With the benefit of hindsight, Jaxon Smith-Njigba tried to warn us. The Seattle Seahawks wide receiver met with Chicago Bears media before last year’s Super Bowl. He was asked about his experience with Shane Waldron, who’d been his offensive coordinator in 2023. After a painfully long pause, he could only wish Bears fans good luck and state he’s a great person. That’s it. Anybody with common sense saw that as a gigantic red flag.
Waldron was supposed to be one of the top offensive coordinators available that cycle after the Seattle coaching staff was dismissed. Smith-Njigba’s reaction suggested Waldron wasn’t close to deserving his reputation.
It played out exactly as he prophesized. Waldron’s offense was a complete disaster, failing to display any identity and getting rookie quarterback Caleb Williams killed behind a subpar offensive line. He was fired midway through the season. Well, CHGO caught up with Smith-Njigba again before Super Bowl 59. They wondered if he might have a similar reaction to Ben Johnson. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.
Ben Johnson is far more proven than Shane Waldron was.
One had a few decent seasons in Seattle, where he was aided by a Hall of Fame head coach and two veteran quarterbacks covering up his mistakes. Johnson produced an elite product from the moment he took over the offense in Detroit, finishing in the top 10 every year. All coaches who are asked about him admit he’s one of the best minds in the business. Hearing a wide receiver who clearly has a good eye for coaching competency echo the same is a good sign the Bears finally got it right.
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Alas, it remains difficult to understand what the hell happened with Shane Waldron. Chicago met with several potential candidates for the offensive coordinator job, including established names like Kliff Kingsbury, who had actually worked with Williams at USC. The rumor is Matt Eberflus felt threatened by guys like him, preferring someone with little chance of taking his job. If true, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy as the man who wanted to replace him last year will this one.
Flus should have been thinking that if he didn’t hire the right OC then he would be getting fired, instead of if he hired a good OC then his job could be in jeopardy. That’s how flawed Flus was. His timidness and insecurities is what ultimately lost him the job. Or at a minimum it played a big role in losing his job. I mean what coach even thinks that way? “Oh if he’s good then he could potentially take my job”. It’s insanity to think that way as a HC. Being competitive should be a HCs number 1 trait.… Read more »
It is always gratifying to be able to successfully predict something/phenomena. It also provides the predictor with greater credibility for the next prediction. Or so it seems. Let’s hope and expect this to be the case here. BTW, more salient than an accurate prediction on an a priori basis is the accurate explanation answering the reason why for that accurate prediction.