After years of promises and patience, Bears need OC Shane Waldron's offense to start hot
The Bears need to make things easy for rookie quarterback Caleb Williams to get rolling, and the most helpful thing they can do is make sure their offense is clicking immediately.
This cannot be a repeat of the Luke Getsy 17-game process that theoretically would have the offense ready just in time for the season to end, nor can it be the even more prolonged Matt Nagy timeline of promising Year 4 was when it would all finally come together.
Those names are a reminder that, much like quarterback, offensive coordinator historically has been problematic for the Bears. The new one, Shane Waldron, is trying to lift them from the exasperation of his predecessors.
He didn’t plead for patience Thursday, instead saying that he expects the offense to operate “at a high level” in the season opener Sunday against the Titans and that precise execution of a scheme they’ve been practicing since May should “let the skills take over.”
The Bears didn’t have so much skill under Nagy, Getsy, Bill Lazor, Mark Helfrich or others, but there wasn’t much indication they could’ve maximized it anyway.
At wide receiver, Keenan Allen is a potential Hall of Famer, DJ Moore has averaged almost 1,100 yards per season and rookie Rome Odunze was the No. 9 overall pick. Tight end Cole Kmet was ninth at his position in yards receiving last season, and running back D’Andre Swift made the Pro Bowl with a career-high 1,263 yards from scrimmage.
Of the 11 projected offensive starters, seven are in at least their fourth season. Waldron couldn’t have asked for a more gifted and capable crew when he taught his playbook, and he recognized that “guys had a good understanding of the offense early on” in the offseason
“We’re at a good spot now where we’re able to bring all that together,” Waldron said.
With general manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus building a playoff-caliber roster, and especially with Williams coming aboard, it was imperative they get the coordinator right. Their search was thorough, much more so than when they hired Getsy in 2022, before picking Waldron.
Waldron, 45, spent the last three seasons with the Seahawks and led them to the 15th-ranked offense over that span while guiding wayward quarterback Geno Smith to back-to-back Pro Bowls.
He has worked for some of the most respected names in the game: Bill Belichick, Sean McVay and Pete Carroll. That’s the NFL equivalent of a Harvard education. (Waldron’s actual alma mater is nearby Tufts, which isn’t bad.)
Whereas Nagy seemed to forget about running and Getsy had the same problem when it came to passing, the Bears believe Waldron can blend both components.
“Everything makes sense in terms of how it plays off each other,” Kmet said of Waldron’s offense. “He does a good job of marrying the run and pass, along with the screen game and getting the ball in guys’ hands and letting them go to work.”
The pass catchers mostly kept quiet last season as the Getsy-Fields combination steered the Bears to 182.1 yards passing per game, sixth-worst in the NFL. Moore finally let it slip at the end, asking, “Are we going to be an explosive team, or are we going to be a run team that’s going to just play off the clock?”
The best offenses actually can do either, depending on what’s necessary, and Moore has been pleased with the balance he has seen over the last 3½ months. He credited Waldron for being “real dialed into what different people can do” and “having a plan for everybody.” He said this offense’s identity is “a mixture of both” running and passing.
Like everything else with the Bears at the moment, that sounds smart. But now we need to see it.