Shane Waldron’s introductory news conference at Halas Hall offered few clues for the sleuths trying to crack the case of what the Chicago Bears will do at quarterback this offseason.
The team’s new offensive coordinator evaded giving answers on the most popular debate in Chicago sports like Justin Fields evades defenders as he takes off from the pocket. Waldron darted away from one question about evaluating Fields and danced around another about USC quarterback Caleb Williams, whom the Bears could draft with the No. 1 pick this spring.
But a month after the Bears hired him to replace Luke Getsy, Waldron did say Thursday he believes his offense would work no matter who is at quarterback.
General manager Ryan Poles mentioned last month that adaptability would be a key component of the offensive coordinator interviews, and coach Matt Eberflus stressed it again Thursday in introducing his new coordinators. Waldron believes he has it after working with multiple quarterbacks during his four seasons with the Los Angeles Rams and three as the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator.
“From a player’s standpoint in general, a lot of the conversation on offense revolved around adaptability,” Waldron said. “What can you do with different pieces of the puzzle depending on each year? Each year in this league is going to be its own individual year.
“Priding ourselves on having an offensive system, a group of coaches that can adapt and adjust the scheme to a player’s skill set. It’s our job first to be great teachers and second to put guys in the right position and best position for their own individual success, to lead to our team’s success.”
Poles, Eberflus, Waldron and the rest of the Bears staff and coaches will hit the NFL scouting combine next week in Indianapolis to further their evaluations of draft prospects, including quarterbacks such as Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye and LSU’s Jayden Daniels.
When asked what he thought of Williams, Waldron said his college evaluations have “been more generalities, seeing all these guys perform at a high level under the national spotlight.” He did note the Bears planned to start their draft process Thursday afternoon.
As for Fields, Waldron at one point referenced what the Bears have shown at quarterback, noting “the ability to be explosive, to be a playmaker, to work off schedule.”
But when asked specifically about his evaluation of Fields, Waldron said his early weeks at Halas Hall were about building his staff and setting a base for his offense with the new coaches. That group includes passing game coordinator Thomas Brown, quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph and returning offensive line coach Chris Morgan, who has been promoted to run game coordinator.
The Bears, Waldron said, are just now getting into personnel evaluations that “will allow us to start to make some decisions not just at that spot but all the spots.”
Vague answers aside, Waldron of course expressed excitement about what lies ahead for the Bears in the months to come.
He acknowledged owning the Nos. 1 and 9 draft picks was part of the attraction in coming to Chicago, saying it’s “not going to happen too often.” He said the core players in place — “including the quarterback” — were also a draw, as was the relationship between Poles and Eberflus.
“You walk through the building and you really feel like you get really excited about the direction that this thing is going,” Waldron said.
While Waldron avoided giving answers on Fields and Williams, he was happy to talk about a different quarterback.
He called his experience helping the Seahawks’ Geno Smith to a comeback season in 2022 “unbelievable.” He noted the positivity and focus with which Smith operated, no matter his situation, and he said he can draw on that experience of developing a working relationship.
“There was an unwavering mindset that he was a starting quarterback in the NFL, which I think is a part of the thought process that every quarterback and every player in this league is going to have,” Waldron said. “And so to get lucky enough to work with a guy like that, who had that mindset, and then to be able to start to develop that relationship with him, that rapport, where we can get into game day and feel like, ‘Hey, we’re on exactly the same page with everything that’s going on,’ that was something that I would take from that moment with him.”
Waldron also brings three seasons of experience as a play caller with the Seahawks, something Getsy did not have at the NFL level when the Bears hired him.
Waldron said it becomes more natural the more he does it, and he has grown more comfortable and calm knowing how to take in information from other coaches in the moment and make the best split-second decision for the team.
“And then also realizing: It’s the NFL. Everybody is good,” Waldron said. “There are defenses that are going to be great every single week and they might make a play here and there, and it’s being able to move on, just like a player would. Hey, if you make a bad play, let’s move on right to the next play. That next play might be the best one of the game. But don’t let the previous play call impact the next play call from an emotional standpoint.
“So the more and more reps you get at something, the more and more you do it, the more and more comfortable I feel like I’ve become in those scenarios.”
In a couple of months, Waldron should be more open to talking about the quarterback for whom he will call those plays.
