The day the Bears introduced Matt Eberflus as their head coach, Justin Fields was asked whether he had any interaction with the team’s three finalists.
“No,” Fields said.
In fact, Fields met Eberflus for the first time on the day of his introduction, Jan. 31, 2022.
How about Luke Getsy, the offensive coordinator Eberflus was bringing in from the Packers?
“I haven’t met him yet, so I don’t know much about him,” Fields said.
Did Fields get a scouting report on Getsy from anyone?
“No,” Fields said.
The Bears can’t afford to repeat that scene when they hire their next head coach next month — or, if their candidate reaches the Super Bowl, the one after that.
Like Mitch Trubisky and Fields, quarterback Caleb Williams will watch as his team looks to hire a coach to pair with him for Year 2. The Bears need to listen to Williams, the No. 1 pick in April’s draft. It’s not good enough to merely say the hire will revolve around how the potential candidate vows to work with Williams.
Williams isn’t Fields. The general manager who drafted him is staying on, and their futures are tied together.
“I don’t know about specific input, but it’s got to be a major part of an interview process,” general manager Ryan Poles said Monday. “Making sure that there is a plan for a young quarterback in this league.”
The Bears should let Williams be part of that plan. After all, he’s the most attractive part about their vacancy — and will be even more so if he finishes the season as strongly as he’s played the last three weeks under Thomas Brown. Everything else is fighting for second place.
“We are going to have plenty of salary cap space, we have a young talented roster, we have strong draft capital in the upcoming draft,” president/CEO Kevin Warren said. “And we have a quarterback in Caleb Williams who has shown he is very special – and in the right environment he can become even more special than he already has shown.”
It’s up to the Bears to create the right environment for him in Year 2. They tried, and failed, to do that this season. Eberflus thought he found the perfect coordinator for Williams in Shane Waldron, who had the experience Getsy lacked. Poles believed they were being progressive earlier this year when the Bears taught Williams Waldron’s playbook during their trip to USC and the quarterback’s visit to Halas Hall. They thought that trading for Keenan Allen, signing D’Andre Swift and drafting Rome Odunze would give him an unprecedented cushion.
Instead, Waldron lasted nine games, Eberflus 12.
The longest pause Poles took Monday was when he was asked what went wrong with Waldron. Players wanted Waldron to be more direct with Williams and veterans alike, particularly when they made mistakes in practice.
“There was some communication that probably didn’t happen as clean as it needed to be,” he said. “We just got off to a tough start. It’s always difficult when you have a young quarterback. We built this to have support around Caleb. When you have that blend of young rookie quarterback with experienced players – to make that all work is a difficult task. I think there was a little bit of a struggle just getting that going.”
You’re never sure of how a coach and player will interact until they’re both in the same building. That’s why Brown’s five-game tryout as interim head coach is so compelling. The same can be said for the candidacy of Kliff Kingsbury, the Commanders offensive coordinator who helped coach Williams at USC last year. The Bears know how each works with Williams, and what he thinks of them.
There will be other candidates. The Bears need to make sure Williams knows them, too, before making their decision.