Sometimes — like when your team is 4-10 with an eight-game losing streak — it’s OK to take them three games at a time.
Bears wide receiver DJ Moore is as competitive as the next guy, but he also has a good grasp of reality. With the Bears out of the playoff picture and heading into an offseason of change, he’s ready to put the dreadful 2024 season in his rear-view mirror.
“What I’m thinking about? Vacation,” Moore said when asked if he was already thinking of the offseason.
If for no other reason, he said, than to clear his mind.
“There you go,” Moore said. Let them [the Bears’ front office] do all the work, and just come back ready to go.”
Moore never has played on a winning team in his seven NFL seasons, but this has been among the most challenging of all. In 2019, the Panthers lost their final eight games and coach Ron Rivera was fired after 12 games, but Moore was still productive — averaging 101.7 receiving yards in six games before a concussion ended his season in Week 16. He still finished the 5-11 season with 87 receptions for 1,175 yards and four touchdowns. And he was 22.
This season, Moore has been productive, but doesn’t have big numbers as consolation. He has 76 receptions for 758 yards and five touchdowns. That’s a significant drop from his first season with the Bears, when Moore had instant chemistry with Justin Fields and finished with career highs of 96 receptions, 1,364 yards and eight touchdowns.
But this season, his lack of chemistry with Williams was an early symptom of issues the Bears had on offense under coordinator Shane Waldron. His yards per game are down from 80.2 to 54.1. His yards per catch has dropped from 14.2 to 10.0.
And the Bears still aren’t winning.
“It’s been tough,” Moore said. “Frustrating, definitely with this losing streak. But it’s football. Some team has to win, and it hasn’t been us.”
As Moore implied, it’s up to the Bears to get everything right for 2025. He’s still a big part of the Bears’ plans. He signed a four-year, $110 million extension ($82.6 million guaranteed) through the 2029 season. He’ll turn 28 in April.
So he’s looking forward to the future, but knows it’s an uncertain one for the Bears.
“We need to figure it out,” Moore said. “Maybe not this year. But at the beginning of next year, we need to figure it out — before we play a real game.”
The Bears have been doing all they can to utilize Moore this season, but he has not been able to turn short passes in to big plays in the Waldron/Thomas Brown offense like he did last season under Luke Getsy. In his last two games, Moore has 14 receptions for 95 yards — just 6.8 yards per catch with a long play of 14 yards in each game.
Moore and the Bears still have three games to finish the 2024 season, and performances against the Lions, Seahawks and Packers would count as momentum for next season rather than fool’s gold. Any win would mean something at this point.
“A bright day, that we did something right on Sunday,” Moore said. “We need that.”
NOTE: Running back Roschon Johnson, who has missed the last two games with a concussion, was a full participant in the Bears’ walk-through practice Wednesday. Left tackle Braxton Jones (concussion), left guard Teven Jenkins (calf) and defensive tackle Gervon Dexter (knee) and center/guard Ryan Bates (concussion) were listed as not practicing, per coaching staff estimates with a walk-through.