally end our long quarterback nightmare. Everywhere Bears fans look, though, there are impediments to his development.

Caleb seemed to be getting better every week, culminating in a four-touchdown effort to wreck the Jaguars in London. Then the bye came, and since then he's barely completed 50 percent of his passes as the Bears offense has become a complete disaster.

Just this morning, offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was fired after just nine games on the job. While Waldron deserved to be let go, he's far from the only to blame for Caleb's regression. Let's look now at the six people most to blame for Caleb's struggles, starting from the bottom and working our way to the top.

6. DJ Moore and Keenan Allen

It's impossible to watch Caleb's recent play and not wonder if there's more his receivers could be doing to help him out. I'm exempting Rome Odunze from this because despite having only two games with over 41 yards, it seems that he has a great rapport with his fellow rookie.

DJ and Keenan, though, have been massively disappointing, and that disappointment runs deeper than just blaming the playcalling or the matchups.

DJ signed a four-year, $110 million contract extension this offseason, and he was named a team captain for the second year in a row. Ostensibly, this makes him one of the leaders of the team, but he's been a bad example for most of the season. DJ is known for his route-running ability, but the tape shows a lot of lazy routes. Worse, his body language has been atrocious. Instead of picking his teammates up, he's more likely to be sulking silently on the bench or even walking off the field in the middle of a play after tweaking his ankle (an excuse that rang hollow considering he came right back in).

Keenan has been one of the NFL's consistently reliable receivers for years, and even though he's getting up there in years, Bears fans hoped that his veteran savvy would be invaluable for Caleb. Instead, he's missed time with a foot injury, looked slow when he has been able to play, and dropped catchable balls that could have kept drives alive or put points on the board. A fourth-round pick didn't seem like much to give up when the Bears traded for him, but it looks like the Chargers won that deal.

5. Caleb Williams

Personal responsibility is important, and though it would be fair to call me a Caleb Williams apologist (I was also a Justin Fields apologist and a Mitch Trubisky apologist, for whatever that's worth), even I have to admit that these past few weeks have been discouraging.

Caleb seems to have gotten in his own head, and he no longer trusts what he sees on the field. Whereas earlier in the year he was throwing with anticipation, now he's second-guessing everything, and the results have been grisly. The last time he threw a touchdown pass was a month ago, and he's taken 18 sacks in the past three games, more than a few of which because he didn't get rid of the ball when he had time.

Caleb has shown that he's capable of making big time throws, but he's also been wildly inaccurate at times. His deep ball, advertised as one of his best traits coming out of college, has been virtually nonexistent thus far in the pros, and every game he seems to have several passes that end up nowhere near their intended receiver.

Like DJ, Caleb's body language has deteriorated as the season has gone on. Multiple times per game now we're getting shots during the broadcast of him looking dazed and confused on the sideline, or lying on the turf in despair after absorbing another hit. Even though he's a rookie, a franchise quarterback has to lead by example, even when times are tough.

4. Ryan Poles

On the whole, I believe that Ryan Poles has done an excellent job of remaking a Bears roster and salary cap situation that was one of the worst in the league. The Bears are more talented than they have been in years on both sides of the ball, and that's a credit to Poles.

Not every move Poles has made has been a winner, but his trades have still been a huge net positive, mostly thanks to the Panthers deal that brought Caleb, DJ and others to Chicago. He also nailed the Montez Sweat trade, and smaller deals such as the one for Darrell Taylor this preseason have been beneficial as well.

Poles has also done wonders in the draft, unearthing quality players even in the later rounds. One area he's fallen short in though is a big one. The Bears do not have an NFL-caliber offensive line, and for Poles, who is a former O-lineman himself, it borders on unforgivable.

Poles spent a first-round pick on Darnell Wright two years ago. Wright has been fine at best. He also drafted Braxton Jones in the fifth round in 2022. Jones isn't a Pro Bowler by any means, but finding a starting left tackle that late in the draft is a feather in Poles' cap.

The interior line, though, has been a disaster. Nate Davis, whom Poles signed as a free agent, has been a total bust. Teven Jenkins has never been able to stay healthy for any period of time, and the center position has been a revolving door of inadequacy that has made Bears fans wonder if Olin Kreutz can get back in playing shape. Don't even say the name Coleman Shelton to me or I might snap.

For a line that doesn't really have a plus starter at any of the five positions, you would hope that it at least has quality depth, but that's not really the case either, as the Bears nearly ran out of linemen against the Patriots. Matt Pryor and Bill Murray did some good things when they've gotten the call in relief, but Murray is now on season-ending IR with a pectoral injury. Ryan Bates, who Poles acquired from the Bills for a fifth-round pick, hasn't even played 100 snaps as he's dealt with injuries of his own throughout the season.

All the good that Poles has done is in danger of being rendered useless by putting out such a poor offensive line. This offseason he needs to go all-out to improve the protection around Caleb, because it's impossible to develop as a young quarterback when you're running for your life and flat on your back all game.

3. Shane Waldron

I'm not one to kick a man when he's down, so with Shane Waldron being relieved of his duties, I'll try to make this quick. The Bears have only succeeded on offense this year when facing a bottom-five defense. When going against anything resembling a respectable unit, they've been totally outclassed.

Caleb has been sacked four more times than any quarterback in the league. Some of that falls on the offensive line, and on Poles for not doing more to address it, but does Waldron have any plays in his playbook to beat a blitz? The world will never know.

Most offensive coordinators can script some effective plays into the first quarter gameplan, but Waldron's offense has put up 10 points in the first quarter all season. For those keeping track at home, that's an average of 1.11 points per first quarter. Not great, Bob!

Under Waldron, the Bears offense has made decisions that could be called odd at best, and incomprehensible at worst. Handing the ball to Doug Kramer at the goal line may be the single most inane play call by any team this entire season. Ignoring Cole Kmet for games at a time is stupefying.

Waldron has been made the fall guy for the Bears' offensive failings. Make no mistake, he deserves to have been fired, but I would be surprised if Caleb and the Bears offense suddenly start cooking just because he's gone.

2. Matt Eberflus

If the day comes that Matt Eberflus no longer coaches football, I think he could have an exceptional career as a secret agent. No seriously, his ability to pull the strings from the shadows yet never take the heat is remarkable.

Waldron is gone, just like Luke Getsy before him. Just like under Getsy, the Bears offense under Waldron had an athletic quarterback that excelled at improvising and making plays out of structure, and just like under Getsy, the offense was a drab, boring mess. Who's the common denominator? Matt Eberflus.

Eberflus has control of the defense, so he always gets a pass for how the offense performs, but Bears fans have become wise to his game. It's obvious that both Justin Fields and Caleb Williams were instructed to avoid turnovers at all costs, and that decision comes from the top. Both quarterbacks became so paralyzed with the fear of making a mistake that they got sacked repeatedly rather than ever try to make a tight-window throw.

Nevermind that Eberflus hired both Getsy and Waldron, which should be fireable in its own right. His insistence on avoiding turnovers has turned this offense into an empty shell of what it could be. The Bears play the Packers this Sunday, and as much as I'd like to beat those Cheeseheads, what I really want to see is Caleb unleashed. Let him feel free to chuck the ball around. Give me 300 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. I'll take that. I'll even take one touchdown and four interceptions. Failure is a teaching tool and a way to grow.

Caleb has the talent to be great, but once again we're watching a conservative Bears coach ruin a Bears quarterback with the tools to be great.

1. The McCaskey family

I'm going to leave out Bears team president Kevin Warren, because as far as I can tell, his only job is to get a new stadium built, and that's not exactly going well either. I can't blame him for Caleb's struggles though, as much as my arm is loose from throwing blame all around.

Though Warren might be spared, the McCaskeys are another story. Teams don't achieve success without excellent ownership, at least not the kind of long-term success that Bears fans have spent their entire lives yearning for. The Bears have had random years where they've broken through, but by and large, this has been an organization that just isn't run well.

As Bears fans know, Virginia McCaskey is the only daughter of Papa Bear himself, George Halas. Her son George McCaskey is the chairman of the Bears. In a nutshell, the buck stops with him on all organizational decisions.

The fact that Matt Eberflus is still the coach doesn't rest at the feet of Ryan Poles. That directive comes straight from George McCaskey. Whether it's just feeling indebted to tradition that dictates that the Bears don't fire their head coach midseason, or (more likely) not wanting to be paying two head coaches at the same time, there's no other explanation for Eberflus still being in charge. Firing Shane Waldron doesn't get to the root of the problem.

Under the McCaskeys' leadership, the Bears have been afraid to innovate. When given the chance, they've always gone with the defensive head coach that wants to win with three yards and a cloud of dust. Dave Wannstedt, Dick Jauron, John Fox — they've all come from that mold, and so does Eberflus. On the rare occasion when the Bears have deviated from that path — such as when they hired Marc Trestman — the results have been disastrous enough to scare ownership back to their comfort zone.

Mike Ditka once said that George Halas throws nickels around like manhole covers, implying that he was cheap. It's an incendiary statement to make about the owner of a football team, but the years since have proven that it's true of the entire family. What other excuse could there be for not firing Eberflus this offseason to pursue Jim Harbaugh, Mike Vrabel or Ben Johnson? Even Bill Belichick was available, but the Bears opted to stick with a guy that had a lifetime 10-24 record before the season began. Any coach would have leapt at the chance to take over a team with a much-improved roster and a No. 1 quarterback to mold, but the Bears opted for mediocrity yet again.

Earlier this year, Forbes estimated that the Bears were the ninth-most valuable franchise in the NFL at $6.4 billion dollars. With a number like that and the knowledge that they would have potential buyers lined up around Michigan Ave. if they ever decided to sell the team, the McCaskeys know that they are set until the end of time. The least they could do is be willing to take a small loss on a coach that has never shown himself to be the solution the franchise needs, especially with so many better options out there. With the firing of Waldron, it looks like Eberflus is safe for now, but let us hope for Caleb's sake that they don't make the same mistake this offseason.