The past couple of days have been a total whirlwind for the Chicago Bears. After the team dropped their third-straight game on Sunday in an embarrassing loss to the New England Patriots, Chicago head coach Matt Eberflus acknowledged on Monday that there would be some changes coming.
Of course, many fans immediately jumped to the idea that it should be Eberflus' job which gets taken from him. But, that's not how the Bears operate.
Thus, Tuesday morning came and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was fired. In his place, passing game coordinator Thomas Brown will step in and call plays. But, will it make a difference?
The locker room has seemingly been lost. Veterans are speaking out on lack of effort from certain players and some have skillfully avoided answering questions about whether or not Eberflus has, indeed, lost the locker room.
Following the firing of Waldron, one Bears insider went in and got a feel for where the team is at, currently, especially in regards to quarterback Caleb Williams. ESPN's Courtney Cronin had this to say Wednesday morning when speaking to Mike Greenberg on Get Up:
"One player I spoke with, yesterday, to take the temperature of the team, told me, 'everyone is behind Caleb Williams. He's too talented to not succeed.'"
Conflicting reports have Bears fans wondering where the team stands with Caleb Williams
Cronin admitted that, going forward, it's only a matter of whether or not this coaching staff can do what's necessary in order to develop Williams.
"It's just the question of whether this coaching staff and the switch that they made will do enough to develop the rookie quarterback," she said.
But, what happens if there are players within that locker room who don't support Williams as the team's starter? What if the other reports we heard earlier this week are true?
There were talks of the Bears actually mulling a quarterback change, which would have seen Williams benched in favor of Tyson Bagent.
There were even reports of Bears players going to Eberflus and asking him to sit Williams in favor of Bagent, which is a startling, sobering reality if true.
This is a lot to take in, but you have to believe that this locker room very well could be split. Maybe it's not split right down the middle, but it's not hard to imagine there being some players who want to see a quarterback change -- as insane as that might sound.
Is benching Williams the right move? Absolutely not. It would be silly. But, the fact that there are Bears players in favor of such a move is certainly telling. It's indicative of an organization that, currently, is viewed as the epitome of dysfunction.
