With an inexperienced roster and fresh coaching staff all organized by a first-time general manager, expectations for the Chicago Bears in 2022 often included severe growing pains. However, that pain is tolerable because of the idea of visible and measurable growth.
Through six weeks and four excruciating losses, some within sports media and an agonized fan base refuse to grasp the meaning of improvement. In fairness, it’s an idea completely perpendicular with the franchise over the course of the last few decades. Some teams showed flashes, but failed to create a sustainable product.
The same city and organization that allowed Ryan Pace to run wild with irresponsible offseason spending and unorthodox draft selections for seven years appears ready to feed Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus to the wolves a few months into the job.
Unraveling years of horrendous financial mismanagement and laughable roster configuration is far from an overnight fix. Instead it’s a multiyear project. Poles warned and essentially promised short-term consequences when using this approach. The first offseason still plays an important role in player development and it’s easy to list misses in the draft or free agency, but it’s a process – for everybody.
But Where Exactly is The Growth?
Improvement in the product doesn’t always smack us in the face on Sunday, nor is it always black and white. Determining the standard for growth depends on individual expectations, and for the Bears, those varied significantly throughout the Chicagoland.
Realistically, quarterback Justin Fields should receive consideration as a second-year rookie. If you’re willing to pin plenty of well-earned blame on Matt Nagy for the offense’s struggles from Trubisky to Foles to Dalton to Fields back to Dalton to Fields and then Foles again, then it’s only fair to wipe the slate clean for the former No. 11 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Learning new mechanics, a new system and playbook while trying to find comfort in a claustrophobic pocket puts a lot on Fields’ plate. And while the quarterback misfires occasionally, lacks a softer touch, or finds himself on his behind if not running for his life on nearly every snap, the former Ohio State quarterback certainly isn’t shying away from the challenge.
His deep ball accuracy is consistently jaw-dropping. However, he struggles with shorter reads and throws, often relying on his feet to alleviate pressure. Again, it’s a process, and for a quarterback just 16 starts into his professional career, the staff preaching patience means plenty more than the fan base’s quick trigger to launch another young QB into the void.
Fields is a magician in the open field on his feet – it’s a weapon. His legs might feel like a crutch while he develops his arm, but removing the legs from his game is an irresponsible choice the coaching staff won’t make.
Face It and Erase It.
Thursday night’s disappointing loss to the Washington Commanders provided a glimpse at the good and bad of Justin Fields’ game. Luckily for the Bears, the mistakes on display in primetime are fixable. Overthrows in the flat and interceptions off of a defensive lineman’s helmet often indicate a lack of touch on throws. Meanwhile, a deep strike to Dante Pettis provided the only score for the team in the 12-7 barnburner.
Another area ripe for improvement is Fields’ internal clock. Fields faced pressure on 46% of dropbacks and took five sacks. Ryan Poles’ top priority in the offseason is building an offensive line that can hold up against superior talent. But that doesn’t mean Fields isn’t taking a microsecond too long to get rid of the ball. Again, it’s certainly coachable.
And while drops look like incompletions in the box score, the absence of a reliable receiving corps continues to rear its ugly head. The point is — and remains — that we needed to see steps in the right direction for Justin Fields in 2022, and that’s happening. Maybe not as flashy or as quickly as many would like, but it’s there if you’re paying close enough attention and not listening to Twitter trolls and talking heads discard Fields before a full-season of playing time.
Half Time Adjustments Proves Staff’s Greatest Strong Suit
If you’re sitting on the couch filled with rage after a brutal first-half of football, remember two things:
- This roster doesn’t exactly “have the horses.”
- This team finds a way to compete for a full 60 minutes, and the game isn’t over until the final whistle blows.
Through six weeks, the Bears are outscoring opponents 54-35 in the second-half. That’s not a product of prevent defenses, either. Chicago genuinely represents a true “second-half team”. The staff’s adjustments often keeps the Bears in a competitive position. Unfortunately, a 2-4 record and 15.5 points scored per game headlines sports talk radio on a local and national level.
Additionally, one of football’s least disciplined teams in 2021 heads in a better direction one season later. Matt Nagy’s Bears committed 11 unnecessary roughness penalties last season. This year, nearly a third of the season through, Matt Eberflus’ squad has zero.
However, the staff is not blameless in losing football games. Eberflus faced ridicule for clock management earlier in the season, specifically leading into half time. However, Thursday night’s loss showed definitive improvement in the area, using timeouts in the first half to secure another offensive possession.
As for Luke Getsy, the play calling feels a little hesitant, and the team seemingly needs a brand new goal-to-go approach. Personally, in a season where the hope for playoffs seems minimal, I’d love to watch Fields let loose and air it out. But there’s a learning curve and a leash for everybody. It’s a process.
The Role of Ryan Poles Then and Now
The first step of this process is assessment. Without a proper acceptance of the team’s short-comings, what’s the point of looking for areas to get better? With a full offseason to grade and apply immediate changes, the roster looks worse, but sets up the team for growth in next season’s free agency. However, Ryan Poles’ job does not slow down just because on-field decisions are up to the coaching staff.
With a trade deadline looming, Poles could travel multiple paths with the team’s long-term vision still in mind. Displaying affection for stockpiling draft capital was the name of the game for the general manager after his hiring. Thanks the Ryan Pace, building through the draft was an impossible task without tinkering due to the organization’s depleted resources.
However, while the Bears embark on a large-scale remodel, acquiring talent and using draft capital to do so isn’t out of the realm of possibility. With the state of the Carolina Panthers currently in flux, if the team dangles D.J. Moore as a tradable asset, the Bears could – and should – pounce if the price is right. But the NFL is more complicated than fantasy football, and the idea of Moore heading to Chicago feels like a longshot at best.
But the point stands that the Bears could look to add weaponry in the receiving corps for Fields to further advance his game this season. Additionally, it’s a high likelihood that Poles would shop players like Robert Quinn, and maybe Roquan Smith or David Montgomery with their expiring contracts.
The Fan Base Could Benefit from Some Growth, Too
The overarching theme here is to stop looking as screengrabs of seemingly open receivers on Twitter. Stop calling for heads to roll six games into a new regime. And please stop telling yourself you can’t see growth because there isn’t a large, flashing arrow that spells it out for you during the broadcast.
Matt Nagy peaked in his first season with the Bears. The quality of play quickly devolved into a product similar, but worse than the one we’re watching now. That doesn’t mean Nagy and Pace are still in control; stop treating Poles and Eberflus like Year Four Nagy and Year Seven Pace.
Regardless of how funny it may seem that “Ryan and Matt are our football guys”, it’s a new era in Chicago Bears football; one that requires patience and thick skin and a heart strong enough to face disappointment. Don’t kid yourself – it’s been worse. A lot worse.