In the long history of Bears dysfunction that includes the botched press conference to announce the hiring of head coach Dave McGinnis that never happened, Sam Hurd’s in-season arrest on drug charges and offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer tearfully apologizing to the team for telling an NFL Network reporter the organization had “buyer’s remorse” after signing Jay Cutler to a seven-year, $126.7 million contract extension, the 2014 team under Marc Trestman and general manager Phil Emery stands alone.
That team was loaded with offensive weapons — quarterback Jay Cutler, running back Matt Forte, wide receivers Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery and tight end Martellus Bennett. And in Trestman, the Bears had a head coach who could maximize Cutler and take that talented offense to another level after improving from 16th in scoring to second in Trestman’s first season in 2013.
It all sounded so good — which might have been the first red flag. Others soon followed:
- In training camp at Bourbonnais, Bennett was fined and suspended for body-slamming rookie cornerback Kyle Fuller — only the team’s first-round draft pick — after taking exception to Fuller’s hard tackle in a team drill. Bennett was unrepentant afterwards. “That’s my style of play. I’m going to continue to play the way I play,” he said after the incident.
- Six days before the season opener, veteran linebacker Lance Briggs took a practice day off — with Trestman’s permission — to open his restaurant, the Double Nickel Smokehouse in his hometown of Elk Grove, Calif. (Trestman already had allowed Marshall to travel to New York each week to appear on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” on Tuesdays, a weekly day off for players.)
- Four days before a Monday night game against the Jets, Marshall calls his own awkward press conference to address the culture of domestic abuse in the U.S. and refute allegations of domestic abuse
- After a 31-24 loss to the Panthers at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte dropped the Bears to 2-3, defensive end Lamarr Houston tells non-believing fans to “eat dirt” in a Twitter rant.
- After a 27-14 loss to the Dolphins at Soldier Field dropped the Bears to 3-4, Marshall lashes out at teammates — including Cutler and kicker Robbie Gould — in an emotional locker-room rant that can be heard by reporters waiting outside.
- With the air supposedly cleared and the Bears ready to move on, they lost 51-23 to Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and the Patriots at Gillette Stadium — falling behind 38-7 at halftime. Houston suffers a torn ACL celebrating a sack of back-up Jimmy Garoppolo with the Bears trailing 48-23 with less than four minutes left.
- After taking the bye week to self-scout and re-dedicate themselves (“I’ve seen this happen after a bye week where teams find themselves,” Trestman said), the Bears reached another embarrassing low against the Packers at Lambeau Field — falling behind 42-0 at halftime in a 55-14 loss.
- With the Bears’ season spiraling out of control, Marshall gets in a Twitter spat with a Lions fan and challenges him to a fight — offering him $25,000 to “get in a ring with me.” And then claims it’s part of an anti-bullying campaign.
The Bears were so off the rails during that season that both Trestman and Emery were fired the day after the 5-11 season ended. It was unprecedented change at normally patient Halas Hall — Trestman was in his second season as head coach; Emery in his third as general manager.
Ten years later, the Bears are back in the muck — with a once-promising season de-railed by 10 straight losses, and neither the firing of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron nor head coach Matt Eberflus able to stop the bleeding. And the future of general manager Ryan Poles is in doubt.
But while the 2014 season still stands as the height of season-long dysfunction at Halas Hall, the 2024 season is the bigger disappointment.
With rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, upgraded weapons in receivers DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and No. 9 overall pick Rome Odunze and a defense that led the league in fewest points allowed over the final eight games of last season, this team was set up to take at least a significant step toward sustained success — if not a giant leap toward a deep postseason run. Instead, the Bears took a big, discouraging step backward that exposed the same old problem at Halas Hall — bad football judgment from the top down.
A team that prides itself on resilience never rallied after losing on a Hail Mary against the Commanders. The only sparks this team showed — against the Packers and Vikings — ended not only in disappointment, but disillusionment.
And so much for the best situation a quarterback drafted No. 1 overall ever had. Moore is averaging a career-low 9.9 yards per catch. Allen is averaging a career-low 51.4 yards per game. D’Andre Swift is averaging a career-low 3.8 yards per carry.
And even Williams is an x-factor at this point. Since the bye, he’s completed 59.9% of his passes — a red flag for a quarterback who takes notable pride in his accuracy. Williams still is the best quarterback prospect the Bears have ever had, but after 67 sacks … well, if the Bears aren’t ruining Williams, they’re certainly not nurturing him. We’re back to admiring those highlight throws only a few quarterbacks in the world can make — haven’t we been here before?
In fact, we have. That’s another reason why, of all the Bears seasons when the coach was fired — 2012 (Lovie Smith), 2014 (Trestman), 2017 (John Fox), 2021 (Matt Nagy) and 2024 (Eberflus) — this one is the most disappointing of all.