Time to get some intel from our division rival
With this Sunday’s game rapidly approaching, it’s time for us to get some intel about the team the Minnesota Vikings will be facing off with this week. It’s time for our annual trip to Soldier Field to take on the Chicago Bears, and that means getting a chance to sit down and talk with the folks from Windy City Gridiron about our division rivals.
I had the chance to exchange questions with Bill Zimmerman from over at WCG this week. You can check out my answers to the questions that he sent me by following this link, and here are the questions that I sent him and his answers.
1) As we know, the Bears had the #1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft (thanks, Carolina) and used that pick to select QB Caleb Williams in hopes of finding a long-term solution at that position. Halfway through his rookie year, what are your impressions of Williams’ performance and do you think the Bears made the right choice?
I think a lot of the national narratives on Caleb Williams have been unfair and have come from people who haven’t watched him. I’m more excited for what Caleb Williams can be than I have been for any previous quarterback. Has he been inconsistent? 100%. But we saw elite performances against Carolina and Jacksonville. We saw efficient performances against the LA Rams and Green Bay Packers. We saw clutch performances against Washington and Green Bay once again. He was bad the first two weeks of the season and he was bad recently against Arizona and New England but we will see how he performs against strong teams the rest of the way.
The main reason I’m positive on Williams isn’t the physical gifts which I think even the biggest Caleb haters would agree is there, but it’s what’s between the ears. He has a short memory and doesn’t let mistakes affect him, as a rookie, he’s already calling protections and adjusting formations and he has a good amount of freedom to audible. I think Williams processes already at a pretty good speed and seems to read defenses well. He’s certainly been impacted by poor pass protection and a messy offense from Shane Waldron. He’s only thrown 1 interception over his last 7 games. A lot of signs are pointing in the right direction.
2) Speaking of the Bears’ offense, Chicago fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron after just ten games after hiring him to replace Luke Getsy after last season. While interim OC Thomas Brown only has one game under his belt so far, have you seen enough changes from him to think that he will make a difference at that spot?
The post-bye failures of this offense were absolutely wild. I know Jacksonville and Carolina aren’t good teams, but the offense looked elite and two weeks later it barely looked professional. The issues with Waldron weren’t just post-bye, there were multiple meetings with team leaders early in the season and there was clearly some communication issues and strategic issues right out of the gate that bothered the players.
It’s tough to make too many conclusions after just one game, but the players really responded to Brown. He holds players accountable (something players said Waldron didn’t) and he brings a lot of energy which the players appreciate. His strategy was clearly to have Williams get the ball out quickly against Green Bay and I certainly would assume that will be the same plan against Brian Flores’ aggressive defense. If Williams continues to get the ball out in under 2.5 seconds and gets it into the hands of his playmakers, Brown could have a very positive effect the rest of the way.
3) On the subject of coaching, from all appearances Matt Eberflus’ seat is hotter than that of the “This is Fine” dog from that meme cartoon. Do you see any scenario where he survives as the head coach of the Bears beyond this season?
The seat is sizzling, no doubt. Bears fans don’t want Eberflus gone at the end of the year, they want him gone now. It’s not just because of the post-bye collapse, it’s because he consistently doesn’t do well in games that come down to coaching. He’s 5-17 in one-score games, he’s blown 8 leads since he’s taken over as Bears’ head coach which is tied for the most in the NFL. He blew three games last year where the team had a win probability over 90% and he’s had one this year over 90% (Washington) and the Green Bay game peaked at 84%.
Not only that, he doesn’t manage the clock well, his challenges are poor, and some of the decisions he makes in games make opponents openly question what he’s thinking. But hey, he got a haircut and grew a beard in February so he’s great. Now that the rant is over, let me answer your question. If the Bears get red-hot against this really hard schedule to finish (2 vs Minnesota, 2 vs Detroit, Green Bay, Seattle, San Francisco) and finish the year 10-7, they’ll almost certainly have tiebreakers and make the playoffs. That being said, that means they went 6-1 and made the playoffs, that will save his job. I think if they finish 8-9 or worse, I feel it’s going to be really hard to sell a return of Matt Eberflus. I think at 9-8 the Bears miss the playoffs, but that would probably save Eberflus’ job as well. George McCaskey does not like firing his coaches, so he always gives them the benefit of the doubt, even when they shouldn’t.
4) If you could take one non-Justin Jefferson player from the Vikings and add him to the Bears’ roster, who would you take and why?
I really wanted to take an interior offensive lineman from your team, but I just don’t think there’s one strong enough to say, that’s the guy the Bears should steal. This is probably the expected answer, but I think it has to be Jonathan Greenard. I think a lot of Bears fans were hoping the Bears were going to make an additional splash on the defensive line in the offseason and have a legitimate pass rusher opposite Montez Sweat. Greenard was a guy that fans wanted and I think the Bears at least checked in on Greenard and tried to see if they could land him in Chicago.
The Bears have a very strong back seven, if they had a consistent pass rush to pair with it, they would truly have an elite defense, but the pass rush is inconsistent and has gotten worse since Andrew Billings went down for the year and if they had a better edge opposite Sweat, they really would be something.
5) The betting lines say that this should be a victory for Minnesota, but we all know that weird things tend to happen at Soldier Field when these two teams get together. How do you see this one playing out on Sunday? Can the Bears pull off the upset and get themselves back on track?
I’m hopeful that Thomas Brown and Caleb Williams can create and execute a game plan that keeps the ball coming out quickly before Brian Flores’ can bring pressure on Caleb and create problems. I’m hopeful, but I’m not expecting it. I don’t trust the Bears offensive line to keep the pressure off Williams and I certainly don’t trust Eberflus. I think the Bears’ defense can largely neutralize the Vikings’ offense as long as Justin Jefferson doesn’t go off but I really question if the Bears offense is going to move the ball against the Vikings defense. The Bears need to run the ball effectively for the offense to work and I don’t think they’ll do that against Minnesota which will force them to be one-dimensional passing the football and then Flores will tee off with his blitzes. I don’t think they pull off the upset because I think the offense regresses and I think the Bears lose something like 17 to 9.
One other note why I don’t like this matchup. Matt Eberflus, as I mentioned, is the worst in the NFL among active coaches in one-score games with a 5-17 record. Who’s the best in the league? Kevin O’Connell at 22-10.
Thanks to Bill for taking the time to sit down and answer our questions for this week!