{"id":198206,"date":"2024-11-04T10:00:27","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=198206"},"modified":"2024-11-04T01:35:16","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T06:35:16","slug":"chicago-bears-identity-crisis-trapped-in-a-cycle-of-mediocrity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/11\/04\/chicago-bears-identity-crisis-trapped-in-a-cycle-of-mediocrity\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Bears’ Identity Crisis: Trapped in a Cycle of Mediocrity"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Bears somehow managed to pull off a performance worse than last week’s stunning loss to the Washington Commanders.<\/a> Keeping Caleb Williams in the game down 29-9 against the Arizona Cardinals<\/a> to practice a two-minute drill\u2014nearly resulting in a serious injury\u2014was questionable enough. But even worse was allowing a 53-yard touchdown with just 12 seconds left in the first half. While that’s not a good thing by any stretch of the imagination, it poses a thought: the Bears seem to be facing an identity crisis, and their failure to address it has kept them stuck in a cycle of mediocrity.<\/p>\n

Chicago Bears’ Identity Crisis: Trapped in a Cycle of Mediocrity<\/h2>\n

No one has faced more criticism over the past few weeks than Head Coach Matt Eberflus,<\/a> and for good reason. There’s plenty to scrutinize, from his 3-17 road record with a -161 point differential<\/a> to losing four games with a 91% win probability<\/a> or higher in the fourth quarter, repeatedly avoiding accountability and more. What\u2019s most frustrating about Eberflus is his tendency to blame the Bears’ issues on player execution. As head coach, his responsibility is to put players in a position to succeed\u2014something he clearly isn\u2019t doing.<\/p>\n

Eberflus doesn’t deserve to continue being the HC for the Bears, but the problems stem deeper than just him.<\/p>\n

Ownership Is an Issue<\/h3>\n

The Chicago Bears have a long-standing reluctance to fire head coaches midseason. To ownership, it may seem like a matter of grit and principle, but to the rest of us, it’s a sign of being stingy. The McCaskey family, the Bears’ majority owners, seem less invested in the team\u2019s on-field success. They\u2019re unwilling to pay for a top-tier coach and too controlling to grant the General Manager enough authority to make key decisions, like hiring or firing the Head Coach. Take the Washington Commanders, for instance\u2014once they moved on from owner Dan Snyder, they quickly regained relevance, now sitting at 7-2. The McCaskeys are good people, but if they genuinely want the Bears to be more than a mediocre franchise, showing commitment to becoming better no matter what it takes would bring a lot of joy to Bears fans.<\/p>\n

Never-Ending Cycle<\/h3>\n

The Chicago Bears have been stuck in a repetitive cycle: draft a rookie quarterback, fire the head coach the following year, and fail to develop the quarterback. The Bears finally have a promising quarterback,<\/a> which is fantastic, but they need to find the right head coach. Last offseason, it was reported that Detroit Lions<\/a> Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson was interested in the Bears’ head coaching job<\/a> if Matt Eberflus was let go. However, the Bears chose to stick with Eberflus, disappointing fans who wanted Johnson. Ownership reportedly wasn\u2019t willing to pay Johnson\u2019s requested $15 million salary,<\/a> reinforcing the perception that the McCaskey family is content with mediocrity, stuck in a perpetual search for the right head coach and quarterback.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no alignment between players, coaching, and ownership. Until there are changes at the top, it\u2019s hard to feel hopeful about the team\u2019s future. The fans deserve better. The players deserve better. But for ownership, this should serve as a reality check to change and adapt before it’s too late.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Kirby Lee – USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Bears have an identity crisis, and without change from the top down, they will continue to be stuck in a cycle of mediocrity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4976,"featured_media":198239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,54],"tags":[42,7403,8851],"class_list":["post-198206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bears","category-editorials","tag-chicago-bears","tag-chicago-bears-news","tag-matt-eberflus"],"modified_by":"Isaac Zuniga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4976"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}