Bears fire offensive coordinator Shane Waldron; Thomas Brown to take over

Shane Waldron is out after only nine games.

The Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus’ hand-picked offensive coordinator, the team announced Tuesday morning.

Waldron is the second NFL offensive coordinator fired this season, the other being Las Vegas Raiders’ Luke Getsy — Waldron’s predecessor in Chicago.

Waldron’s offense had its worst effort of the season Sunday during a 19-3 loss to the New England Patriots at Soldier Field. The Patriots sacked quarterback Caleb Williams nine times and the Bears’ offense failed to score a touchdown for the second week in a row. They’ve gone 23 offensive possessions without finding the end zone.

Eberflus said Monday changes would be coming to the offense, but he declined to say what changes he would make — other than backing Williams as the starting quarterback. Those changes became clear Tuesday morning with Waldron’s exit.

“After evaluating our entire operation, I decided that it is in the best interest of our team to move in a different direction with the leadership of our offense,” Eberflus said in a statement released by the team. “This decision was well-thought-out, one that was conducted deliberately and respectfully. I would like to thank Shane for his efforts and wish him the best moving forward.”

As far as the Bears go — this is an organization that has never fired a head coach during a season — this is a drastic move. Bears passing game coordinator Thomas Brown will take over as offensive coordinator. Brown has experience in the job. He was the offensive coordinator in Carolina last season.

This move, though, will have far bigger implications beyond this season. What exactly does this mean for Eberflus? Some believed Eberflus only narrowly kept his job last winter and the head coach had to nail his offensive coordinator hire.

Eberflus clearly didn’t nail this hire. Statistically, this offense is worse than it was a year ago. That’s the case despite spending big money on a free agent running back, drafting a wide receiver in the top 10 and trading for a six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver.

Eberflus said Monday the issues on offense are not one person’s fault.

“It’s everybody, right?” Eberflus said. “I talked to the group about that. It’s everybody. It’s about being on the same play and making sure we’re executing that play and making sure, when we get to the scoring zone, that we are executing at a high level.”

Moving on from Waldron is probably not a good sign for Eberflus. Eberflus needs to turn this around quickly and the schedule isn’t doing him any favors. The Bears have the Packers, Vikings and Lions over the next three weeks.

Bears general manager Ryan Poles elected to keep Eberflus, now in his third year, as head coach last January. Poles did not reach out to any external candidates, even though there were some big names on the coaching market — Bill Belichick and Jim Harbaugh, to name a couple.

But when they elected to keep Eberflus, the Bears decided to fire then-offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. The Bears, who went 7-10 last season, felt they were close to a breakthrough. They felt the offense lagged behind the defense in 2023. Getsy was fired earlier this season by the Las Vegas Raiders after he landed there as offensive coordinator.

With the No. 1 overall pick in their back pocket, the Bears embarked on a search for the right offensive coordinator. That search led them to Waldron. The Bears hired Waldron in late January and gave him the reins to an offense that just a few short months later included Williams at the quarterback position. In the process, they passed on Kliff Kingsbury, who has Jayden Daniels and the Commanders rolling right now.

The Bears chalked up a slow start to the 2024 season to life with a rookie quarterback. Then, over a three-game win streak from Weeks 4-6, Williams and the offense looked as if they were turning a corner. The Bears scored 35 points in a win over Jacksonville on Oct. 13 in London.

Following a Week 7 bye, however, everything has gone downhill.

The Bears have scored just two touchdowns over this current three-game losing streak. Williams hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass since London (he hasn’t thrown an interception either). The offensive line is a disaster due to a combination of injuries and poor play. The team’s playmakers have all but disappeared.

Sunday’s three-point effort against New England appeared to be the last straw.