Hopes from their two-game win streak were easily abated at the hands of a struggling 8-5 team. The Cleveland Browns tried to gift Week 15 to the Bears with their blunders and interceptions on offense, but Chicago ultimately showed how to better their opponent in the categories of inept play calling and buttery hands.
There will be a lot of analysis and speculation for what happens with the Bears next. For certain is that the 2024 team must operate very differently from the current one. New management? New quarterback? What gaps to address?
Their sudden death season ended with this loss to the Browns, so anything that happens over the next three games is meaningless. This includes auditions for the coach, quarterback, and others to retain their jobs next year. “Garbage time” is too late to show what you can do, and your resume is set by default merely by having entered said garbage time.
I made predictions in prior articles that I still believe, that most of the coaching staff plus Justin Fields will not be with the Bears in ’24. The Cleveland game is a microcosm of the future if they remain, including highly questionable plays and a quarterback that still has not proven he can consistently deliver in the red zone.
All windows in American football are very short – for the players, coaches, and team, to capitalize on their ordained “rebuild” cycles. The window for the Bears is already closing, with maybe two to three years left. The coaches’ windows closed a few months ago. And for running quarterback Justin Fields, he is in sudden death. How long will his athleticism mask his shortcomings? Defeatedly not five years, potentially another year or two. And as I have stated before, a running quarterback like Fields is one cheap shot away from his next significant injury, a much higher chance than most quarterbacks, and quarterback risk of course is always high to start.
We should see a hint of the Bears’s plans in about a month.
Thank you for taking the time to read my article.
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