GREEN BAY — The Chicago Bears fired a head coach in-season for the first time in 105 years because they melted down in crunch time, losing four times in the closing minutes in a six-game span in the middle of the season.
When you look back on the team’s 5-12 season, one that was as frustrating as it was embarrassing, it’s easy to point to the Hail Mary in the Oct. 27 loss at Washington as the tipping point.
There was no recovering from the damage that piled up — week after week — when the Bears were seconds, just one play away from improving to 5-2 in the thick of the NFC race. So, for those involved, it was meaningful to close out the year Sunday at frigid Lambeau Field with a 24-22 victory over Green Bay as Cairo Santos’ 51-yard field goal split the uprights with no time remaining.
It ended a 10-game losing streak and an 11-game skid to the Packers. It was the first time the Bears have won on the road on a Sunday since Dec. 26, 2021 (at Seattle). Packers backup quarterback Malik Willis played most of the game. Green Bay removed starter Jordan Love early in the second quarter for precautionary reasons with a right elbow issue but he’s expected to be fine for a wild-card round game at Philadelphia. The game didn’t have meaning for the Packers (11-6), who were locked into the No. 7 seed after the Washington Commanders won at Dallas.
The victory at least sends the Bears into the offseason — into a coaching search that will shape the future of the franchise — feeling a little bit better about the state of things. Here are 10 thoughts as a deeply disappointing season ends.
1. For the first time in nearly three months, after a win in London over Jacksonville, the Bears had an upbeat locker room afterward.
There were smiles. There was some music.
It wasn’t a celebration because, at the end of this season, there’s really nothing to get overly excited about. More than anything, there was a sense of relief for players and coaches, most of whom will be looking for work elsewhere soon, and staff members that they will not have to carry a grueling losing streak into the offseason.
“It just feels good to go into the offseason, I think,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “This is my first time beating them. It feels great. It was a little ugly throughout the game but we got it done. We finished. It was good.”
The message interim coach Thomas Brown, who is expected to receive an interview for the head coaching position, preached to the players was that the first game of the calendar year was a chance to begin anew.
“First game of 2025,” Kmet said. “Start fresh. We’re 1-0 in 2025.”
No, they won’t carry that victory over to September when they get going again. But they rallied from being down 22-21 with 54 seconds remaining after Brandon McManus hit a 55-yard field goal to give the Packers their first lead of the game following wide receiver DJ Moore’s fumble on a bubble screen while the Bears were trying to run out the clock.
Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams maintained his poise, avoiding a sack when he was in the clutches of middle linebacker Edgerrin Cooper and got the Bears in range for Santos, who had a chance to win the initial meeting versus the Packers on Nov. 17 when his 46-yard kick as time expired was blocked by Karl Brooks.
The protection held up. The kick had the proper trajectory and — at long last — the Bears proved they can execute in game-defining moments.
“Obviously, we knew it was about to be a long offseason,” strong safety Kevin Byard said. “But we wanted to finish the right way. We talked about that (Saturday) night. We kind of wanted to take this last game and swing some momentum into the next season with it being a new year. So this is a great way to go out. We made it a little hard on ourselves. But to be able to come up here to Green Bay and get the win, it means a lot to this organization.”
In the big picture, the victory as a 10-point underdog is hollow. A win here in the finale last season would have knocked the Packers out of the playoffs. This victory didn’t provide the kind of satisfaction a win in that situation would have.
Even with the mindset this team isn’t as far off as some of the league’s bottom feeders are — and that’s certainly how they feel inside Halas Hall — this season was a disaster any way you stack it up. What unfolded was nearly a worst-case scenario with the only positive being Williams managed to stay healthy and start every game, the first time a Bears quarterback has managed that since Jay Cutler in 2009.
The Bears are going to have to convince top head-coaching candidates that losing is not systemic at Halas Hall. The organization has had two winning seasons in the last 14 years since chairman George McCaskey was elevated to his role in 2011. It’s a long climb up when you look at where the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings and Packers are in the NFC North. The Bears are now looking for their sixth head coach since McCaskey took over and hunting for their first playoff victory since after the 2010 season.
There are serious questions about the roster that begin with the offensive line. Williams was sacked only once but finished the season with a franchise-record 68. The defensive line needs to be reworked and the pass rush has to be augmented.
The Bears have to get the coaching hire right. This is way bigger than when they went into last offseason needing to find an offensive coordinator and made a disastrous move selecting Shane Waldron. They had too many cooks in the kitchen for Williams with as many as six coaches having a hand in the passing offense and coaching of the quarterback.
Expectations were poorly managed for a team rebooting with a rookie quarterback in a division that set up to be a good one and turned into a great one. That’s something to keep in mind as a coaching staff is hired, roster moves are made and the hype machine cranks up. Being the subject of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series didn’t help, but the Bears got over their skis after winning five of eight games to close the 2023 season. The crash was hard and painful.
This was the first victory for the Bears since they hosted Chicago rap star Lil Durk — Durk Banks, who now faces murder-for-hire charges — as a guest in London for the Jacksonville game, having him on the sideline pregame. Banks had become a regular guest of the team and appeared on the team-controlled “Hard Knocks,” and that remains an embarrassment. President/CEO Kevin Warren will oversee the coaching search and is in charge of the new stadium push — with the team’s stated goal being to begin construction somewhere in 2025 — so everything he does from a public relations standpoint is relevant. That the team was associated with Banks remains a head-scratcher.
But the Bears got a badly needed win — one that gives them the 10th pick in the draft — and a win in the division that leaves them with the same 1-5 record in the NFC North as the Packers.
“I’m excited to have a win,” Brown said. “But my goal was not to have a win as an interim head coach. My goal is to maximize every opportunity that I have. To be a great leader in every situation. To never flinch and also, I think the true test of a leader is to elevate those around you.
“So, it’s about the guys in that locker room, the coaches and their staff. I got a game ball. I will end up putting it up somewhere in my house in one of my man caves at some point. That will always be something I remember. But it’s always been more about this team, the coaches around me, the organization and trying to maximize this opportunity that I’m given.”
2. The Bears will launch into the search for the 19th head coach in club history Monday when players clean out their lockers, exit meetings are conducted and interim coach Thomas Brown meets with the media.
Here are some things I expect:
— Ryan Poles is going to remain general manager. The Bears haven’t deviated from this since he and Kevin Warren met reporters after Matt Eberflus was fired in December. That hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from working overtime but Poles is positioned to be the GM moving forward. My hunch is Poles will meet with the reporters on Tuesday. League rules require the GM to hold an end-of-season news conference within a week of the final game. The Bears will likely want to get this piece of business taken care of sooner rather than later.
— I’d expect a better news conference than the last time the Bears made Poles and Warren available. We’ll see how it is structured, who speaks and in what order everything goes, but the last time out went poorly. The Bears were in a no-win position and they somehow lost big. I think Poles will be positioned in control and have a stronger message. He’s got some difficult questions to answer but the team has had five weeks to prepare for this moment. One thing Poles has done is be pretty straightforward and transparent and the more layers he shares about how the coaching search will play out, the better the Bears will look to prospective candidates and fans, even those wishing for a change at GM.
— The team is likely to get started right away submitting interview requests for coaches currently employed by other teams. An initial virtual interview with an assistant on a team that has a first-round bye — such as Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson — will have to take place this week before the conclusion of the wild-card round.
— Don’t expect this process to move quickly. The NFL has shifted guidelines for hiring a head coach to ensure it’s a slow process. There are going to be bits of news that trickle out. Then, there are going to be lulls when surely more rumors will run wild. Rules prohibit teams from interviewing any candidates who are currently employed by other clubs in person until Jan. 20. Rules dictate teams must interview at least two external minority candidates in person. So, this means the Bears aren’t going to dial in on just one candidate after two weeks, interview that guy in person and make a move.
— All the time the team has had to prepare for this week has given the Bears ample opportunity to vet a wide range of candidates. That process should lead to a rather focused search but I’d fully expect them to come up with some names that have yet to be linked to the organization. Who those names are, I don’t have any idea and it would be throwing darts against a board in an effort to nail them. But you have to imagine there are more than just the five or six names most frequently tied to the team.
— My guess is Warren and Poles will have whatever resources required to make any move they want. I’m just playing a hunch here, and the Bears are never going to say if this isn’t the case, but one thing Warren has done since arriving and making moves in the building is spend money. He’s been thorough and I’ve been told by folks in the know that getting finances in line to make moves he’s wanted to complete has not been an issue for him. So, you have to figure he’s ready — with the blessing from ownership — to do what is required.
The Bears are going to have to sell themselves to candidates, especially if they are targeting a coach with other opportunities. I asked an executive with another team what questions he would have for the Bears if he was interviewing for the job. I thought his expansive answer was interesting.
“The tough part is when you are in that situation do you really want to ask the questions that you want to get answered?” the executive said. “Because it might offend the people who are deciding if they are going to hire you or not. How much involvement is Kevin Warren going to have not necessarily on a day-to-day basis but the week-to-week basis of the football team? At the end of the day, GMs and head coaches want to be those two making the decisions and if they need something, they go to the owner. Now, if Kevin essentially is fulfilling the role of the owner, that is what it is if George (McCaskey) is completely out of it but I don’t believe that is the case either. You have to figure out that.
“How much involvement is Kevin having? How many closed-door meetings is he having with other people? With the owners and other people? Is he having influence over other people that the head coach is supposed to be the one influencing, whether it’s trainers, equipment people, everything else? At the end of the day, the people setting the tone and setting the culture and being in charge of people that touch the football team — and there are a lot of them — it should be two guys — the head coach and the GM. That’s the biggest question in my mind.
“Of course, I think there needs to be an understanding — and this goes for any organization — what is the integration between the personnel staff and coaching staff in terms of acquiring talent through the draft, free agency or whichever way? You have to make sure the vision of the team is going to be able to perform the way the head coach wants it to. I don’t know how much Matt Eberflus was in on those decisions in the past two years but obviously the makeup of the roster did not put him in a position to succeed. It’s hard. It’s very hard because coaches are more typically focused on now and the role of the personnel department is to be focused on now but also the future. It gets challenging.
“When you look at the roster, it seems like the Bears have almost done it in reverse. They’re not building inside-out. They built outside-in and that’s not typically the way you do it. Because you need the offensive line to support the quarterback and receivers can perform as rookies a lot better than offensive linemen. That’s why you draft offensive linemen first because it takes them longer to acclimate to the NFL and then you plug in the receivers. That’s when you start clicking.
“How many teams in the NFL right now are desperate for three or more offensive linemen? Probably 75%. You can’t just say we’re going to draft offensive linemen 1, 2 and 3 because those guys are going to take a year — minimum — to become whatever you see them becoming in the scouting process. That means next year is going to be a struggle for the quarterback, who is already struggling. And everybody else is after those same 15 or so linemen in the draft who are considered guys that can become starters. You’re not going to get three guys in a single draft who are going to be legitimate starting-level players. It’s going to be really challenging to do that. Obviously, in free agency, the really good ones? They don’t typically make it there to the market. I don’t know if there is a magic plan for an offensive line. So, what is the vision?”
Buckle up. It’s going to be several weeks before the next coach is introduced.
3. Don’t get caught up in the idea the Bears lost three spots in the draft order when the trade-off was seeing Caleb Williams do what franchise quarterbacks are supposed to: deliver with the game on the line.
Statistically, it won’t be memorable — Williams was 21 of 29 for 148 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions — but he needed the rally with 54 seconds remaining. Those who trusted in Williams emerging as the team’s savior needed it. Those who will spend an offseason hoping things begin to turn around for the franchise needed it.
Williams made a big-time play connecting with DJ Moore for an 18-yard gain on third-and-11 from the Bears’ 49-yard line with 15 seconds remaining and no timeouts. It came two plays after Williams had the wherewithal to unload the ball just in time to avoid a sack by linebacker Edgerrin Cooper.
The Bears had three receivers — Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze and Cole Kmet — stacked to the right side of the formation with Moore singled up on the back side opposite cornerback Carrington Valentine, the player who had forced a Moore fumble minutes earlier on a busted bubble screen with no blockers for him.
The Packers had Valentine singled up on Moore and pressing him before they called timeout. The Bears used the same formation after the timeout.
“I tell DJ in the huddle, ‘If they press you like that again, you’ll run a vertical, a go ball,’” Williams said. “‘If they get outside leverage, we’ll run a glance or a five-step and snap it off.’ He just made sure that we were on the same page so we can go and execute and then after I told DJ that, I told everybody that it’s down-down-clock, and then once DJ catches it, we’ll have to run it up there, clock it and then put it through the uprights. That’s what happened.”
After the timeout, Valentine used outside leverage. The Packers didn’t want to allow the Bears to get a play to the boundary as they were out of timeouts. But the middle of the field was wide open with so many defenders occupying the strong side. The offense was able to clock the ball with two seconds remaining, setting up Cairo Santos for the game-winner.
“It was amazing,” Moore said. “(Williams) stayed calm, cool, collected and had us rolling.”
You wonder if the season would have taken a different trajectory had the Bears held on against the Commanders after Williams directed a 62-yard touchdown drive that ended with 25 seconds remaining. The players probably wonder too.
“There’s been times throughout this season where we’ve marched down the field in two minutes over and over again,” Williams said. “Whether we put ourselves in position for field goals or put ourselves in position to score, we’ve done it I think four times, five times. And those situations didn’t go our way, whether it was the Hail Mary or a bunch of other things, and so being able to do it this way, being able to end the season off the right way.
“You couldn’t ask for a better way to end the season through all of what’s going on, through all of the coaches being fired, not playing well myself and us losing many, many games in a row. 12? What was it? 10? 11? Some crazy number. Being able to put Cairo in that same situation that we put him in last game (against the Packers), him being able to relive that moment and not just relive it but obviously put it through the uprights. Being able to have that moment was great. Being able to have the first win in 2025, being able to have the first win since 2015 in Lambeau, being able to have the first win versus Green Bay in (12) games. So, it’s the first of a lot and really excited about this offseason, being able to grow for myself, the moves and people that we’ll get to be able to grow and make a monumental jump for next year and to be able to start next season off right.”
Tracking Caleb Williams: How the Chicago Bears QB is performing in his rookie season
Given the setting, shortly after the game ended, Williams was pretty introspective on what’s ahead. He had 3,541 yards passing this season, the fifth-most in franchise history. Bears’ passing records are low bars to clear but Williams did protect the ball all season. His six interceptions are the fourth-fewest by a rookie with a minimum of 13 starts in NFL history.
He has a lot of room to grow in many areas. The Bears need to help him with better protection — that will be a prominent storyline all offseason — and he needs to manage the pocket better, challenge tight windows more consistently and improve throwing the ball to the second and third levels.
In terms of a “monumental jump” for the team, what’s his role?
“My role in that is being able to see where I can grow, whether it’s on the field, whether it’s off the field, whether it’s in the locker room or anything like that,” Williams said. “Whether it’s off the field and maybe having less people around, less distractions, less time for other things. Whether that’s on the field and being able to decipher things faster on the field, whether that’s being able to be more accurate, whether that’s being able to have more game-winning drives.
“Whatever it takes is kind of where I’m at for myself. And then for this team, just having the right people. The right people. And that’s first, before schemes, before the type of player, 6-foot-5 and this and that, having the right people here, whether it’s in the locker room, whether it’s the people upstairs, coaches, whatever the case may be, just having the right people overall in the building to be able to help grow the culture. I believe (Thomas Brown) has probably said this, but culture is people. And so being able to have the right people in the building, being able to start there and then from there you can grow, from there you can have the right people with the right scheme and make monumental jumps from there.”
It’s worth repeating the most impressive thing Williams accomplished as a rookie was enduring the hits, enduring the losing and maintaining a positive outlook — always looking forward. Sounds like he’s headed into the offseason with that in mind.
4. Twelve days after the Philadelphia Eagles hired Andy Reid in 1999, the Bears hired Dick Jauron. Twelve days after the Kansas City Chiefs hired Reid in 2013, the Bears hired Marc Trestman.
Reid, of course, won’t be in the hiring cycle this time around, but I mention it is because GM Ryan Poles spent nine years working with Reid in Kansas City and surely learned a good deal from the league’s most successful active coach. Reid has won three Super Bowls with the Chiefs and has a 273-146-1 regular-season record with a 26-16 postseason mark. His next victory — the Chiefs are the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs — will be his 300th overall.
Reid was an outside-the-box hire in 1999 after spending five seasons as the Packers assistant offensive line/tight ends coach and then two as assistant head coach/quarterbacks coach for a team that had an established veteran quarterback in Brett Favre.
The Eagles took the road less traveled when they hired Reid to replace Ray Rhodes, choosing him over longtime defensive coordinator Jim Haslett. Reid wasn’t the hot coordinator at the time. He hadn’t even been a coordinator.
From a Paul Domowitch column in the Philadelphia Daily News the day after Reid was hired in 1999:
“To be honest with you, I don’t know much about him other than the fact that he coached the quarterbacks in Green Bay,” said one AFC general manager. “I haven’t heard anything negative about him. I haven’t heard anything about him, period.”
From a Marcus Hayes column in the Daily News that same day:
The Eagles are not assured a new stadium. They won’t build their state-of-the-art practice facility without assurance of stadium funds from the state and city. They suffer from a leaguewide belief that the highest echelon of the front office meddles in day-to-day football operations and have (perhaps unfairly) been labeled “cheap.” They have misspent free-agent money and poorly drafted themselves to the bottom of the league’s talent pool.
Some of that sounds like it could be loosely describing the Bears today. No one knew what to make of Reid as the hire in Philadelphia coming off a 3-13 season. It didn’t happen overnight. Reid was 5-11 in his first season, but in 2000 the Eagles went on a five-year run of winning 11 or more regular-season games.
Bill Belichick is the only coach who could be considered a better hire in the last 30 years, and he already had head coaching experience when the New England Patriots tabbed him and he had enjoyed a prolific run as a defensive coordinator.
The Eagles applied real outside-the-box thinking to their selection of Reid. Former team President Joe Banner laid out the process in a detailed article for The 33rd Team in 2021:
When we set out to hire a new coach with the Philadelphia Eagles after the 1998 season, we did an interesting study to try and identify the key qualities in head coaches that had been successful. We would let that guide our decision.
We defined success as any NFL head coach who had made it to two Super Bowls, and then we just did this massive study of numbers and history and age and everything else. We spoke to tons of people who had worked with these coaches, had played for these coaches, and had been agents for these coaches, in order to create profiles on them. Truthfully, there was nothing that related to pure football that was really in common or valuable to us.
We had all different types of coaches profiled, but there was really just nothing there that we thought really helped inform us.
On the other hand, when we compared all of these guys — from Bill Parcells to Bill Belichick to Joe Gibbs and Bill Walsh — they were virtually the same person. It was kind of stunning. As you can kind of see from that list, they were all incredible leaders. They were outstanding at evaluating people to hire, and then managing them. They were all so attention-focused that people around them were kind of annoyed and frustrated with every little detail being such an obsession with every one of those coaches. They had an incredibly strong conviction to a particular philosophy and stuck to it.
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, Banner and the late Tom Modrak, a high-ranking official for the team at the time, didn’t compile a list of successful coordinators perhaps ready for the next step. They focused on finding the best coach. The best candidate in terms of details. The best teacher.
All of the traits they were seeking in their next leader kept leading them back to Reid, and they made what they knew would be an unpopular decision in a city short on patience and reluctant to offer forgiveness.
From Banner’s article:
I remember with humor saying to Eagles owner Jeff Lurie, “Are we actually arrogant enough that we have only been in the NFL for four years, with limited backgrounds in football before that, that we know more than the Hall of Fame general manager that had been working with Andy for the last eight years?”
The rest is history. Does this mean the Bears are likely to go an alternative route and interview a collection of candidates who have not reached the coordinator level? No. But it is a good reminder that leadership comes in different forms. It doesn’t have to be loud like Parcells or Mike Ditka. Gibbs and Walsh certainly had different personas from those.
Given five weeks now to seriously mull what they’re seeking and how they want to go about finding it, the Bears should enter the hiring process with a wide lens and the kind of background on their list of candidates that can lead to informed interviews.
5. Props to special teams coordinator Richard Hightower, who scored a decisive advantage in the game for the Bears.
This was a solid job interview for him — the tape of the game.
The Bears wanted badly to make a difference on special teams. They were stung in the Week 11 meeting with the Packers at Soldier Field. Recall that afterward, the Packers said they had detected a weakness in the Bears’ field-goal protection, something they exploited for Karl Brooks’ block of Cairo Santos’ 46-yard field goal attempt as time expired.
The Packers won that game when the Bears felt Green Bay had illegally contacted long snapper Scott Daly and used an illegal push technique. The Bears wanted to turn the tables and they sure did with Josh Blackwell’s 94-yard punt return for a touchdown on the design that former coordinator Dave Toub imagined and drew up in 2011.
Everyone remembers it. Devin Hester was attracting such attention from opponents that Toub devised a plan to have a cornerback peel off and race downfield to catch a punt. The Bears determined Packers punter Tim Masthay almost always aimed to his left on long punts. So, Hester went to the opposite side of the field and Johnny Knox raced back to field the kick — which went exactly where the Bears figured it would. Knox ran to the end zone only to have the return called back because of an iffy holding call against Corey Graham.
“That was the most incredible play I’ve ever seen,” Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said after that game.
Surely, Toub cracked a smile when he saw a highlight of the play before Kansas City’s late game against Denver. Stedman Bailey had a 90-yard punt return for the St. Louis Rams using the same design in 2014. In 2015, Seattle’s Richard Sherman had a 64-yard return against the Bears using the same design. Other teams have tried it without success.
The Bears have been tinkering with it since last season and they put it in the game plan this week. Hightower wanted to be aggressive. As two players told me in the locker room last week, the Bears wanted to “stick it” to the Packers on special teams.
The Bears used DJ Moore to pretend he was catching the punt midway through the first quarter.
“I was on the bench when (Hightower) called it and I was like, ‘Huh? Are we really calling this?’” Moore said. “We went out there and executed.”
Moore said he was praying the ball from punter Daniel Whelan didn’t actually come his way as the blocking was set up for the other side of the field.
When did Blackwell know he was scoring?
“As soon as I caught it,” Blackwell said. “As long as he (Moore) did his job and sold it, it was pretty open.”
To get in a situation — almost an identical spot with Santos having a 51-yard attempt to win the game on the final play — was almost surreal considering the massive disappointment of the first meeting.
“Crazy,” said Santos, who connected for his eighth field goal from 50-plus yards this season, a club record. “It hurt a lot losing that way the first time. I’ve wanted to beat Green Bay for my teammates, my coaches. For it to come down to me, it’s a special thing. For it to end in a way the first time, it wasn’t called a penalty but I thought it was against the rules, what kind of rush they did. We can go back and forth on that but referees called that (penalty) on other teams after that game.
“It left a really bad taste in our mouth that that’s how we lost the game. I prayed that I had this moment to repeat that scenario and at their place. I celebrated with a lot of emotion because it’s a special moment. Our season doesn’t mean as much as their season but beating Green Bay is always going to be important.”
Santos said he probably needed to be at about 55 yards or a little closer considering the cold and a slight wind in his face.
“I was striking the ball really well,” he said. “I don’t think I missed a kick wide all warmups. I tested my distance from that range, kicking toward the tunnel there, and it was into the wind. So, I had some kicks short but I knew adrenaline would take over in that moment and I’d be able to get the ball there from 51.”
Kickoff returner Tyler Scott had 113 yards, including a 37-yarder, and punter Tory Taylor landed two of his six punts inside the 20-yard line. The rookie finished the season with the highest gross (47.7 yards) and net (41.2) average in team history.
The Bears probably could have played the first punt by Whelan — when he dropped a bad snap — differently. They peeled both outside rushers off to likely set up a designed return. Had they rushed one, they could have forced a really bad kick — Whelan got off a 35-yard kick — or potentially tackled him for a loss.
But Hightower had some type of return on and in the end, the Bears scored a decisive advantage in the phase.
“Coach brought all the weapons today and the guys executed his plan really well,” Santos said. “I am so proud of him.”
6. Drafting a quarterback in the first round can mean high stakes for a head coach, and lately it has proved especially perilous if it’s the No. 1 pick.
Thirty-five quarterbacks have been drafted in the first round of the last 10 drafts. Fifteen saw the head coach fired during or after their rookie season, including Caleb Williams. That’s 42.9%.
The firing rate isn’t quite as steep as it was a few years ago when I looked at this trend. From 2015-20 — a span of six drafts — 20 quarterbacks were selected in Round 1, and half of them had a new coach to begin Year 2.
But coaches whose teams drafted a quarterback with the top pick have been on particularly thin ice. Eight quarterbacks have been selected No. 1 in the last 10 drafts. Six of them, including the three most recent, saw their coach fired during or after their rookie season: Williams (2024), Bryce Young (2023), Trevor Lawrence (2021), Baker Mayfield (2018), Jared Goff (2016) and Jameis Winston (2015).
Justin Herbert, selected No. 6 in 2020 by the Los Angeles Chargers — who fired Anthony Lynn and hired Brandon Staley after that season — is probably the best example of a quarterback who became a franchise performer despite an early coaching change. I asked Bears wide receivers coach Chris Beatty, who joined the Chargers as wide receivers coach in 2021, about the challenges in helping Herbert master a second playbook in his second season.
Herbert had career highs in yards (5,014), touchdowns (38) and QBR (70.9) that season.
“It was still a process,” Beatty said. “There were still a lot of things he was trying to go through too. But we were a pass-centric team. That was what we did and then obviously that suited him.
“We used a lot of those short passes like runs. When you do that, you’re throwing 40 passes per game instead of 25 or 27, and the difference? Those are really runs in your mind, so those things kind of balanced out.”
The Bears aren’t the only team that has fired their coach after Year 1 for a new quarterback. They just can’t seem to escape the cycle.
Here are the quarterbacks drafted in the first round in the last 10 years, denoting those who went through coaching changes before Year 2.
2015
- No. 1, Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Lovie Smith fired (Dirk Koetter hired)
- No. 2, Marcus Mariota, Tennessee Titans: Ken Whisenhunt fired (Mike Mularkey hired)
2016
- No. 1, Jared Goff, Los Angeles Rams: Jeff Fisher fired (Sean McVay hired)
- No. 2, Carson Wentz, Philadelphia Eagles
- No. 26, Paxton Lynch, Denver Broncos: Gary Kubiak stepped down citing health reasons (Vance Joseph hired)
2017
- No. 2, Mitch Trubisky, Bears: John Fox fired (Matt Nagy hired)
- No. 10, Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
- No. 12, Deshaun Watson, Houston Texans
2018
- No. 1, Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns: Hue Jackson fired (Freddie Kitchens hired)
- No. 3, Sam Darnold, New York Jets: Todd Bowles fired (Adam Gase hired)
- No. 7, Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
- No. 10, Josh Rosen, Arizona Cardinals: Steve Wilks fired (Kliff Kingsbury hired)
- No. 32, Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
2019
- No. 1, Kyler Murray, Cardinals
- No. 6, Daniel Jones, New York Giants: Pat Shurmur fired (Joe Judge hired)
- No. 15, Dwayne Haskins, Washington Commanders: Jay Gruden fired (Ron Rivera hired)
2020
- No. 1, Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals
- No. 5, Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
- No. 6, Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers: Anthony Lynn fired (Brandon Staley hired)
- No. 26, Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
2021
- No. 1, Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars: Urban Meyer fired (Doug Pederson hired)
- No. 2, Zach Wilson, Jets
- No. 3, Trey Lance, San Francisco 49ers
- No. 11, Justin Fields, Bears: Matt Nagy fired (Matt Eberflus hired)
- No. 15, Mac Jones, New England Patriots
2022
- No. 20, Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh Steelers
2023
- No. 1, Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers: Frank Reich fired (Dave Canales hired)
- No. 2, C.J. Stroud, Texans
- No. 4, Anthony Richardson, Indianapolis Colts
2024
- No. 1, Caleb Williams, Bears: Matt Eberflus fired
- No. 2, Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders
- No. 3, Drake Maye, Patriots: Jerod Mayo fired
- No. 8, Michael Penix Jr., Atlanta Falcons
- No. 10, J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings
- No. 12, Bo Nix, Broncos
7. Marcedes Lewis isn’t ready to retire.
It could be the league retires him first — he’s 40, just finished his 19th season and has played in 285 games, an NFL record for a tight end. He wants to keep going whether it’s with the Bears or elsewhere.
Before you dismiss the idea of Lewis continuing his career and what that means in the big picture, his back story is compelling and offers a little something for everyone in terms of life lessons.
“I feel too good and it would be a disservice for me to retire right now,” Lewis told me Tuesday after spending his day off at Halas Hall getting in a heavy lift. “My body feels good. I am still dominant at the point of contact. I don’t miss games.
“It’s not like I’m an old guy trying to milk it. I am not that guy. I am not out here wearing a jersey on the sideline being a leader. I want to lead from the front, and when I’m asked to do a job and counted on to do a job, I dominate and do that job.”
Lewis isn’t chasing a paycheck. He earned $2 million this season and has totaled nearly $65 million in his career, according to Spotrac. He has more than enough money.
“I want to compete, man,” he said. “This isn’t trying to rob the bank. Just compensate for my skill set within the scope of the business, understanding all the young guys have got to get paid. If you need a third tight end — I think I could still be a second tight end in this league for what I do — I am a bargain. To be asked to do what I am doing, there’s nobody better.”
Lewis’ routine is something teammates ask him about weekly. He has missed only one game in the last eight seasons — in 2020, when he suffered a partially torn posterior cruciate ligament in his knee — and has adapted a meticulous 12-month workout regimen that prepares him to be available every Sunday.
That work ethic is something he learned at an earlier age than most in a childhood filled with obstacles. Lewis’ mother, Yvonne Withers, was 15 when he was born. She endured abusive relationships and they bounced around Southern California, sometimes living out of a car. His brother Ashley Snow was born when Withers was 18, and he watched her work multiple jobs just to hold on.
“There’s been a lot that I have been through, and as I was growing up, considering my mom had me at such a young age, we kind of grew up together,” Lewis said. “So I am watching how she’s handling all of these things and all of this adversity with grace. That’s what I have tried to model my career after and being able to be the same guy whether it’s good, bad or indifferent around me … and being authentic and showing up in the right way. Most times that’s 80% of the battle, showing up. I have been able to do that and did it my way.
“I don’t even have enough time to tell you about my childhood. I didn’t necessarily have a space to be a kid. My mom had to be the man of the house at a very young age. My mom spoke to me as a young man as a kid. My learning curve was just different and I was always just ahead of it. At one point in time when I was younger, I was like, ‘Man, why do I have all this responsibility? Everyone is outside and they’re playing and I’ve got to watch my brother and take care of him and clean and do this.’ Now, when I look back on it, had I not gone through that adversity and been there for those moments, I would not be here for this moment.”
Lewis collected the jersey he wore when he broke Jason Witten’s record for games played by a tight end in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Rams. He got a game ball as well. He’ll probably secure his jersey from Sunday’s game.
“I am blessed, man,” he said. “It’s still kind of a dream to me and even when we have conversations, I haven’t necessarily thought it all the way through nor have I kind of taken the opportunity to take a deep breath and be like, ‘Wow, I did all of that.’ There will be a time for all that, but right now I am still on goal mode and just grateful for the opportunity.”
Goal mode will have him thinking about playing a 20th season. He’s not limited geographically. He’s fine leaving his Los Angeles home to play and has joked with his friend, Rams coach Sean McVay, that getting away from home to play has been good for him.
“I want to finish my career the right way,” Lewis said. “This is not how I would like to go out. If this was Year 20 today, I am not going out like this. I want to compete at a high level, collectively do some good things and win more than (five) games. We’re better than that. That’s the most disappointing point knowing that collectively as a group, we’re better than that. We just didn’t get it done.”
8. The Bears have 23 players who will be free agents, seven more than at this time a year ago and seven fewer than at the end of the 2022 season.
Fourteen will be unrestricted free agents, four restricted free agents and five exclusive-rights free agents.
UFAs by position (8 or more starts in bold)
- RB Travis Homer
- WR Keenan Allen, DeAndre Carter, Nsimba Webster
- TE Marcedes Lewis
- OL Teven Jenkins, Matt Pryor, Coleman Shelton, Larry Borom
- DL Jacob Martin, Darrell Taylor
- LB Amen Ogbongbemiga
- LS Scott Daly, Patrick Scales
RFAs by position
- DL Chris Williams
- LB Jack Sanborn
- DB Josh Blackwell, Jaylon Jones
ERFAs by position
- OL Doug Kramer, Bill Murray
- DL Jonathan Ford, Daniel Hardy
- DB Ameer Speed
In terms of the unrestricted free agents, the Bears don’t have any pressing business as they faced a year ago when cornerback Jaylon Johnson was coming out of contract after betting on himself.
Decisions on all of these players probably will be tabled until the new coaching staff can evaluate the roster and make clear what type of traits it’s seeking at each position. Pryor could be a depth possibility. Ogbongbemiga was very good on special teams, and if the Bears don’t want him back in that role, he won’t have trouble finding work.
There could be a little intrigue when it comes to the four restricted free agents because the Bears have enough cap space to make a tender offer and not worry about being tight. The right-of-first-refusal tender — the lowest level — was $2.985 million in 2024. That will likely move up a little.
Williams has played more than 350 snaps, and if the Bears run a similar scheme, he could fit into the mix. Sanborn was at 220 snaps entering Sunday and was second on the team in playing time on special teams.
“Obviously I would love to stay here,” said Sanborn, a Lake Zurich native. “I have talked to my agent a little bit about what the plan is moving forward. Most of it comes down to how the team feels because I am restricted. I am tied down a little bit.”
Blackwell and Jones, who had shoulder surgery and finished the season on injured reserve, also have been core special teams players. It’s possible the Bears won’t tender their RFAs and still attempt to re-sign them for less.
9. The Bears are in good shape when it comes to the salary cap with more than $82 million in space, the fifth-most in the league, according to Over The Cap.
Keep in mind a couple of important details when wondering what they can accomplish.
First, the Bears have only 34 players under contract for 2025, according to their website and Spotrac. That’s the second-fewest in the league ahead of only the Washington Commanders (29). Twenty teams have 40 or more players under contract for next season.
So one reason the Bears are flush with cap space is they have a lot of spots to fill. With a new coaching staff coming in, that’s not necessarily a bad thing as it could create more flexibility for roster construction.
Because the Bears have so few players signed, their effective cap space — room they will have after signing at least 51 players and the projected rookie class — is just less than $62 million. That’s still a lot and ranks sixth league-wide. They could make moves to create additional cap space too. For instance, releasing defensive end DeMarcus Walker and tight end Gerald Everett would create another $10.75 million in room.
Just remember that free agency is an avenue to supplement the roster and fill a hole or two. It’s a proven way to fail when it comes to building a roster.
10. The Bears had 32 players spend time on the practice squad this season.
They had 30 in 2023, 33 in 2022, 34 in 2021 and 33 in 2020. The NFL voted to expand the developmental squad to 12 players in 2020 and then bumped that number to 16 for the last four years.
Eleven players who spent time on the practice squad appeared in a game: defensive lineman Byron Cowart, linebacker Carl Jones, defensive backs Tarvarius Moore, Reddy Steward, Ameer Speed and Adrian Colbert, running back Darrynton Evans, offensive linemen Jake Curhan and Chris Glaser, wide receiver Collin Johnson and long snapper Scott Daly.
The loss of nose tackle Andrew Billings led to substantial playing time for Cowart. With left guard Teven Jenkins missing the last 2½ games, Curhan played more than 250 snaps. Moore became a core special teams player, and Daly wound up snapping the entire season while Patrick Scales recovered from back surgery.
Twelve practice-squad members got on the field in 2023, and 13 saw time in 2022. Twenty-one practice-squad players got game action in 2021 and 10 saw the field in 2020.
Here is the total number of practice-squad players from the last 10 seasons:
- 2024: 32
- 2023: 30
- 2022: 33
- 2021: 34
- 2020: 33
- 2019: 20
- 2018: 13
- 2017: 27
- 2016: 30
- 2015: 30
10a. The Bears are picking 10th in the first round. They had used that selection — after a trade down with Philadelphia — to select right tackle Darnell Wright in 2023. The 10th pick has delivered a superstar — Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (2017) — and a super bust — Arizona Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen (2018) — in the last decade. Here’s what No. 10 has delivered over the last 10 years:
- 2024: QB J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings
- 2023: RT Darnell Wright, Bears
- 2022: WR Garrett Wilson, New York Jets
- 2021: WR DeVonta Smith, Philadelphia Eagles
- 2020: OT Jedrick Wills, Cleveland Browns
- 2019: LB Devin Bush, Pittsburgh Steelers
- 2018: QB Josh Rosen, Arizona Cardinals
- 2017: QB Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
- 2016: CB Eli Apple, New York Giants
- 2015: RB Todd Gurley, St. Louis Rams
The Bears have used the 10th pick seven other times:
- 1967: Arkansas DE Loyd Phillips
- 1956: Texas End Menan Schriewer
- 1951: Bradley HB Billy Stone
- 1950: Ohio State HB Fred Morrison
- 1948: Texas DE Max Bumgardner
- 1942: Stanford QB Frankie Albert
- 1938: Oregon State HB Joe Gray
The Bears will also select No. 40 in the second round, with the pick coming from Carolina, and No. 42. Their pick will be No. 74 in Round 3 — so the team owns four of the top 74 picks.
10b. I’ve put the Bears’ opponents for 2025 in this space a few times now. It’s officially official now.
Home dates
- Detroit Lions
- Green Bay Packers
- Minnesota Vikings
- Dallas Cowboys
- New York Giants
- New Orleans Saints
- Cleveland Browns
- Pittsburgh Steelers
Away
- Lions
- Packers
- Vikings
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Washington Commanders
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Baltimore Ravens
- San Francisco 49ers
- Las Vegas Raiders
10c. One thing that is remarkable about the Bears’ 5-12 record? They finished plus-8 in turnover margin, ninth in the league. Of the top 15 teams, only the Bears and Bengals are not in the playoffs. It’s the No. 1 statistic that coaches point to for a reason. Can you imagine where the Bears would have finished record-wise if they were minus-8? For what it’s worth, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (minus-4, 18th) are the only playoff team not in the top 15.
10d. Someone ought to think about the brand of football that was played in most of this weekend’s games before leaping to the idea of expanding to an 18-game regular season.
Sure, there will always be a division race that goes to the wire no matter how many weeks are played but Week 18 was anticlimactic. Can you imagine what a Week 19 would look like if the regular season was still grinding on?
Here are some quarterbacks who got substantial playing time this weekend: Malik Willis, Trey Lance, Marcus Mariota, Mac Jones, Joe Flacco, Joe Milton, Mitch Trubisky, Tanner McKee, Drew Lock, Spencer Rattler, Davis Mills, Mason Rudolph, Bailey Zappe, Josh Dobbs, Carson Wentz, Jimmy Garoppolo. I’m not sure what the appetite is for Backup Quarterback Weekend.
10e. Thank you for reading this season.
