A coach who is “too good,” while humorous, is also pretty shocking in pro football, a sport where coaches often sleep in their offices grinding their noses to the bone, working to find any edge possible every week. But there’s an explanation for why Waldron was reportedly easygoing in training camp: The Bears were an offseason delight going into 2024.
Chicago entered camp on a wave of optimism based largely on potential — not substance — heading into 2024 after an offseason in which they upgraded their talent ranks and drafted their next hopeful in Williams.
Maybe they drank too much of their own Kool-Aid. Whatever the cause, two facts couldn’t be clearer after their latest loss: The Bears are an unprepared, disorganized, low-energy team on offense, and their defense — no matter how much they improved in the back half of 2023 and succeeded in early 2024 — is not strong enough to carry them to victory. Waldron is out because he failed to find even a small solution to their problems.
There is no guarantee that things will improve without him. Thomas Brown will take over as offensive coordinator, but Bears fans should be cautious about their expectations.
At the very least, maybe Brown will hold people accountable. If anyone will be able to tell the difference, it’s 12-year-old Allen.