Taking a mulligan: 3 offseason decisions the Bears would like a do-over on

Spotify Wrapped came out today, and one of its coolest features is that it shows how your musical tastes have evolved over the course of 2024. Maybe you were into prog rock early in the year but then slipped into a K-pop phase as summer turned to fall, or maybe you started the year singing along to Motown classics but shifted to acoustic ballads once Daylight Savings Time hit and the days got shorter.

It would be fascinating to examine the Wrapped of a group of Chicago Bears fans, if only because they'd probably all be so similar. Bears fans were playing a lot of All I Do is Win by DJ Khaled when the team drafted Caleb Williams in April, then kept the good vibes going throughout the summer and preseason with Don't Stop Me Now by Queen. The tone has shifted as the season has worn on though, and I imagine that Everybody Hurts by R.E.M. has been getting a lot of play lately.

The Bears made plenty of good decisions this offseason, such as drafting Williams, Rome Odunze and Tory Taylor, extending Jaylon Johnson, and signing players like Kevin Byard in free agency. Inject general manager Ryan Poles with some truth serum, though, and he'd undoubtedly spill the beans on a few choices he'd like back. Here are the top three.

3. Tight end Gerald Everett has been a nonfactor after signing a two-year, $12 million contract this March

The Bears already had Cole Kmet occupying their number one tight end slot after giving him a four-year, $50 million extension last summer, so it's not like signing Gerald Everett away from the Chargers was supposed to be an earth-shaking move. You have to imagine Poles would have liked something more than seven catches for 30 yards through 12 games, though.

Once the Bears drafted Williams in April, the consensus was that he was coming into the best situation for a top-selected rookie quarterback ever, and it was easy to see why. DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze made up one of the most exciting receiving corps in the league, D'Andre Swift was signed to give the running game a boost, and Kmet and Everett would provide even more pass-catching options.

Williams has definitely shown that Bears fans were right to be excited about him, especially in recent weeks, but the Bears offense hasn't hit the consistent highs that fans imagined they would this offseason. The main culprit is the offensive line, which has allowed Williams to be sacked more than any other quarterback in the league.

The problems in the trenches have bled into the production of the tight ends. Outside of a couple of games, Kmet has been largely invisible as a receiving target, often because he's been needed more in pass protection to help a line that has been beset by injuries all year. Everett has been so nonexistent that Bears fans would be forgiven if they forgot he was even on the team.

The O-line has been coming around in recent weeks, partly due to getting healthy and partly due to a friendlier playcalling scheme. Still, the money given to Everett would have been better allocated to help up front.

2. Shane Waldron was a bad hire at offensive coordinator

The Bears hired Shane Waldron to be their offensive coordinator in January with the expectation that he could mold Justin Fieds, Caleb Williams or whoever the Bears selected with the number one pick into a top passer. Waldron had been on Pete Carroll's staff in Seattle, and under his tutelage, Geno Smith had experienced a career renaissance, so it made sense.

It didn't take long for Waldron's hiring to look like a mistake. When asked about his former OC during Super Bowl week in February, Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba asked if the show was being aired live before saying, "Good luck to y'all. He's a great person." Not exactly a ringing endorsement of offensive genius.

Waldron's progression-based offense never made sense with the Bears' lack of protection up front, and it's been a struggle at times for Williams to get in a rhythm as he's been beaten up so much. There's also been visible frustration from the offense all year, most noticeably from DJ Moore.

Waldron's days had been numbered since he called a goal-line handoff for backup lineman Doug Kramer that the big man fumbled against the Commanders, and this telling exchange in a 19-3 loss to the Patriots two weeks later was the last straw:

Even in a season that's been filled with disappointment, the three-point effort against the bottom-feeding Patriots was the nadir for Waldron and the offense, and he demonstrated in the clip above that not only could he not read the room, he just couldn't get on the same page with his franchise quarterback.

Waldron was fired just two days later, and the Bears offense, with Williams in particular, has been much better in Thomas Brown's hands. Ryan Poles would definitely like to have this one back.

1. Keeping Matt Eberflus instead of pursuing Jim Harbaugh was crazy then and looks even worse now

The Bears have traditionally been very conservative when it comes to head coaches. Rarely do they make the splashy hire, and until last week, they had never even fired a coach midseason before.

Matt Eberflus had won only 10 games in two seasons, but there was reason to believe that the team was heading in the right direction after a strong finish last year. Eberflus' defense reached another level after adding Montez Sweat, and with so many new, exciting pieces on offense, the thinking was that he could make another leap in 2024.

In a vacuum, that at least makes some sense. It's not too often you see teams fire a coach who finished with a 4-2 stretch, but then again, it's not too often that there's a sure thing head coach with ties to your franchise available. That's exactly what happened when Jim Harbaugh hit the market.

Harbaugh was one of the few bright spots the Bears have ever had at quarterback, but he's been an even better coach. He turned Stanford into a winner, took the 49ers to the Super Bowl, and won a national title with Michigan, his alma mater. Why wouldn't he also be interested in bringing glory to the team that he spent the first seven year of his career playing for?

Harbaugh has instantly turned the Chargers into a winner, while Eberflus has taken a predictable nosedive. He's always had trouble overcoming good teams, closing out close games, and beating division opponents, but he turned those shortcomings into an art form this year with one laughably bad loss after another. To no one's surprise, he was fired the day after Thanksgiving.

Now the Bears are stepping back onto the coaching carousel, but this all could have been avoided if they'd just thrown a bag at Jim Harbaugh last offseason. For the sake of Bears fans everywhere, let's hope they get it right this time.