This wasn’t how the Chicago Bears‘ season was supposed to go, and fans are letting the franchise hear about it.
General manager Ryan Poles selected two studs inside the top 10 of the NFL draft, quarterback Caleb Williams at No. 1 overall and wide receiver Rome Odunze with the 9th pick. The team spent real money at the running back position to acquire Pro Bowler D’Andre Swift and sent a fourth-round pick to the Los Angeles Chargers for six-time Pro Bowl wideout Keenan Allen.
Star cornerback Jaylon Johnson got paid and the defense started off the year strong, as Chicago jumped out to a 4-2 start. Then came the catastrophic loss to the Washington Commanders on a fateful Hail Mary pass as time expired, and since then the Bears have spun out of control — losing their 10th consecutive contest on “Thursday Night Football” to the Seattle Seahawks and scoring just three points in the process.
The locker room is frustrated and the fans are furious. That anger cost both former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and former head coach Matt Eberflus their jobs mid-season — moves the organization literally never made before the 2024 campaign. Chicago faithful authored booming chants at Soldier Field on Thursday night urging the McCaskeys to “sell the team” that has been in their family for over a century.
Reporters asked Williams about those chants, and the sentiments behind them, during the postgame press conference.
“This is my first year. Their frustrations go way longer back than I’ve been here,” Williams said, per Adam Jahns of The Athletic. “My job is to go out there and win games. We don’t focus on the outside noise. Fans, they’re going to cheer and maybe boo sometimes. You can’t react to that. … We have a job to do.”
Caleb Williams Takes Blame for Bears’ Loss to Seahawks in Week 17
GettyQuarterback Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears.
Williams fell on his proverbial sword after the team’s 6-3 loss to Seattle, during which he took 7 sacks. That boosted his league-leading total to 67 sacks taken across 16 games in his rookie campaign.
“I’ll definitely take the heat for this one because of some of the situations that I put us in,” Williams told media members.
But as much help as Poles afforded Williams in terms of skill position talent, he built the team outside-in and neglected what has also been one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL this year — a problem that injuries have only exacerbated.
Ryan Poles’ Job Likely on Line Heading Into Next Year
GettyChicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles.
The front office can probably count on long-suffering Bears fans to forgive those mistakes if the team addresses them appropriately with its mountain of salary cap space and handful of quality picks in the 2025 draft.
That said, if things don’t turn around — and turn around relatively quickly — next season, Poles could be the next to go. Because while Williams was right to be firm about tuning out the “outside noise,” he was also correct that the fans have come by their anger honestly.
Chicago has made the playoffs just three times in the 18 years since the franchise’s last Super Bowl appearance following the 2006 campaign. The Bears are 1-3 in the postseason across those three playoff berths and haven’t won a playoff game in nearly a decade and a half.
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