The Shane Waldron era ended in Chicago this week with zero fanfare.
In fact, if fans were involved at all, they were likely quietly cheering the move.
Chicago's offense has been putrid, especially lately, struggling to protect rookie quarterback Caleb Williams while also failing to generate consistent production across the board. The days of hope that came with a few strong D'Andre Swift and Williams performances are long gone, and after surrendering nine sacks in a lopsided loss to the lowly Patriots, it was clear a change was needed.
Veteran receiver Keenan Allen offered some insight Wednesday into what went wrong with Waldron serving as the director of the Bears offense.
"I would say just probably he was too nice of a guy," Allen told the Chicago Tribune's Dan Wiederer. "I think during OTAs, training camp, he kind of fell into a trap of letting things go, not holding people accountable. Obviously those things lead to a slippery slope."
A coach being "too nice," while humorous, is also fairly shocking in pro football, a sport in which coaches often sleep in their offices and grind their noses down to the bone working to find any and every edge possible with each week's matchup. But an explanation exists for why Waldron was allegedly easygoing during training camp: The Bears were an offseason darling entering 2024.
Chicago entered camp riding a wave of optimism built largely on potential -- not substance -- entering 2024 after an offseason that saw them upgrade their skilled positions and draft their next hopeful franchise quarterback in Williams.
Perhaps they drank too much of their own Kool-Aid. Whatever the cause, two facts couldn't be clearer after their most recent loss: The Bears are an unprepared, disorganized, low-energy team on the offensive side, and their defense -- no matter how much they improved down the back half of 2023 and succeeded early in 2024 -- is not strong enough to carry them to victory. Waldron is out because he failed to find even a modicum of a solution for their issues.
There's no guarantee things will improve without him. Thomas Brown will take over for him as interim offensive coordinator, but Bears fans should rightfully be cautious with their expectations.
At minimum, maybe Brown will hold folks accountable. If anyone will be able to tell a difference, it will be the 12-year veteran Allen.
