Shane Waldron didn’t exactly arrive with grace in his first few games as Chicago Bears offensive coordinator. His unit looked sloppy, disjointed, and downright lost at times in the first three games. Fans pointed the finger at him for not having players ready. If only they knew how deep that story goes. NFL Network reporter Stacey Dales appeared on 670 The Score with Mully & Haugh to discuss the team. When the topic of the offense came around, she revealed something difficult to absorb at first.
Apparently, Waldron did not script the opening drive of each game during the first few weeks. For anybody who has followed the NFL long enough, using a script of 12-15 plays to open a game is common practice. It helps an offense find an early rhythm, build confidence, and get quick points on the board. Bill Walsh was the first coach to popularize that approach. Waldron refused to do this despite knowing he had a rookie quarterback and a group of players still new to the system.
That is elite-tier negligence.
The player intervention saved Shane Waldron from himself.
It is hard to understand what he could’ve been thinking with that approach. Asking a rookie quarterback to wing it from the game’s opening drive is asking for trouble. Caleb Williams, D.J. Moore, Marcedes Lewis, and others recognized it wasn’t working. That is why they pulled Waldron aside to have a frank discussion. Over the past two weeks, the offense has looked much sharper early in games, and that momentum has carried into stronger overall performances.
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Lewis hinted that Shane Waldron was “walking on eggshells” around guys. He may not have felt comfortable installing a script because he wasn’t yet sure what his players could and couldn’t accomplish. If so, it’s a poor excuse. The job of the offensive coordinator is to exercise control over his unit. That means demanding crisp execution and making sure all 11 guys are on the same page. Waldron wasn’t doing that for almost a month.
Just want to make sure that I understand what @TGena and @WhatDoIKnow are saying. You’re implying that the new offensive coordinator taking steps to make sure he doesn’t alienate or antagonize his solid and star veteran players is a bad thing? Sure, it wasn’t the best approach, but he might have been sacrificing a little performance now to build something better down the line. “That is elite tier negilgence.” Umm, no. Negligence implies he didn’t care and wasn’t thinking about it, or too lazy to do the work. Far from the truth. It was an approach that he tried, it… Read more »
I’m pretty sure this happens a ton in OCs and DCs. I think us as fans would be floored the lack there of planning really takes place with teams. I just got done talking with a recent retired players father who said the NFL game is a very very selfish individual player driven game. Which now is also how college is turning. Which is why poles and company are preaching culture all the time. Now whether or not they can get players and coaches to buy into it is going to be a different story.
No scripted plays for a rookie QB and a newish offense are a short-cut formula to disaster. Why the risk-taking? What was to be gained? We saw what was lost: virtually everything
Add “baffling” to the list of words Lambert doesn’t understand. If you can list possible reasons for something in the article then that thing is not baffling. It may be something you disagree with, you may call it unwise or ill advised but not baffling.
There are a few levels of scrutiny between Shane Waldron and Ms. Virginia– aren’t there?
Those asleep at the wheel were: Matt Eberflus and Ryan Poles.
Kevin Warren was asleep, in his office — where he always sleeps.