The Chicago Bears have been here before. They’ve just drafted a 1st round quarterback. He is struggling to find a consistent footing as a starter. Blame gets placed on the head coach for not having a better plan for his development. Inevitably, this leads to a change in hopes of finding someone who will. It happened with Mitch Trubisky. It happened with Justin Fields. Now, there are widespread fears that it will happen again. Caleb Williams will have to endure a coaching change in his second year, stunting his development further. That is almost guaranteed to ruin him just like it did Trubisky and Fields, right?
No. It is never that cut and dry.
The truth is that such a move, while risky, has proven to work on a number of occasions in the past. In fact, there is one shining example up north in Detroit. Jared Goff went #1 overall in 2016. The Rams were coached by Jeff Fisher that season. After sitting half the year, Goff was put into the lineup and immediately struggled. He completed only 54% of his passes with five touchdowns and seven interceptions. Many wondered if he was a lost cause. Los Angeles opted to fire Fisher and hired Washington Redskins offensive coordinator Sean McVay as a replacement.
Goff rebounded for 3,804 yards, 28 touchdowns, and seven interceptions to make his first Pro Bowl.
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The change itself won’t be the issue for Caleb Williams.
It will be about who the Bears decide to replace Matt Eberflus with. Good head coaches understand how to get the most out of their players. Baker Mayfield had three different ones in his first two seasons with Cleveland. That should’ve killed his development. However, the Browns finally landed Kevin Stefanski that third year. Mayfield threw 26 touchdowns, only eight interceptions, and Cleveland made the playoffs. Alex Smith languished for six seasons between Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary in San Francisco. Everyone called him a bust. Then Jim Harbaugh arrived and the former #1 pick led the 49ers to the NFC championship.
It isn’t the change that ruins the quarterbacks. It is who the team makes the change to.
People don’t acknowledge that enough. Trubisky went from John Fox to Matt Nagy. Fields went from Nagy to Matt Eberflus. Can you say the Bears upgraded at head coach in either of those situations? Probably not. Meanwhile, Rex Grossman went from Dick Jauron to Lovie Smith and eventually helped the franchise to a Super Bowl. Coaching matters. Goff was fortunate in that regard. Chicago shouldn’t be worried about a lack of continuity with Caleb Williams. It should be whether they can find a good coach.
@Tred People make up ideas to cover their asses. “Continuity” is great . . . if you’re winning. Is continuity good when you are losing? Or more importantly, you can point to NO area, that shows consistent improvement? I can live with losses, but not seeing any position groups consistently improve means, you are NOT going to get better, OR win, in the future. That was my criticism of Getsy. Zero improvement of any position. The improvement or quality of individuals came from the individuals, not the coaches. Same criteria with this group of coaches. We can’t have continuity of… Read more »
@luapgnik – give me 1/2 of what Nate Davis gets. I’ll suit up.
I’ll even make an effort.
And yet, I am almost certain I just read in article here recently that continuity matters…
Not that I disagree that better coaching is necessary. Because it is.
This team, fans and pundits seem to be slow to know, slow to grow and slow to comprehend how things work in life. Maybe it’s because in this complex world, we don’t do the old school things, and the old school ways, so we just grow clueless. On farms, you have to care for your soil, if you are going to grow crops. In buildings, you have to set the foundation, before you discuss what color you’re going to paint the walls. In team building, you find the managers, leaders FIRST, and you aren’t looking for the guys who “dress… Read more »
I’ll coach but only if we get 5 of the other commentators on here to play O line.