Chicago Bears coordinators spoke with reporters before practice Thursday at Halas Hall as the team prepares for Sunday’s road game against the Arizona Cardinals.
Here are three things we learned from those sessions.
1. Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron said ‘there’s always valid criticism when things don’t work out’ — but repeatedly noted he was confident in the third-and-goal handoff to Doug Kramer.
Waldron’s call to hand the ball off to Kramer, an offensive lineman, on third-and-goal at the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter of the loss to the Washington Commanders has been a major storyline this week. Kramer, who had never had an NFL carry, didn’t control the handoff from quarterback Caleb Williams, and the Commanders recovered the fumble.
“Every play call that doesn’t work out, you go back and look at it and see, ‘Was it the best call in that situation?’ ” Waldron said. “And I think I’ll always look inwardly first, and every play call that doesn’t work out, obviously you’re going to have a sense of what could I have done better as a play-caller? What situations could I have put those guys in? But also, going back to the play, I have all the confidence in the world in all our players.”
Waldron stopped short of saying he shouldn’t have made such a risky call when the Bears were in position to take the lead with 6 minutes, 21 seconds to play. And when he was asked whether he would make the call again, he said yes.
“In that moment? Yeah, I was confident,” he said. “I had trust in it.”
It’s the second major goal-line snafu for the Bears in five games. Waldron’s call to run a speed option on fourth-and-goal at the 1 against the Indianapolis Colts backfired, and running back D’Andre Swift was stopped for a 12-yard loss.
“You look at the risk-reward,” Waldron said when asked about such plays. “(Against the Colts), I know I could have done a better job of getting us prepared in that moment, having a better play call in that instance. I try to learn from it.
“I felt moving forward here, hey, we have different plays that are not all vanilla and when’s the right time to use those? I felt confident. I always feel confident in our guys’ ability to execute those. And then, I’ve got to reflect and look at, hey, when the next scenario comes up, what can we all do better to execute in that situation?”
2. Defensive coordinator Eric Washington said he has ‘complete confidence’ in cornerback Tyrique Stevenson.
Washington said this week has called for “a moment of reflection” and “a moment of growth” as the Bears defense looks back at what went wrong on Jayden Daniels’ winning 52-yard Hail Mary. That includes Stevenson missing the first few seconds of the play because he was interacting with the crowd — and then being in the wrong position when he was supposed to defend Noah Brown, who made the catch.
Washington said the Bears have looked at how they managed the entire operation and processed what was going on — as coach Matt Eberflus didn’t call a timeout even though Stevenson wasn’t clued into the play at first. Washington said he didn’t see Stevenson at the snap because he was looking at the line of scrimmage and then examining how the Commanders were setting up on offense.
“My expectation for every player on the field is to be in the right position and to do exactly what they’re supposed to be doing at that particular point,” Washington said.
Along with the reflection of the last drive, Washington noted the Bears also made sure to acknowledge with the players all that went right Sunday, as the defense held a high-scoring Commanders team to four field goals until the very end.
As for Stevenson, Washington declined to give his opinion on whether the Bears should discipline the second-year cornerback, saying he is focused on the Cardinals. Eberflus hasn’t revealed publicly whether Stevenson will face any consequences for his actions, such as not starting Sunday.
“I’m not as much interested in consequences as I am making sure we grow from every situation that we’re involved in,” Washington said.
Washington said Stevenson has been “locked in” this week despite all of the media attention his actions have received, and the coordinator defended Stevenson when asked whether he has a problem with focus.
“I have complete confidence in Tyrique Stevenson,” he said. “I have complete confidence in his position coach, Jon Hoke. We need to continue to work, continue to grow. I know Tyrique and I know everybody on our defense beyond that particular moment. That’s the advantage I have that maybe others don’t.”
3. The Bears have some questions this week when it comes to the offensive line.
Left tackle Braxton Jones and left guard Teven Jenkins sat out practice Thursday while recovering from knee injuries that knocked them out of the Commanders game. Eberflus already said rookie offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie won’t return from a calf injury this week.
However, offensive tackle Larry Borom practiced in full as he works to come off injured reserve following an ankle injury, and guard/center Ryan Bates, who is also on IR, was limited.
The Bears have a few options in replacements if Jones and/or Jenkins are out, depending on who is ready. Matt Pryor has been at right guard but also can play tackle. Nate Davis and Kramer are potential guard replacements, though Davis has played primarily on the right side.
Waldron noted it is usually easier to make fewer moves on the line than to mix the whole thing up.
“There’s always a benefit if you can get away with it being a one-position move,” Waldron said. “So that way you have someone that can fill right in and you’re not taking two guys and putting them out of position.”
Safety Jaquan Brisker (concussion) and nickel Kyler Gordon (hamstring) remained out of practice. Defensive end Montez Sweat (shin) was limited.
