Bears fire OC Shane Waldron

In a unsurprising move, the Bears announced Tuesday they had fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. The move was telegraphed Monday when embattled head coach Matt Eberflus mentioned ‘changes’ coming to the offensive staff this week.

Scoring has fallen off a cliff the last three weeks for Chicago with a grand total of 27 points and an average of just 277.7 yards a game over that stretch. Probably the biggest factor in that drop off has been the regression of first overall pick Caleb Williams. The rookie quarterback has played significantly worse as the points have dried up.

Waldron most recently was offensive coordinator in Seattle and had previously been on the coaching staff of Sean McVay in Los Angeles. Things appeared to be progressing well during a three-game winning streak but a rash of injuries to the line has exposed Williams to an unrelenting pass rush that has completely derailed the unit.

Waldron has been unable or unwilling to change play calls to try and mitigate the blocking issues. Still, this feels like a sacrificial lamb when the real problem appears to be the head coach. Passing game coordinator Thomas Brown will take over interim OC duties. Brown was offensive coordinator for the Panthers in 2023 and was the Rams running backs coach the previous three seasons but it seems unlikely he will be able to fix the struggling unit.

This is the second Bears OC to be fired the past year after Luke Getsy got the ax following the 2023 season. This type of dysfunction is starting to reflect poorly on GM Ryan Poles operation and his seat is undoubtedly heating up. Barring a major turnaround, there might be a complete house cleaning at Halas Hall heading into next season.