BEARS MISSED BADLY ON C.J. STROUD AND MUST CLEAN HOUSE — WITH WILLIAMS
Media are slower than fans in an embarrassing big market, and somehow, people are inclined to begin a fourth year with Justin Fields when the Bears flubbed last offseason and should start firing
This is the column they prefer not to read in Chicago yet the one I always filed anyway, unless corrupt editors gulped in interference. For the second time in two years, the Bears have the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft. They need to actually use it this time, or everyone in charge of an operation doomed to be 0-for-40 on the Super Bowl watch — president and CEO Kevin Warren, general manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus — should board a raft in Lake Forest and never return.
In fact, start ramrodding today. Warren should fire Poles and Eberflus and start over, with a new stadium purportedly en route before some 22nd Century baptism. In Philadelphia, some are ready to dismiss coach Nick Sirianni after he started the season 10-1 and limps into Tampa Bay for a first-round postseason mess. Last February, he came close to winning the league championship. There, a leader can be gone in months if players turn against him. In Chicago, the only people slower to react than bedraggled media are the fans.
The McCaskeys still own the football team, worth $6.3 billion, and any attempt to submerge them disappeared long ago while Virginia turns 101. Somebody should remind them: It’s rare in sports history to earn the top pick two straight years, and as long as the quarterback remains dominant as the most important position in any game, they should choose the best one and not let Justin Fields bamboozle them entering his fourth erratic season. In that city, dopey fans tend to embrace Fields and chant his name because they aren’t global and don’t travel often.
Allow me to wake them and help the Bears make the playoffs for the third time in 15 seasons. Last year, Poles stated he’d have to be “blown away” to take a QB. C.J. Stroud did not require a styling product. The Bears decided not to choose him and packaged the No. 1 pick to the Carolina Panthers, who selected Bryce Young while the Houston Texans snagged Stroud at No. 2. Today, guess who’s unleashing a recent 3-13-1 team into the playoffs as AFC South champions after one of the more innovative rookie years in recent memory?
Stroud didn’t blow away Poles, but he’ll be hosting a first-round game against the Cleveland Browns. For that mistake, despite the return he received from the Panthers, Poles should not be allowed to direct this draft. I emailed a Chicago Tribune writer and asked why he and Bears media have given Poles a pass on Stroud. Now, they’re all going to lay back once more and let Poles make another error in 2024? Chicago sports have been dead for a long time — mostly the three teams that matter the most, the Bears and Cubs and White Sox, two of which have won only once in more than 100 years and the other heading toward 60. That’s the way it has been forever — and, certainly, since I told the Sun-Times to enter bankruptcy without my edgy services.
So, folks there want the Bears to trade down the pick for a second straight year. Why has Caleb Williams already suggested online that he might not want to play in Chicago, after his father said he could ditch an organization he doesn’t respect? Right away, like today, Warren needs to set up a long meeting with a father and son. He has the No. 1 pony, remember? Williams is the most attractive quarterback, regardless of weird shots against him, such as how he cried in his mother’s arms late last year. I’d rather have his spectacular plays and let him weep forevermore. As Mel Kiper Jr. said in his latest mock draft, with Williams clearly at No. 1 in the vein of all evaluators: “Just turn on the tape from any of the games from his Heisman-winning 2022 season and you'll see why he's the top quarterback in this class. … Williams is a fabulous playmaker, and there are "wow" throws all over his tape. … He's incredibly creative.”
If they cut Eberflus, a defensive coordinator at best in the NFL, the Bears should seek an offensive inventor. Jim Harbaugh might have interest, with Williams, but the McCaskeys won’t be spending $18 million a year to outbid the Chargers and other franchises. The Panthers and their drink-throwing owner, David Tepper, want Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson to work with Young. Call Johnson and ask if he prefers a slightly improving young team in Chicago, with Williams, over Carolina’s nonsense. I’m guessing Caleb wins, as he should.
Outplayed by the superior Jordan Love, who threw for two touchdowns and 316 yards, Fields all but said goodbye Sunday after a 17-9 defeat in Green Bay. He was sacked five times, without showing pressing fortitude, and hit only 11 passes for 148 yards and rushed for just 27. The Packers are better, as usual, with Love succeeding Aaron Rodgers and outgaining the Bears, 432-192. Only glee is in the Wisconsin air. Love hurts only in Illinois.
“That decision is not in my hands. All I can control is what I did do. I gave it my all. Whether it’s here or not, I have no regrets. Shoutout to you guys for making my job a little bit harder,” said Fields, referring to media. “To the city of Chicago, love ya’ll. Appreciate the fans and the support from all the Bears, you know, and in case this is my last rodeo with ya’ll, appreciate ya’ll for everything.”
Eberflus thinks Fields is the future. But why does Eberflus think he’s part of the future? “He’s our guy, we aren’t gonna just leave him and start over,” the coach said. “He’s our guy. That’s all I’m gonna say.”
Said Fields: "It would mean a lot. I have a pretty good relationship with Ryan and the guys upstairs. But at the end of the day, this is a business. They have to make the tough decision. My job is just to go out there and play my best. But it would mean a lot to get that confirmation from them and really send a message that they trust me to lead this team and be the quarterback for the Bears. … We went through the same thing last year. We had the No. 1 pick and everybody was asking ‘What if? What if? What if?’ And nothing happened. I’m not saying that nothing will happen because, shoot, we all don’t know. But I’m not going to let the potential or ‘What if? What if?’ stress me (and keep me) from enjoying life.”
Meanwhile, if Fields stays, Williams might become the next Patrick Mahomes elsewhere, ignored by the Bears just as they selected Mitch Trubisky in 2017. Worse, the Bears have to decide on Fields’ fifth-year option — in the $25 million range. Why not reset the contractual timeframe for a younger quarterback with enormous ability, who hasn’t been hit 1,000 times already?
Only the Bears could screw up on C.J. Stroud and Caleb Williams while Fields stumbles at 7-10. The Atlanta Falcons fired Arthur Smith as coach after a 7-10 season in his third year. If this were Philadelphia, a serious sports town, the fans would have dislodged Fields years ago. “It (bleeping) sucks, the way we’ve played these past six games,” center Jason Kelce said Sunday. Much sucks in Chicago, including sports commentators.
Kevin Warren was put in charge because of gumption, not his community wherewithal. He thinks he’s there to build a stadium, state of the art. No, he’s there to find a damned quarterback. And if he implodes, he should leave, too. His comments to CBS’ Tracy Wolfson suggested he might stick with Eberflus, lauding patience the Rams once showed for Dick Vermeil. Anyone see one morsel of Vermeil in Eberflus?
Let us watch Stroud lead the Texans, 3-13-1 in 2022, when the authentic season starts this weekend. “Tremendously special,” he said. “Just the time that we put in together, to see the fruits of that labor to come to be, it's a blessing. Man, I'm just blessed to be a part of this."
“C.J. doesn't surprise me," said the first-year coach, DeMeco Ryans. “C.J. is special in these big-time moments when you need it most, to step up and make plays. He's done it time after time. It's not surprising. That's who he is. He's one of the best passers in this league. He shows it consistently, game in and game out.”
Said defensive end Will Anderson: “Without him, we don't accomplish half of the things that we have. Man, (No.) 7 has been phenomenal for us. Everybody in this building appreciates having him and is blessed to have him here. We just got to give all credit to 7. His personality affects everybody in this locker room. His attitude and energy bleed through the whole locker room. It makes everybody want to step up and keep playing better.”
I must ask if Ryan Poles is “blown away” yet. He’s the only one in football who isn’t, and, unfortunately in Chicago, he has the No. 1 pick again.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.